Bev Air BM23 evaporator coil frozen

[jackstraw]

I have an older BM23. A few months ago it was having difficulty staying cold. I had a tech come out and recharge the coolant. That worked for about 3 months and it started acting up again. He came back out and replaced the evaporator coil (just before July 4th 2015). Said there was a small leak and this should really fix it. It seemed to be work well after that. I had the thermostat set around 5 and that seemed to be a good temperature. However, after getting a keg in there, it was actually colder than I thought and I nearly froze the keg. I ended up turning the thermostat to just under 3. That put the temp around 38F degrees. I just recently noticed that the tower was not cooling. After poking around this weekend, I realized that the tower hose wasn't getting any air because it was blocked by ice. I exposed the evaporator coil to find that it was encased in a block of ice! I took a hair dryer and melted all of the ice off and powered the unit back up. Thermostat set at 3 is giving me about 47 degrees, so I dialed it up to 4. Will check tonight to see what temp that gives me.

I've never had this issue before. What are the causes of a frozen evaporator coil? The fan in front of the coil (the same one that pushed air to the tower) seems to be working just fine.


Thanks for the help!

evapcoil.jpg

[THE ICEMAN]

Given the pattern of ice in the pic you provided I would say you are low on refrigerant.


THE ICEMAN

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

Iceman knows best...And yes I would second what he said.. Probably a bad braze by the refrigeration tech that did the install.

[jackstraw]

Thanks for the response.

OK. That makes sense. When I got home last night, I checked the temp and it hadn't changed. It's around 45 degrees. Even though I turned the thermostat colder. I tried turning it a notch colder and checked it again this morning... still the same temp.

I have a call into the repair tech to see what he has to say. But I'm pretty disappointed here. I've spent about $500 to repair this unit (replacing evaporator coil and coolant recharge). He was quite confident this would fix it. And it made sense to me, when he pulled out the old evaporator coil, it was pretty old and corroded looking.

I don't know enough about refrigeration units to know what to do here. If he's already replaced the evaporator coil, where else could the coolant leak be? And would that be a costly repair? I'm almost tempted to buy a new unit at this point. I don't know how old this unit is... 15+ years would be my guess.

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

I would ask him to come back out and check..Like I said could of been a bad job on his part and thats why it leaked, could be a $hit chinese evaporator coil that is defective and leaked, could be leaking from another point in the system. I would guess your unit at 10-15 years old just by the type of serial number tag you have plus that when they still shipped the rack with the units I see you have laying in bottom of unit.
Also if you do get fixed. Get a new blower hose that you have cut hanging there. to get the cold air up into the tower.

[jackstraw]

I would ask him to come back out and check..Like I said could of been a bad job on his part and thats why it leaked, could be a $hit chinese evaporator coil that is defective and leaked, could be leaking from another point in the system. I would guess your unit at 10-15 years old just by the type of serial number tag you have plus that when they still shipped the rack with the units I see you have laying in bottom of unit.
Also if you do get fixed. Get a new blower hose that you have cut hanging there. to get the cold air up into the tower.

Thanks. Yeah, not sure why the previous owner cut that blower hose short. But I have another hose that I duct tape onto that, to cool the tower.

[jackstraw]

And for my own education, how should a technician check for where the coolant leak is coming from? For example, how do you know if it's a bad condenser coil or a bad evaporator coil or it's not somewhere in between?

thanks!

[jackstraw]

Just found out, the technician has packed up and moved to Florida!

[THE ICEMAN]

And for my own education, how should a technician check for where the coolant leak is coming from? For example, how do you know if it's a bad condenser coil or a bad evaporator coil or it's not somewhere in between?

thanks!

Any service company worth anything will have a leak detector that can pinpoint where any potential leak is. These leak detectors can find refrigerant leaks as small as 1/2 oz per year. There are also a few tricks for making a very small leak show up such as pressurizing the system with dry nitrogen.


THE ICEMAN

[PointPleasantNJBeerguy]

That sucks
Maybe try a local commercial Hvac company that works on commercial equipment.Not the lowest bidder refrigeration guy working out of a old bronco...

[jackstraw]

Yeah. The repair guy I used actually fit that description. He serviced mostly commercial units, and was very familiar with Bev Air. Came highly recommended by a local shop that sells Bev Air kegerators. I think he just got lazy.

Well I have some thinking to do here. Do I invest more money into this 15 year old unit, or spring for a new one? If I get the refrigerant leak fixed, I'm afraid something else might go out. How long do the compressors usually last in these units? I've heard they're pricey to replace. I should also mention that this unit lives outside. I'm in So. Cal, so our weather is pretty mild and it is protected.

[jackstraw]

Any service company worth anything will have a leak detector that can pinpoint where any potential leak is. These leak detectors can find refrigerant leaks as small as 1/2 oz per year. There are also a few tricks for making a very small leak show up such as pressurizing the system with dry nitrogen.


THE ICEMAN

That's good to know. Thanks for the tip.

[eugeniapayton]

It seems like the refrigerant is low. Check out the refrigerant level. I agree with PointPleasantNJBeerg, consult a commercial HVAC service New Jersey technician which will help you to get solved this problem as some repairs are properly done only by the professionals.

[pvs6]

Since it sounds like you can afford it I'd suggest for you you'd be happier in the long run with a new unit. Put this one up for bid on Craig's list, detailing honestly it's current problems. The responses you get will tell you it's market worth as is. You should be able to get at least a $150. maybe more to defray cost of a new unit.

[djc]

Necrothread. This was a year ago. I assume this problem has long since been dispatched one way or the other. He hasn't been around since July this year.