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After you change the blade put all the covers back on and run your tests. Without the covers the air may not flow properly thru the coil so you will get less cooling. That said I think you have other problems also.
Without the fan running the system should have been able to build up frost across the entire coil in a few hours.
As I (ahem) said... high side leak. There is enough refrigerant left in the system to partly cool, the compressor is putting out enough pressure to make the expansion valve work, but without enough liquid going to gas, no freezing. Since it isn't sucking in outside air, high side leak.
as long as there is enough refrigerant in the system to maintain a positive pressure the leak can be on the low side too without sucking in air..
it is only when the system pressure falls below air pressure on the low side that you suck in air.
you really need the gauges to see what is going on. you need to see the difference in pressure between high and low to diagnose whether if it is an inefficiant compressor , a metering valve issue or just a leak and low.
many refrigerators use a capillary tube and not an expansion valve and these skinny little tubes clog.
"it is only when the system pressure falls below air pressure on the low side that you suck in air."
Absolutely true, however the evap coil looks to be in good condition. The differences in pressure - slight as they are - and the common technique of allowing the condensate to be heated by the hot coil to evaporate it make a high side leak more probable.
No valves and having got a nice used Danby for $55.00 no need to pay a repairman to come check pressure with valves. If the unit does not cool down to the proper level,, but it may worth fixing, I'll not throw it in the trash, just unplug it and keep it.
When you refer to high side or low side leaks what do you mean?
When you refer to high side or low side leaks what do you mean?
You may have sprayed something with a spray can, then noticed the can gets cold.
The opposite is true as well, if that spray can had pressure added to it, it would become warm.
Refrigeration takes advantage of this phenomenon. There is a closed circle of tubing filled with refrigerant...
-Half way around the circle is a compressor which pressurizes the refrigerant, and beyond that it is warm/hot.
-Then on the opposite side half way is a valve which releases the pressure and beyond that it gets cool/cold. Then back to the compressor again.
So the high side is the pressurized side and the side which is warm/hot.
The low side is the low pressure side and the side which is cool/cold.
If the heat is removed from the hot high pressure side (via a fan), then the cold side can get much colder!
Thus a refrigeration system "removes the heat" (to make cold).
Being as it gets cold, I don't think there is a leak. Get the fan working to "remove the heat", then it should get colder. If it does not get cold enough with the fan working, THEN check for a leak.
The manual says setting 4 on the dial for start-up. Then allow 6-8 hours to reach desired temp. It's been 3 hours and temp. is only down to about 60.
If it's not down to 30 and below by 8am, another 13 hours, it is pretty much dead, pending a repairman. I read somewhere that a compressor can be close to $300 before labor.
And the manual said during start-up the compressor will run all the time.
It's the quietest compressor in the world if it is running at all.
It may be the handy dandy Dansby that is put into service.
The manual says setting 4 on the dial for start-up. Then allow 6-8 hours to reach desired temp. It's been 3 hours and temp. is only down to about 60.
If it's not down to 30 and below by 8am, another 13 hours, it is pretty much dead, pending a repairman. I read somewhere that a compressor can be close to $300 before labor.
And the manual said during start-up the compressor will run all the time.
It's the quietest compressor in the world if it is running at all.
It may be the handy dandy Dansby that is put into service.
Give it time. You have to understand that the colder the compartment gets the longer it takes to remove the heat from that compartment. Also understand that the less total heat that has to be removed to meet set temperature the lower power consumption you'll use and the quieter the compressor will be.
I admire your tenacity... simply not found in our throw away world.
A young lady I work with was very happy today because the utility is buying her a new refrigerator... hers was built in 1996 and is not energy efficient... so out it goes.
They haul out the old and bring in the new.
Years ago, my brother had a 4 year old washing machine that he was getting rid of... his wife didn't want to spend good money after bad.
I asked him for it and spent under $20 to fix it... gave it to our Mom and she has never had a single problem with it...
I do really well with people's cast offs and they cast off a lot of things around here.
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