Freezer to Fridge Conversion: Good performance or shitty Freezer Selection

[efficientPV]

A little heat is all you need to defrost. You are not supposed to wait till it is 3 inches thick. You should have poured a glass of water into the drain. If it doesn't shoot thru like shit from a goose, the U tube at the evaporator pan has some clogging. My sister had a frozen pea in hers and a lot of them fill up with mold. Refrigerators don't get any respect.

 

[sparrowhawk]

I'll see if it gives me any more trouble. The ice buildup was on the right hand side, bottom to top and several inches wide & thick. So I put thermostat in the middle of where ice block had been, figure the thickest part will have to be completely melted before thermostat turns off.

I thought thermostat was supposed to cycle on and off to maintain an optimum defrost temperature, but original (and replacement) won't turn back on until below 32F, next cooling cycle. The others I've seen L140-30F would run much hotter and could cycle.

I've had this unit since the late '90's, no issue (except hair on cooling coils) until just a couple years ago. Maybe the defrost thermostat failed; that's what I thought and replaced it one year ago. Think it was between upper & lower coils toward the left.

Air enters compartment top rear and exits bottom front, passing between freezer and fridge. Previously I could feel ice there.

Wasn't down to temperature last night but compartment has now reached 15F, have put frozen items back in now.

This GE unit appears to have retained (at least most of) its refrigerant, uses good old R12.
My Frigidaire deep freeze started melting things at half the age of this one, needed recharge of R134A.

I have never heard of a defrost thermostat that cycles on & off during the defrost cycle, also never seen a defrost thermostat located in the middle, only at the top and always where the tubing enters/exits the freezer.

If you keep getting an ice buildup it could be coming from the refrigerator not going into defrost often enough to sufficiently remove all the frost buildup. The manufacturer designs the refrigerator for a timer that puts it into defrost frequently enough to remove all the frost buildup, so if the refrigerator runs longer than it was designed to run before it is allowed to defrost then it will probably start building a block of ice on the evaporator coils.

Also a refrigerator that is well made will never need to have any refrigerant added to it. Unfortunately there are a lot of newer cheaply made refrigerators that use steel rather than copper tubing inside the cabinet around the door frame. Its part of the condenser and it's purpose is to warm the area around the door gaskets to reduce condensation. Eventually the steel tubing rust through and refrigerant starts leaking out.

 

[Checkthisout]

A little heat is all you need to defrost. You are not supposed to wait till it is 3 inches thick. You should have poured a glass of water into the drain. If it doesn't shoot thru like shit from a goose, the U tube at the evaporator pan has

Can verify. My side by side fridge wouldn't defrost fully because the drain hole was plugged.....just like a sticky goo that had built up over the years. It was actually rather difficult to unclog because it was difficult to get heat down to the area to unfreeze it.

I would have thought a clogged drain would have resulted in water coming out if the freezer on the defrost cycle but nope....it caused ice buildup on the coils.

 

[Hedges]

While I was having defrost problem water drained into refrigerator and onto the floor.
After this defrost and repair, a good amount reached the evaporation pan, so drain appears clear. No more collected in fridge.
The ice buildup was behind back metal panel, so out of sight, out of mind, except for a thin layer on surface of panel. When I find the milk is warm, that's my sign it is time to defrost.

Why it behaved different from its first 20 years after I replaced the possibly failed defrost thermostat, I'm not sure. Could be with shorter wires I didn't put it in same place as before. I simply broke some tape holding wires in a bundle and was able to put it on entrance tube (half way up, not at top). The tube enters, goes down, across bottom coil, up, across top coil, out.

You can see why I stick with old appliances. I was researching models to get a new freezer and didn't like the stories I was reading.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

The battery is a 720 Wh portable battery with 120V outputs.

That’s probably the best alternative name for what people are calling a “power generating station” LOL

 

[deetoy]

I have a commercial upright freezer I purchased new. We only use it for times when we need extra freezer space and quick cool down such as larger parties or get together's where it fits the purpose well. We don't even have it in the house, it is in a shed. I put a Kill O Watt on it, it came out to using the same Kwh in one month that one of my 2 chest type freezers would use in a year.

Wasn’t expecting this from an upright freezer. The insulation must be quite good on your commercial freezer.

 

[Zwy]

Wasn’t expecting this from an upright freezer. The insulation must be quite good on your commercial freezer.

If it had an inverter compressor, it would be better. Walls are pretty thick, about 3 inches, door is 2 inches. Two features that also draw power on the freezer are the air circulation fan and the auto defrost. The chest type have neither.

It's a great freezer for the right application. You know the old saying, you can two of fast, cheap and good but can't usually have all three. This freezer is fast and good, just not cheap to operate.