"Richard Kollmann" wrote in message
...

Skip, Unfortunately all manufacturers of boat icebox conversion units
have some items in their designs that cause unwanted problems. Pre-
charged refrigerant lines have always come with O rings to prevent
refrigerant loss during assembly. Ounce torque down a metal seal
permanently prevents line connector leakage but Frigoboat relies on O
ring seals only to retain refrigerant. There are many applications
where O rings are used to prevent leaks. Now you are finding out why
spare O rings come with new Frigoboat units and also why at boat shows
they demonstrate how to change Orings. What you must find out for
yourself is the difficulty in re-commissioning systems after replacing
a refrigerant line O ring. When reliability and safety is demanded
from O rings shelf life of new rings is limited to one year. I read on
another forum where there was a discussion about replacing these
Frigoboat O rings every five years. My guess is that only one out of
ten refrigeration service technicians could add the correct amount of
refrigerant to your system.

************
Hi, again, Richard, and list,

Apparently, despite my not being a technician, let alone one in ten, I
managed...

The O-ring replacement was a non-event. Once the system was closed up
again, I evacuated the system. From Frigoboat's "manual" online, " The
suction side service valve normally will be on a stub of tubing that is
connected directly to the top of the compressor. "

That jibes with what you said, but everyone I spoke with in vendor or
distributor level phone calls wanted me to have a tap on the low side line -
there wasn't one, but the stub is apparently where Veco (the US distributor
for Frigoboat) wants you to put the line connection - after repeated
assurances in each call that there was no stub on the blue line, all agreed
that the stub "would do" - you'd think the Veco folks would have been
familiar with their own manual :{))

I ran a 6cfm pump for over 12 hours and removed it. Connected up my can
(with the adapter which is scarcer than hen's teeth locally), to the R12
line I bought, purged it with a nice blast, and left a trickle coming out as
I connected to the stub (to assure fully purged line, no possible moisture
intrusion) and put in an initial charge, with the compressor off.

Ran it for a couple of hours, and found the plates merely cool. Shut it
down, waited for equalization, and added more. Based on the "cool line" on
the can, I'd not put in nearly 6oz initially, the expected charge required.

Run, check, it wasn't making full cold, yet, so I added a third shot, ditto
on shutdown/equalization/restart.

That showed promise, bringing the previously 85° boxes (6" extruded
polystyrene covered in epoxy and gelcoat) down. Checking the exit line,
there was a very small bit of ice, but the box wasn't down to temps yet, so
I left it alone.

Overnight, the boxes came to 8° (the freezer set point), and, just by
spillover, as I'd unhooked the fan, 27° in the reefer. I had to stick my
finger into the bulkhead hole to feel any ice, but it was there, right at
the edge. I'll assume, until I load the boxes and get them down to temps,
that my charge level is correct.

Despite those temps, last night when it was still a few degrees over the set
point, there wasn't frost on all the plate surface. However, an infrared
thermometer showed the highest temp to be zero, and the rest ranged down
to -21° with most of it in the -15 to -18 range. I concluded that to mean
that it was adequately charged :{)) - but didn't know for sure that it
wasn't slightly overcharged. This morning's feel for the ice on the return
line suggests it's right on. The lack of frost everywhere, despite my small
circulating fan in the freezer running, suggests I have the reefer door
gasket difficulties resolved, as (I presume) there was very little moisture
in the two spaces, starting from hot and wet air.

And, despite my bragging on the keel cooler's amazing ability to dissipate
heat in the air, I wrapped it in a wash rag, propped it on all 4 sides, and
ran a trickle of water into it (enough that it dripped continuously).
Initially, that water was VERY (not to burn, but notable) hot. As the box
came down, it became less so.

So, I'll leave that in place, as we're routinely over 90° here during the
day, and only low 80s at night.

All is well here. Thanks for your help!

L8R

Skip, off to fix dings in both doors

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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