Cold food machine problem....

[MistaFrz]

Hey guys. Recently in the past month or so every time I open my cold food machine, it's an older Rowe, it blacks out after a half an hour saying the food health timer expired. I can re-open and close the machines door to reset that timer and it still goes black with the same error message. I called a repair guy out and he cleaned out the machine but he stated that everything should work after that. Well here I am today and got another phone call saying the machine is blacked out. I've driven at least a few hundred miles back and forth total trying to figure this out and it's driving me insane. Any help would be amazing, thanks so much!

[AZVendor]

You should give us the model number of the machine as it could be a 448, 548 or 648.  I'm going to assume this is a 548/648 with blue price and credit displays as most 448 health controls were never replaced when they failed and yours is working.  When you say he "cleaned it out," what does that mean.  The health timer will expire if the cabinet temperature doesn't fall to approx. 42 deg or lower within 30 minutes.  This can be caused by poor airflow through the condensing unit, a faulty temp sensor, high ambient temperature, low freon or a malfunctioning compressor.

 

What temperatures does the machine report after you have closed the door and 1/2 hour later?  Press the blank key and F on the keypad to read the temperature at any time.

 

The airflow is very critical and the machine must be 4 - 6" away from the wall, have a clean vent screen on the bottom of the machine and have a clean condenser and rear vent screen.  The front screen is easy to remove and clean.  The only way to properly clean the condensing unit is to pull it out of the machine, take it outside and blow it out with compressed air or a CO2 cylinder.  When the unit is out you can also clean the rear vent screen. 

 

Before you remove the unit you need to do some cursory checks of the machine.  Make sure it's away from the wall.  Open the main door and look down into the metal mesh screen in the right front corner of the cold cabinet at the evaporator.  You should see all the fins of the evaporator.  If you see only white, it is frozen and there's no air circulation in the cabinet.  This could be low freon or a bad evaporator fan motor.  If the evaporator is clear then check that the evap fan runs by pressing on the stainless steel switch lever at the lower left side of the cabinet.  This will start the evaporator fan which should give you appreciable airflow from the TOP inside turret air holes in the shelves.  Next, start the compressor by closing the door and giving the machine a few minutes to start the compressor.  Listen to the sound of the compressor and the condensing fan as it starts.  Do you feel good air flow up under the cabinet into the machine?  Do you feel good air flow out the back of the machine?  Do you hear the compressor start without effort (there will be a distinct compressor sound and fan sound)?  Does the compressor click on but not run and then click off without starting at any time?

 

Only after performing these steps should the condensing unit be pulled out to be cleaned.  At that time inspect the evaporator outlet gaskets.  There are ways to run the unit when it's out of the machine so you can listen to it and check the fans out of the machine.

 

Let us know if you need more help, but you have some questions to ask your vending tech.  If you don't have a way to repair your cooling unit, should it need it, you can ship it to me for repair.

[MistaFrz]

I will find out what I can. I ended up getting the machine going so I'll wait on opening it for a couple weeks.