DN 501e suddenly increase electrical consumption

[mariche]

Hi every one, I have bought a DN 501e since January and it was ok until the last May, the electricity bill was also razonable and the electrical consumption was about 11 kwh daily now the bill is on the double and suddenly with not reazon the consumption is about the 18 kwh in fact for the currently month

in my site is raining and I supoust that if the outside temperature is down the consumption in kwh also down or at least remains in the same proportion but it is not. Any idea why it happens? Last April the technician did some adjustments for a problem with 2 cans expending in one selection paying only for one can but we don't know if he could change something to start this problem I said, any help welcome

[AZVendor]

Welcome to the forums, mariche.

 

I am guessing you are outside the US.  Here in the US we don't measure electrical usage by device, we only have meters on individual buildings so no one here ever determines that a single machine is increasing it's electrical usage by any specific amount.  If you do have a meter on your machine, and only on this one machine, then you could have increased usage because of the higher humidity in your area while it's raining.  You should realize that ambient temperature, humidity, system freon charge, compressor condition, fan efficiency, air flow restrictions, product load in the machine, and cabinet air integrity all come into play in electrical usage. 

 

In a perfectly operating machine with no problem areas that need repair, your machine's electrical usage will increase if more load is put on the cooling system.  This load could be higher ambient temperatures that heat the cabinet up, higher humidity that reduces the heat transfer efficiency of your system or by not having very much product in your machine.  The product in your machine is like a storage device for cold temperature, the more product you have that is chilled, the less often the compressor has to run because the cold product will help hold the temperature down in between cooling cycles. 

 

Your machine could also have any number of problems that you aren't aware of.  You might have reduced air flow caused by a dirty condenser in front of your compressor, or by the machine being too close to a wall, or because your condenser fan is running too slow and not transferring heat from the freon quick enough.  You could have an air leak in your cabinet if the door is not sealed properly due to a faulty T-handle that won't tighten the door, damaged inner door gasket (look at the bottom edge of the inner door), a missing drain hose, a clogged drain hose or damaged delivery door flap.  The air leak would allow excess humidity into the cabinet which reduces system efficiency.

 

Your thermostat should be set at 3 1/2 on it's dial for normal operating temperature.  Your thermostat might be incorrect for your machine (the correct one will have the capillary tube clipped into a horizontal slot in the air duct in the rear of the cabinet to the right of the evaporator).  The thermostat might be short cycling which means it turns the compressor and fan on but only for a minute or two and then turns them off for a short time, then repeats.

 

Your compressor could be low on freon which makes it run longer to cool the cabinet and is usually indicated by ice forming on the top right corner of the evaporator or spreading across the top edge of the evaporator.  Don't confuse that with a little bit of frost that might develop during a cooling cycle by then melts when the compressor turns off.  If water doesn't drain from the cabinet properly and leaves water standing under the evaporator you will have ice form on the evaporator due to that extra moisture.  You could also have faulty valves in the compressor that make it lose it's efficiency and run much longer trying to cool the machine.  This could result in short cycles of the compressor itself even though the condenser fan remains running.