Apple Leisure Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 How to tell if it's the deck itself or possibly the thermostat? The unit does shut off when the thermostat is turned to off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 A bad thermostat, assuming all else is working perfectly, will usually cause everything inside to freeze as it never tells the compressor to shut off. If there's simply ice on the evaporator on one side, then you are probably low on refrigerant. If it is evenly frosted over across the entire evaporator, then you probably have either a bad evaporator fan/motor OR some sort of restriction that's not allowing air to flow across the evaporator. So.. simply put.. a bad thermostat usually results in frozen soda in addition to ice, while other problems can manifest themselves in all sorts of ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Leisure Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 Thanks Chris. There's a whole lot of ice covering most everywhere, enough so the cans had stopped cooling because of it. I'll probably replace the whole deck, but hoped it might be something more simple (and less expensive). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Sounds like a bad evaporator fan or an air restriction. If it's a bad evaporator fan/motor, then changing the deck won't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Leisure Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hey Chris, just to be clear, the evaporator is the part you see right behind the chute, correct? Anyway, when I saw all of that ice I turned the thermostat off to let the ice melt, which it did. Went back today and turned it back on; quickly one side of the evaporator started to ice up again. Sound like a leak to you? I don't see any type of restriction to the air flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Do you still have water standing in the cabinet? It must be drained out. Is it humid there? Humidity causes quick frosting of the evaporator. If the frost is only on the top right of the evaporator that's where the freon expands and begins to cool so there will always be frost on the top right corner, on 2 to 3 inches of the tube leading to that corner and sometimes into the fins for a couple of inches. That is normal when the unit is properly charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Leisure Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Hey thanks for chiming in AZ. Humidity is not a problem at all, the machine is in a friendly environment. But the large part of the 'tubing', before the evaporator, should get very cold to the touch, very fast, is that right? I mean when the unit is running of course. What do you call that part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 The tiny tube leading to the evaporator is the capillary tube. It leads into the 1/4" tubing in the evaporator. That transition is where the freon first expands so it's the coldest part of the system. There's no name for it but the frost on it is called the "frost line." If you're asking about the horizontal bulb in front of a Vendo evaporator (it's vertical and to the right on a Dixie Narco) is called the accumulator. It should not normally get ice cold but just cold. If it, by itself, gets cold enough to frost over or ice over then you have bad high side valves in the compressor. If this is happening then you will eventually have to replace the compressor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Leisure Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 The bulb doesn't feel very cold, nor the frost line I guess. Those should both get pretty cold shouldn't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 It's important to be as specific as you can about frost or ice. If you just have ice on one corner of the deck, then the unit is probably low assuming there's no restriction. If it's frost across the entire evaporator, then that's a different problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 If you have a frost line from the cap tube to the evaporator that is all you need to know that it's ice cold. Whether if feels cold or not doesn't matter. If you have frost there it's cold. The accumulator should not be that cold and should not frost up. You may need to have the unit recharged or at least have someone put their gauges on it to see what is happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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