Wittern 3182 Troubleshooting

[MrVendAlot]

Hey All,

OK - I do very minimal cold/frozen vending but do have 4 frozen machines.  2 of those work.   The 3rd is in my garage from a previous breakdown.  The last one is dead on location now.   The broken in the garage and and the location broken are both Wittern 3182 model frozen machines.  On location the Wittern 3182 is connected as a satellite to a snack machine.   In the garage it has its own satellite tower with the board/harness/coin/bill.   

Symptoms of the first machines issues(now in garage with tower) - Everything melted and the frozen would not power back up.   When reset the machines would power up, the compressor appeared to start and then it would always kick the breaker in the location.  The process to flip the breaker back on is very difficult and I determined it needed to be at my house to troubleshoot.   The temperature would go roughly room temperature and obviously the majority of the time it was powered off due to kicking the breaker.  

I purchased a replacement Wittern 3182 with an attached snack(which was good because I could use one Credit Card Reader).  I setup and worked well for 2 months.   I went to service and saw one of the mirrors had began to fall off and then I saw the temperature said 140 degrees.   Obviously threw away all of the food.  Reset both machines, verified filter was cleaned.  Tried to power back on.  Left overnight and did not cool and remained burning up.   I now have this machine powered down(there was no impact to the main snack machine).   

So the question is where do I start?  My primary repairman does not want to touch these machines.   I am searching for other repairman but also wanted to see if I could resolve one or both of these machines.   Does anything stick out to anybody on either of these machines?   On the second/placed machine the light stayed normal and bright throughout.   Am I likely dealing with a burned up compressor?  Anybody have a machine blowing such hot air?  On the first/garage machine I can't remember the troubleshooting related to the light.   I am replacing the bulb to test in my garage.   I also intend to test placing a higher capacity 3 in 1 starter if the compressor components are potentially overloading the circuit(sorry minimal troubleshooting with these type of components).   

 

Any input is appreciated as always. 

[AZVendor]

You can try the 3 in 1 hard start kits (use the heavy one because your compressors are 3/4hp) but if that doesn't work then you have a bad compressor.  The hard start will replace the plastic start relay that does fail regularly.  The one that trips your breaker needs a new compressor.  These were some of the worst designed machines from USI due to the huge compressor inside a narrow cabinet that blocks too much airflow.  You also need to keep a close eye on the front of the evaporator as the front filter doesn't do a great job of keeping dirt from embedding in the condenser.  The only way to clean the condenser is to lay on your side, contort your arm and wrist and drag a haircomb down the fins.  This works for about 80% of the condenser.  However, when that much dirt can be pulled off of it, the condenser is probably more than 50% clogged meaning that it needs to be blown out with an air compressor or a bottle of CO2 which is what I used to do that with.

Your compressor replacement will run you easily $1000 - 2000 nowadays.  You used to be able to buy the condensing units new from USI but then you had to pay a vendng refrigeration tech to braze it in to the lines leading to the evaporator (not included with a condensing unit).  I doubt they even sell those new units now but it was the most cost effective way of getting a new compressor a few years ago.  Your only other choice will be to pay a refrgeration tech to replace your compressor which will cost the same amount due to the cost of 3/4hp compressors and the labor it takes to do the work.