Vendo 721 not cooling - building up ice

[OVend]

Vendo 721 is not cooling. Unit is building up ice on the coil / line to the right of the evaporator, as shown in photo below. I tried unplugging the condenser for a few days to let it thaw out, but when I plugged it back it it built up ice again the next time. Should I pay a refrigeration repair tech to recharge it with freon? Or should I just swap it out with a refurbished deck. Any thoughts appreciated thank you.

Note- the lines in the evaporator itself are not cold (there is no ice building up on the copper lines at the top of the photo / they are not cool to touch).

Edited April 19, 2022 by OVend

[Vendo Mike]

Freezing up evap coil can come from low freon OR lack of air passing over the coil (evap fans failed or slow??).  Also, any means of introducing warm, moist outside air into the cold cabinet (door gasket damaged or harness in the way, product eyelet flap sticking open, condensate hose pulling in hot air), etc).  Before calling a technician, you might look at these other options.  If the deck is low, it should be more cost effective to repair over replace.  It would not be a bad idea to have a backup deck available so you can take care of your machine and customers and work on the failing deck at your convenience.

[Bluestreak]

It's difficult to diagnose without a set of gauges but that looks like either a restriction or a low charge.  If it's a low charge, it could be charged back up, but unless the leak is fixed, you'll be right back there again eventually, maybe in days, maybe in months.  Restrictions are much harder to repair, I'm not sure what the frequency of them in vending machine decks is but we see them occasional in domestic refrigerators.  Vendo Mike's answer is a good one in my opinion.

 

[OVend]

Thank you guys appreciate the input. This machine was included in a route I had purchased, but I also just noticed a sticker inside the door of the machine. It says that It was recharged in June 2020. So I am guessing there is a leak of freon that was never addressed and another charge will probably just buy me more time. Maybe I should just swap out the deck and bring it to a repair tech to get refurbished.