Royal Vendors RVCDE 376-8 Questions,questions, questions

[tedk]

I have two of these machines, serial numbers 1299DG0096 and 1287DG0556.They were both in a school for two years and worked well.I lost the school contract and had to remove them the first week of July. I took the #1299 machine directly to roof truss manufacturing facility the # 1287 is in my garage. Both machines have a coinco three tube 24 volt coin mech.

After about a week the coin mech would accept our two dollar coin but didn't give the correct change. I cleaned it, tested it about 15 times and it seemed fine. Before I left an employee tried it and didn't get the right change. However the machine worked as long as you used the correct change.

I swapped the mech with the one I had at home and everything appeared to be ok. Two days later the pop wasn't cold. I determined the fan behind the condenser wasn't working and changed it. You could feel the cold air immediately. I filled their snack machine and left.

Apparently within a day or two the exchange coin mech developed the same problem as the first one. The next day the the pop got warm and the light in the washroom started to pulse. It is on the same circuit. The next day the circuit breaker started to trip. The fan works. If I disconnect the thermostat so the compressor doesn't kick on, the machine doesn't trip the breaker, so I think the problem is in the refrigeration section. What i"m not sure about is are the three problems connected or am I having a run of bad luck. Did the fan go because of some other problem that is showing itself by tripping the breaker? Is the coin mech problem a different thing? I am confused. Please help.

Thanks, Ted

[Technivend]

It sounds as if you have low voltage on that circuit. It is common that when you disconnect the compressor everything works as that is what draws the most current. Bring a long extension cord with you and plug it in a different outlet and then plug the compRessor into it and see if it trips. Low voltage will cause erratic payouts overload your compressor and other mysterious symptoms. Àlso if ypu have a meter check the voltage at the outlet. Low voltage will show up during a heavy drain so you need to plug it all in to get an accurate reading.

[tedk]

Thanks Bill:

I'm going up there tomorrow so I'll check for voltage. If that is the problem I'll see about moving the machine or upgrading the circuit. Is there anything else i can do? I did have a 1980's Dixie Narco in there for three years on this circuit with no problems. it was single price. I pulled it in July when I started getting warm pop in it. I thought it could be the compressor and I didn't want to spend the money on such an old machine. Maybe it was voltage on that one as well?

[Technivend]

It certainly could have burnt out your Dixie compressor. If you still have the other Royal you could try swapping the compressor and see what happens. Unfortunately locations usually have the "It's your machine, it's your problem" attitude when it comes to electrical issues.

Did you ever test the single price Dixie after you removed it to see if the compressor was in fact bad??

[tedk]

I ran some tests on this machine and found that the thermal overload switch was burned. I took it off the compressor and the machine started up without tripping the breakers. I went out to see if I could find the overload switch locally with no success. When I came back the machine was running but not cooling.

Thinking I may need a re-charge I spoke to a refrigeration guy. He suggested that even though the compressor seems to be running it may be broken inside.  I called a Royal technician who said the cooling problem may be related to the overload switch and that I should replace the switch first to see if it clears up. I am going to replace the overload as soon as I can get the other one but does any one know if the cooling problem can be related to the overload switch?

As I said this machine has been giving me problems for a couple of weeks so I think I will exchange the machine while I keep trying to work through the problems with the first machine.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ted

[Technivend]

No, If you bypassed the overload and the compressor ran but didn't get cold then the compressor is more then likely junk. It may be just low but because the overload went AND it isn't cooling would lend itself to the former. The overload is a safety overload and shouldn't be bypassed except for testing purposes and even this can be dangerous if you are not sure what you are doing.

Plug your compressor directly into 110v without any fans running in the machine. leave the door open and sit there for 10-15 minutes and you should start to see frost appear on the evaporator. You want to see frost on the copper tubes going into the evap coils. There is a small tube (cap tube) that goes into a larger tube. this is where you will first start to see frost form.

If you do not see frost  it is either low on gas or the compressor is not pumping. No way to tell that without going into the system.

Did you ever determine if the electricity is good?? Low voltage can be the cause of your overload popping.

[tedk]

We tested the voltage and it is good. I am changing machines tomorrow and I'll excange the compressor when I get it back.

Ted