Royal 650 Merlin IV Help!

[coinvestor]

After getting no help from the two rude and condescending techs at Royal (this has not been the norm but sure was on this day) I have come looking for help. Before even asking any questions they told me I needed a new refrigeration deck. I don't think they are right, but I'm not sure what the problem is.

My machine was a milk machine but I am using it for only soda. Everytime I open the door the health timer  kicks out making the machine out of order. When I close the door the cooling kicks in and cools the cabinet to 40 deg then turns off. I know that the cut ins and outs are set right, and it should cool to 32 deg. The royal tech said that the comp was over heating and kicking off before it gets to the setpoint. The comp is not getting hot, and when I unplug the cooling deck and plug it into a drop cord it will cool fine to 32 deg so the overheating thing doesn't make sense. After resetting the health error the unit cools to 39 deg and comes back on at 41 deg.

Any thoughts on what the problem is?

Thanks,

JD

[Technivend]

Surprised to hear that about Royal. They are usually very helpful.

On to your question....From what you are saying you are correct in questioning of your compressor is good or not. Couple of things though.

1) The Royal Milk Machine used to use a manual thermostat and not the electronic one. If you are playing around with those settings it won't change a thing. Try adjusting the manual thermostat colder.

2)When the compressor turns off. does the compressor fan stay running? If yes, the compressor is going out on overload. If no, then the thermostat is shutting off the compressor assembly. (the fan and compressor are hooked up in a parallel circuit)

3) A refer system should pull well below freezing while running. A 32 degree temp is not cold enough to keep your product cold. The best way to test it is this. Plug the compressor into an outlet using an extension cord. Let it run for at least 15 minute. Look at the evaporator, it should be frosty all they way across. If it is frosty on the left only (Dixie is on the right) by the small copper tube going into the evaporator your unit is low on gas.

Now, if you are using this for soda only and nothing perishable you should try to eliminate the health control as it will be more trouble then it is worth. Soda can be run at 45 degrees but that won;t keep the health control happy. I'll have to dig and see if I have a manual or notes to see if this is possible.

[coinvestor]

Surprised to hear that about Royal. They are usually very helpful.

On to your question....From what you are saying you are correct in questioning of your compressor is good or not. Couple of things though.

1) The Royal Milk Machine used to use a manual thermostat and not the electronic one. If you are playing around with those settings it won't change a thing. Try adjusting the manual thermostat colder.

2)When the compressor turns off. does the compressor fan stay running? If yes, the compressor is going out on overload. If no, then the thermostat is shutting off the compressor assembly. (the fan and compressor are hooked up in a parallel circuit)

3) A refer system should pull well below freezing while running. A 32 degree temp is not cold enough to keep your product cold. The best way to test it is this. Plug the compressor into an outlet using an extension cord. Let it run for at least 15 minute. Look at the evaporator, it should be frosty all they way across. If it is frosty on the left only (Dixie is on the right) by the small copper tube going into the evaporator your unit is low on gas.

Now, if you are using this for soda only and nothing perishable you should try to eliminate the health control as it will be more trouble then it is worth. Soda can be run at 45 degrees but that won;t keep the health control happy. I'll have to dig and see if I have a manual or notes to see if this is possible.

Thanks for the reply Technivend!

That is the reason I pointed out that it was not my normal experience with Royal. I must have just caught them on a bad day. I always buy royals when I can and my calls that day made me wonder if I had made a good decision.

1. I don't think that this machine has a manual thermostat, but I will definitely look again to make sure.

2. No, the compressor fan cuts off with the compressor.

3. I have plugged the compressor into an extension cord, but after about 5 minutes its down to 31-32 and I unplug it. I have not tried to run it any colder for fear of freezing drinks. I will plug it in again and check for frost across the coils.

The milk machines are made so that you can't disable the health sensor in the software. I have ordered new eproms to program this feature out, but I didn't want to only fix the error and not the problem.

Thanks for all your help,

JD

[Technivend]

Unplug the machine and plug the compressor directly into an outlet. You won't freeze drinks doing it this way. Let it run for at least 15 minutes. If you want, take a picture of the frost lines and email it to me and I'll give you my 2 cents.....

[coinvestor]

Sorry, I got a picture but I can't seem to get it off this stupid phone. I had a chance to mess with this machine yesterday. When the compressor cuts off, the fan does also.When I plug the unit in direct, the coils are evenly frosted. I tried adjusting the manual thermostat and it made no difference at all. The temp stayed between the 39-41 range no matter where the manual thermostat was set.

I'm thinking it must be the manual thermostat that is bad?

[Technivend]

As long as the machine has never been modified and it uses the manual thermostat, I would guess the same. You can see if the manual one is used by turning it off or disconnecting it.

[coinvestor]

Swapping out the thermostat did the trick. It now cools in a normal cycle (42-32). I also switched out the EPROM to one with out the health timer. Thanks Bill for you help.

I will also add that I called Royal tech support and spoke to the same tech and he was very helpful this time. I did not feel the need to tell him that he was wrong 

[Technivend]

Glad your all set. And good to hear about the Royal tech. They are usually very good and I was surprised by your experience. But we are only human and have bad days, and sometimes worse moments!