Charcuterie Crisis- drying chamber has coolant leak

[indaswamp]

I was wondering why the chamber was cycling for so long...why it was taking so long to cool... Well, now I know. It got to the point where my chamber could not cool down inside with the dehumidifier on. So I took my BBQ thermometer and stuck it in the air outlet at the top of the freezer...57*F. So I unplugged the unit then I pulled all the salami and hung them on smoker poles over chairs, removed the cover over the evap coil. and found a little bit of ice on the high pressure side line where it enters the evap coil. Defrost with hair drier. Plug in and the coil is only cold near the high pressure inlet. Low coolant is my assumption...but could be compressor. Either way, I'm replacing it.

For now, I went and bought a 16# bag of ice, hung everything back in the chamber, ice on the floor of the freezer, with a small fan circulation the cool air. That will get me about half a day....and buy some time.

All my salamis have lost 24-25% weight so they are almost done. I might could hang in the house and let them finish without serious case hardening. Or at least until I get anther unit up and running...

There is a scratch and dent place in Baton Rouge...50-70% off retail, with warranty. They open @ 10am... I'm gonna call them and see what they have...see if I can get a deal....I'll report back when I know something.

 

[indaswamp]

Oh- and I stubbed my pinky toe this morning too!!! Grrrrrrr!!! That hurt!

 

[TNJAKE]

Sounds like a heck of a day. Toe looks broken. Hope you get everything back up and running

 

[Brokenhandle]

Ya, good luck...hope you find something that works for you! You nailed your toe good!

Ryan

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well crap! At least they are close to finished. Good luck on a new fridge. Around here (very rural) refrigerators are 6-8 weeks out from everywhere. Hope it’s better where you are so you can be back up and running.
That piggy is going to be sore for a long while. Best of luck.

 

[JLeonard]

Man that is one angry looking toe. And bets are it will find everything in the house to bump it on.
Jim

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks fellas. Toe looks bad, but does not hurt.

 

[indaswamp]

So the ice is working out better than I hoped. Lasting longer than I thought it would. Holding temp. 56.5*F for 10 hours now. I'll buy more ice for tonight. I called the appliance store and they have a truck in, but unable to unload because of the rain. Store worker said the she thinks they have some freezers on the truck so I will call back in the morning.

 

[indaswamp]

With 4 hurricanes hitting Louisiana in 2020, two major storms, freezer demand has been extremely high for the last 6 months. And Covid is another reason...people are buying freezers to store more food now that restaurants are not open and to avoid crowds. No used freezers available, and when one comes up, it is snatched up pretty quickly. Hopefully the scratch and dent will have one in the morning. If not, might have to buy new. There are freezer/refrigerator models available now so if I buy new, that's what I will likely buy. If any other goes out, I'll have options.

If/when Covid settles down, I'm sure there will be more used freezers for sale....but who knows when that will be....

 

[SmokinEdge]

Might be possible to retrofit an A/C unit to your cabinet. A small version of a walk-in cooler. Not sure on cost, but could be done.

 

[indaswamp]

Might be possible to retrofit an A/C unit to your cabinet. A small version of a walk-in cooler. Not sure on cost, but could be done.

If I were gonna do that, I'd retrofit the double door true cooler I have. But with an A/C, the air flow would be too high for charcuterie to dry properly.

 

[SmokinEdge]

If I were gonna do that, I'd retrofit the double door true cooler I have. But with an A/C, the air flow would be too high for charcuterie to dry properly.

The A/C cycles though. Well insulated box would have the A/C run not to often or for very long in cooler weather . Or would it?

 

[indaswamp]

The A/C cycles though. Well insulated box would have the A/C run not to often or for very long in cooler weather . Or would it?

I'm just going off my research into it when I thought about fixing up and using the old true double door. A/C has too much airflow. There may be a way to slow the airflow down, highjack the fan speed....but I don't know.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I'm just going off my research into it when I thought about fixing up and using the old true double door. A/C has too much airflow. There may be a way to slow the airflow down, highjack the fan speed....but I don't know.

Just a quick internet search. Maybe something will light the bulb?
https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/products/food-and-beverage/refrigerators/cooling-units

 

[BGKYSmoker]

That sux...did you get it fixed yet

When i had my cure cabinet the capacitor went out on my motor, only lost 5 pounds while it was down for service.

 

[indaswamp]

Well, the scratch and dent had a waiting list and it was long...
Not much available in stock at the big box stores or the appliance stores. Freezers are in extreme high demand. I ended up buying a maytag 16cu.ft. freezer from a local dealer, but won't be here for another 5-7 days. In the meantime, the ice is working great. I'm changing it out morning and night, every 12 hours...and about 60% of the ice is melted each time. I just dump the water and refill the bag. Holding 56.5*F; 81-83RH%. Product is still losing weight at 0.7%/day. Some will be done when the new unit gets here.

I didn't really want to spend that much, but most of it was my stimulus check anyways. Plus, I have an old non-frost free freezer that will need to be replaced eventually, so if I can get this old chamber repaired I'll have 2 chambers to fill up until the old non frost free kicks the bucket.

 

[indaswamp]

New unit arrived today. I went and picked it up, dropped it off at the house, unpacked it, and let it sit for 5 hours to allow the coolant to settle in the compressor. Then finished my day. Got home, plugged it in and it is running now. Will set up and swap over to new chamber probably Saturday..