Homemade Curing Chamber Troubleshooting

[Crunkles]

I have recently converted an old fridge into a curing chamber. Ive been testing it for a week and last night the coils froze over. Im thinking it has to do with either the increased humidity in the fridge itself or the fact that I had it set to the coldest setting and the thermostat cuts the fridge off before the defrost had a chance to kick on. Luckily I didn't have any meats in the chamber. I was wondering if any of you have experienced this before or have ideas to prevent this moving forward.

The freezer is on top if that helps

 

[indaswamp]

How long is the unit running during the cooling cycle? It might be low on coolant or could have a leak.

Moisture condensing on the evaporator coil is common when using a refrigerator as a curing chamber. If it is excessive to the point of freeze up, I would look for a leak or check the coolant level; i.e. have it serviced. If it is an old unit, the system might be about to go out...as happened with my first drying chamber. Mine was an old freezer and it just ran too long and the coils would freeze up. Low coolant from a leak.

 

[Crunkles]

How long is the unit running during the cooling cycle? It might be low on coolant or could have a leak.

Moisture condensing on the evaporator coil is common when using a refrigerator as a curing chamber. If it is excessive to the point of freeze up, I would look for a leak or check the coolant level; i.e. have it serviced. If it is an old unit, the system might be about to go out...as happened with my first drying chamber. Mine was an old freezer and it just ran too long and the coils would freeze up. Low coolant from a leak.

Its a fairly new unit, but I will give the coolant levels a check. Upon further inspection it looks like the output into the fridge frosted closed could this be a cause or is it a symptom.

 

[Crunkles]

Its a fairly new unit, but I will give the coolant levels a check. Upon further inspection it looks like the output into the fridge frosted closed could this be a cause or is it a symptom.

Before today the cooling cycle was running for less than 10 minutes at a time before switching over. I have the thermostat set to give a 3 minute delay before kicking on after reaching its trigger time.

 

[indaswamp]

Its a fairly new unit, but I will give the coolant levels a check. Upon further inspection it looks like the output into the fridge frosted closed could this be a cause or is it a symptom.

That will do it.... figure out why the vent is icing over. Maybe check the drain hole on the water pan? Might be clogged up.

BTW, pics. would help diagnose the issue....

 

[indaswamp]

running ~10 minute sounds normal for the cooling cycle, what are the high/low settings on your temp. controller?

 

[Crunkles]

running ~10 minute sounds normal for the cooling cycle, what are the high/low settings on your temp. controller?

I'm at work so ill take some pics when I get home but the temp range is set to 55⁰ +/- 2⁰. With a 3 minute delay.

 

[indaswamp]

Set it to turn the refrigerator of when temp. hits 55*F and cool down to 48*F when the controller shuts the compressor off. 2*F is not enough of a range to give the compressor enough time to cool off.