Need a recharge in Grenada - R403 refrigerant

[LTDsailing]

Another person to check with is Basil. He is based out of Port Louis and is who The Moorings uses. Check out the Cruisers Net on 66 International at 7:30 am. Just ask during the parts and services section and I am sure you will get good information.

[onefastdaddy]

Hello, update, I called and left my number for Stuart with no reply as yet. In the meantime on the net (66), I got the name onboard marine Svcs and quickly Oscar was out and very friendly. He found a few things so far. The solenoid that turns on the fridge circuit is 12v and the power to it is 21v so it gets very hot and turns off during of the fridge and explaining why the fridge plate won't get cold. Then a test showed that I have pressure in the system so if any refrigerant is needed it would be just a bit so there are no bubbles in the sight window. The water pump">raw water pump is 24v but the transformer powering it says 230v to 12v. So for some reason the transformer is outputting 21v which is on for the sea water pump but burning up the 12v solenoid (blue Danfoss one described above). I suggest a DC to DC 24v to 12v to put inline on the solenoid as the simplest option. I will see if Budget Marine has one. Tomorrow he will be back to top off the refrigerant and we will look at the options again on the control circuit that's obviously too high.

My best guess what happened was during the "phase out" work at the moorings base in Tortola the electrical guy or someone rewired it back incorrectly. Who knows maybe it came to them that way from Sunsail. I won't throw them under the bus as I do not know how it got this way.
Next I will do a diagram of the system.
Any experts still willing to chime in now that more details are in?

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[onefastdaddy]

Problem found, I am sharing it so others can learn that although "professionals" do reply to threads unless they are on your boat with the proper tools it's just a best guess what the true problem is.
In my case it was not an expensive repair required or a leak which was suggested. With the property tools and most important, the right experience, Oscar with onboard refrigeration tracked it down to the "TX" valves that control the flow of refrigerant to the cold plates inside the fridge and freezer. They can be adjusted with a 6mm Alan wrench. Once unstuck and adjusted my freezer plate was -10c in less than an hour. The fridge working again for the first time since I got the boat from the Moorings where their expert was unable to find the issue with the 12v solenoid getting 24v and during of the line going to the fridge. He was no idiot just he missed a simple fix there.
So when giving advice maybe best advice is what I got which was the name of a competent refrigeration person. If you are down island here and need a good tech call Oscar at Onboard.

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[Palarran]

I guess your right Fastdaddy about advice, you get what you pay for. But I would add that when you ask for free advise, it's really best to not make snippy comments about the answers.

I'll add a little more. If your txv valve was plugged or stuck and became unplugged by adjusting it, it will plug again, and you have a pretty big problem going on inside your system. This isn't a guess, it's a fact.

[onefastdaddy]

@Palarran, I understand, my apologies if I seemed unappreciative of the responses. None were unwelcome. The experts and all did recommend getting someone competent onboard. I agree about the txv valve and resticking again. That wouldn't be a surprise but I haven't the money to spend anymore on this fridge.

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[onefastdaddy]

@all, I badly worded my message before. Apologies. Best advice is the name of a good fridge person. The discussion on what it could be or how to do your own repair is a good discussion. In my case I did need a bit of both as now if it fails again I have no money to call Oscar back and I will have to likely make something else work. R404/507 is 40USD per lb here FWIW

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[admiralslater]

You got to Oscar before I got to you He fixed both fridge and freezer,water maker,solved the charging problems on both engine. Onboard Refrigeration, based at Spice island Marine. We had purchased an 03 outremer 45 that was unused for 3 years. He was a great help