Expert Electrical Help - $10 paypal reward! Mini Beer Fridge doesn't cool

[suprarx7nut]

Hello all you experts. I have a problem and if anyone can help me track down and fix the problem I have $10 via paypal waiting...

My sweetheart of a girlfriend got me a mini-kegerator for my birthday and it doesn't cool. It appears to have been manufactured in 07, but it's brand new/never used.

I'm trying to fix it as she got it shipped and I'm sensing ebay or something and it will not be easy to return.

I've done some basic diagnostics:
-Unit powers up, fan runs, but does not cool.
-A small square piece glued to the bottom of the container with two leads (red/black) gets EXTREMELY hot as soon as it's turned on. This piece has a big heat sink/fan on the back of it. What is this?
-There is 12V to the main circuit on the board.
-There is a pump wired to a high pressure switch and the pump only sees 0.5V when the unit is turned on.
-There is a squishy piece of tubing attached the pump-pressure switch and it is very limp. i.e. no pressure.

This is the pump, you can see the white soft hose coming out of the top, the leads are at the bottom. Yellow wire goes to the pressure switch.

This is the pressure switch.

This is the flat piece that gets VERY, VERY HOT immediately when it's plugged in.

Heat Sink:

What kind of cooling system would this thing use? How could I re-pressurize the system if it's lost pressure?

I'm guessing there is no pressure. The pump is only connected to one hose so maybe it's an air pump?

I'm a bit lost at this point and I'm really hoping to get this working. It's brand new (old shelf stock) and I know it wasn't cheap on my g/f's first year teacher salary so I'd love to get it working.

Thank you in advance for any help and like I said, if you can give me the solution and it works you've got $10 coming your way.

-Andy

 

[Dirgle]

That fridge uses what is known as a peltier cooler. It's a thermoelectric heat pump. One side of that plate is supposed to get hot, and the other side gets cool. It uses electricity to move heat from one side to the other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect

It's not any where as effective as a refrigerant based cooling system, especially as the size of the area needing to be cooled gets larger.


As far as the vacuum pump is concerned I'm not sure what it's purpose is. If you told me the make and model I might be able to get some more information.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Ahhhh. Clever!

BUT... it doesn't get cold enough apparently. As for the pump, I'm an idiot. It's for the kegerator portion and pumps air into containter without their own CO2 supply. So that's unrelated.

The Model is IC-PRO-5000. It's made by IcyCool, which appears to have gone under a while ago. Or maybe it got bought by someone else?

So this pad appears to have been temporarily adhered to the bottom of the container, but it flopped right off when I took it off, to inspect the fan. (The fan was broken when I got it. So I fixed the fan and ran into that small pad.) Should it be stuck to the bottom? It gets pressed up against it with the heat sink, but is there a special paste that transfers heat better or something? That's good to know the pad is supposed to get insanely hot.

Thanks for the response!

 

[Dirgle]

I would recommend something like an Artic Silver thermal compound for both sides. And when you go to re install it make sure you get the hot side on the heat sink and the cold side on the fridge. You can check this by applying power for a split second. One side should be warm and the other should be hot. Put the hot side to the heat sink(It will not get cold on one side until the heat sink is on the other to move the heat away). Also when you install it make sure the insulation around the edges is nice and snug. If it isn't there, there is the possibility for condensation to form and affect the overall efficiency of the unit.

Now you can pick up the arctic silver at most radio shack stores, computer repair shops or online:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mal+Paste+/+Grease-_-Arctic+Silver-_-35100009
This one will behave better on the cold side, but both are suitable.

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...008&cm_re=artic_silver-_-35-100-008-_-Product

 

[3p141592654]

I would make sure that the cooler makes good even contact with both the cold side and the heatsink side. I am assuming the heatsink bolts down on the cold plate squeezing the cooler chip in between. Make sure that mechanical connections is good and flat.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Thanks a million guys. Just bought the article silver. I'll try it out tonight!

I have paypal ready...

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk

 

[3p141592654]

That cooler will destruct without the heatsink attached so avoid powering it up until its all back together.

 

[Dirgle]

Thanks a million guys. Just bought the article silver. I'll try it out tonight!

I have paypal ready...

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk

Lol, no problem. I appreciate the offer for the paypal, but I'm just glad I could help. I hope you get the cooler working to your satisfaction.

And like 3p1415... said the peltier chip doesn't like to be powered up without the cooler, but if it's an OEM model it won't have any marking for which side is which. Applying power may be the only method of finding out, so if you do make sure it is only for a fraction of a second. That will be long enough to know.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Hmm... well I reassembled with Arctic Silver and still no luck. It stays at room temp. The peltier element gets very hot and very cold instantly when I turned it on for 1 second. Maybe I killed it before though.

When I first got the fridge powered on, the fan didnt work, so it just sat there, radiating heat for maybe 30 solid minutes. It also was turned on when I had it sitting by itself while I tried to troubleshoot. Sounds like it could have easily been damaged during those times.

It's a TEC1-12705 element, which appears to be easily found online for about 5 bucks. I think I'll just buy another and give that a shot. :dunno:

I found a spec sheet for the element. It is TEC1-12705. Mine is showing open circuit so I'm pretty sure the element toast. Just bought one on ebay, I'll install it this week and see if that helps.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Installed the new element today! (I ordered Saturday afternoon and it arrived Monday.... holy crap)

IT COOLS!!! It's sitting at 41 right now. Not as cold as it could be but that's in range of where it should be. Thanks a TON Dirgle and Pi. Dirgle I owe you $10.

There is a very slight gap at the lid, so I'll get some very thin weatherstripping or something to seal it up. Maybe even just a few layers of tape or something. Thanks again!

 

[northwestsupra]

Installed the new element today! (I ordered Saturday afternoon and it arrived Monday.... holy crap)

IT COOLS!!! It's sitting at 41 right now. Not as cold as it could be but that's in range of where it should be. Thanks a TON Dirgle and Pi. Dirgle I owe you $10.

There is a very slight gap at the lid, so I'll get some very thin weatherstripping or something to seal it up. Maybe even just a few layers of tape or something. Thanks again!

I still think using a peiter element on ic pipes would be cool lol

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk