It's easier than you may think! So let's dive right in.
This plot shows how my 8 year old keezer usually operates in similar loading and ambient conditions as today - the six kegs are roughly half full and the ambient is verging on 80°F. ON time runs between 50 to 70 minutes or so, OFF time runs between a little over three hours to as long as five hours, for four to six cycles total per day. Biggest influence is how full my six kegs are, followed by room ambient.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed the keezer was cycling every few hours, which classically indicates the keg that was being monitored for temperature control had been drained below the sensor. Usually NBD, but this time, after moving the sensor to the fullest keg, the next day I checked the temperature logs and noticed something was very much amiss:
Suddenly it was taking four hours to drop the keg temperature 2°F! Uh oh - bigly!
We were a day away from heading to Cape Cod where all my kids and grandkids would hang out with us for a week on a private beach, so this wasn't going to get fixed in short order. Still, time to hit Google, hard, figure stuff out, get what was needed, and hope the keezer would hang in there 'til we returned.
First, took a shot of the build plate to find out which refrigerant was used and how much a full charge required.
Next, while I am well versed in how refrigeration systems work, I knew very little about actually testing and recharging a fridge or freezer, so I immediately enrolled in the Youtube School Of Refrigeration, and watched a few pertinent vids, then did some trawling around the web for confirmation and any other recommendations I might find.
Now, knowing what to do and what I needed to do it, on to Amazon to pick out a recharge kit. Looked into an Amazon's Choice
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QB2WNFR
and noted it got generally good reviews, but there were specific complaints about the particular "BPV31" bullet piercing valve supplied. It requires a small thin pad that acts as a gasket, and it was often missing. So I picked up a pair of a different style BPV31 valve
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q1G22YJ
(apparently no matter what they look like they're all called "BPV31") which got good reviews (note though the display is of a CAD drawing - not the actual valve).
I ran out the next morning to pick up a self-sealing can of R134A juice, and the Amazon kit showed up that evening.
Note the BPV31 valve did come with the gasket pad, so that was good. Otoh, taking it apart there was lots of metal debris from the screw bores and threading, and I could not get either of the reducing inserts to actually install properly - they have a locating stud on their back side that's supposed to mate with a hole in the clamping plate, but the hole was too small for either stud.
Here's what the other version valves I bought look like. First, feeling good about the captive O-ring instead of a pad that doesn't self-locate. Also feeling good about the machining quality - no bits of metal falling out. So I used one of those.
I'm going to add this thought: the BPV is going to be resident in place for the remaining life of the appliance. If it has a leak, you're totally screwed. At the minimum, the system would have to be recovery-evacuated, the BPV removed, a legit fill port soldered in its place as well as needing a high pressure port installed on the other side, then the system vacuum purged, and finally recharged.
Most folks would have to fork over likely a couple hundred smackers for that. I have the skills to pull it off, but I'd have to invest in a vacuum/recovery system with a full manifold gauge set and pump and at a few hundred bucks all-in I'd be no better off than anyone else. That'd be a hella hit to pay for a crummy $2 BPV installation. I'm against it
Anyway, be aware of the potential quality issues with these things, and understand installation quality is a big chunk of what matters.
Now I was ready to rock.
Last night I waited for the keezer compressor to go idle, then started working on the system.
Here's what the guts look like:
The tube emerging on the left side of the compressor is the suction line, and that's where the BPV31 needed to go. (Fwiw, the tube emerging in the background on the right side of the compressor is the high pressure output line, while the crimped tube in the foreground is how the compressor was filled with lubricant at the factory).
The BPV needs to be oriented so the fill port is accessible, the needle screw can be accessed, and the three clamping screws can be installed and fully tightened. This was the best orientation and worked out well.
Before installing the valve I cleaned the tubing with fine steel wool followed by a damp wiping. Then I backed the BPV piercing screw out so no part of the tip was proud of the inner surface under the O-ring, positioned the valve, and fully tightened the screws in a Y-pattern 'til they all bottomed.
Now I had to wait until the compressor was running to test and recharge the keezer, so that was that for the night...
Cheers!
This plot shows how my 8 year old keezer usually operates in similar loading and ambient conditions as today - the six kegs are roughly half full and the ambient is verging on 80°F. ON time runs between 50 to 70 minutes or so, OFF time runs between a little over three hours to as long as five hours, for four to six cycles total per day. Biggest influence is how full my six kegs are, followed by room ambient.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed the keezer was cycling every few hours, which classically indicates the keg that was being monitored for temperature control had been drained below the sensor. Usually NBD, but this time, after moving the sensor to the fullest keg, the next day I checked the temperature logs and noticed something was very much amiss:
Suddenly it was taking four hours to drop the keg temperature 2°F! Uh oh - bigly!
We were a day away from heading to Cape Cod where all my kids and grandkids would hang out with us for a week on a private beach, so this wasn't going to get fixed in short order. Still, time to hit Google, hard, figure stuff out, get what was needed, and hope the keezer would hang in there 'til we returned.
First, took a shot of the build plate to find out which refrigerant was used and how much a full charge required.
Next, while I am well versed in how refrigeration systems work, I knew very little about actually testing and recharging a fridge or freezer, so I immediately enrolled in the Youtube School Of Refrigeration, and watched a few pertinent vids, then did some trawling around the web for confirmation and any other recommendations I might find.
Now, knowing what to do and what I needed to do it, on to Amazon to pick out a recharge kit. Looked into an Amazon's Choice
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QB2WNFR
and noted it got generally good reviews, but there were specific complaints about the particular "BPV31" bullet piercing valve supplied. It requires a small thin pad that acts as a gasket, and it was often missing. So I picked up a pair of a different style BPV31 valve
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q1G22YJ
(apparently no matter what they look like they're all called "BPV31") which got good reviews (note though the display is of a CAD drawing - not the actual valve).
I ran out the next morning to pick up a self-sealing can of R134A juice, and the Amazon kit showed up that evening.
Note the BPV31 valve did come with the gasket pad, so that was good. Otoh, taking it apart there was lots of metal debris from the screw bores and threading, and I could not get either of the reducing inserts to actually install properly - they have a locating stud on their back side that's supposed to mate with a hole in the clamping plate, but the hole was too small for either stud.
Here's what the other version valves I bought look like. First, feeling good about the captive O-ring instead of a pad that doesn't self-locate. Also feeling good about the machining quality - no bits of metal falling out. So I used one of those.
I'm going to add this thought: the BPV is going to be resident in place for the remaining life of the appliance. If it has a leak, you're totally screwed. At the minimum, the system would have to be recovery-evacuated, the BPV removed, a legit fill port soldered in its place as well as needing a high pressure port installed on the other side, then the system vacuum purged, and finally recharged.
Most folks would have to fork over likely a couple hundred smackers for that. I have the skills to pull it off, but I'd have to invest in a vacuum/recovery system with a full manifold gauge set and pump and at a few hundred bucks all-in I'd be no better off than anyone else. That'd be a hella hit to pay for a crummy $2 BPV installation. I'm against it
Anyway, be aware of the potential quality issues with these things, and understand installation quality is a big chunk of what matters.
Now I was ready to rock.
Last night I waited for the keezer compressor to go idle, then started working on the system.
Here's what the guts look like:
The tube emerging on the left side of the compressor is the suction line, and that's where the BPV31 needed to go. (Fwiw, the tube emerging in the background on the right side of the compressor is the high pressure output line, while the crimped tube in the foreground is how the compressor was filled with lubricant at the factory).
The BPV needs to be oriented so the fill port is accessible, the needle screw can be accessed, and the three clamping screws can be installed and fully tightened. This was the best orientation and worked out well.
Before installing the valve I cleaned the tubing with fine steel wool followed by a damp wiping. Then I backed the BPV piercing screw out so no part of the tip was proud of the inner surface under the O-ring, positioned the valve, and fully tightened the screws in a Y-pattern 'til they all bottomed.
Now I had to wait until the compressor was running to test and recharge the keezer, so that was that for the night...
Cheers!
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