short lived keezers?

[parrothead600]

I am on my second keezer in 2 years. The first one, I chalked up to being an old freezer that had been sitting outside for quite a while before it was given to me. The second one was my main chest freezer in my basement before I got a bigger one.
I am using a EBay temperature controller (STC1000) set at 3.9C. During normal operation, I get condensation around the top of the chest, which I would consider normal. Eventually, I get a layer of thick frost around the top and the compressor seems to be working continuously to keep the temperature down.
The first unit eventually lost the ability to cool. It seems like the second one is doing the same thing. A couple of days ago, I put a fresh keg in. Later that day I noticed that the temperature controller was displaying 5.5 degrees C (a far cry from the 3.9 that it is set at). It still hasn't droped below 4.4 degrees C.
Has anyone else experienced a short life on converted freezers? I did do a voltage check. I have 121.2VAC @ my outlet, also 121.2 VAC going into the freezer after the temperature controller.
Is there something that I'm overlooking or am I just (un)lucky?

 

[raysmithtx]

Do you have the compressor delay set on the stc1000? I set mine to 5 minutes to keep the compressor from cycling when hot. That's supposed to lengthen the compressor life. Maybe some appliance guys can chime in here.

 

[parrothead600]

The compressor delay is set @ the factory default, which I believe is 2.5 minutes. But I guess the delay setting is pointless since the compressor is running continuously.

 

[Pkrd]

If you're frosting up you've got a leak somewhere thats letting air in, that explains why its running continuously too. Check the seals.

 

[doug293cz]

The layer of frost will decrease the cooling efficiency of the freezer (due to reduced heat flow thru the frost layer.) You need to keep the frost build up to a minimum to reduce the load on the compressor.

Also, a warm keg is a very large load on a freezer. It will take more than a few hours to cool a keg. How that affects the temperature read by the STC-1000 will depend on where the temperature probe is placed.

Brew on

 

[parrothead600]

I'm sure that I don't have a perfect seal on my lid since I had to add a wooden collar to hold the faucets. I have always gotten a thin layer of frost near the top rim, which would melt when the compressor would shut off. I wouldn't think that the frost build-up would affect the ability to maintain 40*F when the cooling unit of the freezer is designed to cool to -4*F.
Am I way off on my thinking? Should I unplug it & let it defrost? Is there any quick way to see if I am loosing my Freon?

 

[crane]

I'm sure that I don't have a perfect seal on my lid since I had to add a wooden collar to hold the faucets. I have always gotten a thin layer of frost near the top rim, which would melt when the compressor would shut off. I wouldn't think that the frost build-up would affect the ability to maintain 40*F when the cooling unit of the freezer is designed to cool to -4*F.
Am I way off on my thinking? Should I unplug it & let it defrost? Is there any quick way to see if I am loosing my Freon?

Yes frost build up will affect the ability to maintain Temps at any temperature. I recently noticed that my kegerator was running at 47F, when I have it set at 40. The compressor was running 24/7 to try to get to 40. I had about 2 inches of frost build up around the cold plate. I defrosted it and now I'm back to normal operation. It's been right on 40F for the last week. You have to remember that ice is really good insulation, so it is insulating all the cold from the rest of your keezer.

So defrost it. If you don't have anything to suck out the moisture in there you should get something. I used to use damp rid, but got sick of buying the replacement packs. I now have some Eva dry units in there and they work great, just need to remember to pull them out and dry them on a regular basis. If you are getting frost buildup by the seal of your wooden collar then you should try to fix the leak and get a better seal.

 

[parrothead600]

Yes frost build up will affect the ability to maintain Temps at any temperature. I recently noticed that my kegerator was running at 47F, when I have it set at 40. The compressor was running 24/7 to try to get to 40. I had about 2 inches of frost build up around the cold plate. I defrosted it and now I'm back to normal operation. It's been right on 40F for the last week. You have to remember that ice is really good insulation, so it is insulating all the cold from the rest of your keezer.

So defrost it. If you don't have anything to suck out the moisture in there you should get something. I used to use damp rid, but got sick of buying the replacement packs. I now have some Eva dry units in there and they work great, just need to remember to pull them out and dry them on a regular basis. If you are getting frost buildup by the seal of your wooden collar then you should try to fix the leak and get a better seal.

Thanks for the info. I was away from home for 5 days, so it was ignored for this time. When I got home, the temp was back down to normal, the compressor had shut off & the ice layer was very soft & mostly gone. Now I have a very thin (see-thru) layer of frost when the compressor is running, which disappears completely after the compressor shuts off. It appears to be back to normal.
I guess I can attribute the excessive frost to the high humidity level in the basement this year. I'll need to get a better seal around the collar.
Thanks to all.