If the compressor on a refrigerator is good but it needs freeon, can a refr technician do it? For How much?

Question

I traded a broken refer for some AC work. I had tried to replace the small chip by the compressor (selonoid?) that sometimes goes out on refers. That did not work so that's why I traded it. The gentleman who took it said the compressor was bad so he had to get rid of it. I told him that I specifically had done a check with a voltmeter and it had checked out fine. When I told him that, he said that it actually worked but it did not have/push freeon so it wasn't worth fixing. This sounded very fishy to me, but I wanted to hear from some professionals if this makes any sense. Thanks

Answer 1

It is very rare for a sealed item like a refrigerator to run out of refrigerant. either a line is broken on it or there is something wrong with the compressor. Even if you read the proper ohms between the compressor posts that does not say for sure it is good. Anymore refrigerators are pretty much disposable for problems like that. I would not waste too much time and money on it.

Answer 2

Ok, there is many things that can be going on here.
#1. Sometimes a compressor can electrically work, but the reed valves inside the compressor can be shot. When this happens, the compressor sounds normal while running, but it is no longer able to "pump" the refrigerant through the system. The reed valves seperate the high pressure and low pressure of the refrigeration system at the compressor. If they go bad, there is no pressure differential, therefore not pumping refrigerant.

#2 If the compressor is indeed fine, and the unit is low on refrigerant, that can be remedied. If it is an older refrigerator it will take R-12, and if it is newer (1996? or newer) it will be R-134a. There are many suitable R-12 replacement refrigerants. I use R-409 (a), it does very well. R-134a is plentifull and available.
The service tech can remove the refrigerant, and pressure the entire refrigeration system with nitrogen and try to find and fix the leak. Sometimes leaks just cant be found, but sometimes they can.

#3 Now if you have a service tech do all this work, it could end up costing you $100.00 plus just to find out if the leak can be fixed. Sometimes if it is an older refrigerator, lets say 15+ years old, you may not want to sink that kind of money into it.

Hope this has helped you.

Answer 3

freon is a trade name for refrigerant. If the refrigerant has leaked out the leak needs to be repaired first the charged up. If it takes r-12 then for get it as r-12 is no longer made and only source is that which is recovered from other units. R-12 cost very very much. If yu frig uses R-12 for get it

Answer 4

If it needs freon then you can install a saddle valve and put put more in. Since it has a leak, it will leak out again. It sounds like the gentleman is lying about something, but for what reason I have no idea.