pilchard

Success! Using the two links below as a guide... one that mentions anticlockwise rotation, and the other that recommends hitting it with a hammer... I hybridised them and worked out my own plan. I rotated it anti-clockwise onto it's head, spent a minute or so tapping with a 6 ounce hammer all the coolant pipework, rotated anticlockwise on it's side and repeated, then the same right way up, then over again and repeated, rotating anti-clockwise at all times. I gave it a few shakes both upside-down and right way up, gave it a half-hour rest... then re-installed it. It now freezes like a dream in all 3 modes.... down to -16c in the ice-box, which will do me fine. Thanks for all the very much appreciated advice though, but with a special thanks to Colin M50 for the Ebay link to the bargain priced SMAD fridges. http://hymers700.blogspot.com/2019/10/turning-fridges-upside-down-truth-about.html

Thanks for the Wiki link Keithl. Fully understanding the chemical and physical properties that these systems use is a little beyond me, and I was really looking for some advice on various tricks that can be applied to coax this fridge back into action and so allow me time to track down a replacement. I've seen a video where the guy turns the fridge clockwise (looking from the back) onto its head for a day and hits the tubes gently with a hammer every couple of hours. I'd turned my fridge clockwise.... Another wrinkle I'm also currently trying is running it on 240volt and gas at the same time in the hope that it might turbo charge the liquids and gases into moving sufficiently to dislodge any blockage. Will try the hammer trick if this fails. I know this'll all sound crazy to some, but desperate situations require desperate remedies.

My 22 year-old 3-way fridge, an absorption-type fridge... Electrolux RM4213S, is playing up and has not been cooling on mains or gas and performing pretty poorly on 12volt... despite heat coming from the flue on all 3 sources. I took it out yesterday and left it upside-down overnight... cleaning out the cup jet at the same time because the gas flame was a little weak. Re-installed it today, tried it on gas (with a good flame) and a couple of hours later it was actually warmer inside the fridge than outside. The same happened when I ran it on 240volts. Have not tried 12volt, but the poor/no performance with hot flue on all sources leads me to the only possible deduction that it is a coolant system fault. I've done this turning upside-down trick a year or so back with excellent results, although that time I didn't leave it up-side down overnight... just a few moment. Are there any variations on this wacky technique I can try? Is re-gassing a feasible option?