3 way fridge problem

[nicknorman]

17 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

The inverted U on the top of the wire thing usually sits in a slot to locate it, but did you pull it out. The twisted metal part can carbon up. Bear in mind, I have not seen one in real life for many years.

No I didn’t pull it out. I just moved it up and down the slot, maybe 1/4” of travel. Should I have pulled it out?

[Tony Brooks]

Just now, nicknorman said:

No I didn’t pull it out. I just moved it up and down the slot, maybe 1/4” of travel. Should I have pulled it out?

 

We always took the out of the old Electrolux fridges and then use a little homemade wire brush to clean the flue. I can't be certain about modern fridges, but I can't see why it should be fixed in place.

[MtB]

59 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

The inverted U on the top of the wire thing usually sits in a slot to locate it, but did you pull it out. The twisted metal part can carbon up. Bear in mind, I have not seen one in real life for many years.

 

On boilers of similar design (i.e. with vertical fire tubes through a tank of water), there are usually twisted metal flow restrictors hanging in each of the tubes and these are called 'turbulators'. Nice word! 

 

P.S. Forgot to mention, they never get clagged up if the combustion is right. 

 

 

[nicknorman]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

On boilers of similar design (i.e. with vertical fire tubes through a tank of water), there are usually twisted metal flow restrictors hanging in each of the tubes and these are called 'turbulators'. Nice word! 

A word I’m familiar with. Gliders have turbulator tape near the trailing edge of the wings. The purpose being to create a definite boundary between laminar and turbulent flow, which helps to avoid a drag bubble at the back of the wings. Heat transfer from a laminar flow fluid is quite poor, from turbulent flow it is much better. Stands to reason if you think about it.

[David Mack]

9 minutes ago, MtB said:

these are called 'turbulators'.

Not turbo encabulators?

 

 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

A word I’m familiar with. Gliders have turbulator tape near the trailing edge of the wings. The purpose being to create a definite boundary between laminar and turbulent flow, which helps to avoid a drag bubble at the back of the wings. Heat transfer from a laminar flow fluid is quite poor, from turbulent flow it is much better. Stands to reason if you think about it.

 

Interesting.

 

Also, turbulent flow in a fluid in a pipe is far more efficient than laminar flow, counter-intuitively. As the flow rate rises and flow switches from laminar to turbulent, the energy needed to maintain the flow rate drops. Lots of people seem to struggle with that. Especially feek plummers. 

 

 

1 minute ago, David Mack said:

Not turbo encabulators?

 

 

 

Merkins. No idea. 

 

 

[nicknorman]

Interesting thread. Whilst I much appreciate the help given, IMO it is a shame that two posters chose to berate me for not following their advice even though I said I would, and did in fact fully comply with the advice. The discussion got slightly sidetracked onto the turning upside down thing and for that reason, it seems to me, I was abused for rejecting/ignoring the advice. I know that sometimes people asking questions on here can be quite annoying for various reasons of not providing adequate information or ignoring answers they don’t want to hear, but in this case neither was the case. Could I suggest that people giving advice try to avoid personal attacks for perceived non-compliance with advice, unless they are sure of their ground and have actually read the thread with diligence?

 

Anyway, in better news I’ve just heard the gas valve click off, so the fridge is down to the regulated temperature. So one or both of cleaning the flue tube and turning the fridge upside down fixed the problem. I don’t particularly care which! Thank you to those who pointed me in the right direction.

Edited September 5, 2023 by nicknorman

[Tony Brooks]

9 hours ago, MtB said:

 

P.S. Forgot to mention, they never get clagged up if the combustion is right. 

 

 

True, but Nick said that he had suffered a flame pattern problem in the past so in my view it needed checking. In the past, after the winter layup, I have also found a spider's nest around it.

8 hours ago, nicknorman said:

IMO it is a shame that two posters chose to berate me for not following their advice even though I said I would, and did in fact fully comply with the advice.

 

I don't think that is true. I read that you had plenty of heat, so decided the burner was not the problem without cleaning it. As far as I am concerned, cleaning the burner and jet is just the first step of a diagnostic procedure. Miss that step out, and you could be spending hours looking for some other rare and non-existent problem. I can only read what you write. As far as I am concerned, it was the lack of evidence that the burner was fine which was the point.

 

Anyway, pleased it seems to be sorted.

[nicknorman]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

True, but Nick said that he had suffered a flame pattern problem in the past so in my view it needed checking. In the past, after the winter layup, I have also found a spider's nest around it.

 

I don't think that is true. I read that you had plenty of heat, so decided the burner was not the problem without cleaning it. As far as I am concerned, cleaning the burner and jet is just the first step of a diagnostic procedure. Miss that step out, and you could be spending hours looking for some other rare and non-existent problem. I can only read what you write. As far as I am concerned, it was the lack of evidence that the burner was fine which was the point.

 

Anyway, pleased it seems to be sorted.

I said that I would follow all the advice given, and I did. I then responded to various other points with my opinion and some other details including that the electronic flame supervision was very fussy about flame shape. Previously, due to some barely noticeable corrosion of the burner tube, the flame was slightly displaced although otherwise a good colour, and the only way I could fix it was a new burner tube. But these were only my opinions and did not override my statement that I would follow all suggested advice. If I thought I knew what I was talking about I wouldn’t be asking for advice in the first place.

Getting access to the burner tube and flue with the fridge in situ is not possible, the fridge has to be pulled out somewhat and then one might as well disconnect the electric plugs and gas pipe and remove the fridge completely. Having done that one might as well carry out all the proposed actions including turning it upside down, which is what I did.

Edited September 6, 2023 by nicknorman

[bizzard]

On 05/09/2023 at 15:00, MtB said:

 

One needs to be dead careful doing this. I consider myself careful and still managed to convert a small pilot light into a blowlamp once. The gas jet turned out to be a hole in a piece of ally about 10 thou thick! 

 

Ever since then I've found boiling the gas jet in white vinegar for several minutes restores it to near-new condition, and clears out all the crud. Even the invisible crud. Makes for excellent 'theatre' in the customer's kitchen too. Stinks the house out!! 

 

 

 

Fuse wire is quite soft. Done it lots of times, no problems.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, bizzard said:

Fuse wire is quite soft. Done it lots of times, no problems.

 

Yes fuse wire is soft copper, and I've done it hundreds of times with no problem either. Until one day there WAS a problem.