Viking VCBB363 Finding a Freon Leak

[@tonyturner9146]

Keith, do you ever add a dye dryer and use a UV light to help locate leaks? I've had several 650s and 601 Sub-Zero units that were almost impossible to find their leaks. I recover the refrigerant and braze in a whirlpool dye dryer. The last 601 I did took almost a year to leak enough to be noticeable. Shine the UV flashlight in and it lit-up like a Christmas tree. the leak was at the steel line right where it enters the water in the condensation pan.

[@assidaartem]

why you didnt change heat exchanger? is it so diffuclt to change it in the vikings?

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

@@assidaartem Changing the heat exchanger requires pulling the unit from the wall, it’s a lot of work for one man. I can do it but I didn’t have the heat exchanger with me so I evacuated the system and weighed in the right amount of Freon. This will allow the customer to use the refrigerator while she decides what to do.

[@assidaartem]

@@SubZeroSpecialists got it , thank you

[@juyoungsong4997]

Hi! I have the same Viking refrigerator that is about 17 years old. The previous owner had to replace the evaporator fan motor about 7-8 years ago and I had to change the thermistor and defrost thermostat about 2 years ago as the ice kept building up in the freezer. It has been working fine until now, I noticed that the freezer is not cold enough to make ice (10-20 F)but fridge seems to be fine. I noticed that the evaporator fan isn’t spinning when the freezer door is closed but I see the evaporator coils are icing/melting. Do you think this is the evaporator fan motor issue? Or can a bad thermistor cause evaporator fan not to spin? I hear the refrigerator is running all the time, it used to stop and run until now. Hoping it’s not any freon leakage issue… I learned from your video how to access the coils up top and noticed the coils are all covered with dusts. I am planning to clean the coils and replace the thermistor for now and see if that helps… Do you service the units in CT? (Fairfield county).

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

@@juyoungsong4997 we don’t service CT. Is it a variable speed compressor? The evaporator fan runs with the compressor but only when the defrost terminator switch is closed. Check to see if you have power going to the fan motor .

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

@@juyoungsong4997 if the condenser is dirty try cleaning that first. If you can check the pressure in the sealed system on the low side that will help in diagnostics. Try the simple things first.

[@juyoungsong4997]

@@SubZeroSpecialists Yes It has a variable speed compressor. How can i check if defrost terminator is off? I tried to spin the fan manually and it spun without any resistance. Time to time I hear the fan runs for a few minutes and brings down the temperature to 0F or below but it stops little after and let the freezer temp to go back up to 15-20F. Do you think it’s the circuit issue?

[@juyoungsong4997]

@@SubZeroSpecialistswill do, i will clean the condenser coils first. I am just a house owner who’s trying to teach himself to fix the problematic refrigerator, won’t be able to check the pressure…

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

The freezer temperature will rise during the defrost cycle. If it pulls back down to 0 degrees then that’s normal.

[@qluna3821]

do u charge more than a service call fee for what you did in this video?

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

@@qluna3821 yes. I charged the customer for recovering and recharging the Freon.

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

@@qluna3821 I don’t promote putting anything in a sealed system other than refrigerant. I don’t use leak sealer or dyes. I’ve seen too many sealed systems ruined with clogged cap tubes. Dyes work better in A/Cs and commercial systems with expansion valves.

[@SubZeroSpecialists]

Change one part at a time or you won’t know what caused the problem.