The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 110,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Filed under Uncategorized
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 37,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there was 1 new post, growing the total archive of this blog to 24 posts.
The busiest day of the year was July 6th with 251 views. The most popular post that day was Simple Ways To Know If Your Fridge Is Low On Freon.
The top referring sites in 2010 were en.wordpress.com, search.conduit.com, search.aol.com, google.com, and dogpile.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for evaporator fan, refrigeration cycle, most reliable refrigerators, defrost timer, and refrigerator freon leak.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Simple Ways To Know If Your Fridge Is Low On Freon June 2008
14 comments
Most New Refrigerators Are Crap January 2008
23 comments
Filter-dryers and Capillary Tubes June 2008
11 comments
Evaporator Fan January 2008
4 comments
Defrost Timer June 2008
13 comments
Filed under Uncategorized
As of October 1st 2010, I will be off-line for an indefinite period of time.
Filed under Uncategorized
Condenser fans suffer the same failures as evaporator fans. In addition to open windings, failed bearings, and misalignment, condenser fans my fail due to dirt. Because the condenser fan is beneath most refrigerators and behind a cover, it is easy to forget to clean it or the condenser coil.
Condenser Fan Motor
The photo above shows the condenser and fan of a fifteen-year-old Amana side-by-side that was probably never cleaned. It was replaced because it didn’t cool. A thorough cleaning of the condenser, fan motor, and fan blades restored it to proper operation. Don’t try to treat a new refrigerator this way; the fan motor and compressor might not survive the over-heating.
Although this fan still managed to rotate, sometimes the dirt and debris will jam the fan blades. Just make certain that you disconnect power before working on a condenser fan to prevent it from starting unexpectedly.
Filed under diagnose and repair, refrigerator repair
Refrigerators that have separate freezer and fresh-food sections and one evaporator located in the freezer section must have a working evaporator fan to maintain proper temperatures. This two sections and one evaporator arrangement applies to almost every refrigerator produced for the American market. Evaporator fans normally fail for one of three reasons.
1. Loss of power
2. Bad bearings
3. Misalignment
Loss Of Power
This can be caused by a variety of conditions, but the result is the same: no current flows through the evaporator motor. The fan doesn’t work and the temperatures in the freezer and fresh-food sections of the refrigerator rise. The refrigerator will likely not cool to the set point of the cold control and the refrigerator will run continuously except when it is in a defrost cycle. This problem can be caused by loose wires, an open fan motor winding, or malfunctions in electronic controls. Troubleshooting evaporator fans was once much easier than today. Most ran when the compressor ran and received 120 VAC from the defrost timer when it was in the compressor run position. With the introduction of adaptive defrost and electronic controls monitoring inputs from thermistors, fans don’t always run just because the compressor has started.
Bad Bearings
Defective evaporator fan bearings can keep the fan from rotating even though the windings are good. One should ALWAYS disconnect the refrigerator from the power source before checking the fan to see if it is binding. The fan blades should turn freely if the bearings are good. If the blades are difficult or impossible to turn the bearings are defective. Many times when evaporator fan bearing begin to fail a high-pitched squealing noise is emitted (leaving no doubt that the bearings are failing).
Misalignment
Misaligned fans can’t rotate freely because the fan blades strike the evaporator cover. Sometimes the fan is jammed and can’t turn at all; sometimes it turns, producing a knocking or clicking noise. This problem is the result of the general quality decline in refrigerator manufacturing and seems to plague the cheaper models (read Haier), although I have seen this defect on units costing over a thousand dollars. The solution is turn off the power, remove the evaporator cover, and loosen the fasteners on the evaporator fan mounting bracket so YOU can align and tighten it properly. The other choice is to try to get the manufacturer to honor its warranty and that may be far more difficult than adjusting a fan bracket.
Filed under diagnose and repair, refrigerator repair
Moisture in the air (water vapor) enters a refrigerator each time the door is opened. The water vapor will condense on cold surfaces. The evaporator coil is the coldest surface in the refrigerator. Since the refrigerant in the coil may be twenty degrees below zero, the surface of the coil is well below the freezing point of water. The condensed water vapor quickly freezes into ice. The ice build up on the evaporator will continue to grow thicker and thicker if it is not removed. In units without a fan circulating air, the ice build up will lower the cooling efficiency of the evaporator, but will not prevent the unit from maintaining temperature. A good example is a dorm fridge with no fan. The freezer section is usually the space inside a roll bonded evaporator. The evaporator may form so much ice that much of the storage space is lost, but the temperature of the box will still be adequate.
In units with a separate freezer and fresh-food compartment, the evaporator is normally in the freezer section and an evaporator fan circulates air to the freezer and fresh-food area through duct arrangements. The amount of cold air entering the fresh-food section is controlled by a manual or electronically controlled damper. The evaporator coil in these systems must have airflow from the evaporator fan to work properly and must be defrosted in order to maintain this airflow. Defrost is accomplished by energizing an electric heating element on or near the evaporator coil.
If the defrost circuit fails and ice builds up on the evaporator, airflow from the fan will diminish. Lack of airflow causes more ice to form. Soon the evaporator will be encased in a solid block of ice and no air will circulate. The result will be fresh food temperatures above 50 degrees and a freezer temperature at or near 32 degrees. The unit will run continuously since it cannot reach the set point of the cold control. This continuous running builds even more ice on the evaporator coil.
The way that the defrost cycle is initiated has changed over the years. When energy consumption was not a priority, a clock circuit energized the defrost heater based on time. A clock circuit would switch the unit into defrost every six, eight, or twelve hours (depending on which defrost timer the manufacturer installed) without any consideration of the usage or conditions. Even if the refrigerator was in a low humidity environment and had run very little, the heater still turned on every few hours. This system used a lot of energy.
After government regulations to improve energy efficiency were implemented in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the defrost circuit was redesigned so that a defrost cycle was based on compressor run time. A refrigerator not experiencing a lot of door openings and closings ran less often than one that was heavily used. Therefore some unnecessary defrosts were avoided (the ice build up depends on moisture laden air entering the unit) by initiating defrost based on accumulated compressor run time.
When the government dictated further reductions in energy consumption, manufacturers had to redesign the defrost controls to make them smarter in order to comply. The defrost system with its electric heater uses more energy than any other part of the refrigerator. Therefore it was the best place to look for energy reduction. The solution was adaptive defrost control. The defrost timer was replaced by an electronic control boards containing a microprocessor. Inputs to the control monitored door opening and closings, cumulative compressor run time, duration of last defrost, and in some models the ambient temperature where the unit was located. The algorithms programmed into the microprocessor would adapt the defrost frequency and duration to operating conditions and changes in usage. With adaptive defrost control, a defrost cycle can occur in as little as six hours or as long as seventy-two hours.
Adaptive defrost control does reduce energy consumption, but whether the energy savings is cost effective is another matter. Most do-it-yourself homeowners could troubleshot and repair a defrost system with a defrost timer, but many will call a repairman if electronic controls are not working. A price check on the net for a defrost timer resulted in prices ranging from 18 to 45 dollars. ADC boards seem to start at 65 dollars and most were closer to a hundred dollars. With a service charge and labor, having a technician replace the board will probably be a two to three hundred dollar repair. The money that the consumer saves on electricity will likely have to be spent repairing electronic controls.
Filed under appliance, energy efficiency, refrigerator repair
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