Working on boat issues in Paradise

Who’da thought sailing a boat in Mexico would require so much maintenance and repairs? While sitting at the dock in Zihua, our freezer started warming up. We have a little cooler we use as a backup, mostly when we move food to defrost the freezer.

Last time, we defrosted to ‘fix’ the problem. This time, defrosting did not work. Freezer was a little low on refrigerant. Got some freon from a small refrigeration store and recharged the compressor. All better. But a nagging question on why the freon was low…

I am not a refrigeration engineer…

The next day, the fridge started warming up. There is a separate system for the fridge and freezer. Moved food from fridge to cooler. Checked refrigerant pressure, and it was way high 50 psi vs about the expected 10. Released a little gas and it went to zero psi – way too low. Recharged back to about 10. Refrigerator started cooling so off to bed, and we’d move food from the cooler in the morning. And in the morning, there was no cooling and back to 50 psi. Shucks I say. Just Darn it!

I am NOT a refrigeration engineer. Called a guy. He was here in 30 minutes. Tightened all the connections in the fridge and freezer refrigerant lines that were either loose when installed in SF, or loosened over the past couple years. Hopefully tomorrow all will still be working fine.