Adler Barbour redux

[Tom Metzger]

Last year my Adler Barbour Cold Machine in my '87 E-34 lost it's freon over the winter and I had a friend recharge for me. Same scene this year, but friend has run out of R-12. I am afraid that it is now time to bite the bullet and replace the the unit.

Lots of people want to sell me an A-B replacement, but the standard evaporator will not fit in the icebox because it is too tall by 3/4". I have been playing with Dometic, who last year bought Waeco who makes the A-B, for the last week with no definitive answers as to cost to make a special evaporator. Their distributor on Long Island says they charge $200 to bend an evaporator, but doesn't know about cutting.

I do have options, of course, but I have no experience or knowledge if any of them are practical.

I can connect the existing evaporator to a new compressor. Will the connectors fit? Will they leak? Can the R-12 be purged?

I could buy a new standard unit, VD-150, and take a SawzAll to it. This would destroy the warranty, but would the evaporator also be destroyed?

I can throw money at it. This would work, but the numbers are unknown.

Does anyone have knowledge, experience, or advice?

 

[treilley]

Nothing specific Tom. The age of the unit would prohibit spending any money on it as next year it will probably be something else. I would likely go for new. Can you imagine the horror when you are nestled down in that perfect cove with your first mate watching the sunset and you find that your beer is warm. Oh the humanity!

 

[Tom Metzger]

The age of the unit would prohibit spending any money on it as next year it will probably be something else.

Actually Tim, the same thing will happen as it is a function of temperature, and, in spite of Al Gore, it will get cold next winter on Lk Champlain.

I agree with you, the compressor is toast. The questions are about the evaporator.

 

[Loren Beach]

As you know, I am one of the happy customers with a Frigoboat system (self-installed, yet).
My comment, however, is about the idea of trying to purge out old refrigerant with a new and different formulation.

We had the heat pump system in our home replaced a couple years ago and I and the installer talked over whether to try to save our old runs of copper tubing. He was strongly against doing so because he said that it is nearly impossible to completely purge out all contaminants from the old refrigerant. In the scheme of things, looking over the whole cost of replacing the compressor, inside unit, and the air handler, it was peanuts to replace the tubing, anyway.
A boat system that is 20+ years old might be a somewhat similar situation, IMO.
Just another .02 worth,
Loren

 

[Tom Metzger]

The Frigoboat evaporator is even taller than the A-B evaporator. The max height I can afford is 10.25". That is my problem.

The admiral needs ice in her Manhattan so we need a closed freezer type evaporator.

Thanx for your thoughts on reusing the old evaporator.

 

[Loren Beach]

Too bad you cannot convince the Admiral to be content with the flat plate, at 8.5" height.
I see what you mean about the height of the vertical bin, at 11.5" high.
Maybe a change in format to a horizontal bin??
More trivia: a friend of mine with the flat plate evaporator in his Frigoboat system has been using the vertical ice cube tray that hangs on the front of part of the plate and does indeed make ice cubes....

Frozen Best Wishes,

Loren

 

[ligolaiva38]

If you have technical questions contact KollmannMarine Refrigeration Specialists on the Technical Forum. Lots of complex techincal refrigeration questions get great answers. Their refrigeration book is really great also: REFRIGERATION MANUAL.

Kollman Marine Refrigeration has saved and solved my AB refrigerator a number of times.

http://www.kollmann-marine.com/index.html

Good Luck,
John
Laiva E 381

 

[Greg Ross]

Refrigeration R & R options

Tom,
I bought an Independence 31 a number of years ago that came equipped with a circa 1986 Frigabar machine. Posted the story here about the demise of that equipment some time ago.
I ended up buying (on eBay) a new/old Cold Machine (R-12) complete with the new/ old evaporator. New as in never installed, NIB but 20+ years old.
My original idea was to also reuse the existing evaporator. Made contact with "Thermal Dynamics" who are Adler/Barbour Dealers as well as a service depot. He sold me an up-to-date Controller (much more voltage tolerant) and replacement couplers I could have used to adapt to my existing Evap.
The issue by the way with conversion from R-12 to R-134a or R-409 refrigerant is not with the gas but rather with the compressor oil. I would be willing to wager a refrigeration tech with the evaporator removed could easily flush the evaporator and solder on new couplers to adapt to a new compressor. Part of that process is a sensative leak test to prove the evaporator is sound. That is a very practical option.
I ended up going with the complete DIY installation, Cold machine Compressor and the horizontal covered Evaporator and it works like a charm. The original installation lasted 20 years so I'm hopeful this one outlasts me! And I can make ice!
New/ old machine, now efficient with an up-to-date controller and new coreless cooling fan ran me about $550. total.

 

[Howard Keiper]

Hi, Tom...

I replaced my AB at the end of last Summer, after about 25+ yrs of sterling performance. I went with whatever unit replaced the old one as closely as possible...don't recall the model #. Anyway, I was surprised that the new evaporator, plumbing, thermostat, etc. seemed to duplicate the old...dimensionally anyway, very well indeed...maybe mounting holes were off somewhat, but no matter. The compressor unit however, is noticeably smaller all around and fit even better than the old one did...And I thought that one fit well. The connectors ARE different and better designed IMO. I like it a lot. Nothing beats a nice cold Chardonay....the true test.
Anyway, if you liked the old AB, you'll love it's replacement.
Howard Keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley

 

[Tom Metzger]

Thanx all

I finally heard from the Adler Barbour people. They would be happy to make me a new evaporator, but, as expected, the modification would double the cost.

They also said that I can cut the evaporator myself without hurting the unit, other than the warranty. This is my plan, and I have ordered a
standard unit.

The next question is how to make the cut. I have to cut off 3/4". My initial thinking is to remove the bottom piece, make the cut off the bottom of the tube, and then reinstall the bottom piece. The material is .062" aluminum with a few mills of paint on each side. There is about a half inch seam where it is doubled.

I am a little leery of using my sabre saw because of the vibration. A hand nibbling tool would be slow but gentle. Others have suggested a cut-off wheel in an angle grinder.

Comments?

 

[footrope]

Do you know anyone with a band saw with a metal-cutting blade? I think one of those would work.

 

[Guy Stevens]

This is easy to cut

I would cut 1/2 off of the bottom and 1/2 off of the top. The tool I would use would be a new set of metal shears. I have done this in a number of installations. Don't get too close to the tubing that is part of the evaporator that is that part that really does the work.

Somewhere on the net is a video of the machine that makes the evaporators in Germany I think it is really fun to watch how they do it.

Also I use a little bit of taco trim on the edges around the top to avoid boat bites when reaching for ice.

Guy

 

[Tom Metzger]

The beer is cold!

I cut the evaporator with a new blade in the sabre saw. There was a lot of clearance to the refrigerant ducts so I cut it all from the bottom and then riveted the bottom pan back on.

The thermostat had the wrong cable on it which caused some grief. The wires in the connector didn't line up with the connector on the compressor. Being a telephone cable I just sniped off the two wire connector and spliced a four wire pigtail to it.

The factory, of course, had never heard of such a thing happening before. Surprising since it was a standard two wire telephone cable which always uses red & green wires on the center two pins, not the green and yellow shown on the wiring diagram.

Thanx for the suggestions.

 

[Captron]

Ice in your Rum

My original Adler-Barbour unit is now close to the 25 year mark and still works fine. If and when it finally goes, I will replace it with the same, possibly with a larger evaporator.

Currently ours makes ice just fine. The admiral puts a couple of smallish ice cube trays, level in the top of the unit (usually inside a zip lock bag to catch spillage) on top of whatever else is in there, usually frozen meat or the last few bits of the mahi we caught a week ago.

In any case, it is truly wonderful to be watching a Bahamas sunset with friends all rattling their Dark & Stormys with the ice in them.