A three-year-old Embraco compressor

[combo52]

We had to change out this compressor because another company made an ill advised attempt at fixing a leak by putting a bunch of stop leak in the system and managed to lock up the compressor.

We replaced the evaporator heat ex-changer and compressor and decided to take the old compressor and cut it open here is what we found.

And incredibly well built compressor that could easily run for 50 years nice cast iron and steel construction and real copper winding's I freed it up and it runs nicely.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks John!  This is very promising news about Embraco as I continue to pursue compressor replacement on my '57 Combination.

 

It seems to me that the mechanical components of compressors are well machined and built to last, but the weak spots are in the wiring.  The Combo's compressor was still virtually silent after 62 years of operation, and the only reason it quit was due to what I suspect to be a fried run winding.

 

If I could do anything over again, I'd have taken courses in refrigeration when I was younger.

 

[estesguy]

Embraco

The local used appliance store repairman prefers that brand to replace with when possible. LG and Samsung sometimes make that hard, if not impossible to do, according to him. They get shipping crates of refrigerators in from who knows where, so he does quite a few of them. Very interesting to see the insides of one.

 

[thomasortega]

Yep Brazil makes some good stuff...

Embraco compressors and WEG motors, you can never go wrong with them.

 

[DADoES]

 
Info search says that Embraco (headquartered in Santa Catarina, Brazil) dates to 1971.  Whirlpool took majority ownership of it in 1997 ... agreement April 2018 for selling it to a Japanese company.

If all that is accurate ...

 

[thomasortega]

Yep, It was sold but the engineering is still Brazillian.

Same as WEG. Nowadays the company is huge and they have factories all over the world, but what made it so popular and grow so much was the brazilian quality.

Unfortunately, brazil makes great stuff but they're underrated.

Nowadays Brazil makes crap (99%) but there are still some companies that makes good products.

 

[turbokinetic]

The idiocy.....

.... of putting stop-leak in any system like this.

The Embraco compressors last quite a long time, but since there are SO MANY of them, we are bound to hear about failures. That doesn't mean they are badly designed; just that they are very plentiful.

Here is one I analyzed which had a motor winding fault:


And here is a unique sample part from Embraco. We were talking about using modern compressors on flooded evaporator systems and why people have tried and had lubrication failures.

 

[turbokinetic]

Forgot to ask...

... did you try to free it up with additional capacitors or higher voltages; before replacing it?

 

[superocd]

Embraco comps are good

I see them on light commercial equipment pretty frequently. I've got one on my Whirlpool French door. I am betting that the eventual demise of that fridge will be with the control board and not the compressor. Whirlpool fridges are decent, but I still want a big ol' commercial McCall unit with a Copeland compressor and Ranco tstat (no control boards or digital anything except the Kol-Gard temp readout) but they don't make them anymore (and were expensive when they were new, as all commercial fridges are), used ones tend to get scraped up pretty badly, they're HUGE (not sure how I'd get one in the house) and they tend to be LOUD (my Carrier 2-stage 2-ton heat pump condenser would be as quiet as a mouse in comparison).

 

[combo52]

Embraco Compressor

This compressor came out of an Electrolux all refrigerator, we sold the matching ref and freezer to a customer on Capitol Hill three years ago as a refurbished pair [ the compressor is actually 2012, I was thinking about when we sold it not when it was actually built when I said it was 3 years old ]

 

The ref lost its refrigerant charge about 3 months ago and I sent a guy I know that does sealed system repair with a new evaporator and heat exchanger [ Evaporator leaks are very common on all FD refs over the last 30 years ] So the repair guy adds refrigerant and a double dose of stop -leak instead of installing the new parts and the compressor locks up the next day.

 

I went out on the ref and found the locked up compressor and that's when the guy told me what he had added. I did try a hard start cap but it did not start. Once we replaced the compressor and cut the old one open it freed up pretty easily, we probably could have flushed the system and tried a few of Davids tricks and gotten it running again, but I was not going to chance it and have the customer lose hundreds of dollars worth of food again.

 

We picked the ref up and brought it back and my Brother Jeff installed another compressor we had from and identical ref that we had parted out and new evaporator and heat-exchanger.

 

There is a large FD dealer near us and the amount of FD and EL hi-end refs, DWs and ranges they scrap out is amazing, so we often buy them for $15 each and take parts.

 

John

 

 

 

[cfz2882]

2nd life.

Cut open an Italian Aspera compressor from a 1994 KM dehumidifier that was underwater for 3 months:made a tire inflator out of it-worked great,just have to remember to oil it every few uses used this a couple years,still have it but not in regular use anymore.AFAIK,Aspera are Tecumseh license.

 

[neptunebob]

Isn't it against EPA regulations to keep refilling refrigerant and using a stop leak that might stop the leak?  I thought that the technician had to find the source of the leak and make repairs - or possibly face a $25,000 fine if they keep leaking the refrigerant in the atmosphere. 

 

[combo52]

Refilling A Leaking Refrigerator

We are allowed to refill a ref with a suspected leak once for purposes of looking for the leak.

 

John