Fixing a freezer.

October 9, 2007 5:22 PM

I just broke my landlady's fridge-freezer. I was scraping ice out of the icy part, and I nicked the cooling device, letting out all the magic gas. Can I fix it? Can my engineer buddies fix it?

The model is the LG GR-151SSF, a piece of crap by all accounts. The part I broke seems to be called the evaporative assembly - it looks like this and it costs £50 including for a new one, but I have a feeling that that will be less of a problem than replacing the coolant, which I have only a vague idea of how to do. Some guy on the internet said you can epoxy the line closed and hire the necessary bits to refill it from a mechanic's, is that true?

posted by topynate to technology (9 comments total)

See this previous question.

The only person there who said they've had it done to a fridge claimed it was $400-500.

Modern fridges are sealed systems and aren't designed to be recharged; they're not like big air conditioners or industrial refrigeration apparatus.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:50 PM on October 9, 2007

Whoops, missed that one. Sorry. Though the OP there said it only cost $90, so I live in hope.
posted by topynate at 5:57 PM on October 9, 2007

Google turned up someone selling the same fridge for £30 here but it looks fairly far away from you. If that price is in the right ballpark for that model fridge then it almost certainly isn't worth fixing.
posted by foodgeek at 6:11 PM on October 9, 2007

That's fairly awesome. Cardiff is indeed a way away, but I don't think I'll be in too much trouble if that's what it's worth. Thanks guys!
posted by topynate at 6:18 PM on October 9, 2007

Next time let time and heat, not scrapers, remove your ice build up. What a horrible way to learn your lesson. No, this is not fixable, at least for a reasonable amount of money.
posted by caddis at 6:56 PM on October 9, 2007

Yeah, it was a bit of an ohshitno moment. Thank goodness she managed to buy the cheapest so-called fridge ever.
posted by topynate at 7:40 PM on October 9, 2007

I was at work and was watching when someone did the same thing - worst part was they all thought it was me!

They needed to replace it.
posted by jonathanstrange at 7:45 PM on October 9, 2007

Look at the bright side: at least (I hope) your girlfriend wasn't telling you not to do that and you weren't insisting you know what you're doing before the screwdriver got shot across the room in a spectacular jet of frosty freon.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:48 AM on October 10, 2007

StickyCarpet, just saw why you suggested that particular scenario. Arg. There should be a fridge abusers' support group, or something.
posted by topynate at 1:23 PM on October 11, 2007