I nabbed a fridge compressor yesterday. someone had ditched a fridge on the street in my hood, and upon glancing casually at the innards, I discovered that someone had really gone to town on the coils, mangled and cut in several places! Since the freon was all gone, I decided to pull the compressor.
This one is the short barrel type, with four tubes, two are input/output, and I’m guessing the other two run oil to a smaller coil on the fridge. Pulls a pretty good vac, but I read on the “cheap little sucker” link that the barrel types (as opposed to the cough drop type) were no good and burned out. anyone know? and could a reservoir and pressure-switch be a solution, giving the pump time to rest? If those burn out, I won’t keep it, as I don’t want to lose vacuum during a real pull…also, should I fill it with oil and set up a trap on the output line? oil-mist comes out when I’m pulling a vacuum.
I’m not sure the freon compressor I have puts out enough air to be used that way…I was under the impression that the fridge pumps could be used to pull the vacuum directly…when I stop up the compression side, one of the other lines vomits oil.
I think I may just take the hit on an inexpensive vac pump, and rig up my own reservoir and hoses like some on the list are doing…I will probably build the tank, switch, hoses and gauges first, try this fridge thing out, and if it burns out, get a real vac pump…
Yes, just elevate the exhaust tube so you don’t drip out all your oil… maybe add a squirt of WD-40 to the intake if you lost a lot… and you’re off and running… a reservoir and a not-so-leaky bag will definitely add to the lifetime of your fridge pump… cycling every 5-10 minutes for 30 seconds is a lot nicer and cooler than continuous running… sorry, my only fridge pump was cough drop shaped - not short barrel.
