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Talked to an old timer about compressor oil and it blew my mind | Appliance Repairers - HW Forums

Talked to an old timer about compressor oil and it blew my mind

Ran into this guy Frank at a supply house in Tulsa last Tuesday. He's been doing refrigeration since the 70s. I was complaining about a compressor failure on a 3 year old fridge and he just laughed. He said most guys kill their compressors by not letting the oil settle after transport. Said to always wait 4 hours minimum before plugging in a fridge that was tipped. I've been rushing that step for years. Never even crossed my mind that the oil drains out of the compressor when you lay a fridge on its side. Now I'm wondering how many callbacks I could have avoided. Anyone else ever get this tip passed down to them?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt_ross275mo ago

Frank's got a point about letting the oil settle but I gotta push back a little here... waiting 4 hours seems extreme unless you laid the fridge completely flat. Most modern compressors have oil traps that keep some oil in the sump even when tipped. I've plugged in plenty of fridges after just 30 minutes with zero issues. Maybe the old timers had different compressor designs back then that were more fussy. The real killer is usually people tilting them way too far or running them without enough charge. Oil migration is a thing but so is modern engineering that accounts for it.

hugo_ellis5mo ago

30 minutes is rolling the dice on a lot of modern fridges too. Those oil traps aren't foolproof, especially if the unit was on its side for any real length of time during the move. The bigger issue is that the compressor oil can get forced up into the evaporator and capillary tubes, which takes way longer than the sump to drain back down. That's where the 4 hour rule comes from, not just the compressor itself.