Posted by: Harold Kestenholz on November 04, 2001 at 00:21:39

In Reply to: Deli Case Refrig. Posted by: Tanel Demiray on November 03, 2001 at 11:42:43

I have a Bagel shop with 3 deli cases. In the last few months everyone of them needed to be repaired. More than once. I tried 3 different companies. None of them could fix them to my satisfaction. Is there a course I can take which will teach me how to fix them? One company wanted $ 1048 to replace a compressor. I can get a new one for $355! Please help! Thank you.

Answer:
You can find education starting at the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. Many local vocational schools run courses. After a year of welding practice, acquiring an EPA refrigerant certificate, and electrical control courses, you can start to learn how to repair all the equipment that is available.
When you take the course you will find that the compressor may cost $350; the refrigerant may cost $350 in labor and, like you, the repair company has to have trucks, tools, equipment and pay top wages to the most skilled technicians just to keep his doors open to be ready when you need him to fix your machines.
Unlike a medical doctor who may charge you $200 per hour when you visit him for ten minutes after two hours wait in his office lobby, the refrigeration repair company actually makes house calls for equipment that doesn't heal itself on its own time.

When I worked refrigeration in Alaska the owners would always quiz us as to what we were doing and why. Then they would try to fix their unit themselves next time. When it was obvious that they had messed with the equipment, we charged more to repair it. We finally told them that we charged 20 dollars an hour for repair and 50 dollars an hour for instructions.

By the time you buy a recycling machine, diagonistic equipment, tools and pay for the education, you'd be better off to just hire it done. However, I would suggest that you hire a company that specializes in Refrigeration and not an Air Conditioning company who has someone that does refrigeration once in a while. Two totaly different fields. Also, it's normally best to stick with one company so that they get to know your equipment and it's quirks also. When a refrigeration mechanic shows up at a new place, a lot of his time is spent just figuring out how your system is supposed to work. Also, owners of refrigeration equipment are notorious for not doing preventive maintance on the equipment because they don't want to spend the money to have it serviced if it's not broke. Mistake! This is equipment that runs 24/7 and needs periodic maintance. Good luck, whatever you decide.