Was defrosting the fridge and decided to hack away at some of the ice in the freezer part of the fridge. (The small tray at the top of a standard fridge for putting ice cubes in etc)

Little did i know that the tray itself has pipes of coolant in it. My hacking has cut into one of the pipes and a vapour came out, slightly under pressure.

I'm assuming that this vapour was some sort of refrigerant.

The vapour came out for say 45 seconds and then stopped.

After getting rid of all the ice, i found the small hole and patched it up with epoxy.

Turned the fridge on and nothing. (no surprise there)

The motor at the bottom of the fridge is gently humming but clearly isnt pumping anything around the fridge. I'm assuming all the fluid has escaped.

Couple of questions then.

Can this fluid / refrigerant be replaced ?

Does anyone know someone in Phuket who can do this ?

the freon leaked out.

to replace, the system needs to be purged ( evacuated,) a filter/dryer put in the freon circut and have more freon charged in it.

overall ( unless its a very large/expensive), it would be less hassell just to buy a new one ( and let it defrost every so often less the hacking)

the freon leaked out.

to replace, the system needs to be purged ( evacuated,) a filter/dryer put in the freon circut and have more freon charged in it.

overall ( unless its a very large/expensive), it would be less hassell just to buy a new one ( and let it defrost every so often less the hacking)

It's my own stupid fault, and i could kick myself for damaging it in the first place.

Having to replace a fridge that just needs some more fluid adding is symptomatic of the disposable society we now live in.

I got the number of a handyman that a local restaurant uses when their fridges break down, so will try him after Songkran and report back.

All over the island are repairshops for electrical equipment. This is quite simole, and will i expect be no problem at all for one of them. And it will be cheap as well.

Have the leak repaired the proper way, the epoxy will wear out soon with the constant varying temperatures and humidity.

Soldering is the way to go, which will have to be done anyway when topping up the freon. Not much of a problem all together.

the freon leaked out.

to replace, the system needs to be purged ( evacuated,) a filter/dryer put in the freon circut and have more freon charged in it.

overall ( unless its a very large/expensive), it would be less hassell just to buy a new one ( and let it defrost every so often less the hacking)

It's my own stupid fault, and i could kick myself for damaging it in the first place.

Having to replace a fridge that just needs some more fluid adding is symptomatic of the disposable society we now live in.

I got the number of a handyman that a local restaurant uses when their fridges break down, so will try him after Songkran and report back.

a one door fridge like this is max 5-6k baht, so a repair could be less expensive

The white goods store opposite the Mc Donalds next to Robinsons in Phuket town will repair for you

The white goods store opposite the Mc Donalds next to Robinsons in Phuket town will repair for you

Thanks for your comments and help so far guys.

I asked at a local air conditioning repair shop and they said they could fix it. Quoted around 800 baht and will take 3 days or so. They even came and picked it up.

A new fridge is about 5,800 baht or so - considerably more expensive than the repair.

Will report back when they bring the fridge back.