Kitchener Wine Cabinets Questions & Answers

Yep I have same problem.got a tech over Friday . He said fan motor is dead . Company finito .Good luck getting another. He left . Call-out fee applies .Any ideas? Anthony South Brisbane

You can read the few replies I posted below. The cooling unit replacements is an easy job once you have assembled the spares and consumables you need. Replace all of them, the thermal paste will be completely dry and useless even if some peltiers are still working. A few hours and you should be done and the next day it will be mostly back to its former glory. Be safe and have fun.

Thank you

Hi Chris, i used arctic silver 5 paste. Bit of a learning curve in applying it efficiently because its somewhat dense and doesn't spread easily. So I recommend getting 2 or 3 small tubes for doing 4 peltiers. I spread it using playing cards. A plastic disposable putty scraper will do fine as well. A gloves this stuff is messy. Uncertain it makes a difference, but I wiped any excess paste from each edge of the peltier chip to keep a good delineation between hot and cold once the heat sinks were reassembled. Keeping a slight excess layer of paste on both sides also helps with minimising air voids when reassembling the heat sinks. Be certain you test the hot and cold sides of the peltier beforehand. You don’t want to install it the wrong way around and realise after sealing it up again. You also want to put reasonable tightness on the heatsink screws to fasten it back together but don’t go nuts or you will crack the peltiers from over tightening against the aluminium heatsinks.

Besides the thermal paste, you will need expanding foam. 1 can of any brand will be plenty but i recommend masking the heat sink fins beforehand with masking tape. This is a messy job the first time so i recommend doing them all at once with the same can of foam. It gets easier after the first one. I made a small lip with the tape to help contain the foam while it expands and sets in the void between the heat sinks. Regardless, the following day, use a sharp knife and trim the excess on each side. This will be obvious when you pull the cooling units out to see how they were made. The peltier is sandwiched between the 2 heat sink halves, just undo the 2 nuts on the face and use a paint scraper to wedge and separate the 2 halves. Theres nothing delicate inside the foam besides the buggered peltier, so slice in and pry apart the heatsinks.

After you’ve refoamed and trimmed, you can connect them back up, remembering the wires are on the hot side. Drop the heat sinks back into the cabinet cavities and you can seal them back up with any sealant of your choice.

I used insulated spade terminals on all the peltier wires to make it easier to swap out next time they need replacing. I got them at SCAuto.

Let me know how you go. Good luck, its really an easy job you will wonder why you put it off once you finish.

And scroll down to read my 2 replies to Peter just below for addtional details.

I have 3 units and all take this type: Thermoelectric Peltier Modules Peltier Element TEC1-12706 Also make sure you buy some thermal paste: i used arctic silver 5. Thermal paste has a hard life and dries out, so while usually only one peltier has failed, given the effort involved i suggest doing all of them for that reason.

DeeM, Thanks **very** much indeed for the advice. I do love my Kitchener. The cooling unit, I suspect, is near the top of the unit alongside the fan. Waiting for a cooler period when I can do some work on it. Thanks again, great advice. Cheers

I just realised you asked the location. If you pop off the top cover, you’ll see folded aluminium dividers, either 2 or 3, running from front to rear. Remove these and you below that you will find 2 chunky black heat sinks per row. In each of these is 1 peltier unit.

Disconnect them and id the wires. Use a thin blade to cut the black sealant on the contour of each sink and they will come off by pulling upwards. Don’t worry about the foam sandwich on the heat sinks, just remove it and the peltier units are in the centre, held by 2 nuts.

I used expanding foam,masking tape and cardboard to refoam once i replaced the peltiers.

You may need to drill the wire holes out to accomodate for the new peltiers wire gauge.

I’ve read that the cool side isn’t always the printed one, so test the ones you get by powering them for a few seconds. Wear gloves as they get hot fast.

It’s an easy enough job once you have the parts on hand.

Thanks mate, that's great. I've not attempted this so far, so your instructions are gold.

Finally got around to testing. Two of the six chips are short circuited, one is 0.9MOhm, one is 66kOhm, one is 25 Ohm. The other was physically damaged while disassembling the first heat sink. So looks like a repair was well overdue!

I used polyfilla polyurethane foam to insulate between the heat sinks. Outside, on some spare cardboard. Refitting inside the unit they were pretty snug and the upper sinks are now getting warm so I think that's a wrap. Cost all up was about $80 for the fix for all 6 peltier units. It wasn't a quick job because of the various debug / deinstall / strip / refit / test each unit with 12V DC supply / rewire / reinstall / test but it was pretty satisfying.

You might be able to save a little bit of time by not disconnecting the single power wire that connects each sink pair in series, but it is important to test each unit separately so I recommend completely disconnect each sink and getting hold of a cheap benchtop DC supply.

Each TEC1-12706 peltier draws 3A / 12V = 36W so 24V / 72W per pair.

I have a Kitchener 430 and the fan unit looks simple enough. Not sure if the ground is connected but the terminals look to be fed from the two separate boards. Just trace the cable, take a photo and rewire if you can get hold of a new unit.

Thanks Peter for the advice. I ended hooking up a low wattage external USB fan over the vent, that I just left on to extract the heat out. It got too hard to find parts for it. Anyway ended up having to sell the fridge as I had to do a forced move to smaller premises, and the person I sold it to was happy with the hack. Just putting the info out there in case someone else has similar problems. That's the only thing that can break down with these wine fridges.

Sorry Ramon. I’ve been looking for someone to service my Kitchener for yrs! I’d love to know if you find someone. Chrz Gordon

I'm not a tradie and have minimal skills yet have managed to repair my Peltier units twice now. Initially one bank of Peltier chips failed. You can determine which bank it is because the heat sinks feels cooler than on the operating side. Bought a couple of Peltier chips, not exactly the same as in the original, from Jaycar Electronics, prised the heat sinks apart, removed the insulation, replaced the chip and reformed the insulation with expanding resin. Works fine. Another time the fan motor stopped due to bearing failure. BCB Sales & Service in Melbourne replaced them, yet they are apparently easily available through Miniature Bearings stores. Finally the Carel ir33 thermostat screen died and was an easy swap out and replace. The solid state fridges are simple design and easy to work on. I expect mine to outlast me. And they're subjected to Brisbane summers too.

Could you share a bit more info on the fan motor? I’m curious to know if the failed bearing was on the top side or bottom side. I bought an old secondhand Kitchener with a noisy fan motor. Have checked the top bearing and it feels ok. Haven’t checked the bottom bearing yet, it’s difficult to get to because of the way the top of the cabinet is assembled. The bearings look like they’re fairly easy to replace, once the motor is removed. Otherwise the cooling modules seem to be working ok. I don’t want the fan to fail, particularly in summer, as I know that peltier modules don’t like high temperatures and are prone to failure.

Thought I’d give an update. I replaced both fan motor bearings, the bottom one was shot, definitely on the way out. They are generic, sourced new ones from CBC, less than $20 for two. The difficulty was in removing the fan motor, to access and remove the bottom fan blade, I had to pull the whole top cooling panel out of the cabinet, peltier modules and insulation included. Also had to disconnect a bit of wiring. Removing the old bearings and fitting new ones was pretty simple. Got it all back together and it’s working fine.

Could you please provide the specs for the bearings? I have a noisy fan motor and plan on doing the peltiers and the bearings in the same job. I have a solid state 200bt kitchener cabinet circa 2006.

Also looks like the capacitor to start the fan needs replacement. No idea of the specs until i take it out. Wish i could already have the replacement on hand.

Edit capacitor spec is ALS30A153DB040 15000 uF 40VDC

Many thanks

Hey all, I’m just in the process of fixing a 287 bottle Kitchener peltier, I’ve had help from an electronics guy, we’ve replaced the power supply with a new modern one, then replaced the peltiers on all elements, they are now all wired up in series but it doesn’t seem to be cooling it down? Anyone know if one needs to be in reverse to cool it down? There is one inside the fridge and that’s blowing a lot of warm air out of it..

Any ideas?

Cheers

Sounds like either the wrong surface is facing down. The hot side has the wires soldered on.

Or if the wiring has been reversed, this will also flip the cool and warm side conventions.

The bearings were NTN 626Z, which I purchased from CBC. Unfortunately these only lasted about 6 months. Suspect they ran dry and cooked during our Brisbane summer. When I went back to CBC the guy was very helpful, he explained the type of bearing isn’t really designed to take axial load and tried unsuccessfully to find an alternative. So I’ve reinstalled the same bearing until I can get a suitable alternative. One thing I will try is a different seal, as the ‘Z’ is a single metal shield and won’t retain the lubricant. ‘2RS’ is rubber seal on both sides, ‘sealed for life’. If it was me I’d try the 626-2RS.

I ordered a set of 626-RSH from RS components. Will install these shortly.

I'm sorry to say Peter that your assessment seems to be correct. I managed to source a new motor for the fan from an OE supplier but I've not identified any other suppliers. Sorry Chrz Gordon

I’m not a technician but a past owner of the larger Kitchener wine cabinet which I found very satisfactory. However, if you’ve set the temperature at 15 and the display is reading 22/23 and doesn’t feel cool to touch then it would seem to me something is wrong. I would suggest getting some technical advice from someone who’s qualified.

Agree with George if the wine's not cool, Houston, you have a problem!. I too have the larger (older?) cabinet with a solid door and it doesnt have a compressor so I can't offer any assistance I regret to say. Chrz Gordon

I have an early one that cools by putting electricity across different metals. Ok to lay down. In the case of a fridge that uses gas and a compressor, I believe you can lay it down. But allow to stand upright for a day to let the gas settle before turning on.

In Compressor fridges its not the gas 'the issue, its the oil in the compressor, if you start it straight after lying it down you will blow the compressor as the oil runs from the reservoir into the piston in the compressor. It is recommended never to lye down a compressor fridge. The peltier fridges have no compressor. Its all electrical - should be no issue in lying this down,

G'day Gavin I've had a Kitchener for more than 25 years and last year I had to change the electric motor which drives the fan. I had a electrician remove & reinstall it because I can only change a battery, but the circuitry is quite complex. Its going again now although I'm not sure its as efficient as it used to be. Still it keeps good temperature through Melbourne's hottest days (high 30s that is incase you were about to make a rude comment about Melbourne's weather!). If it is the motor I can recommend the place in Melbourne that supplied motors to Kitchener when they were producing the cabinets and from which I sourced the replacement. Chrz Gordon

Hi there Gordo I have a different problem - my cabinet got water damaged and is not working - And I cant find anyone that wants to look at it - If I can start with the supplier of the motors for when they were around that is a start - Could you please advise

Talis

Hi I have been searching for someone in Sydney to help, however if I can contact the supplier of the motors maybe they can help me identify the supplier for the peltier units. I have a 284 and a 430 and i need to replace a couple of these as they are failing. When Kitchener were up and running there was a repairer in Sydney but he has disappeared, and i cannot find a thermoelectrical electrician in Sydney to help me. Any help would be greatly appreciates - a contact in Australia who has serviced one of these would help me, or any Kitchener supplier. Thanks Chris

Hi Chris, I have a 430 and several peltiers have failed too. I have disassembled it so I can give you the model details of the peltiers. Last I looked they were available on eBay. That said, the more difficult part will be physically replacing them and making sure that they are properly installed, both mechanically and electrically. I have sourced some higher quality peltiers from the US and I’m in the process of rebuilding mine, including replacing all of the electrical components. I expect the performance and reliability to be better but it’s still theory at this stage. Craig

Hi Craig, how did you go with the repair? Do you have the model number of the peltier modules you replaced and a good place to buy them? Thanks!

Ben I have replaced a couple of the chips and my fridge seems to be working ok I actually helped someone today to replace two chips Cheers Andrew

Hi Andrew, what brand/model chips did you use? Thanks Paul

G’day Liz It’s a real problem now they’ve stopped making them - stopped existing! I’d try a fridge repair person. Not what you need but just in case: I replaced the electric motor last year. If you need one the company that originally supplied Kitchener still stocks the motors & sold me the right one. Electrician removed the old then installed the new. Chrz Gordon

Hi Gordo, what’s the details for the spare parts company please mate? Kind regards Andy

After 20 years my Kitchener cabinet stopped working. Both Kitchener and the company that made the fan had disappeared. A Melbourne company named BCB Sales and Service (VIC) made a replacement motor with the same Specs (part # 38-005-067). My problem now is that I can't find anyone to put the motor in, partly as the repairer who took the motor out cut wires, and the electricians I approached either weren't interested or couldn't do it. Does anyone know a Sydney based electrician/repairer with experience with Kitchener wine cabinets. Allan D

Hi Russell, can you tell me if you have resolved this issue? I want to replace some failing peltiers in my fridges but I have been hesitant to pull hemp out because a am not sure how to diagnose which ones are failing. Also how did you know which specs of the peltiers units you needed to buy for replacements. The peltiers at jay car seem to be for smaller units so possibly the spec is not correct for these fridges. I would be interested in any information or photos you have that could help me do the same. I was also looking for a circuit diagram, so if you have had any luck getting one I would like to see it also . Thanks Chris (caronly123@hotmail.com)

Hi Chris, Like Russell above, I've had some success replacing a failed peltier module. I've tried two different modules. One from ebay and one from Jaycar (https://www.jaycar.com.au/thermoelectric-peltier-module-51w-6a/p/ZP9102). The jaycar worked better than the one from ebay but on my fridge it probably only dropped the temperature by a couple of degrees. I had the original Kitchener technician replace a couple of modules but he's now retired. I picked his brain and apparently the original peltier modules used by Kitchener were rated at 40W. The power supply inside the fridges delivers 18 volts to the two modules, but because they're wired in series each module receives 9 volts (and 3 4 amps). You can usually tell which module needs replacing as the heatsink won't be hot (as they're wired in series, look for the colder of the two modules). Have a good look at how they are wired before replacing anything. Use a sharp knife to gently cut around the heatsink and then lift the whole module up with a bit of force.

Hi Ben, thanks for the information. This helps a lot. My 284 has 4 x peltier units in two parallel banks. - I am assuming also all 4 units are in series. I have a photo but cannot attach it here. You can source pretty much anything from the USA. When I bought the units Kichener advised the parts were readily available. But is a bit hard when they disappear and their support also isn't around anymore., no circuit diagrams or electrical specs anywhere to be found. I love the units but will only change these once I know what peltier units they used. I also don't want to pull it apart to find out, as the units still holds temperature good enough for my older not so valuable wine. I found a unit for sale which I was tempted to buy for the parts, however the seller wanted to much money. My peltier 430 works perfectly, and I would never get rid of it unless it completely failed. Can you advise if the specs and wattage (40W) and voltage 9V at 3.4 amps is for all 4 or only two peltiers as you state in your comments above ?

Hi Chris, apologies for the late reply! From my understanding, those specs are for each Peltier module. ie you need to find modules that work best with that set of parameters. I think the circuit is designed with two modules in series, not all four in series. So if one peltier starts to fail, it only affects the other module that is in series with it (ie the other two modules continue to operate as normal). The failing module will be the colder of the pair. When that is repaired, both modules should be warmer to the touch than they were before the repair. I hope that helps?

Hi John. I dont know if they are or not. Last time i tried to call it was the week of Melbourne cup. There was a no connection tone and their webdite was not functioning. I have not tried since then.

Thanks snafu. Looks like I need to find a refrigeration mechanic to do a service.

Any update on what's happened to Kitchener? I've had a Chatelet 204 for just over 12 months and led display has lost a segment. Was going to followup with Kitchener to see if there is a replacement part but seems they may be out of business. Bugga.

Corporations Act 2001 Subsection 601AA(4) NOTICE OF PROPOSED DEREGISTRATION - Voluntary Company details Company: KITCHENER WINE CABINETS PTY LTD ACN: 060 593 428 Notice ASIC has received an application to deregister the Company under s601AA.

ASIC may deregister the Company when two months have passed since publication of this notice.

Date of publication: 15 September 2017

ASIC published this notice

This notice does not mean that the company was deregistered. To check whether the company was deregistered following publication of this notice, search the ASIC database using the ASIC Connect function on ASIC's website external link 

Clive, did you find a repairer. I am in NSW and have two of these units. similar issue and the repair guy in Sydney (recommended by Kitchener) I doesn't answer his phone phone any more. The parts in these units are supposed to be very generic so getting a replacement should be easy. I had a Peltier component replaced by home many years ago. He used a clamp meter to test the current, and replaced One of the 4 units on the fridge. It is easy to do , but I want to know where to source the parts. Chris

Clive, did you find a repairer. I am in NSW and have two of these units. similar issue and the repair guy in Sydney (recommended by Kitchener)He doesn't answer his phone phone any more. The parts in these units are supposed to be very generic so getting a replacement should be easy. I had a Peltier component replaced by home many years ago. He used a clamp meter to test the current, and replaced One of the 4 units on the fridge. It is easy to do , but I want to know where to source the parts. Chris

Hi Chris. This is what I found about the company from Google. " Date of publication: 15 September 2017, ASIC has received an application to deregister the Company under s601AA. ASIC may deregister the Company when two months have passed since publication of this notice".

I think the company has gone into voluntary liquidation and no means of finding a recommended repairer.

I still haven't found anyone in Melbourne willing to tackle this repair but I will continue to search. If I cannot find a repairer, I will empty the unit, about 250 bottles, pull the top apart and try to locate the peltier unit and see if I can find a replacement unit.

I will keep you posted.

Clive

:

I believe the Kitchener business hasNo, I haven't been able to find a repairer in Melbourne.

I thought my Kitchener 284 (2009) was also broken as temp wasn't consistent, i wrote to Kitchener a few years back and they sent me this 'reset' procedure and the cabinet has been fine ever since Then follow the steps below to reset the controller parameters...

Press set and up buttom together to access perimeter settings...F0

will be displayed, press set button ... a number will flash (press up

or down arrow to change number then press set...Fo will be displayed

again, then up button to go to next parameter (F2) and repeat...

FO....0

F!.....0

F2.....0

F3......50

F4......2

F5......-1

F6......24

F7.....1

F8......0

F9......skip past it (do not press set)

ED.....press set button

Clive, did you ever manage to find a repairer for your Kitchener Wine Cabinet. I have a 252 bottle thermo-electric (peltier) model that has worked brilliantly for almost 20 years. The fan has stopped working and I have been unable to either find a replacement part or a repairer in Sydney. Only one repairer would have a look and he was unable to fix the fan or find a replacement part - there are no markings on the fan so it is impossible for a lay person to track it down. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Allan

Could you please provide the specs for the bearings? I have a noisy fan motor and plan on doing the peltiers and the bearings in the same job. I have a solid state 200bt kitchener cabinet circa 2006.

Also looks like the condenser to start the fan needs replacement. No idea of the specs until i take it out. Wish i could already have the replacement on hand.

Many thanks