Harvest Right Vacuum Leak Troubleshooting

⚠️Harvest Right has a troubleshooting owners manual that should always be the first line of defense in any troubleshooting and repair. This information is supplemental only!⛔️

Door gasket – remove it and spread the grove slightly so you can see in the grove. Look for cracks/cuts of any kind. Before you reinstall it – put a very thin coat of petroleum jelly around the outside rim of the chamber.

Vacuum pump hose– Remove the vacuum hose at both ends and inspect the inside of the female ends – you should see a black O-ring – check that it’s not nicked or cut. Apply just a dab of petroleum jelly, mineral oil, or pump oil for a thin coat on the male end of the connector just at the tip. Now let’s run a vacuum test and see if we have an improvement.

Water Valve Test– Start the freeze test first and let it chill to at least -5F – then begin the vacuum test. When the chamber vacuum is pulled down as far as it will go and at -5 F or lower. Let’s put the end of the drain hose in some water and see if water is being sucked up the hose. If so – the valve leaks and is bad.

If you have those “Y” connectors in the drain line you’ll need to get upstream of those to check the drain valve.
If no improvement – while the vacuum is on – let’s get some good quality electric or silicone tape and put some wraps around and over the brass connector where it crimps on to the vacuum hose and 1/2 inch up the hose at both ends of the vacuum hose. Check for any improvement in the vacuum readings.

NEXT- now the next check will need some Windex spray that is ammonia free. With a vacuum in the chamber pulled down as far as it can get. Spray a quick shot at the drain valve connector on the vacuum side of the valve, If we see a sharp rise in the mTorr readings – there is a leak at that connection. Repeat this a few times to confirm a leak or no leak. It should be the same at the vacuum hose connections. A rise in mTorr.
Finally let’s check the door seal with the full vacuum on. We’ll use just plain water in a spray bottle. Spray the water all around the door seal and really hose it down – Between the lip of the chamber and seal too, if there is a leak we want to see the mTorr rise.
Ok – let’s stop at this point and evaluate the things we’ve done and if it has improved. The next tests will require removing the panels.
Now go rest – have some refreshments.

Next phase requires to remove panels. Internal to the cabinet are several places that can cause a leak. Turn off the machine and unplug the dryer. The back – top and right side panels need to be removed to gain access. ( first part of this video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2TMDxEzGfo

After panels are removed, plug it back in and turn on the dryer. Go to the testing screen and turn on the vacuum pump and let it pump down as far as it will go. Be sure to chill the chamber.
At the top you will see a pipe connection to the chamber with a “T” for the pressure sensor and wire harness pass through. While watching the mTorr displayed, spray the Windex around these connections. If there is a rise in pressure there is a leak. Then you’ll need to be more precise with the spray to pin it down.
The connections at the lower half of the chamber will need sprayed as well while watching the display. If there is a leak there the fitting will need to be removed, cleaned of Teflon tape and new tape applied then reattached and tightened. Repeat or tighten until there is no longer a leak. Same with the drain connection.

If you think you have a freezer issue – it would be best for you to do what is called a “Water test” -1/4 cup water on each tray and run the cycle – at cycle end, remove the rack and take picture’s of the frost pattern. Have your batch log data ready to send – skip to the 2 min mark – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42xRpiLmimM

Having done all this prior to opening a ticket with HR will greatly speed up the process with your tech assignd to help you. A lot of time is spent back and forth with a tech just to gain this information. The more information you can supply of the troubles, will greatly speed up the service you recive. I spend a lot of time just getting the information from a client to help them. Help yourself by helping your service tech. I hope you can find this information helpfull.