A reach-in is self-contained. The compressor, condenser and evaporator all live in one cabinet, usually in a compartment on top or underneath behind a grille. That’s convenient, but it also means the condenser is breathing whatever’s in your kitchen air, grease and flour and lint included, and a clogged condenser is behind a lot of warm reach-ins.
What to check before you call
- Pull the grille and look at the condenser coil. If it’s furry with dust or sticky with grease, that alone can make a reach-in run warm.
- Look at the space around the unit. Pushed tight against a wall, or parked next to a fryer or oven, it has to work much harder.
- Make sure it’s plugged straight into the wall. Extension cords and power strips can starve the compressor when it tries to start.
- Open the door and listen for the fan inside while the compressor’s running. Quiet usually means the fan is out.
- Check that product isn’t packed against the back wall or the fan cover.
You can brush the condenser off yourself with a soft brush once the unit’s unplugged. Skip the pressure washer.
Loud, hot or clicking compressor
A compressor that clicks on, hums for a few seconds and clicks off again is usually failing to start. Sometimes that’s the compressor itself. Often it’s a start relay or capacitor, or low voltage from that extension cord, and those are small parts. A compressor that runs nonstop and feels very hot is usually fighting a dirty condenser or a dead condenser fan. Rattling or grinding is more often a fan blade hitting ice or a loose shroud.
The tech will sort out which it is before quoting anything. If it really is the compressor, our page on compressor and condenser repair goes into it.
Sweating doors and water on the floor
Glass-door reach-ins have heaters in the glass or frame to keep them from fogging, and solid-door units usually have one in the strip between the doors. When those fail, the door sweats, and in a hot kitchen the gasket can stay damp and grow mold. Torn gaskets and doors that won’t close on their own cause the same thing and are quick to replace.
Water under the unit is usually the condensate pan. Defrost water drains into a pan near the compressor where a heater or a hot line evaporates it. If that heater quits or the pan cracks, it overflows onto the floor.
When it isn’t worth fixing
This is the piece of equipment where replacing often beats a big repair. A one- or two-door reach-in doesn’t cost much new compared to a walk-in, so a compressor job on an older unit can get close to the price of a new one, and you’ll see both numbers before deciding. On a 12- or 15-year-old reach-in, a sealed-system repair usually doesn’t make sense, though fans, relays, gaskets and thermostats almost always do. If you go the replacement route, we do installation and replacement too, and keeping the new one’s condenser clean is the main thing a maintenance plan covers for reach-ins.
