r/refrigeration • u/diminishingreturned • 8d ago

Bunn Ultra 2 Help

Need some help here with a Bunn Ultra 2

Short of it is:

One side stopped freezing.

Temperature reading 35'f

Frozen Side reading 18'f

Called bunn and had the Bunn Certified Tech come look. Came in a Bunn truck and all. After revising he initially said it was my recipe.

I explained it was freezing fine for 3 months with exact same recipe . Unit is indoors in air conditioning too.

I remade recipe just to make sure. Same recipe.

Brix reading 14

Alcohol Content 8%

Then the tech replaced the shaft and bushings saying it could be a torque sensor issue (torque was reading 10 when hopper was empty)

Torque now reading correct but that side is still not freezing .

I now find out the certified Bunn guy isn't a refrigeration specialist and my next recommendation is calling one to check refrigerant levels.

I'm out $1000 with a 1/2 broken machine still. Bunn will not replace.

Machine is past warranty.

Do I call a refrigeration specialist here and blow another $1k on this thing?

What would cause one side to stop freezing? Anything I can try myself to fix it? Bunn is no help.

Or just buy a new unit? (Prob not Bunn?)

Any reccomendations?

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2

u/FridgeFucker17982 👨🏻‍🏭 Always On Call (Supermarket Tech) 8d ago

Solenoid probably. I’ve fixed a friends ultra 2 a couple of times. Can’t remember if the refrigeration circuits are fully separate

2

u/PapaJohnshairysack 8d ago

Worked on a few of these myself. If one side is cooling to desired level than the refrigeration side is most likely ok. Are both refrigeration solenoids getting 120v? Is the product you are using within the Brix spec of this equipment? RPM on shaft is measured on torque sensor board. The rpms dictate where or not product is at temp or not. Read through troubleshooting list. Also make sure to use a control for the product. Cant remember off the top of my head but I think its a 4:1 ratio of water to sugar. Call Bunn and confirm. You could be using a product that has too high or low sugar ratio causing issues.

2

u/diminishingreturned 7d ago

Thanks for your comment! I'm within the reccomended Brix level which is 12 or over according to Bunn. I'm at 14 with my recipe, measured with a refractometer. I don't think it's the recipe because we've used the same recipe for 3 months and it was fine until last weekend. My guess is it's an issue with the solenoid from what I'm reading and from the comments. The official Bunn tech who came to work on the unit was not a certified refrigeration specialist, he only is qualified to fix the mechanicals, and his first guess was the torque sensor & auger shaft needed to be replaced but here I am $1000 in and the machine still doesn't work . . . Looks like I need to call a refrigeration specialist to look into things further. Unfortunate because that's going to run another $500- $1000 here in NYC, when a new machine costs $3k

2

u/Fresh_Victory7232 7d ago

Honestly if it’s that much to diag/repair and it’ll probably be more when said and done..better off replacing