Art & Inspiration OT buying a 50's Refrigerator to stick in the shop....

Cool topic. no pun intended.lol. Our fridge broke for like the 6 or 7th time and and I had had it and I was out at Ricks restorations in Las Vegas as seen on TV looking at my buddies Coke machine he was having restored and saw this 1942 Frigidaire refrigerator that was smaller in size to fit our older ranch style house. Wife loved it, we bought it and I actually fixed the old one and it's out on the patio for overflow of food and making ice. Didn't notice any increase in power use. Did notice a drop in power use when the 3 teenagers moved out and got a life.lol.I'll try and post a photo. Yruhot..Doug

 

That thing looks amazing..

Any more cool friges out there, Got a 50 Coldspot, need somemore paint ideas..

 

Just brought home a '30's model Coldspot today. I got it at a reasonable price. No motor though. So I plan on getting it all upgraded with an energy saving upgrade. It's going to be an Independant Study project during the Spring semester. I'll post pics when I'm not on my phone.

 

Very nice here is my fridge although i might trade it for a modern mini fridge hmm?

 

i have a 1950s fridge it keeps freezing things on the temp dial it has A B C and 1 through 8 and a defrost you have any ideas on what i should put the dial at and or what could be wrong?

 

I have a 1932 Westinghouse that I am planning on putting new innards in. We'll see if it works.

I have put a new compressor in an old '50's coke machine. It needed a little tweeking but seemed to work ok.

 

If you were in MO. I would say bring it over for repair

 

Lowest setting A make sure the seal is tight

 

Do a google search on vintage fridges & start looking at pics

 

We need a coupala Frigidaire pop up ice trays the kind we trashed since the Tuperware ones

 

This is my 39 GE that I did over. Keeps the beers nice and cold!

 

"Trust me, I'm an appliance repairman. Mua Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

You'll have to figure out which way to turn the dial yourself because there were so many different refrigerators made back then.

Take the temperature of some liquid in the refrigerator. Flip a coin and turn the dial with the numbers either up or down one notch. Let it run for at least 8 hours. Measure again to see if you went the right way. Let it set 8 hours between adjustments.

Hope the following doesn't bore you to badly. Please feel free to skip to the next post. It's kind of interesting to me but most people's eyes glaze over and they start looking for an escape whenever I get going.

Here's a lengthy procedure if you want to get it just right:

1. Turn it to "B" and "4." The refrigerator dial is the one with the numbers. The one with the letters adjusts the freezer.

2. Put a cup of water in the middle of the frig. The mass of the water will give you an accurate average temperature. The temperature inside the frig goes up and down as the thermostat cycles on and off. Don't worry about the freezer temperature yet.
Plug it in. Let it run at least over night. It's important to let it run at least 8 hours or you will drive yourself crazy adjusting it back and forth. Leave the door shut. Don't check the temperature until 8 hours have passed.

3. Check the temperature of the water in the refrigerator again. If it's between 33*F and 40*F, skip ahead to step 5. If not, write it down somewhere so you don't forget it.

4. If it's too warm, turn the refrigerator control up ONE notch to, "5".
Wait another 8 hours (minimum). Measure the refrigerator temperature in the cup of water again. If it got colder, then you know you turned it the right way. If it got warmer, you went the wrong way, so turn it to, "3" instead. But now you know which way to turn the refrigerator dial, the freezer dial should also turn the same direction. But don't worry about the freezer temperature yet. We've got to get the frig right first. Keep adjusting the refrigerator dial one notch at a time, giving it at least 8 hours between adjustments, until you get it between 33*F and 40*F.

5. Put your thermometer in the freezer for about an hour (you don't have to wait 8 hours like you did with the frig side). It can be anywhere north of 20*F. Getting it colder than 20*F won't preserve the food any better or longer - it'll just waste electricity. The freezer dial should rotate in the same direction as the refrigerator dial did to make it warmer or colder. After you've got it where you think it ought to be, leave your thermometer in the freezer at least 8 hours to be sure. Also, check the refrigerator side again.

If you're still reading,

Here's how it works:

The thermostat that turns the compressor off and on is in the refrigerator side, not the freezer.

If it has an automatic defroster, then the coils that make everything cold are in the freezer. A little fan turns on to circulate the air over the coils inside the freezer whenever the compressor turns on to make the coils cold. The refrigerator gets a small portion of that circulating air. There's a damper that controls the ratio. It is the knob with the letters on it.

Less air to the refrigerator side means there's more cold air for the freezer to get colder before the thermostat in refrigerator side gets down to it's target temperature.

More air through the damper means the refrigerator is getting more cold air. The freezer doesn't get as much, so it can't get as cold before the refrigerator reaches it's target and shuts everything off.

If you're still not bored to tears,

Here's how the defroster works:

When you open the door to get things out of the refrigerator or freezer, you let warm, humid air in. Once the humid air hits something cold, such as everything in the refrigerator, it condensates like a glass of ice tea on a hot summer day. There is usually a drain in the bottom of the frig that drips into a pan underneath, where it evaporates into the atmosphere.

If the humid air hits something frozen, such as the coils in the freezer that make everything cold, it forms frost instead of drips. Eventually, the frost builds up enough to totally enclose the coils so no air can flow through them. No circulating air means the refrigerator doesn't get it's share to make it cold. All the air stays in the freezer and the refrigerator gets warm.

To get the frost off the coils in the freezer, they put a heater in there to melt it. It seems like a dumb idea to put a heater in your freezer but when it's on, the fan is off, so most of the heat stays behind the little panel.

It's on a timer which turns on about once every 23 hours. (They use an odd number of hours so it will come on at a different times every day so you don't notice it as much.) The heater melts all the frost off the coils. There's a little thermostat attached to the coils that turns off the heater when they are frost-free again.

All the melted frost is caught in a trough and runs down into the pan under the the refrigerator to be evaporated into the atmosphere.

Why old refrigerators are more energy efficient and last longer than modern ones:

The old refrigerators that were not frost free don't have the counter productive defrost heater in them. You have to defrost them yourself. They also don't have any fans to circulate the air. They simply put the coils inside the refrigerator and freezer and let them soak up the heat by convection. That's why they don't use as much electricity as the modern refrigerators. They don't have a heater in the freezer.

Also, the ones you have to defrost yourself don't have any moving parts exposed to the atmosphere. The only moving parts are sealed inside the compressor where they enjoy a constant bath of oil, and no oxygen or moisture - ever. That's why they last for decades. Usually, people throw them out because the insulation on the wires become so old that they become brittle and chip off. Simply replace the wiring and many of them will last for more decades.

Most appliance repairmen don't want to fix these old refrigerators because it's not as quick and easy to retrofit a thermostat or fan motor it is to unscrew and screw in a factory-made part on a modern one. Sometimes you even have to make your own parts. You kind of have to have a hot-rodder's mentality to enjoy working on them.

Nothing beats their style.

Good luck!

 

I seen that you were looking for pats for that 50's Kelvinator. I have one, I am willing to sell the whole thing.

 

I have a 50's Kelvinator that I am willing trade or sell.

 

Our old Philco was a meter turning beast, it cost as much to run as our rent

 

I saw this one in a guys shop, looked pretty cool

 

Nice intro and first 2 posts

 

I picked up an old Kelvinator recently. I moved the compressor wires out of the way when cleaning the coils and I soon had a handful of wire insulation in my hands. It was super brittle.
So please take a quick look and inspect your wiring on your old fridges.
I rewired the entire fridge to be on the safe side.
She's purring like a kitten again. Now she needs a coat of paint.

 

I have on just like that...
How did you fit a keg in it? pony keg?
Can you take a pic of the interior?

I also have a '41 that makes beer Icee's

 

Recently bought a 51' DM-90 Frigidaire. Great condition. No rust, missing one hinge cover, but not sure if it runs yet. Shorts after pluggin in; haven't had the chance to go over the electrical yet.

What are the retrofitting options with vintage refrigerators? Can the compressor be replaced to a modern one? What is the price of something like this?

Anyone have a hinge cover for this model?

Thanks

 

Try contacting stovehaven@aol.com they will help. He's got hundreds of stoves in his warehouses for parts. usually you have to send them all info, and pictures of what you have.

 

Here is a fully operational "Round Top" in a shop I work in regularly.

 

One brand called them "monitor top"

 

I got this 1959 Kelvinator last year. Still has all its original paperwork, receipts, manual and guarantee. Runs great

 

Here is a '55 Frigidaire we converted into a look-a-like gas pump kegerator. Dispenses beer from the pump handle. Fun build!

 

Finally got some paint squirted on my Kelvinator. Still needs to be wet sanded.
It's actually the fridge from post #214. Sorry Ricky, but she needed a rewire so since it was apart I gave the old girl a face lift.

She now looks like this...

 

Very nice! i was expecting a custom retro paint job

 

The cost to operate it will be far less than the cost of 5 new, expensive, throw away pieces of crap you will need to buy over the next ten years.

 

It took me a year to get white on it. It would have taken me two fucking years if I had to shoot it a custom retro color.

 

We're all using "True" coolers in our neighborhood. The ubiquitous cooler that's always right by the check-out counter with the clear glass door. Usually full of soft drinks.
No wasted freezer space.
If you can find the distributor in your area, he usually has some he will sell for about the same, or a little less than a new small fridge will cost.
Meant to be run hard. And they will keep your beverage of choice COLD!