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Post by stlvortac on Jan 25, 2015 1:20:18 GMT
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Post by coldspaces on Jan 25, 2015 6:03:59 GMT
Nice flat top! Very clean looking. About like the 40 I got recently. As long a the relay is good the rewire isn't too bad. Takes some time but doable. Here is a little of the rewire that I did on my 38. Will check and see if I have more pics, this weekend if I have time.
Fan motor wiring is most likely shot also, the original 2 phase motor isn't made any more. Threads on here about replacing it with a 1 phase motor, easy to do.
Let us know what else we can help with.
Cool that you ended up with a Scotch yoke model and didn't know the connection, glad you found us.
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Post by cablehack on Jan 25, 2015 12:10:17 GMT
That looks to be in really nice condition. I have a certain fondness for the hermetic Flatops. To me they signify the accomplishment of GE's goal for a completely reliable, efficient, and economical to run refrigerator...a kind of finale to the CK monitor top. I have never heard of one with a fault in the refrigeration circuit. Any repairs on these is just simple cosmetic and electrical work. There must be a lot of Flatops still in use and it would be safe to say most owners have no idea what they have is a disguised monitor top and the historical significance of that.
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Post by stlvortac on Jan 25, 2015 22:04:28 GMT
Thanks for the complements! Hope to keep it around for a long time. I have a feeling its a relatively 'low time' unit. It doesn't show the wear and tear of even your average 10 yr old fridge.
My original plan was to replace just the power cord as it was cracked and the plug was splitting in half. That's when I discovered the state of the wiring under the fridge. One thing I have not explored yet is the compressor wiring. Does it terminate at screw terminals below the compressor? Thankfully the 2 phase fan motor works just fine. I found the procedure for servicing the oil. Not sure if and where I can find SAE 10 motor oil. Is there a modern day replacement?
My last question is how everyone goes about restoring the shelves? The fridge has the original(leaky) door seals and I think using it with them is what caused surface rust on the shelves.
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Post by cablehack on Jan 26, 2015 2:32:20 GMT
For the compressor terminations, I believe they're soldered like the other units, but I'm sure Coldspaces can confirm that. The fan oil would not be critical; the important thing is that it's always lubricated. It would appear the grade of oil chosen by GE was simply to reduce the frequency of oiling. Thinner types would work but just need more frequent oiling. There should be something equivalent for SAE 10. I went through this exercise with my Model T Ford some years ago to find what the modern types were for its oils. It was surprising in these modern times that the various oil companies I contacted could cross reference something that old.
For my shelves, I had them nickel plated. My CA-2 shelves had been painted in white enamel house paint, and the CA-1 shelves had rusty chrome plating. According the plating shop I went to, chrome was a bad choice because it is not good in a moist environment. There's been no deterioration with the nickel plating in the two years since I've had it done. New repro door seals are available from Don at Rusty Metal Rescue. They're of excellent quality and I've used them on both my fridges. Leaky door seals can also contribute to wet insulation and the cabinet rusting out. It's worthwhile to remove the Textolite strip at the bottom of the door opening to see that the insulation is completely dry.
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Post by coldspaces on Jan 26, 2015 3:39:59 GMT
Yes they should be soldered on like my 38. I would use 20 weight oil. Sewing machine oil is too thin. Get 3in 1 oil in the blue and white can, its 20 weight for electric motors.http://www.3inone.com/products/motor-oil/. 20 weight should be ok unless maybe you run it in a cold garage. Or a Zoom spout oiler www.laco.com/lubricants/zoom-spout-oiler/
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Post by stlvortac on Jan 26, 2015 21:07:57 GMT
Thanks for all the input! For now my fridge is in a basement garage, temps average 45-55* in the winter with the door closed. That Might just cut it using 3 in one 20 weight. Turbine jet oil? lol
I'm tempted to cut and re-splice the factory compressor wire at the start relay. Looks like I would have to tip the fridge on its side to solder new compressor wires. Is that acceptable? Not sure I want compressor oil going where its not designed to.
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Post by cablehack on Jan 26, 2015 22:47:25 GMT
No problem putting the fridge on its side. The way the inlet and outlets are positioned in the compressor prevents oil coming out.
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Post by stlvortac on Jan 27, 2015 3:52:02 GMT
That makes life easy. I'll let it sit upright over night before a test run to let everything settle. My last dilemma is the fan motor wiring. Discovered the wiring is not replaceable so I'll attempt to re-splice the wires. Problem being the wiring is very hard and cracks to pieces. Is there some sort of wire safe mineral/penetrating oil I could let the cord soak in...Possibly to soften it up.
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Post by coldspaces on Jan 27, 2015 4:15:28 GMT
If so I want some too. i researched rubber reconditioning and such a year or so ago and didn't find much. Probably gonna have to put in a new 1 phase motor, should take the same as the FEA's monitortop.freeforums.net/thread/337/replace-fea-condenser-fan-motorThe closest I have found is a 2 watt at 1550 rpm. From what I have read the original 2phase was 1 watt at 1300 RPM.
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Post by stlvortac on Jan 27, 2015 4:47:28 GMT
Same here, not much info on conditioning wires. Might use the old trial and error method before I give up on the 2 phase. The motor runs great, I hate to abandon it. Here's my fan data(5K61YA1) from the GE service manual.
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Post by coldspaces on Jan 27, 2015 5:48:17 GMT
Very interesting fan data. Same rpm but much higher watts that I thought they were. Would be interested in a better pic of the whole page. Don't think I researched why wires dry out. Not sure there's much on that either. Have you seen this thread? monitortop.freeforums.net/thread/337/replace-fea-condenser-fan-motor It is delicate work to open one of these 2 phase motors and even more delicate to try to rewire. I tried this one time and failed. Will try again some day as I have 3 more ginny pigs in old machines.
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Post by stlvortac on Jan 28, 2015 3:39:44 GMT
Slowly making progress on the wiring. Insulation on the new wires is larger than the factory wires along with modern ring terminals. One of the connections on the relay has four wires going to it. Impossible to cram it all inside the housing. Think I may end up running single wires from the relay to just outside the unit and combining all the wires using a screw terminals. Drained the oil out of the fan motor. Maybe 1/4 of an ounce left. Not a good sign but hopefully she'll be fine Coldspaces, Here's the fan specs
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Post by blackhorse on Feb 2, 2015 20:40:10 GMT
I have for some decades used 10w 20 and 10w 30 motor oil in motors of all sizes, with longer life than the original lubrication. In those tiny evaporator motors at -20F evaporator temperatures and condenser fan motors that get quite hot. The "10w" part is important, and motor oil is apparently much higher quality, more stable and much less likely to get gummy.
I had miserable results with 3-in-1 oil, Gunslick gun oil, turbine oil, all got gummy fairly rapidly.
And of course WD-40 isn't actually oil at all, although I found it great for roller chain drives (it doesn't pick up dust and grit like oil does), and for cleaning polymer-frame guns with a toothbrush (regular cleaning solvent etches the nylon).
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Post by stlvortac on Feb 3, 2015 18:24:23 GMT
After some discussion with blackhorse about the difficulty rebuilding the fan motor I decided to go the replacement route. I found a made in USA cast iron motor that has similar specs to mine. Might have to buy it. It would keep it as "original" as possible. Original motor was listed at 7.5-9watts @1350 rpm, this is 9 watt 1550 rpm. Hopefully the increased rpm wont be noticeable.
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