krazy
New Member
Posts: 6 
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Post by krazy on Jul 11, 2016 22:19:12 GMT
I hope i am posting in right place lol, I have a old 58 i believe vintage fridgidaire that says a product of general motors on the logo, Model ufd - 12L and have had it for years and it has worked perfectly until the day i was stupid and decided to mess with the thermostat setting on it and it stopped cycling anymore because from what i was told when i twisted it after it being so old and not moved it broke it ( I feel like a idiot for even touching it now ). My problem is nobody will work on it because it is so old and they say they can't find the parts for it that are UL listed/approved and just try and sell me a new freezer and tell me to junk it, And i know as well as anyone that new fridge/freezers are horrible in comparison to the old ones in reliability and i hate to trash a perfectly good cooling freezer over a thermostat problem. If i plug it in it will cool to -20 jjust fine but never shut off and for a short time until i could get a replacement freezer i put a wall outlet timer on it and just had the timer turn it on and off every few hours and kept my frozen stuff good until i could get a new freezer put in and shut this one off. I know alot of you here have worked on old things like this so i thought maybe some one could point me in the right direction on a possible thermostat crossover replacement that will work so i can keep using this good freezer. The thermostat is under the freezer door behind a kick plate not inside. I have called every appliance store in my area and nobody will work on this freezer and i hate to just toss it out over a thermostat when it still cools so well. I have no manual for it or know anything about it other then what it says on the inside door and google as i didn't get this new myself i kind of inherited it when i bought my house and previous owners left it in the house. I have uploaded some images to imgur since the attachment limit here is 1m per pic and these are all too big lol here is the link imgur.com/a/Q3s4o ( have to copy and paste into browser i guess not clickable ) Any advice and help i can get for this would be greatly appreciated. |
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Post by Travis on Jul 11, 2016 22:44:23 GMT
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Post by coldspaces on Jul 11, 2016 22:50:50 GMT
Here is the page from the 1986 Gemline catalog that lists their replacements. Gemline is out of business so you cant get theirs unless it is old stock. Exact fit was a GC-148 Universal fit was the GC-602 One can match up a replacement by using the specs from the GC-602. The B11-410 from Johnstone supply is a replacement for the GC-602, it is a Ranco control #3030-602 and should be easy to find if one looks in the right places. Problem is no one would bother to look when you said it was old, what a shame.  |
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Post by coldspaces on Jul 11, 2016 22:53:13 GMT
Or you can just get this one Travis found and you shouldn't even have to adapt to make the knob fit. |
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Post by Travis on Jul 11, 2016 23:09:05 GMT
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Post by ckfan on Jul 12, 2016 2:20:25 GMT
Very cool! I found a freezer just like that in the basement of the first house I lived in after I moved out of my parents house. That was the machine that let me know that old fridges were reliable. The one i saw was extremely rusty on the bottom (I think it went through a flood). It still fired right up though. I hope you can get yours going.
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krazy
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by krazy on Jul 12, 2016 2:34:54 GMT
Thanks so much for the responses glad to find people that still find these old appliances worthy to fix. In the ebay replacements though i see they have 2 pin connectors like it has plug connectors for the wires the one off mine as you can see in image 2 and 3 has 2 screws in the side and the wires wrapped around the screws and tightened down, It had blue and black on 1 screw and the red on the other Did mine originally have 2 slide pin connections like those? Or is mine slightly different style? And how would i adapt mine to the one on ebay if it is correct part? on the back of mine in image 1 is 5901156.
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Post by Travis on Jul 12, 2016 3:14:40 GMT
It appears that you can either put screws in the holes in the tabs of the new control or at the worst you would have to put crimp on connectors on the wiring of your freezer to use this new control. It does appear that either of the controls that I found posted previously are the same control and would work for your freezer.
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Post by coldspaces on Jul 12, 2016 3:41:14 GMT
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krazy
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by krazy on Jul 12, 2016 14:30:07 GMT
Thank you all for your help i really appreciate it i'll try that and let you know how it goes, I assume i would wire it the same as in blue and black wire together on 1 pin and the red on the other?
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Post by ckfan on Jul 12, 2016 15:57:26 GMT
Yes, keep the wires together like they were on the old thermostat. It doesn't matter which terminal on the new thermostat you put them on. Just make sure you tie the black and blue on one terminal and the red on the other.
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krazy
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by krazy on Jul 14, 2016 18:14:45 GMT
OK thanks everyone very much! I ordered the robertshaw replacement thermostat from the first link travis posted ( thanks travis! ) And it should be delivered this saturday so if all goes well i should have it back up and running saturday sometime hopefully. I'll update the thread when i get it and have it put in.  |
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krazy
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by krazy on Jul 18, 2016 3:54:59 GMT
Well i installed the new thermostat today and i noticed something odd, I dunno if some thermostats act differently then others or not but the one i received the knob just spins around endlessly and doesn't hit a limit no matter if you turn it right or left it just spins around and around without stopping no matter which direction you turn i can turn the knob for example 20 times around right or left without it not turning anymore with no clicking sound or anything like ones i have seen before and i am wondering if i got a defective one or if some of them have no turn limit and this is normal? I'm currently waiting for the freezer to hit normal range temp and see if it shuts off at all or keeps running that will also tell me if it is any good.
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Post by ckfan on Jul 18, 2016 13:40:40 GMT
Hmm, that is odd. Are you sure that the knob that is connected to the thermostat shaft is tight? I'm just guessing that the knob is loose enough to let you spin it without the shaft actually spinning. All thermostats that I have seen have limits just by their very nature. See if the rod that goes into the thermostat box is spinning properly.
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krazy
New Member
Posts: 6
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Post by krazy on Jul 18, 2016 15:12:47 GMT
Hmm, that is odd. Are you sure that the knob that is connected to the thermostat shaft is tight? I'm just guessing that the knob is loose enough to let you spin it without the shaft actually spinning. All thermostats that I have seen have limits just by their very nature. See if the rod that goes into the thermostat box is spinning properly. The thermostat wasn't turning other then the knob and when i turned the knob a few times more while watching the knob actually came right off in my hands along with a tiny washer that was behind it, On the back of the knob is a small little nub shaft that fits into a hole inside the thermostat housing and apparently just spins without grabbing the sides enough to actually turn the inner mechanism or is broke off to begin with i dunno i am no thermostat expert but pretty sure the knob isn't suppose to just fall off and should have only went so far left or right. With the knob off i am able to gently turn the inner mechanism slightly enough that as i turned it my freezer clicked off i think the inner "works" but is broken from the knob to the inner mechanism. No threads on the knob or anything for me to assume it can just be screwed back on the tiny nub shaft on the back of the knob is smooth with no threads on it so i honestly don't know how it was suppose to work anyway it is unlike any thermostat i have seen before in this regard the ones i have taken apart in the past usually the knob threaded into the housing. I am pretty convinced it is defective at least the knob it appears it is broke off the inner mechanism that turns. I have contacted the ebay seller and he agrees the thermostat should have only turned slightly left and right and clicked and has given me a refund on it, So i guess i'll have to order the other one travis listed and hope it works because this seller only had that 1 and has no others to send me to replace it. |
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