Westinghouse - Very near death, I hope I can save it!

Aug 15, 2018 3:08:54 GMT elec573 said:

So does that Westinghouse have the infamious motor seals that seem to short out ? Noticed it doesn’t have so2 .  

Well, I have a feeling it has the same seals, however the use of SO2 seems to be what reacted with the seals so I am confident my R12 unit is fine.

Aug 15, 2018 12:39:49 GMT ckfan said:

I’m so glad you were able to save this one! I’m sure it was close to deaths deep freeze! That is the worst condenser I’ve ever seen. Just shows how tough these little units are. I bet that it will run fine once you put some love into it. Btw, I think that is a “Golden Jubilee” model from 1936. I’ve seen one that a friend of Travis has. Oddly enough it uses SO2. And just for fun here is a video showing westy models for that year.
youtu.be/D89bbzmlgDY

You will notice that it is not from the 50s as the title suggests. Also, it cuts off before the video finishes but you get the idea.

Thanks for sharing the video link!  However, it highlights the fact that mine is not operating properly. No matter where I set the control or which buttons I press - the food won't automatically climb into the cabinet as shown in the video! I want my money back. False advertising.

LOL!  Seriously, it does look like what they showed in the video. Makes me realize that there are many missing shelves! Not sure what the significance is, but they showed all ED-xx model names, and mine is an FS-60 model. According to the video, the light socket is on the opposite side as well.

Travis was telling me about the SO2 version of it. It does seem they had a mixture of SO2 and R12 models back then. It also seems that the ones which have been discussed here, as failing at the motor terminals, have been SO2 models. This may be why they are not found much anymore. Those have all died off and people have let them go by the wayside since they are very hard to sell on-running.

So, I was able to remove the compressor and wash it with the pressure wash. It looks a lot better, although I forgot to take pictures of it! Will have them tomorrow.

When I found the system was not cooling, I knew it was time to check the pressure. The charging port was a total rusted mess. It defied every effort I made to open it, including using the torch to heat the plug up. This was admittedly dangerous with the system charged, but I was conservative with the heat. In the end, the screw slot broke away.

After that happened, I used a Supco 'Bullet' self-tapping valve on one of the lines to hook up the gauges. The room was very hot and the pressure should have been in the 90 - 100 PSI range. There was about 50 PSI. Charge is gone.

Now, I have to say - I heard this running and saw the evaporator cold when I picked it up. There was no hallucination involved, I promise!

So after finding this, I took the compressor out and pressure washed it. Then, took the evaporator out and found out that the hardware holding it to the cabinet was loose and broken. That undoubtedly allowed it to bounce around more than it should have.

The charging port was a mangled mess. I had to drill it out and make a new plug. That was an awful job, but in the end I now have a plug which uses an allen key instead of the screwdriver that strips out so easily.

Here is the port, after it was drilled almost all the way out.

After carefully picking out the shell of the screw. Thankfully it looks like I didn't gouge the seat.

The old screw (left) and the new one I fabricated.

Installed.

And, here's a video where you can hear me lament and bellyache about the charging port design!