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Post by ckfan on May 31, 2016 20:25:39 GMT
As many of you know, I took a trip up to Travis's house this weekend and brought home a lot of interesting machines. One of them is a 1936 Frigidaire. It is just gorgeous. I've never seen something this old that was in such good condition. It starts up just fine and starts to cool after about 10 minutes (yes, it is much slower to cool vs our beloved monitor tops and flat tops). However, it is supposedly using a minimum of current to do the cooling. I still have to hook up a power meter to confirm this but I suspect that the power draw will be quite low. This machine is old enough to use R-114. That means that both the low side and sometimes the high side are in a vacuum. It has a robust sound but does vibrate a fair bit. It actually makes the floor shake! Not bad, but enough to where you feel it. By the time I had ran it for about 5 hours, it was in the safe zone. That shows you just how long the unit has to run to pull the cabinet down. When I woke up this morning I checked on it. Unfortunately it must have ran all night because the thermometer was in the freezing zone. It must have never turned off. I shut it down and went to work. I will take a look at it tonight. Hopefully it is just a simple sticking problem with the thermostat. Otherwise, this thing is complete and beautiful. I am a bit surprised at how long it takes for the temp to come down but then again, the compressor is tiny. I will keep you all posted with what I find out. Oh, one more thing. I don't know what kind of rubber insulation Frigidaire was using back then but it rocks! It is all still very flexible and is not cracked at all. Even down by the compressor or in the line cord. It all seems fine. To view the photos in this post, please follow this link: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8_jm7K-ahMaLXE4dFUzZWYtUGc |
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Post by ckfan on May 31, 2016 20:26:21 GMT
The last picture is of the over packed uhaul full of treasures from Travis's house. It was comical to see it all packed in there.
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Post by ckfan on Jun 1, 2016 14:48:58 GMT
Ok, I was able to get the thermostat working on the 36 Frigidaire last night. It was a pleasure to work on. It really is well built. I suspect that somewhere in the move a lever arm in the mechanism got slightly off track and was preventing the spring from flipping the contacts open. A slight adjustment and now it is working properly. I am really pleased with how this machine performs. Yes, it is slower than the CK that I have but not by a whole lot. You can't argue with the watt draw though. It usually hovers around 110 to 100 watts and I even saw a draw as low as 94! That is modern mini fridge territory. It froze up 4 trays of ice in a few hours as well as cooling off an entire interior full of drinks. Now if only I could get it to stop vibrating the floor so much I would be completely happy! I have posted some pics that go over the basic steps that I took to get the thermostat working again. It looks brand new inside and out. Even the double contacts on each side look in excellent shape. And of course the wires are in excellent shape too. This machine has always been taken care of. You can just tell. Oh, and everyone that sees this needs to check this out...that is if you are interested in seeing how these machines were built and tested. I had no idea just how much precision machining and testing went into making these compressors. They are truly built like a Swiss watch. Watch it till the end. You will see a hilarious test that they did as a stunt to one of these poor units. www.youtube.com/watch?v=90UrAoGtVkMTo view the photos in this post, please follow this link: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8_jm7K-ahMaLXE4dFUzZWYtUGc |
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Post by ckfan on Jun 1, 2016 14:53:22 GMT
Also, I forgot to mention...yesterday morning around 6:30 is when I turned the unit off after I realized that the thermostat was sticking. The temperature was just below freezing. In the afternoon around 5PM I pulled the door open and low and behold the temperature was only about 42! I guess my new door seal and the thick insulation helped that. The ice cubes weren't even fully melted. I just thought that was pretty impressive.
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Post by timeswelding on Jun 1, 2016 16:26:54 GMT
That's a great video. My great grandfather was a foreman of that porcelain department and my grandfather was a jobsetter in that stamping department.
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Post by ckfan on Jun 1, 2016 18:44:19 GMT
Doug,
That is really fascinating! So, were they both working for Frigidaire at the time that mine was made? If so, they did a bang up job. Especially that porcelain finish. I mean, wow. I know that most old porcelain coated fridges stand up very well but the finish on this one is immaculate. Even the interior just wiped out with soap and water. No hard scrubbing at all.
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Post by timeswelding on Jun 1, 2016 18:51:49 GMT
My great grandfather was at Frigidaire then, but, I can't say if he was head honcho of the porcelain line yet. My grandfather (his son in law) didn't start at Frigidaire until after he returned home from Europe during WWII. He was only 12 in 1936. A good bit of that plant still stands in Moraine, OH (south Dayton). It was the assembly plant for all of the S-10 and S-15 trucks and SUV's. Also the Olds Bravada. The Duramax Diesel factory is right around the corner from it. This used to be a VERY industrial town. Not so much these days.
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Post by ckfan on Jun 1, 2016 18:59:52 GMT
Oh, that makes sense. Maybe your great grandfather helped to spray my very cabinet! That would be cool. That is also neat that the same plant was used later on for making other GM products. It is sad to see places like this slowly turn into empty shells of what they used to be. I'm sure a lot of people, men and women, had good jobs at that plant churning out quality products like the one that I still use today.
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Post by timeswelding on Jun 1, 2016 22:28:07 GMT
People of my parent's generation all wanted to work there. The plan to have back then was to graduate from high school, get on at "the Frigidaire" and then retire. It doesn't work that way any more. Eight years ago, the GM assembly plant that occupied that space closed. Now, a Japanese auto glass maker resides there.
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Post by Travis on Jun 1, 2016 23:47:20 GMT
Good progress on the Frigidaire. It's in good hands. To the best of my knowledge, before you and I tested it, it hadn't run since before 2006.
Yes, the state of manufacturing is distressing if not hopeless. Even the drinking straws I just received were made in Vietnam. Is that better or worse than China? I think China might be too good to make straws anymore. Oh yeah, global economy...
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Post by ckfan on Jun 2, 2016 0:26:38 GMT
More good news! I have confirmed that the Frigidaire is cycling like it should be.
Also, I was thinking about how to dampen the vibration. I noticed that if I pushed up on the compressor that the vibration almost went to zero. So I did what any redneck would do and stuck a chunk of plastic between the metal frame and one of the fins of the compressor. It worked! It was still a bit noisy compared to what I'm used to though. I took some spare insulation and stuffed it under, not around the compressor. I figured this would be OK since it originally had a fiber board underneath the unit which sealed off that area. Now it is whisper quiet. No more rattling beer bottles! I hope that the compressor stays cool enough. When I last felt it, it was quite warm but not hot. Then again I had turned up the thermostat to make it run constant and it had been running for an hour. Now it is off and I hope that it stays healthy with this setup.
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Post by icebox on Jun 3, 2016 21:40:11 GMT
Great video! And nice fridge, I think that's got the meter-miser compressor. The shell is on the high side, that's why they take a little while to start cooling when cold (for the refrigerant to come out of the oil). No springs inside either, perhaps why you have some vibration. Should be super reliable though - very nice!
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