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Post by ckfan on Aug 18, 2016 17:43:57 GMT
I went to visit Travis this past Sunday and he was gracious enough to give me two more parts! A two knob control for my flat top that I have already talked about when I did a re wire on it, and a knob for my fea units. Travis told me that the control did not work when he tested it and sure enough, it would not show any continuity on the "on" position. I decided to follow in Gill's footsteps and tear the thing apart to see what I could do to fix it. I quickly realized that the problem was with the overload part of the control. What had happened was the solder pot which is normally held firmly onto the bottom of the control box, was broken and was loosely floating around. This means that the overload catch that trips the machine off could not attach itself to the cog wheel and kept slipping off. I thought about my options for a while. Then it dawned on me. The relay for this particular flat top has been replaced at some point. It now has a later model relay with a built in overload. Because of this, the original overload in the control was not necessary. In fact, when I got the fridge it had a later GE one knob thermostat in it that didn't have any overload anyways. I talked with Gill about it and decided that it would be safe to continue by bypassing the overload function in the original control. I did this by bending back the spring loaded arm which opens the contacts whenever the overload trips. Now that the arm can't open the contacts, it is able to turn the fridge on and off like it normally would. The contacts themselves look good so I didn't mess with them. Now I have a proper control that will cycle the fridge as intended. I turned the control to the warmest position "1" and turned it on. I wanted to see what the warmest temperature would be. I then started timing the cycles. You can see that the fridge quickly started behaving after a few cycles. I will time it again tonight after it has settled in more. 1st Cycle approx 10 minutes on 2nd Cycle 6:25 off 3rd Cycle 4:23 on 4th Cycle 7:33 off 5th Cycle 3:36 on 6th Cycle 9:02 off 7th Cycle 3:14 on 8th Cycle 9:13 off 9th Cycle 2:56 on 10th Cycle 9:58 off 11th Cycle 2:41 on As you can see, every cycle brought longer off times and shorter on times. I was impressed! I bet it is even better now that it has settled in. When I checked it this morning before I left for work the temperature was approx 44 degrees. Not too bad for the warmest setting. I think the control is going to work just fine. Besides, it just looks good. I think that we can all agree that the two knob controls from GE looked great. I love the way that the stainless plate is embossed with the lettering. I also love the little flag window and the pointer arrows. Oh, and can I just say that I think this is the quietest machine that I've ever heard? Sure, it was noisy at first and was making all kinds of peculiar sounds. Shortly after the 3rd cycle though, that all went away and all you were left with was a gentle purr. I'm serious, it was hard to hear it kick off a few times! Once I get this thing painted up and put a new door gasket on it it is going to be something special. The GE Flat Top, not as sexy as a monitor top but in a way...they kind of are. To view the photos in this post, please follow this link: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8_jm7K-ahMaWktlTmtPV0syazg
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Post by ckfan on Aug 19, 2016 14:42:20 GMT
Ok, quick update on the flat top. I timed some more cycles last night and boy am I happy! Now, before I surprise you all with fantastic run times I must admit that these times were taken when the thermostat was on the number 1 position. That being said, it was very close to "safe" temperatures inside. It seemed to be rock solid at 42 degrees. A little warm for my taste but still good for the warmest position. Here are those magical times...
1st Cycle 2:05 on 2nd Cycle 16:27 off! 3rd Cycle 2:05 on (I laughed out loud because the 1st and 3rd cycle were only .7 of a second away from each other. That is human error, I was stunned) 4th Cycle 15:29 off (Ok, maybe it won't be exactly the same every time!) 5th Cycle 2:01 on
I really thought that these times were promising. It shows me a few things. Even though the door seal isn't perfect and the insulation is original, this machine is efficient. It also shows me that this control is good and still has a lot of life in it. The running watts would start around 170 and would quickly drop to around 148. Not bad at all over just a 2 minute run time. I turned the knob up to 5, mid position, and will time the cycles again tonight. I checked the temp this morning after having it balance out all night and it was down to 34 degrees. Very nice. My Kill-A-Watt meter was reporting $1.50 monthly charge for the "1" setting and $1.90 monthly charge for the "5" setting. Not bad at all.
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Post by ckfan on Nov 15, 2016 3:35:59 GMT
Just got my flat top in the house again. It's sporting new paint now! It also has a new door gasket and a solid state relay. Baring any unforeseen catastrophe I think I can safely call this one done. I'm so happy with it. It is going to be serving the prestigious duty as drink fridge from here on. I hate to say it but it is just more quiet AND efficient than the 37 Frigidaire that currently is serving as our drink fridge. Not to knock the little Frigidaire. It still has a much better finish than any terrible paint job I could lay down! To view the photos in this post, please follow this link: drive.google.com/open?id=0B8_jm7K-ahMaWktlTmtPV0syazg
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Post by 100yearfridge on Nov 15, 2016 5:31:08 GMT
Beautiful sir. The blue light bulb is classy.
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Post by coldspaces on Nov 15, 2016 5:58:59 GMT
That's Real nice!
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Post by ckfan on Nov 15, 2016 14:33:35 GMT
Thank you both. I used the blue light bulb because it is in a shared area with a bedroom on a balcony. I didn't want a beer raid in the middle of the night to flood the dark room with light. Don't look too closely at the paint. Around the badge is atrocious. Unfortunately my taping skills around that very odd shaped badge just didn't cut it. Fortunately my taping skills around the rest of the trim seems to have done just fine. Oh sure, if you look real close you can see some old paint just around the handle base but it is a tiny amount. The area around the badge is the worst offender. I painted what the taping had covered up by hand last night. Made it look better but then I got some paint on the badge itself. Then I had to carefully blot that off. Painting is a fiddly process that I'm not very fond of. At least it looks presentable now and isn't slowly rusting away. I'm just glad that most of the paint imperfections on the body smoothed out over several coats. It definitely has a lot of paint protecting it now!
What I am really impressed with is the sound of the compressor. I think the float got stuck closed last night. When I first powered it on the watts jumped all over the place. Never got above 210 but went as low as 100 for a split second. Then I heard that now familiar "KER THUNK" and all was well after that. It is so quiet now I can barely tell it is on unless I'm right over it and there is no other sound in the room!
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Post by stlvortac on Nov 22, 2016 19:45:42 GMT
Don't give me any ideas with the light, I'll have to search ebay for a NOS blue appliance bulb.
The float issue seems to be the norm. When I purchased mine and then after it sat for a rewire it made the familiar 'toilet flush' like sound. Under normal operation it has no issues.
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Post by ckfan on Nov 22, 2016 20:49:04 GMT
Don't give me any ideas with the light, I'll have to search ebay for a NOS blue appliance bulb. The float issue seems to be the norm. When I purchased mine and then after it sat for a rewire it made the familiar 'toilet flush' like sound. Under normal operation it has no issues. Isn't it strange how they all seem to do that? You are correct though. Since it has been running I have heard no strange noises. In fact, I can't hear hardly any noises at all! Very sweet fridge.
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Post by stlvortac on Nov 22, 2016 20:56:36 GMT
The only thing you can hear running on mine is the fan, it's not bad. I'm in the minority but I'm glad I ended up with a fan cooled model. Takes up less space and the fan helps keep the compressor during hot summers in the garage. However I'm on fan 2, the first sounded like a plane taking off even though it had the correct "wattage" rating. Found out its more important to rely on the amp rating. I recently discovered the fan motor is leaking oil... Not all that thrilled since I paid $40 for a nos American made motor with amazing bearings, the fan spins forever after the fridge shuts off.
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Post by ckfan on Nov 22, 2016 21:49:29 GMT
Hopefully you are able to get the oil leak fixed then. I always love watching a fan with great bearings spin down!
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Post by elec573 on Dec 10, 2016 5:32:34 GMT
Looks like a great fridge hope it last a long time !
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Post by ckfan on Dec 18, 2016 1:46:56 GMT
I don't know anything for sure anymore. I just got done spending 4 hours trying to get my poor flat top cooling again. Ever since I finished the paint on it I have been using it as our drink fridge. It hasn't skipped a beat until now.
I came home from shopping and as soon as I stepped in the door I knew something was wrong. I heard a noisy clattering compressor. It was my flat top. Upon further inspection the evaporator was defrosting and the condenser was stone cold. I've heated the float to a very high temp, tapped it with a hammer, let the whole machine fall. Nothing is helping. It seems like every ounce is out of the evaporator and is in the high side of the system now. The watts are very low. I heard one tiny burp when I hit the float with a hammer but then no more. I'm at a loss. I even let it sit for a while and nothing changed. I really wish I could get the damn float to free up. Weird thing is that I can almost swear that I can hear something bouncing around when I hit the float housing just right.
For now I have my 36 Frigidaire going. It is nice to have spares I guess. Does anyone have any ideas? I've never heard of one just up and getting clogged after running fine multiple times before and then running fine for a month.
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Post by coldspaces on Dec 18, 2016 3:36:41 GMT
Wow that is no fun. Is it indoors where its warm? I am pretty sure it is. Sure sounds like a blocked float. You would know if it lost the charge.
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Post by Travis on Dec 18, 2016 3:50:52 GMT
Thankfully you have enough spares.
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Post by ckfan on Dec 18, 2016 4:00:48 GMT
Wow that is no fun. Is it indoors where its warm? I am pretty sure it is. Sure sounds like a blocked float. You would know if it lost the charge. Yes, it is nice and warm inside. It just got stopped up, presumably, all of a sudden. I'm really wondering where to go from here. I'm going to let it sit overnight and see what happens when I start it up tomorrow. I even got the liquid line to frost for a minute but then no more.
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