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Thread Number: 87731
/ Tag: Refrigerators
1966 General Electric Spacemaker 19 Refrigerator MOD. TCF19DBC P.3 |
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Post# 1123058 7/12/2021 at 10:54 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic  (New York City) |
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Originally posted on 9/21/2020
It's been brought back to life.
Part of the original haul of vintage appliances from Newport, R.I.. It's back home. After a stay in Beltsville, MD, Jeff_adelphi replaced the compressor, defrost timer, fan and numerous other components for their modern counterparts. It has been converted to R-134 refrigerant. It is running well and consumes less power. Kudos to Jeff for a job expertly done.
This is a General Electric Model TCF19DBC Serial # LB631067.
My General Electric Refrigerator/Bottom Mount Freezer P.1
1966 General Electric Spacemaker 19 Refrigerator MOD. TCF19DBC P.2
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Post# 1123063 , Reply# 1 7/12/2021 at 11:05 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1123064 , Reply# 2 7/12/2021 at 11:14 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Originally posted on 6/29/2021
The refrigerator was installed and has been working well. I had to keep the cold control at 8 in order to keep a temperature of 36F. Today I went to grab a can of seltzer and noticed it was not as cold as usual. I checked the thermometer and sure enough it read 55F.
The compressor is cycling normally. Perhaps it's the cold control, the fan in the refrigerator section or the defrost timer.
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Post# 1123066 , Reply# 3 7/12/2021 at 11:20 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1123067 , Reply# 4 7/12/2021 at 11:23 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1123069 , Reply# 5 7/12/2021 at 11:33 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Originally posted on 7/1/2021
The original defrost timer for this General Electric is MOD. WR9X330. However, it was replaced with a Paragon MOD. A-772-00. Other defrost timers for this refrigerator are Gemline MOD. WG-840-1 DT 105 (Paragon clone) and Uni-line 8-805.
There is an original, NOS WR9x330 on ebay, but a bit pricey at $80 plus shipping. I ordered a NOS Paragon MOD. A-772-00. | ||
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Post# 1123070 , Reply# 6 7/12/2021 at 11:37 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Finally arrived | ||
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Post# 1123072 , Reply# 7 7/12/2021 at 11:42 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1123073 , Reply# 8 7/12/2021 at 11:45 (1,018 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Still not advancing. | ||
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Post# 1123904 , Reply# 9 7/23/2021 at 07:45 (1,007 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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I checked the contacts, they are fine. Power is being supplied to the defrost timer. The timer does advance to end the defrost cycle and start the cooling cycle, however it seems to get stuck there, just right after. I hear/feel the timer running. I was manually advancing the timer twice every 24 hours to keep the refrigerator running. However, last night I found literally sheets of ice behind the coils. So it wasn't totally defrosting when I manually advanced it. So I put it in defrost mode 3 times. That did the trick. The ice behind the coils melted.
Nevertheless, I am pretty certain the timer is defective. If it does not advance this time, I will reinstall the original. Perhaps it was good to begin with but was running intermittently due to the very loose hot wire.
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Post# 1123913 , Reply# 10 7/23/2021 at 10:25 (1,007 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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It's certainly not unheard of to get a new/defective timer. | ||
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Post# 1124126 , Reply# 11 7/25/2021 at 20:09 (1,004 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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I changed the defroster timer back to the original. It too is working. And I also noticed I haven't seen the evaporator fan working, and sure enough, you can barely turn it with your finger. Seems like the bearing are bad. As I mentioned earlier a great deal of ice forms back there, I defrosted all the visible ice and removed all the screws, and the black plastic cover won't budge. Perhaps there is still more ice behind it.
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Post# 1124127 , Reply# 12 7/25/2021 at 20:12 (1,004 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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I'd like to find one of these...
GE Technical Data Manual, Vol. 1, Refrigerators and Home Freezers Paperback – January 1,1966
View Full Size
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Post# 1124165 , Reply# 13 7/26/2021 at 12:37 (1,004 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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I have a feeling that the fan motor housing (the black part) is sealed with permagum, which is holding it. You may need to warm everything up a little bit and apply moderate, constant pressure to get it out. | ||
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Post# 1124168 , Reply# 14 7/26/2021 at 13:13 (1,004 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1124174 , Reply# 15 7/26/2021 at 13:52 (1,004 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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Originally the permagum was supposed to stay PERMAnently GUMmy and never turn hard. But over decades it hardens up. Heating gently with a hairdryer etc. can help soften it. But yeah it has to be done carefully so as not to break the fan motor holder. | ||
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Post# 1124203 , Reply# 16 7/26/2021 at 23:36 (1,003 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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So I struggled to remove the evaporator fan housing. As David suggested I used heat to soften the Permagum. Little by little it separated. But it kept hanging on tight. Then I noticed the center of the housing, where the shaft is was exceptionally cold. So I began to suspect there was ice build-up behind the fan, in fact inside the fan itself. After a few more passes using a blow dryer, it finally came free. Low and behold, the interior of the entire housing was a block of ice. Not only that, there was over an inch of ice running the entire width of the freezer. It was so thick, it took me 20 minutes just to begin the see the wires for the fan. No Permagum just a surprising amount of ice. Now, since I applied so much heat to the fan housing the shaft is spinning freely. I will check it for continuity to see if it's OK.
Ice
More ice
And yet more ice
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Post# 1124204 , Reply# 17 7/26/2021 at 23:39 (1,003 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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I'm turning off the GE for at least 24 hours so all that ice can finally melt.
Fan motor tested at 83 ohms. Which means it's good.
For future reference evaporator fan motor part # WR60X60 This post was last edited 07/27/2021 at 00:07 | ||
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Post# 1124239 , Reply# 19 7/27/2021 at 08:28 (1,003 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Funny how the freezer still registers at 0F with no evaporator fan. And the refrigerator is at 34F for now until the ice build up blocks the cold into the refrigerated section. Frost is beginning to form, which means the old timer is also not advancing. The only thing I can think of is that both defrost timers are bad. After manually setting them to defrost, the cycle will work for about 15 minutes, then the compressor will kick in and ice will start to form on the coils. As I mentioned, neither timers will cycle back to defrost. | ||
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Post# 1124240 , Reply# 20 7/27/2021 at 08:36 (1,003 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Hi David.
The drain line is clear. When I put it in defrost, the water drains away. As for the ice, perhaps the defrost timer has been bad for a long time causing the excessive ice build up. Excessive moisture may also have contributed. The door seals are original, perhaps they letting in too much ambient air. | ||
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Post# 1124523 , Reply# 21 7/30/2021 at 21:16 (999 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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With the help of a blower, I melted all the ice on and behind the coils. I had the empty the drain pan 3 times. So reinstalled the the evaporator fan, turned on the refrigerator, and nothing. The fan is not working. Even though it checked out OK, I guess as suggested by David, the connectors might have been damaged from all the ice and water. I will check the connectors next. Still too early if the defrost timer is advancing on it's own. | ||
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Post# 1124559 , Reply# 22 7/31/2021 at 13:27 (999 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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Louis; if I remember, on your fridge, the evaporator fan works through the freezer door switch. Be sure that the switch is working correctly. The fan stops while the freezer is open. | ||
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Post# 1124572 , Reply# 23 7/31/2021 at 15:33 (998 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1124610 , Reply# 24 7/31/2021 at 20:53 (998 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Third times the charm...
Since the new defrost timer was a dud, I ordered a NOS genuine General Electric WRX330, the original timer. Well sir, it's been working just fine for the last 36 hours. It's defrosting regularly, hardly any frost on the coils, and about a cup of water in the drain pan. Freezer is at zero at 6 and refrigerator is at 34F at 6. Now just the evaporator fan remains and we're done.
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Post# 1124642 , Reply# 25 8/1/2021 at 09:43 (998 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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That's a good thing! Hope the fan is an easy fix. | ||
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Post# 1125256 , Reply# 26 8/7/2021 at 09:39 (992 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1125259 , Reply# 28 8/7/2021 at 10:06 (992 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Thanks David! | ||
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Post# 1125260 , Reply# 29 8/7/2021 at 10:13 (992 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Post# 1125338 , Reply# 30 8/8/2021 at 10:04 (991 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA) |
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It's always good to have spares for these vintage appliances. While it's true that parts can be found or repaired, that doesn't help with the short term inconvenience while waiting. | ||
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Post# 1125401 , Reply# 31 8/9/2021 at 05:32 (990 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Very true David. You waste a lot of time finding and ordering a part. And of course, it would be something critical that you would need yesterday.
I suspect the defrost timer was going bad for months. That's the only explanation how it could of developed that amazing amount of ice behind the evaporator fan. | ||
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Post# 1125423 , Reply# 32 8/9/2021 at 12:07 (990 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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A bad omen...
I opened the freezer and it was 36F...there was an odd ticking sound. Refrigerator was 48F. On a hunch, I advanced the defrost timer and the compressor kicked in and it immediately started to cool. It seems it was stuck on the defrost cycle. Temperatures are back to normal now. I can't believe the defrost timer might be failing again.... | ||
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Post# 1125425 , Reply# 33 8/9/2021 at 12:48 (990 days old) by coldspot66 (Plymouth, Mass) |
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Are you sure that is the right defrost timer for a hot gas defrost refrigerator? That 330 defrost timer is the common one for an electric defrost refrig. I think that timer has too long of a defrost time, hence the warm temps. | ||
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Post# 1125436 , Reply# 34 8/9/2021 at 17:15 (989 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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Hello John. The WR9X330 is the correct timer. The refrigerator has been working just fine for the past few weeks. Here is an image of the original defrost timer:
View Full Size
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Post# 1125751 , Reply# 35 8/14/2021 at 07:03 (985 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City) |
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