Thread Number: 92343
/ Tag: Refrigerators
60's GE fridge cabinet fix and hot-gas defrost control... |
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Post# 1169460 , Reply# 1   1/14/2023 at 15:33 (479 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay)   |   | |
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David, you have once again refuted the legions of repair techs who would have taken one look at this impressive refrigerator and deemed it a hopeless case -- even if the cabinet wasn't bent out of shape.
You are a tenacious and ingenious Saint Jude reincarnate, I swear! What a great story about rescuing a worthy and well-designed refrigerator/freezer!
Ralph |
Post# 1169461 , Reply# 2   1/14/2023 at 15:47 (479 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA)   |   | |
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Thanks Ralph, for the kind words! I did combine learnings from my automotive days, and industrial control work I do for my real job now. I guess one could say this was a cross-genre repair LOL! |
Post# 1169465 , Reply# 3   1/14/2023 at 16:51 (479 days old) by Repairguy (Danbury, Texas)   |   | |
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Post# 1169524 , Reply# 4   1/15/2023 at 02:54 (478 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1169543 , Reply# 5   1/15/2023 at 08:07 (478 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)   |   | |
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Post# 1169783 , Reply# 7   1/17/2023 at 10:47 (476 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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Hi David GE converted all of their hot gas refrigerators to use a standard timer back in the late 60s. This was the way the last ones were built even from the factory.
We personally have three of the 60s GE hot gas refrigerators in daily use they have just a regular GE timer in them. For hot gas defrost refrigerators you just need a timer that has a 10 minute defrost. There’s no problem with the timer being in 0° environment. Never had a problem with that. Rather than reinventing a wheel that’s already turning to solve a problem like this you should reach out to people who work on these. I will be the first one to call you up when I try to fix it 1930s refrigerator has that seems to be your expertise. Another good repair, but a lot of unnecessary time and effort. I sure wish I had your time. John. |
Post# 1169784 , Reply# 8   1/17/2023 at 10:55 (476 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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This is the one in our show room. We never replace the timer in it but it was replaced as it has a 1970 date on it. This was the official repair by GE still working fine with it time to frost only.
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Post# 1169833 , Reply# 10   1/18/2023 at 10:21 (475 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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Hi David, thanks for the additional insight as to why you went to all this trouble to repair this refrigerator.
It’s neat to engineer things and in theory, I would have to agree. It’s probably better to sense both time and temperature when doing a defrost cycle on a refrigerator. I would consider whirlpool GE and Frigidaire to be the top refrigerator companies in the 60s and 70s in the United States. And I respect the engineering these companies did. GE decided back in the late 60s this type of control was not necessary I’m sure it was somewhat of a cost cut certainly made them more reliable too. As I posted we have this 1965 unit that’s had a Time defrost for 52 years now it works perfectly so GE must’ve known what they were doing. My other point in my post was to help other people trying to fix this refrigerator as people will refer to this thread and wonder how to fix them in the future, It would be neat if you could engineer the kit to give you a time temperature to frost system and sold it to people who were trying to do this but short of that it’s better just to put a timer in them and have a refrigerator that at least works properly Always love reading your posts I grew up reengineering things with my brothers and father, etc. it’s always fun to dream and build things. With great admiration, John |
Post# 1169852 , Reply# 11   1/18/2023 at 18:06 (475 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 1169853 , Reply# 12   1/18/2023 at 19:19 (475 days old) by neptunebob (Pittsburgh, PA)   |   | |
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Of why the refrigerator companies (including present day Frigidaire) do not use the hot gas system rather than heaters. It must be more energy efficient, would the added controls be any more expensive?
By the way, I thought Sears and Whirlpool sold more refrigerators in the 60s-70s in our neighborhood most people had Kenmore (Only people who worked for Westinghouse had Westinghouse). |
Post# 1169871 , Reply# 14   1/19/2023 at 05:46 (474 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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"I thought Sears and Whirlpool sold more refrigerators in the 60s-70s in our neighborhood most people had Kenmore."
Sears had a huge lock on white goods sales in USA in part due to two factors; their catalog and retail credit scheme. Oh and maybe a third, Sears had a nationwide presence. No other retailer then could match Sears for appliances and some other goods in terms of sales. Sears was so great Whirlpool was eager to team up and it was a good thing way around. Sears under either Kenmore or whatever brand label had a reputation for quality. Times being what they were for many households paying for large appliances out of the housekeeping wasn't possible and not everyone had credit cards. Sears financing allowed people to get what they needed and again there was that reputation for quality. When you look at old issues of Consumer Reports and their evaluations of laundry appliances and fridges, Kenmore and Whirlpool were normally right up there always in top five. money.cnn.com/2018/09/01/news/co... |
Post# 1169883 , Reply# 15   1/19/2023 at 11:29 (474 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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I cannot think of any reason why they should not be using hot gas defrosting today, hot gas defrost is basically a heat pump, defrost system, the average compressor only draws about 150 W versus more than 400 W which is used for the typical defrost heater in a modern refrigerator.
That coupled with the hot gas is applied exactly where the frost formed should make it much more efficient. I’m sure the compressors today could easily stand the stress of hot gas, defrosting, when you consider compressors today in modern refrigerators are more reliable than at any time in history as a service company we only see a handful of bad compressors in a years time. The average home has somewhere between three and 15 compressors in it, and these are seldom the cause of major service problems, A quick count reveals that I have more than 15 hermetically sealed compressors in my household between air, conditioners refrigerators, ice cream machines, and dehumidifiers alone. I’d love to hear from some current refrigeration engineers as to why hot gas defrost is not used. John. |
Post# 1169961 , Reply# 16   1/20/2023 at 13:31 (473 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 1169968 , Reply# 18   1/20/2023 at 16:17 (473 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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