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Thread Number: 95769
/ Tag: Refrigerators
Some questions about old U.S.A. made fridges |
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| Post# 1204150 , Reply# 1 4/26/2024 at 22:28 by thatwasherguy (Kentucky) | ||
Thanks for the kind words!
You guys built some pretty interesting fridges yourselves! I've got what I believe to be a Zanussi built Frigidaire Imperial 43 mini fridge (made in Spain) from the 70's that I am quite fond of. I'm not sure about all of your questions, but I can answer about the sulfur dioxide. Yes, it can be replaced with alternative refrigerants. The most common replacement I've seen is HFC-152a (fellow AW member turbokinetic has done many successful conversions with HFC-152a in a wide variety of formerly SO2 fridges). HFC-152a can also be used as a substitute for CFC-12 in some systems, and is a more effective and environmentally friendly alternative to a HFC-134a conversion. However, it is slightly flammable, and releases some very nasty byproducts when it burns, so that is a factor to consider as well. However, it's flammability is not anything like that of HC-290 or HC-600a, which are 98% pure propane and isobutane, respectively. In terms of the porcelain interior, I'm not exactly sure when they went away, but they were around at least as late as 1946, as my G.E. flat top fridge from that year has a porcelain coated inner liner and door panel. If memory serves, they redesigned their refrigerator line for 1947, and got rid of the multi piece cabinet and door. I'm not sure if the door panel and liner were still porcelain coated, though. As far as vintage Amana refrigerators are concerned, the only experience I have with them is a tough as nails Ratheon built top freezer model from 1993 that my neighbor across the street has in her garage. She hired me to change the door gaskets in it about a year and a half ago, and the doors were improperly aligned (she switched the hinges around on the door when she moved it in), which had led to a VERY poor seal, and a massive block of ice forming in the self defrosting freezer section. That said, it had been working itself to death for over 10 years without a complaint by the time I fixed it. She also told me that it has outlived at least two other newer fridges in that time, and that she plans to keep it forever. If the 1968-1980 ones were built anything like that one, I'd say they're just about indestructible. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on refrigerators than I can give you some better information on the porcelain coating, and answer your other questions. By the way, if you're interested in vintage refrigerators, there is another forum specifically dedicated to them that I highly recommend. It is specifically dedicated to the G.E. monitor top refrigerators, but has information about many other brands as well. I've attached a link to it at the bottom of this post.
Hope this helps, Thatwasherguy. CLICK HERE TO GO TO thatwasherguy's LINK | ||
Post# 1204159 , Reply# 3 4/27/2024 at 03:07 by Launderess  (Quiet Please, There“s a Lady on Stage) |
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Porcelain enamel either interior or exterior is fine, long as the surface remains undamaged. One nick, or chip that allows water to seep under surface to reach metal underneath and soon it could be all over.
IIRC many new appliances of all sorts were scrapped due to porcelain being damaged during shipping. At some point manufacturers just cut their losses and went with SS or plastic. Due to associations with hygiene, hospitals and so forth porcelain enamel was a natural for early refrigerators. Housewives and others were regaled with words like "sanitary" and other associations with cleanliness and hyenine. All things any housewife would want in aid of protecting health of all she held near and dear. It wasn't just refrigerator interiors either, there was a whole range of drawers, canisters, bins and other bits made from porcelain enamel. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial... | ||
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Post# 1204298 , Reply# 6 4/29/2024 at 11:12 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Older US built refrigerators
The United States certainly built some excellent refrigerators over the last hundred years, probably the last refrigerator with a 98% porcelain interior was a 1927 Frigidaire there were others as well.
Porcelain liners were still used on whirlpool refrigerators till the late 80s they were the last major manufacturer to do so. General electric probably built the most reliable refrigerator starting with the monitor tops and continue to build excellent refrigerators. Frigidaire built some good ones over the years as well along with a number of other companies. About 1960 whirlpool moved to the top tier and built some of the best refrigerators along with general electric Through the 60s and 70s, GE once again had a major disaster in 1984 with their new rotary compressors which almost knocked them out of the appliance business. It was such an expensive problem for them to. A manner refrigerators from the 70s 80s and 90s were pretty good but not exceptionally reliable again whirlpool and GE both out did them except for the compressor problem GE experienced. John | ||
| Post# 1204301 , Reply# 7 4/29/2024 at 11:58 by nokia2010 (Bucureşti, Romānia (Bucharest, Romania)) | ||
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So a 1935 "Frigidaire" will have some plastic inside? And the 2% of the 1927, what material was inside? Plastic, bakelite? | ||
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Post# 1204330 , Reply# 8 4/29/2024 at 20:02 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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answer to questions | ||
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Post# 1204507 , Reply# 9 5/2/2024 at 23:33 by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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