1950's GE fridge compressor teardown and failure analysis...

This is a 1/8 HP Freon-12 compressor from a 1950's era General Electric home refrigerator. It came from a project brought in the shop due to a punctured evaporator. After repairs were made, the compressor ran and cooled, but it was running hot and using excess current and power. The start winding resistance measured low, leading me to condemn it. In this video, it is torn down and the condition of the winding is compared to that of a known-good compressor motor. Hope you find it interesting!

Sincerely,
David

Thanks for another interesting inside look, David. My family was one of many that had a late Fifties GE fridge with a failed compressor and it might have been about the time we moved. Now I wonder if "the dolly did it!"

supersuds said:

Thanks for another interesting inside look, David. My family was one of many that had a late Fifties GE fridge with a failed compressor and it might have been about the time we moved. Now I wonder if "the dolly did it!"

Click to expand...

That is possible! I have seen more than one of these with the relay bent upwards. They usually survive this if you catch it, but apparently won't go on forever like that. It also seems GE sized the overload protection a little on the large size; or possibly these require more current / heat to trip as they age.

Hello David,
Im a new member and not sure of how to direct message you. I have a 1948 GE Refrigerator that was owned by my grandparents. Is there a website for your shop? Are your services available to diagnose my compressor ?

Hi and welcome to the forum! I sent you a private message just now. If you can't see it, feel free to reply here again.

turbokinetic said:

This is a 1/8 HP Freon-12 compressor from a 1950's era General Electric home refrigerator. It came from a project brought in the shop due to a punctured evaporator. After repairs were made, the compressor ran and cooled, but it was running hot and using excess current and power. The start winding resistance measured low, leading me to condemn it. In this video, it is torn down and the condition of the winding is compared to that of a known-good compressor motor. Hope you find it interesting!

Sincerely,
David

Code:

https://youtu.be/2qnCmWlRx4s

Click to expand...

David, thank you for that very informative video!
You obviously have the knowledge and experience for that type of work.
I never saw the insides of one of those things, again, thanks for that.

I've got a 1987 GE 18 cubic foot fridge that's still going strong, and I do my best to clean the bottom coils and rear area of dust.
I just hope it doesn't surprise me any time soon with some dumb failure, other than a burned out fridge light bulb.

Should not give surprise failures, as long as you watch for any changes which may indicate it needs service. Just watch that the fans keep working and the compressor isn't running 24/7 and not cycling off.

Very happy that you're enjoying my videos, too!

Thanks for another informative post, David! I'm fairly certain that a similar issue took out my 1957 GE Combination a few years ago. I also noticed that when you tested both motors, even the good one produced a rhythmic sound when running, which is prominent when the compressor in my Panasonic window AC unit runs. Do you know what causes this? I've heard it from other refrigerating units in the past, but it's been fairly muted and I assume that's due to the effects of springs and other types of isolators. I don't hear this from simple motors that operate other mechanisms than compressors, such as those used for plain old fans, etc.

rp2813 said:

Thanks for another informative post, David! I'm fairly certain that a similar issue took out my 1957 GE Combination a few years ago. I also noticed that when you tested both motors, even the good one produced a rhythmic sound when running, which is prominent when the compressor in my Panasonic window AC unit runs. Do you know what causes this? I've heard it from other refrigerating units in the past, but it's been fairly muted and I assume that's due to the effects of springs and other types of isolators. I don't hear this from simple motors that operate other mechanisms than compressors, such as those used for plain old fans, etc.

Click to expand...

Ralph, maybe I can give you a clue as to the rhythmic sounds....
When rotating, a motor's rotor magnetically tries to follow the alternating current through the stator coils.
However, due to combined air gap between the rotor and stator, the loading on the motor, and any frictional drag of the bearings, it's impossible for the rotor to "keep up" exactly with the 60Hz current - in effect, it's a sort of magnetic "slipping", because the rotor may "fall behind" the 60Hz repeatedly in it's rotations, and also causes heat, which is normal for any motor.
This rhythmic sound can vary in speed depending on the motor's load on it.
The more the load becomes on the motor, the faster the rhythm.
.....It's a normal thing.

Another great tear down and diagnosis David I enjoyed this.

I have cut apart more than a few compressors in my lifetime to see what went wrong with them. Never attempted to weld one back together and fix it however.

GE was very clever to build a compressor like this that is not serviceable, it allowed the product to be made in the United States and at a competitive price.

General Electric usually made the highest percentage of their appliance of any appliance builder in the US may be in the world. They were much like Ford was back before World War II. They made almost the entire car from the rubber for the tires to the glass, by building such a large percentage of a vehicle or Appliance they’re able to better maintain quality.

It’s a little bit like the cheap black Motors that GE made for their dishwashers and their plastic coated steel tanks. It allowed them to build a decent performing product at a very cheap price that actually worked. ( for a while )

John L

Thanks for the explanation David. In the thread I started a while back about the Panasonic AC, one of the guys here who really knows electrical theory mentioned something similar to the "slip" effect you described, but it was a little too technical for me. I figured it was normal behavior because I've heard it a lot, primarily from compressor motors, but even the small turntable motor in my vintage JVC Hi-Fi does it!