1931 Frigidaire Belt Drive Refrigerator Repairs...

[combo52]

Dave I loved the Video, It was so cool to hear it running, I guess we should have tried harder to get ours running in its orignal condition.

 

Noise concerns were a major hurdle for the builders of early electric refrigerators which is one of the reasons that much less efficient Gas fired refs ever got even a small foothold in the market because of their near silent operation.

 

I have not found any pictures of the one we installed the WP rotary compressor over 35 years ago [ it is still running just fine ] but I did find the owners Manuel. I will post a few pictures from it.

 

Hopefully the website will work better for now, I was upgrading my membership for another year and did yours as well.

 

John L.

 

[rp2813]

John, I don't know why I didn't think of providing upgraded membership to David.  I'm glad you did!  I think it's clear that he'll provide interesting reading here going forward.

 

Interesting that the instructions in your book indicate that "1" is the normal cooling setting.  David may have some additional calibrating to do now!

 

[turbokinetic]

John L., Thank you for upgrading my membership. That is an unexpected (and undeserved) helpful act. I do appreciate it.

As for the noise level of the compressor on the Frigidaire, it's very hard to get an idea how it sounds in person; based on the videos. That's because of a fancy feature that most audio recording equipment has. I think they call it dynamic gain. Basically, it causes the audio to be amplified a lot more when the sounds are quietest. It helps you to hear soft sounds that would otherwise be inaudible in the video, without having louder sounds be overpowering. Our ears work on this same principle in real life, so audio with dynamic gain sounds natural to us. But, we lose the ability to compare the intensity of sounds like we can in real life.

If you listen in the video, notice how when I speak (loud sound close to camera) the sound of the compressor disappears? The audio gain is adjusted so that the louder signal (voice at close range) is at the same recorded level as the compressor was.

With a shop fan going and radio going, I have to put my hand on the side of the Frigidaire to know if it's running. The clicking on and off of the control is much louder than the compressor.

The cold control info is interesting! I know mine is running around in that zone, since they say at "1" is normal. I have mine at "3" and it is colder than it should be for fresh food storage - but just right for drinks. It still has positions 4 through 6 for possible alcohol drink storage, as well.

I may have a future opportunity to get another one of these running. If and when that day comes, I will try to take more measurements and make a repeatable procedure for the float adjustment. That was the only real fussy thing to get it working with the R152A.

RP2813 - I apologize about my frustration yesterday. You never know what other hurdles someone is facing at any given time. Happens that was one more slap in the face at the end of a very long day. But I am thankful today was a much better day.

It's good that there is interest in this project. I found a belt-drive Frigidaire on YouTube which was not cooling properly, with its owner asking for any advice. That piqued my interest. When searching for info to help this gentleman, I found this forum. I knew that if I found a similar unit I could eventually figure out a way to make it work with a safe refrigerant. That was the start of my interest. Then the fridge showed up and the pieces fell into place.

Hope to have more oddball fridge repairs to share. I am hoping to get a very used and abused CK Monitor Top tomorrow, as well.

 

[norgeway]

Im so impressed.

Im glad you are here, your posts are very important and valuable to us all, Trust me, John Lefever is the BEST, not only a great friend, but the finest repair person you will find, Thanks John for your generosity to all here.

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi Norgeway. Thanks again for the compliment.

I'm passionate about old machinery and technology; especially that which can still be used today. I'm not trying to "impress" people - only to encourage and offer hope.

 

[supersuds]

I also appreciate these videos. My mom says her family got a Frigidaire when they moved into their new house in 1929, and it ran for decades with no problems. It must have been much like yours.

Imagine the luxury of making your own ice back then!

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi Supersuds. It's so easy to take for granted things like an icemaker these days. Time must sure have been different back then!