1953 General Electric chest freer saved from scrap!

[turbokinetic]

Hi folks. This is a video-heavy thread. I don't have a lot of still pictures from this project, but there are three videos.

 

I got this chest freezer locally just before it was going to be turned into an earthworm composting bin. It was badly corroded as if someone had used it to store fertilizer and other gardening chemicals.  This has been a long-ongoing project for me. It was a local almost-free buy and I had to save it as said.

 

It turned out to be very much more intricate than I expected. It has two thermostats, one of which operates the compressor, and another which operates a pilot light on the front. That light comes on when it's down to a safe temperature. 

Also the freezer lid has a light which illuminates the cabinet interior automatically when the lid is raised. This has a mercury switch to control it. 

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There are three videos about it. The most recent one is the third. I am going to post the links to all three parts here:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/P8lSaQe5ZQE

Part 2: https://youtu.be/wm1WOWPbUJY</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>And, the new part from today; part 3: https://youtu.be/cz4qsSRkJvI

I hope y'all enjoy watching this get put together. I plan to keep this one in my kitchen and use it as a FPSU. *

* Frozen Pizza Storage Unit</div>

 

[pulltostart]

Dave,

Great job!  I think this one went beyond "restoration", closer to "remanufacturing".

 

Amazing how cold it gets.

 

lawrence

 

[repairguy]

Wow! I believe you have proven the point that nothing is too far gone. Great job!

 

[justjunque]

Beautiful work, Dave!
So glad you were able to save it. Looks like a really nice little unit!

Barry

 

[turbokinetic]

Thank you guys, for the kind words! As you can probably tell, I get a lot of satisfaction from these repairs. 

 

It does get nice and cold! With capillary tube refrigeration systems, there is always a compromise in the performance. The capillary tube provides a fixed restriction regardless of the operating conditions.  In order to get those extremely low temperatures, the capillary tube must provide a very small flow rate. That low flow rate allows the compressor to produce a lower pressure (lots of vacuum) in the evaporator. That low pressure in the evaporator allows for a very low temperature. The trade-off is that it may take longer for the system to cool down. The flow of refrigerant is too small to cool efficiently at warmer cabinet temperatures.  They put more restrictive cap tubes on freezers; resulting in a lower temperature but less maximum BTU per hour of heat transfer versus a medium temp system. 

 

We have a local sheet metal fabrication shop who can make parts (like the liner) here in town. I took the old one to them for copying. After that, I made a dry-fit in the cabinet, then drilled the holes so it attaches to the Textolite as the original did.  After that, the evaporator coil went in place. It was a lot of work and time spent. Not something which would be profitable under normal circumstances; but for a project for my own use, it was worth it to me. 

 

The interesting thing about this one is, that the actual cabinet was in amazing shape, from a rust standpoint. Only the liner was bad. That is what makes me wonder if someone stored fertilizer or some other chemical in it after it stopped working as a freezer. Because that was a possibility, I was careful while dismantling it and replaced all the insulation in the chance it had some sort of agricultural chemicals on it.

 

It's been going for a few days now and is still working well. Hopefully it's good for the long-haul now! 

 

[swestoyz]

Excellent restoration effort, David! The K at the end of the machine tag number would indicate 1953, which matches the date codes you found on the control cover plates. My best guess is the cabinet model would be a 1H7-KA or 1H7-KB.

While I don't have a complete set of GE Product Man, I do have a copy of the October 1954 which covers the 1954 L line updated model, the HC7-LA1, that also would have used the same machine/compressor assembly.

Years ago a buddy and I found a slightly larger version of this freezer w/ blue trim (possibly making it a '55). He and his family are still using it. If it does ever give up the ghost I'm hoping to save it.

Ben

 

[turbokinetic]

Awesome, thank you Ben, for the info! Definitely keep your friends freezer out of the scrapyard if that day comes!

 

[wiskybill]

From owner manual for LH-110-KDLH combo refigerator

more specs..

Bill

 

[combo52]

Nice job David

Definitely shows that anything can be restored,

I definitely try to find things that don’t need quite that much work but if it’s rare enough, it’s worth doing especially if you’re doing it for yourself.

Often time freezer liners really corroded rust away if they just are closed up for years when they went into disuse. That might be what happened to this one.

I’d be curious to see how many kilowatts a month this freezer uses compared to a new one. I usually like to analyze and monitor things like this around my house. Always curious where the power is going.

John

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi John. I expect that if it does used more power than it should, the reason could be the wall thickness and insulation quality. I did replace all the insulation with new fiberglass in the sides, and foamboard in the bottom. However, we had a very high humidity period today and there was some condensation on the exterior sides. The compressor doesn't seem to run a whole lot though. 

I can plug it into a Kill-A-Watt meter and see how it does for a day or two. I don't know if the meter would stay on for a month due to power blinks etc. but one day could be used to extrapolate.

I don't know what the "standard" is for temperature for an all-freezer like this. Mine is running -10 or colder which could be unnecessarily low and causing more energy use and condensation. The thermostat is original and could be worn. As you know, they generally run colder as the mechanical parts of the thermostat wear. I could re-calibrate it though.

 

[combo52]

Neat that it runs that cold

No need to run at anything below zero even for very long term food storage

John

 

[turbokinetic]

John, it would make -30°F after running an hour, with the thermostat at its coldest. I know that needs adjustment for sure! The compressor has external cooling fins since they knew it would not have much return gas density to cool the motor LOL! 

I'm letting it go for a week or so, to let everything stabilize. Then will make careful thermostat calibration adjustments. I like for them to cycle around 0°F at midpoint on the dial.

 

[114jwh]

What an incredible job David, I can't believe how you got it from the original state it was in to what it looks and operates like now - congratulations on an amazing restoration.

 

[turbokinetic]

Thanks James!

 

It's still working well. Planning to move it to my house next week.