1955 or 1956 ? Blue Philco Refrigerator $285

[funktionalart]

A Phoenix, AZ craigslist ad--it IS Very pretty--looks very complete (despite what appears to be a melted plastic panel on the "Ice Keeper" door

So: They say it doesn't cool. They also say only selling due to kitchen remodel and it doesn't fit in…after mentioning its just used to keep paint and tools.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/atq/6120864704.html

 

[spacepig]

What a beautiful color!

 

[fridgenut]

Looks very nice

I wonder why it doesn't work. My guess would be something simple but I suppose it might have a leak.

 

[rp2813]

Something Simple

I tend to agree.  My two successful revivals of dead or non-cooling refrigerators were 1) Re-attaching a wire, and 2) Replacing a small broken spring.   Both machines had been cooling fine, so refrigerant loss was never considered -- YMMV with an unfamiliar fridge.  I think this sort of thing is more common than compressor failure on vintage refrigerators.  Travis has demonstrated this with his skill at bringing monitor tops back from having been left for dead.

 

The one dead fridge I sadly couldn't diagnose was the beloved little 1939 Westinghouse I got for free in the mid-70s.  It ran almost continuously until the spring of 2008.

 

[fridgenut]

I am sorry to hear about that westy

I have a 1937 model and it should be about the same type. It was the first year to use R12. Did the compressor start arcing at the terminals? That is what has happened to a few westys that Travis has had. It seems to be a common failure mode. Another possibility is a leaking compressor terminal since they have rubber doing the sealing instead of the far superior metal glass leads that GE used. They can go bad over time and leak the juice out.

 

[rp2813]

Ray, the '39 Westy just went completely dead one day.  It had spent its final 20 years or so keeping drinks cold on the covered patio at my mom's house.   Mom had been placed in a skilled nursing facility and I'd regularly swing by the house to pick up mail, pay bills, etc.  I noticed that toward the end, the fridge would sometimes be running and cooling while at other times it had defrosted itself, so my gut feeling was that it was an electrical problem and not a gas leak.

 

At the estate sale, the fridge was sold to a guy who felt he could get it running again.  I hope he did, because if the compressor was still good, that faithful little box didn't deserve to go to the krusher.

 

[goatfarmer]

Hell, they only plugged it in for five minutes. That ain't near enough time to decide if it's going to work. May be nothing wrong with it.