1964 GE Frost Guard Refrigerator

[trees]

Hello All!
I am looking for some repair advice for my vintage refrigerator.

1964 GE Spacemaker 15 Frost Guard (bottom freezer)
Model # TC474XC

I bought this fridge about 20 years ago. Other than replacing the door gasket, I have had no issues at all. (I wish I was holding up as well as the fridge LOL)
I regularly vacuum the condenser coils and grill at the bottom

Recently it began to freeze everything in the refrigerator compartment. I turned the temperature control as “warm” as it would go without being in the off position, but the problem persisted.
I also turned it off and unplugged it for several hours, but it was still freezing everything when I turned it back on.

I suspected that it was the thermostat. I found this wonderful site and downloaded the service manual. I accessed the thermostat and made a small adjustment to it- as per the manual.
Success! or so I thought…
The temperature was holding steady at about 35-37F. But a day or so later I realized the coils at the top were very frosty and the defrost cycle was not kicking on.
If I turn the temperature control to off for a few minutes, the defrost will engage. I then turn it back on and in about 10-15 minutes the coils have defrosted and the compressor kicks back on and things are fine for a day or two.
I am now thinking the defrost timer needs to be replaced- or perhaps I need to find a replacement thermostat.
Any thoughts or guidance would be wonderful.
Thanks so much!

 

[combo52]

How is the freezer temperature? Is it keeping ice cream really solid and hard, if the units not shutting off the freezer should be going 10 to 15° below zero.

If the freezer is not staying at these super cold temperatures, you probably have a bad compressor.

The defrost timer on this refrigerator controls the freezer defrosting is the freezer getting built up with ice in the back?

The cold control in the refrigerator section is what controls the defrosting of the refrigerator section, whenever it shuts off the frost just melts and goes down the drain.

John L

 

[trees]

Hi John! Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Everything in the freezer is well frozen-although I don't have any ice cream. I will put a thermometer in the freezer to check temps.
No ice building up in the back of the freezer- in fact I have not ever had this happen in this unit.

Yes, I have been turning the cold control to off about every other day (when the frost starts to get thick on the coils) to initiate the defrost cycle.
In the past when it was working well, it seems like the defrost cycle kicked in well before thick frost built up on the coils- about every 24 hrs or so.

Before I made the adjustment to the thermostat- the problem was the refrigerator section was too cold. (but the defrost cycle was kicking on as it should and keeping the coils free of thick ice) Does this line up with bad compressor theory?

Thanks again!
-Teresa

 

[combo52]

Yes, it could be a bad compressor, first of all this refrigerator is a little older than 1964. It’s probably 61 or two.

When this was working properly, you’ll see that there’s a little sensor wire clamped to that coil in the refrigerator where the frost forms when that little sensor wire gets down to around 0+ or -6° depending on the temperature dial setting it will shut the compressor off and it’s a wide differential thermostat. It won’t come back on until that coil reaches about 36 or 37° to allow all the frost to melt and go down the drain.

The problem with these units as the compressor aged it no longer had enough compression and it couldn’t get a temperature that cold so the thing stopped shutting off, but obviously, since there’s frost there, the thing runs so long that it does eventually freeze food in the refrigerator section.

That’s why it’s critical to test the freezer temperature with the refrigerator running nearly continuously like that. The freezer temperature should be going down below zero even as low as 20 below has been seen if the compressor is healthy if the freezer is getting really good and cold, then you might just have a bad thermostat in the refrigerator.

As a sidenote, I have a 1965 copper tune GE frost guard refrigerator just like this except it’s the more modern one. It does not have the coil in the refrigerator. It’s all forced air cooling it works beautifully. We rebuilt it eight or 10 years ago and it’s in our shop I love the refrigerator but we were evaluating electric costs at the shop and we have another GE frost guard refrigerator of this vintage in the main kitchen and I just can’t justify running two of them anymore. These refrigerators cost about $25 or more a month to run if somebody wants a deal on this one it needs a good home.

It’s in Beltsville Maryland.

John L

 

[trees]

Thank you so much for sharing all that valuable information. I had no idea the operating costs were so high!

Right now the freezer is only about 10F - so I am thinking that you are right about the compressor. Bummer!

I am in Louisville KY, so as much as I would love to have a refurbished replacement, I may have to search a little closer to home.

I haven't really tried to find a local repair person who works on vintage appliances yet- so maybe that will be next step.
I sure hate to give up on her--she's been such a reliable machine until recently!

Thanks again!
--Teresa