A nice vacation ruined by a Westinghouse Fridge, please help!

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volvoguy87

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As many of you may recall, I recently took a truckload of vintage appliances to Classiccaprice in Hampton. Included was a 1951 Westinghouse Refrigerator. When I got it, the light worked but the compressor did not start. I have come back to Hampton to visit and am working on the fridge again and could use some tips.

We have rewired the fridge EXACTLY the way we found it. The light works and the compressor hums, but still won't start. When the compressor hums, the light dims and it will continue to hum until the overload switch shuts it off.

We removed the cold control, thinking there may be a start capacitor or relay near it at the top of the fridge, but we found none. We can't find any start capacitor or relay anywhere in the fridge. What could cause the compressor to just hum, and what do we do to fix it? Is there something inside the cold control that may be faulty? There are 3 wires that run from the cold control to the motor, and we thought there may be some sort of start winding in the motor controlled from the cold control.

Thank you,
Dave
 
How cold was the ambient temperature in the area of the fridge? My air compressor will infinitely cycle the motor protection circuit if the surrounding temp goes below 45F in the garage. My guess is that the oil becomes too thick for the motor to overcome the friction at that temp.
 
The compressor is probably worn enough to not want to start on its own. I believe you can get an aftermarket start capacitor that will give an old compressor an extra "jolt" at start up, giving the compressor a little more life. Call a good parts/service store and ask. Good Luck!
 
Did you try giving the compressor a whack with a block of wood or a rubber mallet? The start capacitor is a good idea, but it might just be pissed off for being left abandoned for all those years.
 
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