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Ahem! Electrolux "Gas" Refrigerator
- Thread starter launderess
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cehalstead
Well-known member
Electrolux gas refrigerator
That machine looks very similar to the one my great Grandmother used for years. The story I heard as a child is that when the gas line came through her farm in the early '30's, she bought the icebox, a kitchen stove and a gas heater for the living room. She had the fireplaces ripped out, chimneys torn down and swore that she would NEVER touch a stick of wood again. I am quite sure that she didn't. She lived into the mid '60's and died at the age of 96, still living at home. I remember her well.....
That machine looks very similar to the one my great Grandmother used for years. The story I heard as a child is that when the gas line came through her farm in the early '30's, she bought the icebox, a kitchen stove and a gas heater for the living room. She had the fireplaces ripped out, chimneys torn down and swore that she would NEVER touch a stick of wood again. I am quite sure that she didn't. She lived into the mid '60's and died at the age of 96, still living at home. I remember her well.....
laundromat
Well-known member
Isn't that dryer shown to the right of the gas frige the thor dryer shown in another thread????
exploder3211
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2006
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- 1,664
yeah
Dryer is now gone, a member nabbed it.
L.
L.
A month or six weeks ago, when I found that NIB Maid of Honor ironing table, that same estate sale had a Servel gas refrigerator in the kitchen - still hooked up and running. Cold as could be, I've never seen one in operation before.
"Cools with heat" That's a great slogan!
"Cools with heat" That's a great slogan!
Are gas refrigerators still around, if not why were they phased out?
L.
L.
red_october
Well-known member
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- Jun 18, 2007
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- 141
It is a very peculiar item but I understand they work well. I don't know if they're made for natural gas anymore.
Our RV has a refrigerator in it that can be either gas or electric. The gas mode works MUCH better than the electric.
selectomatic
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- Apr 6, 2007
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- 483
My uncle has a cabin in the woods up north.
There's no electicity, but he has LP gas. He has gas lines run to the mantle lamps on the beams, and he has an old Servel gas refrigerator. All of the comforts of home, more or less.
-kevin
There's no electicity, but he has LP gas. He has gas lines run to the mantle lamps on the beams, and he has an old Servel gas refrigerator. All of the comforts of home, more or less.
-kevin
pushtorelease
Well-known member
When we used to go back to the farm in Saskatchewan in the '60's, my aunt and uncle still didn't have electricity (with 11 kids no less!) so had a kerosene fridge - looked like your basic '50's Kelvinator. Us kids weren't allowed to open it so the fuel wouldn't be wasted. I just remember it had this horrible smell! I enjoyed the gasoline powered wringer washer dancing around the porch as it washed much, much more.
Reading up on these things, apparently there was a recall of 1930's through 1950's (approx dates) of Servel (sp?) gas refrigerators. Apparently the things could leak carbon monoxide, and had killed over 100 people in little over a year or so. The recall was in the 1980's, and urged persons NOT to use vintage gas fridges.
Are these the same units that can level an entire area, or at least kill off much living things if the "coolant" some how gets out, such as someone cutting a line open?
L.
Are these the same units that can level an entire area, or at least kill off much living things if the "coolant" some how gets out, such as someone cutting a line open?
L.
red_october
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- Jun 18, 2007
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- 141
I think the coolant is the same sodium/ammonia stuff as in a Monitor Top or other really old refridgeration appliance; and I don't recall any horror stories about the ubiquidous Monitor Tops (though the coolant is somewhat toxic, I believe); I suppose the gas element of the thing has the same potential for explosion as any other gas appliance; my girlfriend is scared of gas appliances as when she was a kid the house 3 down from her aunt (or something) blew up from the gas stove.
I've told the following story many times before, but I'm getting old enough to repeat myself without people being surprised ;-)
The houses in my parent's neighborhood were built by the gas company (which was called People's Natural Gas, which in retrospect sounds vaguely communistic, but I digress) and the houses originally had everything gas that could be gas, right down to streelights and refrigerators.
Mom is the last holdout on the gas light in front of the house, but the refrigerator went with the original owners when mom & dad bought the place in '62. I didn't even know about it until I was helping mom with some stuff in the kitchen a few years back and found two gas lines.
The houses in my parent's neighborhood were built by the gas company (which was called People's Natural Gas, which in retrospect sounds vaguely communistic, but I digress) and the houses originally had everything gas that could be gas, right down to streelights and refrigerators.
Mom is the last holdout on the gas light in front of the house, but the refrigerator went with the original owners when mom & dad bought the place in '62. I didn't even know about it until I was helping mom with some stuff in the kitchen a few years back and found two gas lines.
whirlcool
Well-known member
About a pound a day for fuel. That works out to about $40.00 per month or $480.00 per year to operate the fridge. That's pretty pricey. Plus it has a very small capacity.
Somewhere in the advert Laundress linked to it stated that Natural Gas units were no longer available.
But for a place that doesn't have electricity, or for a large RV, it would be fine.
Somewhere in the advert Laundress linked to it stated that Natural Gas units were no longer available.
But for a place that doesn't have electricity, or for a large RV, it would be fine.
Our only fridge is a small Electrolux gas fridge. It works VERY well, food last longer in it than when we lived in the city and had an electric fridge. We rescued it from the rubbish dump, it cost me $15 and its only fault was the electric backup element has failed - fine as we don't use it.
It has to be manually defrosted, it is labelled Automatic Defrost and I have read up on how it is supposed to work, but when I phoned a gas fridge repairer, he said it is hopeless, the auto defrost never works and new ones no longer have the "feature." I use it on a 9kg gas bottle which lasts about a month, when the gas runs out it gets a defrost before I hook up the next bottle.
We are upgrading our solar power as there is now a generous government subsidy on solar panels, we might change to a special "solar power fridge" which is extra efficient and runs from 24 volts DC, but I'm not sure yet as I do like my little gas fridge.
Chris.
It has to be manually defrosted, it is labelled Automatic Defrost and I have read up on how it is supposed to work, but when I phoned a gas fridge repairer, he said it is hopeless, the auto defrost never works and new ones no longer have the "feature." I use it on a 9kg gas bottle which lasts about a month, when the gas runs out it gets a defrost before I hook up the next bottle.
We are upgrading our solar power as there is now a generous government subsidy on solar panels, we might change to a special "solar power fridge" which is extra efficient and runs from 24 volts DC, but I'm not sure yet as I do like my little gas fridge.
Chris.
Gas fridges and ammonia
Laundress, the gas absorbtion refrigers use ammonia as the refrigerant. And, some of the older ones used hydrogen gas as a carrier to make the ammonia circulate. Both hydrogen and ammonia are flammable, so if a line burst while the fridge was operating, there would be the chance of an explosion. However, as far as I know, no gas fridges ever used carbon monoxide as a refrigerant. The CO hazard most come from the burner itself and the fact that in most installations, it was not vented -- the same hazard you'd get from an unvented gas space heater.
My maternal grandmother had a Servel gas fridge that she used for years and years without problems. She was a bit paranoid about electricity. In the summer, whenever she went out of town, she'd pull the main fuse from the fuse box! Since the fridge was gas (and the house had no air conditioning), she only had the minor inconvenience of resetting clocks when she got back. She probably would have done this in the winter too, except for the fact that the floor furnace for some reason was equipped with a 110V thermostat instead of a millivolt stat.
Ammonia isn't toxic per se, but high concentrations can burn the insides of your lungs. Oddly, though, it is possible to acquire a tolerance to it. I experienced this first-hand at a summer job I had when I was a teenager. I ran the print shop in an architect's office. One of my responsibilities was making blue-line copies of original drawings on a machine that used a diazo process. This process uses concentrated ammonia as a developer. The machine had a big tank of liquid anhydrous ammonia connected to it, and it made its own ammonia water solution. And it leaked ammonia like a sieve. After a few weeks, I got to where I couldn't smell it. One afternoon I was running a big batch of drawings, and the receptionist came back to see what I was doing. She was holding her nose and had a hanky over her mouth. She asked me to shut it off for a while -- the smell had driven all the other employees out of the building! And I didn't notice anything! After that, whenever I had a large batch of drawings to do, I had to set up a fan at the back door to blow the gas out, and take breaks periodically. It bothered me because I could never tell how bad it had gotten, and sometimes I'd forget to turn the ammonia off after a run.
Laundress, the gas absorbtion refrigers use ammonia as the refrigerant. And, some of the older ones used hydrogen gas as a carrier to make the ammonia circulate. Both hydrogen and ammonia are flammable, so if a line burst while the fridge was operating, there would be the chance of an explosion. However, as far as I know, no gas fridges ever used carbon monoxide as a refrigerant. The CO hazard most come from the burner itself and the fact that in most installations, it was not vented -- the same hazard you'd get from an unvented gas space heater.
My maternal grandmother had a Servel gas fridge that she used for years and years without problems. She was a bit paranoid about electricity. In the summer, whenever she went out of town, she'd pull the main fuse from the fuse box! Since the fridge was gas (and the house had no air conditioning), she only had the minor inconvenience of resetting clocks when she got back. She probably would have done this in the winter too, except for the fact that the floor furnace for some reason was equipped with a 110V thermostat instead of a millivolt stat.
Ammonia isn't toxic per se, but high concentrations can burn the insides of your lungs. Oddly, though, it is possible to acquire a tolerance to it. I experienced this first-hand at a summer job I had when I was a teenager. I ran the print shop in an architect's office. One of my responsibilities was making blue-line copies of original drawings on a machine that used a diazo process. This process uses concentrated ammonia as a developer. The machine had a big tank of liquid anhydrous ammonia connected to it, and it made its own ammonia water solution. And it leaked ammonia like a sieve. After a few weeks, I got to where I couldn't smell it. One afternoon I was running a big batch of drawings, and the receptionist came back to see what I was doing. She was holding her nose and had a hanky over her mouth. She asked me to shut it off for a while -- the smell had driven all the other employees out of the building! And I didn't notice anything! After that, whenever I had a large batch of drawings to do, I had to set up a fan at the back door to blow the gas out, and take breaks periodically. It bothered me because I could never tell how bad it had gotten, and sometimes I'd forget to turn the ammonia off after a run.
IIRC Coleman advertising gas central air in many a magazine spread throughout the 60's
