Crosley

[KurtDixon]

It's been awhile since I was here. But we have a, what I think would be an early 50s Crosley Shelvador fridge at work. All the pictures i've seen of them from that time look like this one. Very round corners and sides, button handle.
Anyhow, it hadn't been defrosted in about 7 or 8 years. Of course, the freezer was almost a solid block of ice. They decided to defrost it. Luckily, we put a fan on it and the ice seperated from the top and came out in a big chunk. Steaming water took care of the rest of it. Anyhow, this thing is VERY quiet, but being curious, I wanted to see how long it ran. It runs for 5 minutes, at most. Then it's off for about 20 or 30, I would say.
Is that normal? It's cold inside, but it seems weird it wouldn't run for 10 minutes at least. Our 90s Norge/Maytag runs for 30-40 minutes and is off for 30-40 minutes. Similar to our 80s GE (perhaps 20 on, 30 off).
I know older fridges tend to not run as long as new fridges, but the other thing is that this compressor has 50 years of wear on it and I know for a fact that run times get longer with wear.
Anyhow, it works fine but just thought a 5 minute run time was odd.

 

[bingwsguy]

Kurt, I recently had the pleasure of visiting an antique appliance dealer here in upstate NY. I went to pick up a vintage Maytag Wringer washer and also came home with a vintage Maytag automatic. While there I admired the huge collection of vintage refirgerators he had. I was amazed at how quiet and efficient they are! He,(Mike..the owner) explained that it was because they had no "defrost" mode.
His website is WWW.MONITORTOP.COM. Maybe if you emailed him he could help you out? He was a great guy and very informative.

Joe

 

[KurtDixon]

Thanks i'll drop him an email. I always thought those old compressors should be loud, but they really aren't at all. Then with no fans, there's no other noise. Very nice.

 

[goatfarmer]

I have a 1940 Gibson,the compressor is a bit on the noisy side,but not objectionable.It may be the mounts are bad,or loose.I remember the same vintage Frigidaires were whisper quiet.

kennyGF

 

[pekedogs]

I thought that the Crosley Shelvador was a gas refrigerator. I remember in the distant mists of time that my mom and dad had one and it was run on natural gas. It was not plugged into the electricity.

 

[drmitch]

My Philco is also very quiet compaired to my moms late 90s Kenmore which sounds like a truck running just outside the kitchen. I`ve never timed mine but it seems like short cycles too. The only disadvantage is the once a month defrost, but I can also remember having a car that had manual roll up windows!

 

[polkanut]

Crosley did at one time make gas and kerosene operated refrigerators. They were originally sold as the Crosley Icyball Refrigerator. It had an evaporation unit that worked with no moving parts, only the gas or kerosene flame to keep the process going.