Fridgidaire is Fixed!

[carmine]

Just wanted to say thanks to "Phil" who sent me the service notes for my '64 Fridgidaire (bottom freezer, FPI-19B-64). Thought I'd share what the problem was...

Weeks ago, I started noticing it was puddling on the floor. At first I thought it wasn't level on the floor and the defrost water was running out the door, rather then into the drain as it should. This made some sense because I'm in the midst of a kitchen remodel, and it had only recently moved back to the kitchen after weeks in the living room.

Leveling it a little biased towards the rear seemed to help, but soon the freezern basket didn't even want to roll out when the door was opened (it was frozen to the floor of the freezer). Obviously it wasn't defrosting, but it was still keeping cold, so the problem kinda went to the back of my mind.

That is until I opened the door one morning at 4 AM (I leave for work @ 4:30). Temp inside the fridge section was 80 degrees! Everything in the freezer was still frozen solid. I managed to salvage what I could to my huge '64 Kenmore upright freezer, and shut the Fridgidare down. 10 hours later, after taking off the door and back wall of the freezer, there was still ice at the bottom of the evaporator. (Bottom right)

 

[carmine]

So I did some thinking... Was it the defroster coil itself? The drain heater? How about the defroster timer?

Turns out, it was none of the above.

Using the service notes, I learned there is a fail-safe switch (circular part clamped to the evap coil on the left side). If for some reason, the defroster should say on too long and the freezer temp gets over 55-degrees, the switch opens cutting off the defroster and powering the compressor and fan. (I also leaned that my fridge was the biggest and fanciest offered in '64, with lots of "exclusive" parts, lol)

I manually advanced the timer while holding the door switch open (so the fan would run) at no point did the fan/compressor shut down as they should when the defroster is energized. Then I took the fail-safe switch out of the circuit and crossed the leads, rendering it closed (simulating a temp under 55 degrees). Now when manually advancing the defrost timer, the fan/compressor stopped. Touched the defrost and drain coils, sure enough they got hot!

Now the fun part... Who would carry the part? I stopped at a local Servall warehouse and they humored me by looking up the part. No dice, it's NLA. So I said, "This must be a real common part, right?"

Well at least they were good enough to check around the warehouse and came back with a GE service part with the exact same specs; open above 55-degrees. Turns out it was almost an exact match physically as well!

So I let it run for three days and then opened up the freezer wall again. No Frost, just as the emblem says! This even gave me a chance for a good cleaning and to fix the previously broken door shelf. Here's to another 49-years of use (I hope!)

 

[carmine]

money shot...

 

[stan]

Good job

Another good save!
Bet your info helps someone else later, or at least inspires them to not give up!

 

[a440]

Great Job!
Awesome that the GE Part worked the magic.
Does your Frigidaire have separate coils and fan for the refrigerator section?
Brent

 

[philr]

Great job Carmine!

Thanks for the updates and pics! I'm happy to learn that the scans helped you and helped keeping this great fridge in service! One day, I'd really like to have one like this but I've never seen one in Canada and I don't even think they were available here...

Brent,

This Nineteen cu-ft fridge does have separate fan motors for the fridge and the freezer section like the 1962 and older models which had a cold plate behind the refrigerated food section but this one directs airflow from the fridge to the right part of the coils in the freezer (the part with the more widely-spaced fins). The left part is used to cool the freezer.

The other (14 and 16 cu-ft) 1963-1965 Frigidaire Frost-Proof bottom freezer refrigerators had a single fan motor and a thermostatic bulb opened a door that allowed some airflow from the freezer to cool the refrigerated food section. They also had their evaporators laying flat under the freezer floor.

This picture shows the airflow in the Imperial Nineteen.

 

[rp2813]

Excellent story!

 

If I had a fridge that was so deluxe and so beautiful, I'd not give up on it easily either.  It's unpleasant to imagine how many similar refrigerators were junked due to this same problem.

 

[carmine]

The separate freezer/fridge question is pretty well answered, but I'll add that there is a sheet of formed styrofoam that goes immediately in front of the evap coil. It's molded in a way that separates and directs the airflow between the two.

Generally I don't like to "hot rod" things, but if it had been a different part, you can bet I would have made an effort to adapt something else to work. I have a matching Flair range that's waiting to get installed when the kitchen is further along.

I bought this thing at an estate sale that is walking distance from my house, probably around 2011. It was in a basement-bar area but I suspect it was upstairs when new. I think I paid $35 for it, largely on the fact that no one would attempt to carry it up the stairs until I came along. Going through the rest of the house, it appeared that it had been empty for at least a year. This fridge was still operating and had food inside it! Believe it or not, nothing was "stinking" rotten... I recall there was some produce in the crisper bin (maybe a green pepper) but it was more dehydrated and shriveled than moldy/mush.

The home appeared to belong to someone that worked at GM (quite likely around here). There was a magnet in the fridge with a phone number to call for GM pension benefits. I still have it stuck to the back as a "memorial" to the old man who probably bought it new. Hopefully that provides some kind of karma to keep it working.

 

[a440]

Great Scan! That is a very interesting design that obviously worked very well!
It is such a beautiful beast! Great story on how you got it!
Thanks for the scan.
Brent