Frigidaire Charcoal 40" Range

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Another charcoal!  This is a 1958 Imperial.  Single oven model so it has a storage drawer on the left side under the Radiantube elements and the deep well.  Looks like the Heat-Minder sensor is gone and the Speed Heat element appears a bit wonky and possibly missing the original knob so it's safe to assume that doesn't work. Price is reasonable though, finding parts may be a challenge but not impossible.

 

I have a 40" 1959 Custom Imperial if anyone is interested, it's gotta go!  And it's turquoise :-)

 
 
Greg, If only that '59 of yours was in white or sunny yellow I might be tempted :)
I grew up with 1950s and 60s Frigidaire ranges.
They were the "hearth" of my grandmother's and my own family's farm homes homes in the 1970s.
Frigidaire ranges prepared 1000s of meals for me in the first decade of my life!

Mark
 
Greg, I wish I lived closer to you! I'd take it! BTW, I saw a picture of a '63 fridge on your Flickr photostream. Is it yours?

 
You are so right Greg, but just think about how bright YOUR kitchen would look with that beautiful turquoise Frigidaire range in it!!!!
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Hi Phil - that was a refrigerator I snagged from behind Lowes, it was a wreck.  The entire freezer section had nearly melted from a malfunctioning defrost heater system.  I found the parts to make it whole again but there ended up being troubles with the sealed system and given it's sad state, wasn't worth the overhaul it would take to make this beautiful energy hog viable.  I recently was in a house for a sale that had two of these Imperials in the basement, one pink and the other white from '61.  The white unit was afflicted with the same defrost malfunction as that 63.  The pink one wasn't plugged in but still was full of soda and beer so it may have worked...

 
 
Hi Greg,

I think that it was quite common for these to have defrost issues that resulted in melted plastic ducts. My 1964 Frigidaire also had this problem but the ducts didn't melt to that point!

I was asking you about this fridge because I'd like to find a cover for my door-mounted hydrator. Mine has a crack that I glued but I'd like to find one that's not cracked. I think that the tallest models of 1961-63 all had the same "picture window hydrator"

If you ever come across one of these fridges that's being parted out, I'm looking for a replacement door hydrator for mine...

And I'd also like to get parts for my '61...

philr++1-17-2012-17-41-38.jpg
 
I'm wondering if anything could be done to prevent this problem? I have 4 old Frigidaire refrigerators and I wouldn't be happy if it happened to any of them!

I don't know why it happens. Is it the defrost limit switch that stays closed when the temp rises?

These fridges also use defrost timers with 5 wires. I have seen some people wire them incorrectly when replacing the defrost timer with a 4 wire timer resulting in heating elements that stay on constantly... I think that most younger appliance technicians have no clue about the use of the 5th wire on these fridges!

The heating elements have one circuit that bypasses the defrost limit switch and activates a solenoid (that's what the 5th wire is used for) that starts the compressor when the defrost limit switch opens. So the timed defrost sequence of 30 minutes is usually interrupted after less than 15 minutes.[this post was last edited: 1/17/2012-20:12]
 
MELTED FRIGIDARE REFERGERATOR FREZZER PARTS

The bi-metal defrost limit thermostat would not cut the heat off because the insulation below the evaporator becomes saturated with water and turns to a block of 20 degree below zero ice. This prevents the limiter from opening soon enough but the 500 watt plus heater can still melt plastic parts above the heater. If I was going to use one of these refs on a long term basis I would add a extra defrost limiter at a higher point. All the newer GE refs since about 2000 have a 140 degree safety limiter in case something goes wrong with the computer or thermistor. I would add one of these limiters to any old electric defrost refrigerator for safety and to protect the machine itself. I have seen refrigerators that went full force after a lightning strike welded the defrost timer and bi-metal contacts turn into ovens and actually defrosted the meat in the freezer and started roasting it. Sometimes no one noticed the problem until they smelled the meat roasting.
 
Thanks for the advice John,

 

I thought about adding a second defrost limiter in series with the one already there in my fridges but I wasn't sure if it would be working or not and I had no idea about what kind of model I should be using... Since the defrost elements seem to be of higher wattage than what's used in most newer fridges, I wasn't sure if any newer limiter would be ok to do the job.  I was also wondering if it would be safer to use a third limiter on the second cirtuit that goes to the solenoid that kicks back the defrost timer to the refrigeration mode once the limiter is open (before the timed defrost perod ends) or if there's no chance that this circuit could energize the heater due to a timer malfunction?

 Also, I recently replaced the foam under the evaporator in my 1965 Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator and I wasn't sure if it would work. I couldn't find exact replacement insulation so I used a piece of styrofoam that I cut and melted in some areas to shape it similarly to the original so it would fit under the freezer floor and let the air flow through it and I used a can of foam for window insulation to seal the area around the evaporator drain tray.   So far, it seems to work since there's no trace of water dripping in the refrigerator but I haven't used long enough to see if it will cause any problems...  Is there an easier way to replace the foam in a freezer? How about bottom freezer units? I was amased to see how heavy the old foam remained, even a few weeks after I replaced it. It seems that no water had escaped from it.
 

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