Frigidaire Imperial Frost Proof Sixteen Brushed Chrome/Stainless Florissant MO

travis · Apr 1, 2017

Thanks, I mainly wanted to see and to save it. They were asking $175. I offered $120 and asked for the ice cube trays that were tagged across the room. It looks very nice, just dirty. Everything looks to be there.

With John's permission, I'll let it waste some electric. I really don't understand the fixation with efficiency. How many people are standing in their doorways with the a/c or heat running? The same goes for retail stores. You're not going to get a cookie at the end of your life for saving some KW's.

This is a whole 5 cu ft larger that my 2 dr monitor top!

duke · Apr 1, 2017

Way to go Travis, I guess an antique and vintage appliance lovers website is the wrong place to talk efficiency. If you Love it and can afford it --Buy it, operate it.

funktionalart · Apr 1, 2017

Efficiency--

My take on it: My kid sister just dropped close to $3k on a Samsung Fridge last year. It's been serviced at least 4x already and still doesn't work right. I operate "Energy Inefficient" vintage appliances--ALL of which still run, are all over 50 years of age and my cash outlay to acquire them was basically nothing. Believe it or not, my early 60s fridge adds less than $10-11 per month to the electric bill. So, $120 year vs. $3,000 out of pocket. I like my way.

philr · Apr 1, 2017

Travis, please post pics and details, I'm very curious about the two pedal door opener and how the door button operates on this version! I have plans that aren't very detailed in my 1966 manuals. Internally, I think these are quite similar to the 16 cu-ft versions from 1964-65 but I really like the "W"- shaped doors on the 1966 and newer Imperial and Custom Imperial bottom-freezer models.

In Canada, the equivalent model was the FI16K

norgeway · Apr 1, 2017

To me

The big difference is, and John might not agree, but the compressors in these were so much bigger and more powerful they last on and on, especially Frigidaires and Whirlpools, what gave trouble on Frigidaires was the defrost timer would hang up in the on position and end up melting the plastic parts inside the freezer...I personally would rather defrost and have a fridge that doesent have all the gizmos to break.

pulltostart · Apr 2, 2017

1966 you say?

Queue the girls and the 'Star Trek' theme!

lawrence

goatfarmer · Apr 2, 2017

<blockquote>
The big difference is, and John might not agree, but the compressors in these were so much bigger and more powerful they last on and on, especially Frigidaires and Whirlpools, what gave trouble on Frigidaires was the defrost timer would hang up in the on position and end up melting the plastic parts inside the freezer...I personally would rather defrost and have a fridge that doesent have all the gizmos to break.

</blockquote>
We had the refrigerator in the ad for a lot of years. FPCI 19 BK My dad was a Frigidaire service tech. Frigidaire had a customer who had a fairly new one, that got stuck in defrost, and melted the plastic in the freezer. Frigidaire replaced the refrigerator for the customer, and my dad got the old one. He replaced all the melted plastic, and fixed the defrost problem. That refrigerator was still going strong into the late 90's, when they got a new SxS.

combo52 · Apr 2, 2017

Efficiency

Hi Allen, You don't have to buy a $3000 Samsung to get efficiency and you certainly don't buy such a ref to get long life and reliability.

A good [ $700 ] GE Top Freezer will keep you food better than a 60s-70s FF refrigerator operate for a 1/3 of what your older ref operates for and last for 30+ years with probably only one or two service calls at most.

Yes these new refs do not have as much chrome and fun styling as this cool older Frigidaire does, but in terms of overall performance and reliability this older Frigidaire ref is like comparing a 1967 Buick to a New Chevrolet Impala or other good car today.

As several of you know I have a 1967 Frigidaire Food-Life-Preserver in our collection and I turn it on for about 30 days a year around the holidays for overflow food storage and it fires right up and keeps things cold-frozen, but it runs more than 70% of the time and adds over $20 dollars to the power bill. This FD FLP has 4 fan motors, 3 small motors for the IM and ref door opener and the under-powered 7/32 HP compressor, This ref also has six+ electric heaters.

I love this cool refrigerator and have no plans to ever get rid of it, but this ref alone uses as much power as my two full sized all refs in the kitchen + the 2 full sized frost free freezers in my kitchen and the compact bar ref.

norgeway · Apr 2, 2017

John

Surely you cant mean these little pop bottle sized Matushita compressors are better than the old compressors by Copeland, Tecumseh , Frigidaire , Norge , GE or Westinghouse?????

combo52 · Apr 2, 2017

Refrigerator Compressors Today

Hi Hans, I don't know anything about Matushita compressors, but most American refs are using Embraco compressors and we almost never see a bad one.

These newer compressors can deliver 700-1000 BTUs of cooling capacity while only drawing 100-150 watts of power, they run cool and quietly.

Whirlpool owns Embraco and has been using them in most of their refs since the mid 80s when they stopped building their rotary compressors.

norgeway · Apr 2, 2017

I thought

Everyone was using Japanese and Chinese stuff...Good to know SOMETHING is still ok....But you know me, I still trust vintage over anything new..LOL

funktionalart · Apr 2, 2017

John~re; efficiency

Hi John--I don't argue your point in the least…but do want to point out that I am not the one who bought the $3000 Samsung. That was my sister--I tried to talk her out of that….and it fell on deaf ears. 3 Grand could have gotten her quite a bit of other stuff and she could've avoided the inevitable depreciation that is going to come from that Samsung in the coming 4-5 years...

As for me, My vintage fridges are not my "daily drivers" (even though they are in use all the time)--I've got a late 90s JennAir in the kitchen which does all the things I expect from a modern unit and I don't ever worry over defrost issues, running costs, etc. The 60s Coldspot and Frigidaire units are drinks/overflow and fun factor--and happily don't cost a ton of cash to operate out here as our electrical rates are FAR lower than those on the east coast and other parts of the country. I doubt I'd run them much if I lived on the eastern seaboard…

Still, I will keep hunting for a '66 Frigidaire and be forever jealous that Travis got hold of one of my dream machines!

norgeway · Apr 2, 2017

My dream fridge

Would be a 57 or 58 Coldspot Super Mart,The one with the slide out bottle shelf,and bottom freezer.And YES you do have to defrost these!

travis · Apr 2, 2017

The beautiful energy hog has landed. It even has a newer defrost timer. I'll watch it's power usage and report back. Regardless, it's swanky and some people need to live a little!

funktionalart · Apr 2, 2017

Congrats Travis! Echoing others here--pictures, pictures, PICTURES (even with old dirt still intact!). Call me when you tire of it….maybe I can swing shipping $$ by that time…

beekeyknee · Apr 2, 2017

Defrost Timers on Old Fridges

Aren't defrost timers on old fridges actually just little synchronis motors like one finds in electric clocks? Don't they just keep track of how long the fridge has run and then send it into defrost after so many hours? I've noticed the timer on mine is rattling a bit. If I could get to it, couldn't I put a couple of drops of turbine oil on the shaft where it rides in the bushing. Wouldn't this help keep it from failing or am I completely off base here?

travis · Apr 2, 2017

These aren't the best pictures. My lighting is poor in the garage and the space is tight. I did change the light bulb that was burned out. It's drawing 226 watts. My 9 cu ft 1930 monitor top is drawing 195 across the aisle.

I guess I am going to hell for single personally destroying the environment by running all of these and eating meat on the same day.