GE LH-110 -- Help! A wire broke off of the compressor

[kmjv]

Hi everyone,

I recently acquired a GE LH-110 (year unknown) and was able to clean it up to look nice and sparkly. It has all of the shelves, drip tray, etc in tact. However, when I went to examine the wiring, one of the three wires coming from what I'm assuming is the compressor snapped clean off. That wiring is pretty mucky and stiff in some spots, but everything else seems to be pliable and in good condition. When I touch the remaining two attached wires together they spark.

The light bulbs inside of the refrigerator turn on when the fridge is plugged in, so all of that wiring still works and looks clean and good.

My question is can the wires coming from the compressor be replaced or repaired? Is it an easy DIY?

I set an appointment with a vintage appliance repair shop in the Los Angeles area (two hours away from me) for next week, but I want to go in somewhat informed. How much does a repair or rewiring like that normally cost? What other (cost effective) solutions would you recommend if any?

 

[rp2813]

I can't tell from the picture where that wire belongs, but anyone with basic refrigeration knowledge would be able to figure it out.   And yes, that whole area looks clean and sparkly!

 

Giving this a bump so others here will see this. 

 

We had a refrigeration expert here for many years, but now you have to pull up the monitor top web site to find him.  His name is Travis.  Tell him Ralph sent you, and he should be able to refer you to someone who is familiar with refrigerators of your vintage.  The monitor top site has a forum for "other vintage refrigerators" under the "miscellaneous" heading, so you should be able to get some advice there.  It's free to join.  Here's the link:

Home | MonitorTop Refrigerator Forum

Visit our forum at: monitortop.freeforums.net

monitortop.freeforums.net

 

[speedqueen]

I cannot tell but,

Are those two ends of wire what broke? If so, find someone you know that can solder and just have them solder them together and heat shrink it, then start saving up for a complete rewire. I cannot imagine it would be cheap. Wire itself is cheap, but the process is laborious. You could replace the wires yourself, it shouldn't be too bad of a job, just time consuming(henceforth expensive at appliance technician rates of $45-90/Hr).

 

[rp2813]

I think it's the blue wire that completely detached at both ends.

 

[neptunebob]

Gnerally, a compressor has 3 terminals...

Can you see where the wire came off the compressor? A compressor has 3 terminals for the run windings, the start windings and a common terminal. The start wire will come from a relay (Commonly called a Klixon).

 

[rp2813]

Click on the link to see a thread that will provide some helpful information about which wires do what on your compressor.  If you can see the terminals where the wire connections are, you should be able to figure out where the blue one belongs. 

 

A rewiring job by a pro could turn out to be rather costly and may not be necessary.

1949 GE Refrigerator Relay HELP - RO81

Hey guys - When I got home this weekend I noticed the '49 GE beer fridge was not running. After checking things out it was apparent the original relay was toast - the load line was pretty fried up. The original PN was a WR7X6. After a little cross referencing it looked like the Supco RO-81...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[appliguy]

Is your fridge a two door model with vertical door latches?

According to my dealer brochure pages the LK11 is a 1953 model that is a two door fridge with vertical door mechanical latches which were a one year feature, prior to`53 the door latches were horizontal and were again in '54'& '55 before they started using magnetic door latches in '56.........PAT COFFEY

 

[rp2813]

Pat --

I think our new friend Kris has moved on.  Maybe the MT forums turned out to be a better resource, but it would be nice to know how things went.

 

[appliguy]

Maybe Ralph,

but maybe something came up in her life and she has not had the time to check back on the forum! PAT COFFEY