GE Monitor Top - moving questions

[swestoyz]

Hey guys -

This afternoon I have a chance to pick-up a monitor top GE. I'm planning on bringing it home if it runs. Cord was cut when I saw it earlier this weekend, will wire in a patch cord to test this afternoon.

QUICK QUESTION on moving. From what I've seen from past posts, are the tops removable on these? If so, would two strong guys be able to lift it off? I'm thinking the top probably weighs 200+ which I wouldn't be able to lift by myself.

Model is a CK-1-616. Smaller model with enamel finish, foot pedal, no shelves, but I've never seen one locally so I'm thinking of jumping on it. Anyone know how to date these?

 

[swestoyz]

Model tag. Took the photo with my iPhone with very little light, so it required inverting to read the model.

 

[rp2813]

That's a cute little model and the ideal size for a spare/overflow/drinks fridge.

 

I'm going to guess it's early to mid 30's.  I can't remember when the controls were moved to the front of the shroud as on yours.  Earlier models had a small control box on top of the cabinet.  It may have been a necessity to place controls on the shroud with smaller models since there wasn't room for a box on the top's flat surface.

 

The top should lift right off.  However, if it's been on there for 75 years, it may need coaxing, and it may want to take some of the gasket material with it.  If you can move the whole thing with top in place, that would be your best option but otherwise it will for sure require two men to lift the top.  Be careful of tubing when you set it down, and try to keep it as upright as possible.

 

You're wise to bring a cord to splice on and test out the fridge.  My experience with cut cords has been that they are usually an indicator that the electrical device in question stopped working at some point in the past.

 

[brisnat81]

This is My CK-30-C16 which is the most deluxe version of the single door.  It has one fixed shelf, a slide out shelf, 4 rubber feet to protect the floor, two crisper bins and the foot pedal.

 

My understanding is that its from the mid 30's.

 

Mine was shipped 1000km, I had them strap the compressor unit to the top with ratchet straps and then they carried it in using piano straps under the legs.  We've tried a couple of times to lift the compressor top and to do it, we'd really need sometime to stand on so you can get the extra lift.  Otherwise it just doesnt move.

 

 

 

[brisnat81]

At some stage, mine has had a new section of cord spliced in between the 110v plug and the compressor.  The problem is that now the original cable above has lost most of it's exterior insulation and whilst I cant see through the fabric that's left, I assume there isnt much left under the fabric coating.  All the wires that run into the control relay are rock hard, so when I try and remove the relay to replace the cord, it could be the end of it's life, if I damage the cable below where it runs into the compressor base.

 

Does anyone know whether the relay lifts up, or drops down for service?

 

Mine was sold by GE in Australia, it has a GE AU quality control stamp on the bottom.  They didnt convert them to 240v however, they just bolted a huge 240 - 110v transformer onto the bottom.  The compressor has a standard american plug on the cord.

 

I love mine, it's a great Party/overflow fridge, with big wide shelves that hold platters.

 

It's best feature is that you can hear the refridgerant boiling in the evaporator, and when it's turned off, it gurgles and burps as the temperature changes in the room.  The joys of SO2

 

I hope my rambles have been of some help.

 

Cheers

 

Nathan

 

[travis]

Ben,

That's a 1935 model I think. Either lift the top up and out with another guy. You could also loosely strap the entire fridge to a dolly, lay it on it's side and pull the top off at that point. Be careful of the refrigerant lines. Also, avoid sitting the top on it's evaporator. I have brought along either a recycle bin or a milk crate for this.

Rewiring these is a royal pain in the butt. The relay pulls up. You will end up bleeding and cussing as you wire since the wiring has hardened by now. The relay acts as a junction point for the 2 conductor power cord, the 2 conductor switch wire, and the 3 conductor compressor lead. I typically use large heat shrink tubing to encapsulate the wiring as far as I can reach it. You'll also end up stripping some of the larger jacket and pigtail some new wiring onto it.

 

[swestoyz]

She's home

Brought it home this afternoon with the help of my neighbor (thanks Dan!). The top wasn't as heavy as I was expecting, but the evaporator was too large for a milk crate.

Decades old nicotine and filth covered the enamel paint.

 

[swestoyz]

Monitor top, up close and dirty

 

[swestoyz]

Model plate.

 

[swestoyz]

After two hours of cleaning, the enamel finish was starting to look better. There are still several hours left of cleaning and touch-up needed.

 

[swestoyz]

Chrome polish took off what was left of the finish on the cold control plate.

 

[swestoyz]

Early GE.

 

[swestoyz]

I suspect that this plug would require a pig-tail from the main line for the interior light switch. The cord to the relay is actually in pretty decent shape.

Wish the rest of the cabinet was a porcelain finish like the back panel.

 

[swestoyz]

After about 2 hours of running while cleaning, she was nearing 40 degrees. New seals for the door and top should improve efficiency I suspect!

 

[swestoyz]

Interior shot - sans racks. Unfortunately it did not come with racks, and I totally understand parts for these are non-existent. I may take some parts racks and cut them to fit.

All in all, this is a very cool fridge. Always wanted to find a monitor top. If a porcelain finish one doesn't come along in the next year or two I may have this one re-painted.

The sound of the SO2 is very cool, especially when it first kicks on. I've never heard an SO2 system run from a warm start, so it was certainly a treat to hear the evaporator lines flood with coolant as it started to cool.

Ben

 

[pdub]

Wow

Ben,

You've done a great job cleaning the refrigerator so far. It can only get better.

Good luck with the racks. This really adds to your collection!

Patrick

 

[jetaction]

This sure cleaned up well....

I love detailing machines like this one, visible results from all the elbow grease bring quick gratification!  

 

[arbilab]

What exactly is inside the 'monitor top'? Condenser coil? Compressor? Both? How the devil could either of those be removeable without breaching the refrigerant plumbing?

 

[rp2813]

How the devil could either of those be removeable

Look closely at the most recent picture posted above.  Notice that there is a lip all around the edge of the top surface.  That's because that entire unit (yes, that's the compressor and condenser inside that shroud), including the evaporator you see inside the cabinet, lifts straight up and off the cabinet. The whole refrigerating mechanism is portable, if you will, although extremely heavy. 

 

It wasn't uncommon for an older cabinet to have a later type of unit sitting on top of it as the result of a change-out due to failure or problems with the original unit.  Almost a modular thing.

 

Maybe somebody has a picture of a top assembly that's off its cabinet.  The earlier units didn't have the shroud and the condenser coil was the most prominent element, winding around the compressor in its center.  I've attached a picture of that type.

 

 

 

[arbilab]

Thank you, it's quite clear now. Never having seen a real one, couldn't quite imagine.

 

[rp2813]

The Other Alternative

Couldn't find a picture of a top without its cabinet, but here's a picture of the assembly line showing cabinets without their tops.

 

 

[goatfarmer]

Looks great, Ben!

 

[perc-o-prince]

I suspect that this plug would require a pig-tail from the m

Here's a picture of how ours does it. Think Lipton, like the flow-thru tea bag!

The line goes into a round "plug" that is a female 110. Once inside, the insulation is stripped and the two wires soldered to the back ends of the female receivers. Then, it exits the plug fully insulated. It was a pain in the a** at first because it's a small area to work with for soldering and not damaging the insulation!

Yours certainly did clean up nicely!! Ours compressor/condenser unit still gets way too hot for us to be able to use it any more.

Chuck

 

[swestoyz]

Wow Chuck, thanks for the photo! I was able to order a female 2 pole plug from work. I suspect the plug will be too large but we'll see.

I will emulate a similar method to the factory cord, however, I plan to add a second plug to the cord heading to the relay so I can take the cord off the top unit if I ever need to move it and not fear it destroying the relay.

One question for those who use these - the evap coil - does it get down to freezing temperatures? I've let it run for about 2.5 hours this evening. The thermometer is on the top shelf of the evap coil and it is reporting 37 degrees.

I know the cold control is very hesitant to function as I suspect the coil or bellows inside are not up to factory spec, but I was able to get it to switch off an on last night after turning the dial multiple times.

Should the coil be colder than the compartment temp at 35-40 degrees?

Thanks--

Ben

 

[travis]

Ben,

 

The evaporator will freeze ice, but not food.  Is is cycling on and off?  What's the temperature in the cabinet?  You might be low on a charge.

 

[rickr]

Great job on the cleanup Ben! Looks really good. Those monitor top fridges are just so cute! I never knew the tops came off like that either. Guess thats why some are "mix n match" these days.

 

[swestoyz]

Is is cycling on and off?

Last night I set it at 1 after it had run for quite sometime on 9 (2 hours), and turned it to off. A few minutes later I turned it back on and it stayed off. About 5 minutes later it cycled back on.

The cabinet can easily maintain 37 degrees, but it continues to run - or at least I couldn't get it to cycle tonight. I'm thinking the cold control might be suspect.

The evaporator coil was frosting over at about the 3 hour mark, with a nice even frost over the whole thing. The top seal was pretty much non-existent, and the door seal is on it's last legs. I'm wondering if it is laboring to keep up once it reaches 40 and below due to cooling loss at the seals.

I've only ever heard one other Monitor Top run, which was Chris' in St. Louis earlier this spring. I didn't really pay much attention to the sound of his but I don't recall it making much noise. This one makes a quiet girggle while running. I've never heard an SO2 system so I can only gather that this sound is normal.

What is a normal cold control setting, and also, what does the defrost setting do? This one continues to run in defrost.

I was told there is another Monitor Top locally here in Waterloo that I plan to go look at this weekend. Maybe that one has shelves - lol.

Ben

 

[rp2813]

It does sound like you may have cold control issues, but keep an eye on things before jumping to the same conclusion I did about my '57 GE Combination. 

 

I don't think the defrost setting disables the compressor, but it should require the cabinet to warm up to the point where the ice will melt off of the evaporator before it kicks in again.  I don't know anyone who has ever used the defrost setting.  It's more a scenario of taking the bull by the horns and melting the ice through quicker means.

 

If cabinet temperature is holding at 37, that's good, but of course it shouldn't require constant running to do so.  I think on any vintage refrigerator, a cabinet temperature of 37 should coincide with a cold control setting near the mid-range, or if anything, lower than mid-range.  I'd be concerned if the fridge is running continuously to maintain 37 degrees, and isn't getting any colder than that.

 

There's no question that new gaskets will help, but I had a late 20's double-wide monitor top that lived in my parents garage for years and would fire it up when it was needed for overflow.  The door gaskets were hard and brittle, even missing some small sections, yet that thing would keep things cold anyway, and didn't work hard at doing so. 

 

I suggest setting the cold control in the middle and waiting at least a day for things to stabilize before checking temperature.  Once you have established if the setting needs to be moved to colder or warmer, don't move it too far in either direction unless cabinet temp is way off from what it should be.  If things are close to normal, I'd only move the control about half way to the next higher or lower mark on the dial, and wait another day to see what happens.  It could take a week or more of playing with it.  I'm entering week two of monitoring my Combination after removing and replacing the cold control I thought was faulty but turned out not to be.

 

 

 

 

[brisnat81]

I run mine on 2-3 in Winter and 3-4 in summer, this gives me a fridge temp of around 2-4degC.

 

I have been able to make ice, but only in Metal trays, the plastic ones never freeze.

 

If you find a plug that fits for the light, please let me know.  I'd like to get one for mine.

 

[arbilab]

Just coming clean and admitting my ignorance, I never heard of SO2 refrigerant until now. I thought it went from ammonia to freon in one step.

Even air can be/was a refrigerant, if you had enough mechanical energy to throw at it.