Help with Old GM Frigidaire Refrigerator

[philr]

These fridges are quite rare, I have never seen one in Matador Red like yours.

Please post pictures showing the interior of both the fridge and refrigerator sections and from the exterior too.

If you find the model number, let us know it. I have some service documentation for similar ones but I think I'm missing the "L" line from 1967 and a part of the 1966 "K" line. I do have the 1968 "N" line information.

I'd like to find one like this from 1966. Same color as yours.

 

[kd12]

1920s tech

Square nuts on a 70s fridge? Sounds very 1920s. I would never have guessed they would have used those on a modern appliance.

 

[cjhsa]

Not a repaint. Custom ordered direct from the factory. My parents were really weird about that sort of thing. My cabin is full of treasures, like Widdicombe and Baker furniture, even a Herman Miller rolltop desk. Too bad they all smell like a 50-year old cabin in the woods in need of a new roof. They should have invested in a better roof.

 

[cjhsa]

Photos! And I included a couple that may be more valuable than the fridge.

Can't find a S/N, but model # is on the manual.

 

[cjhsa]

So my apologies as it is a deluxe not an imperial nor a super.

 

[cjhsa]

So I can only get the fridge down to about 42F. The freezer is fine. ???

 

[goatfarmer]

How cold do ya want the fridge? 42 isn't too bad.

 

[cjhsa]

42 is outside of the safe zone. Stuff will not keep very long that warm. 35-37 is preferable.

That fridge froze stuff in the drawers on A before. I have it on 3 now which is coldest. Seriously since it is a vacation/hunting cabin, I used to leave stuff for a month and it would be fine, even milk. Not now. Two days max and stuff goes bad or molds.

 

[norgeway]

Ref temp

I think these use a tube like contraption which opens and closes thermostatically to let air up from the freezer into the fridge,They are adjustable I think, 42 is warmer than I like also, I like to see ice crystals in my milk and tea!

 

[philr]

t's a 1967 model, I'm sure other forum members have also noticed the Kitchen Aid KDS-15 next to it. I'd say it's also from the same time period.

I have never owned a Frigidaire bottom freezer refrigerator made after 1965 but I know that by 1966, many of the top-freezer models switched from having the thermostatic damper that Norgeway is talking about to a manual damper that adjusts with a knob. Is there just one or two cold control knobs? I guess there are two. One of them has the "off" position, that's the main cold control. The other one just moves a damper to increase or decrease the airflow in the refrigerator section.

My guess is that the damper is linked to the one you pictured which says "freezer cold control". If you want to make a test, feel the air flow in the refrigerator section next to the air distribution register (probably behind the light shield in the center) while holding the light switch as if the door was closed and see in which direction you get the maximum airflow to the refrigerator. It should be the at the "warmer" setting if I understand correctly how your damper and thermostat work, that will get the most cold airflow to the refrigerator section and it will make the freezer less cold. Then I don't know where you set the other thermostat but you want to have it in the coldest position which should be "3". Check the temperatures simultaneously in both the freezer and refrigerator sections to see how it does before and after moving the controls.

Some refrigerators have two blowers linked to cold controls rather than a single blower and a damper. I'm not 100% sure about how yours is but that knob seems to be the kind they used for damper doors.

Does the compressor runs almost constantly or does it often cycles off? These should run constantly a few hours after the defrost period and then cycle on and off.

This fridge is probably one of the very first models that didn't have a defrost timer that defrosted it at fixed intervals. Instead, it defrosted "as necessary" like today's fridges. At least the 1968 version of your fridge does that. I wish I had the 1967 manual to help you more.

I can't say it's a highly valuable appliance (very few are!) but if it was mine, I'd certainly try to keep it working!

You won't find another one like it easily!

 

[cjhsa]

Thanks PhilR! Yes it has two controls. The one in the pics is the freezer control, at the back bottom of the refrigerator. The other is closer to the top of the fridge and has the A-B-1-2-3 settings.

The compressor does run almost constantly at this point. It does turn off though, noticeably as the fan stops too and it's quite loud. It will stay off for just a few minutes then start again. This unit used to defrost fairly regularly, and when it did, you could see the heating elements light up at the back of the freezer, as there is no light/switch on the freezer door. I haven't see it do that lately, but I can't say it's not working as there are no frost issues I can see.

I posted the owner's manual in the pictures, not sure how readable they are here. Try the link below if you can't read them (Google Photos).

That Kitchen Aid dishwasher is the bomb. 45 minutes start to finish, gets dishes super clean and dry in that short time. Hope it lasts many more years.

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[philr]

If the fan is that noisy, it could be the problem if it turns too slow... Is there adequate airflow from the air registers in the refrigerator section? You just need to hold the light switch as if the door was closed, the light will turn off and the fan will turn on.

What's the temp in the freezer section?

[this post was last edited: 6/27/2017-17:18]

 

[cjhsa]

Not sure. But definitely frozen.

 

[panthera]

regarding '67 frost free

I have one. It uses a timer and a thermostat - the moment the temperature rises above freezing, it cancels the defrost cycle.

I wonder how timer-less models prior to microprocessors would have worked?

 

[philr]

I don't know but my '68 Tech Talk specifies that the equivalent of this model from 1968 uses no defrost timer while most others still had fixed defrost periods twice or 3 times a day. I couldn't find more details relating to how the defrost system worked.

I know that my 10 years newer 1977 Frigidaire side by side still uses a defrost timer that runs only when the compressor runs so it doesn't defrost at the same time everyday but the system must have been different on this 1967 as the manual states that it doesn't have a timer and that it defrosts automatically "as necessary" or something like that.

 

[combo52]

Frigidaire Defrost Controls On SOME Late 60s Refs

Used an interesting dual capillary control that sensed evaporator temperature and condenser temperatures, this system was designed to cause a defrost to occur only when necessary and therefor not a a preset schedule.

 

I have no real experience with this system and FD did not use it long but instead went back to continuous run timers well into the 70s.

 

If this ref does not have a conventional defrost timer it could have a system like this.

 

In order to give any real help we must have a model number, it should be on a silver sticker on the inside wall of the ref to the left or right of the vegetable drawers., if the sticker is unreadable it is probably also printed in bold letters on the upper back of the ref.

 

[philr]

John, the model number is in one of the pictures above, FPD-14BL a 1967 model.

The information I found about a similar fridge is from 1968, for the FPD-144BN.

I don't have the 1967 Tech Talk about refrigerators.

 

[cjhsa]

Needs an evaporator motor. Could not make the universal one fit.

Any idea where I can find a used or rebuilt?

 

[philr]

The parts book I have says #620365

Here's a replacement on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frigidaire-...767469?hash=item2ec849aded:g:cfsAAOSwqBJXWwNf

It won't look like the original but I suppose it fits there and there seems to be an adapter for the blower wheel.

 

[cjhsa]

Hmm. That is not the part number on the bad one. And the act of touching it has made the problem worse. Fridge is now 56 and freezer barely making ice. I give up. Getting a new fridge.