I wish it was mine but...

[turquoisedude]

Overall, the fridge is in astoundingly good condition for its 50 years!  The door liner is intact; the breaker strips are all good, and aside from one wee chip in the side, the refrigerator compartment is wonderful.  

 

It's an interesting design, too.  There are two fixed shelves and the other two can be pulled out.  However, none are adjustable - you either remove a shelf entirely or you don't.  I think I'll be able to live with it... 

 

I checked the width - I measured 33.5 inches so I hope it will fit in a future new kitchen.  

 

I'm probably going to unplug it when we head back to Montreal tonight, but I'll be back down in Ogden Thursday so I'll resume cycle testing then.   If it seems alright, the 62 Frigidaire will be getting a break from its bar and overflow duties this holiday season!

 

[philr]

It looks clean as new! 

 

[hydralique]

Are You Sure . . .

That your hubby really was play acting for an Oscar? He might have just been bowled over by the sheer turquoise beauty of that refrigerator. No doubt I'm not alone here in saying it would have made me weak at the knees to bask in the reflections!

 

Remember that if no smelling salts are available in such an emergency a Sapphire martini is a perfect substitute.

 

[a440]

It is in beautiful shape!  

I can't get over the size of the blower for the Fridge Section.

Is the Freezer Blower about the same size?

A question.  Is the freezer and fridge two separate sections that do not share air?  Wonderful control if it is!

Thanks for the pictures!  

Brent

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Brent, the freezer blower is definitely as big.   And I do believe the fridge and freezer sections are indeed separate sections.  It is indeed a great control. 

 

Now, wait for it...  BUT...

 

After letting the refrigerator run for 24 hours  I have a couple of unhappy observations...  Of course this is from the eye of an inexperienced refrigerator person who also has a tendency to jump to some pretty wild conclusions ("Gee the Hotpoint stopped spinning, but it was a month without and 'H' in it so that must be the problem" - OK, maybe not THAT bad...)

 

After 24 hours, the freezer temperature never got below 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  It's cold enough to make ice, but not for serious food storage.   The refrigerator section seemed to get pretty darn cold - I am testing the temperature on that section this morning.   I haven't discounted that my vintage refrigerator/freezer thermometer may be, well, past it's prime also...  

 

Something else that I perceived was that the fridge seemed to be always running.  That observation was for the most part based on ducking my head into the basement stairwell - every time I did so yesterday I hear something running down there.   Further to that point, though, I did open the freezer drawer at one point and just for the heck of it, I pushed the door switch back to closed with my finger.  I noticed right away that the freezer section fan did not start up.  I decided to the let the fridge continue running and when I tried later, I was able to observe the fan running.  Just tried it a couple of minutes ago and it started up as soon as I cheated the switch.   

 

Sooo....  First thing I will do will be to try and find service literature.  Older GE manuals have some pretty good troubleshooting information and it won't hurt to have more detailed parts information.  But if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know, too!!

 

I'll wait until Hubby is back from Brazil before I say anything... He might decide to not give me my Christmas present after all now....

 

 

[ovrphil]

Hubby on Floor

I thought he was looking for dust bunnies, errant money, or verifying that it can be leveled.

You sure get some sweet looking appliances, Paul; hopefully, the problem solving road is short and not
disappointing.

Great looking unit !!! Love the style.

Phil

 

[a440]

Thanks for the explanation of the dual cooling system.  I like these GE's more and more!

Hopefully it will be an easy fix.  I wonder if the freezer thermostat is out of wack?

How cold is it in your basement?  Wonder if that has anything to do with it. 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Phil - hubby was probably looking for stray coins; he had a little conniption about how much a fridge like this is going to cost to operate... LOL

 

Brent  - I'm hoping it's just a thermostat issue, too!  GE's have a bad rep for them (at least the older cycle-defrost models did...)   The basement isn't terribly warm at the moment - the oil stove hasn't been fired up for the season yet (I've got to move a certain Filtrator dryer first, but that's a whole other issue).  The temperature down there now is in the low 60s but I don't think that's a problem.  The 62 Frigidaire parked next to the GE is cycling normally.... 

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Testing abandoned

I just pulled the plug on the GE...  The refrigerator section was reading 19 degrees Fahrenheit - something is definitely wrong somewhere.   

 

I'll be asking Santa for a service manual for this one for sure.

 

In the meantime, and in keeping with the season, I just let off a few curse bombs as Darren McGavin did in "A Christmas Story".... 

 

[ovrphil]

Curse bombs

or Chevy Chase when he found out he won a year's subscription to the Donut Club in "Christmas Vacation"

Refrigerator rescuers are close by.

 

[combo52]

Testing Abandoned

Hi Paul, Leave it plugged in and running and call me when you are with the ref, but it would best to let it run at least a week or more. Yes it very likely has a problem or two, but turning it on just on the weekends it will be even harder to get an accurate idea of what is wrong.

 

[turquoisedude]

John, I plugged it back in and I'll be here in Ogden until next Friday.  I was afraid that running it might mess up the compressor...   I'll leave it running and I'll give you a shout some time tomorrow.  Thanks!!