Mr Draper, your General Electric Frost Guard Refrigerator is here...

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Well the tech came and went. The coils were real dirty again and the thermal cutoff was packed in dirt. The refrigerator came on and started to cool and cycled off quickly. Suggested I wait a few hours and start it up again, I may get "lucky" and the packed dirt was the culprit causing the compressor to get too hot and shut off (the thermal cutoff is good). If not, the compressor would need to be replaced and he balked immediately at the complexity of the project. So most likely I'm back to square one. 

 

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I don't want to jinx it, but so far, so good. Temperature is almost normal inside after a few hours. There is frost again on the coils. No more cycling every few minutes.

 

 

[ken]

Fingers crossed Louie. Considering the alternative you just may luck out with this.

 

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Holding steady at about 37F. Coils are defrosting normally.

 

 

[rp2813]

This is good information.  It seems that just doing the annual or semi-annual vacuuming of the condenser isn't quite enough.  Is the thermal cut-off accessible from the front with a crevice tool or plain old coil brush?  I wouldn't even know what to look for.

 

Maybe my '57 doesn't have the same type.  It's been running fine for almost 8 years with just coils being vacuumed once a year on average.

 

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Well it's safe to say the compressor was not the issue, nor the cold control or the thermal cutoff. The G.E. is working exactly as it did when I cleaned the coils last year. The only difference now was the coils AND the thermal cutoff were cleaned. Temperature wise it is still holding at about 37F. I find it amazing that just a simple cleaning did the trick. Needless to say, I am thrilled it was not compressor, not just because of the expense that was going to incur, but also by the reluctance of undertaking such a project by the "professionals".

 

I am investing in some specialty brushes and a thin wand for the vacuum cleaner to keep this from happening again.

 

[retro-man]

So did the cleaning get rid of the clunk of the compressor when it shuts off or is that still there? Interesting series of events here.

Jon

 

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It certainly did. Whisper quiet now. I suppose the loud clunk when it cycled off was the result of an overheated compressor.

 

[ovrphil]

Happy Endings! This was a good revelation for those with similar vintage refrigerators.

And the only colds you want are in the fridge, not within yourself, right?

 

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You bet Phil! Believe it or not I am still battling this pneumonia. But far better now.

 

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I give up.

 

 

It started to do the same thing. Just stopped cooling, compressor cycle very short, coils start to cool, then "THUNK", compressor stops. I am so sick of this shit.

 

[retro-man]

Refer to reply #151. Sorry about that Louis. Just do it and be done with it.

Jon

 

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I unplugged it for a few hours. It's back to working again normally. How I wish I could find a real appliance repair man.

 

[rp2813]

Louie, if you're allowing yourself to see my posts, this sounds like a cooling issue under the box as opposed to inside it.  If you've followed John's advice and removed the rollers, then maybe the condenser fan isn't running at full RPM.  I think that fan plays a role in cooling the compressor as well, so this could be the source of the trouble, particularly since weather is warming up.  I'm finding my computer's CPU fan is whirring more often lately due to warmer indoor temps.

 

I hope you can figure this out.  It's too nice of a fridge not to try and resolve this problem.

 

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Temp has been steadily dropping. It worked fine for 10 weeks. That's why I find it hard to believe the compressor is going bad.

 

[combo52]

Compressor Problems ?

Hi Louie, sorry to hear that the ref is acting up again. A test of the current draw of the compressor is in order and a test of its ability to pull at least 28-29 " of vacuum, these tests are detailed in GE refrigerator service manual.

 

In my experience I have never seen a GE combination refrigerator built from about 1956-1963 that is still operating properly on its orignal compressor, [ the one exception I know of is Paul's turquoise wall ref in Canada, however it was NIB when he installed it so hopefully it will last quite a few years yet till he has to deal with a compressor replacement ] of course many of these compressors were already replaced back in the late 60s and through the 70s, but if anyone wants to have a GE Combination ref built in this time period check if it has already had the improved compressor installed.

 

John L.

 

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Hi John, as always thanks for the advice. I'm going to have to call in a tech to perform these tests since I don't have the equipment nor the know how to perform them myself. Now the real issue is finding one that is willing to perform this AND repair the GE. I highly suspect this GE has the original compressor, if so, then it is remarkable that it has lasted so long. So far, temp is steady at 36F in the refrigerated section. It seems to "reset" itself after I unplug it for a few hours.

 

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Feeling hopeful...

 

 

New tech went bonkers over the GE, hell, he went bonkers over the Maytags, the Caloric's, the KitchenAid and the Whirlpool. Anyway, tomorrow he returns to run a full diagnostic.

 

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So it's back to square one. That damn tech never came back. I've been so busy with other issues this has been placed on the back burner. I am still putting out feelers for a knowledgeable repair tech in the New York metro area, so far, no luck. I'm reposting some images of the refrigerator since so many had been lost to that damn storage site.

 

 

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I just turned it back on, to measure the AMP draw. It should be 6.6, at the moment it's only drawing this: