My first freezer

[austinado16]

My dad sent me 20lbs of Silver (Coho) Salmon from Alaska this week. The freezer in the '52 Philco is pretty full so I had to ask a buddy for space in one of his big upright freezers.

Decided to jump on CL and sure enough, for $45 dragged home a 2 door GE "under cabinet" freezer. I'm guessing it's from the 60's, but I know nothing about freezers. Super nice build quality with 2 removeable porcelain enamel coated steel drawers located behind the big front door that pulls out like a filing cabinet. The compressor is very quite and even has a big cooling fan blowing air over it. Must weigh 130lbs.

Seems like a nice unit, makes instant cold, and the door gasket is like new.

Anyone know anything about these?

[this post was last edited: 12/23/2010-23:59]

 

[retropia]

Todd, how about posting a photo of your new freezer when you get a chance? I can't quite picture in my mind what an "under cabinet" freezer looks like. It sounds interesting.

 

[austinado16]

Your wish is my command....

Updated the first message just now. Sorry for the poor quality and small size. They're harvested from the CL ad.

 

[a440]

Todd,
Never seen one of your GE Freezers before!
It is so interesting!
I hope someone here has some information on these.
Great dad you have!
Brent

 

[austinado16]

There's another one for sale locally on CL too. It has 1 lower drawer, and then a top that lifts like a normal chest freezer.

http://slo.craigslist.org/app/2119298918.html

 

[circlew]

I believe these were featured in some of the ads for the wall-mounted refrigerator units, so I'd say starting mid-50's. Will have to check later.

 

[coldspot]

I seen one before not sure who made it. I know they still make them. The one I seen was in a small house with under counter frige next to it. Ask about it and made since. more room to store food less space then all frige and all freezer. they also had under counter oven and cook top unit.

So using this set up can give you a longer work bench. And you could add as many of them as you need.

Today people are starting to use them aging. A few new homes around here went for this type of unit. But most have a swing door, Orice of a new unit is not cheap I seen them as low as 899.00 and as hight as 2,000.00. A little to much for my price range, But I do like them since they do not stand out like a full size unit.

 

[austinado16]

Thanks Tom

Looking forward to hearing what you find out.

It's interesting in that both drawers can be removed, and then the entire front door pulls the rest of the way out and comes off. Inside the cabinet there's a big cold plate up top, and then one diagonally from the bottom, up the back (over the compressor hump).

The lower grill comes off with 2 thumb screws and there's a plastic drain pan.

I think it used to be all pink, but I'm not sure. The I.D. tag on the inside is pink, but as you can see, there's some Harvest Gold paint work, and then the door and upper front panel have been "professionally" painted white.....but actually, right now I can't tell which color is original. It was getting dark when I got home so I didn't have much time to check it out after unloading it.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get it set up an loaded with fish.

 

[retropia]

Interesting! I never knew they made such things. It looks like it might have a finished cabinet on all sides, so you could use it as a stand-alone. Or, it is low enough that it could slide underneath a counter, to give the look of being a built-in.

 

[combo52]

GE UNDER COUNTER FREZZER

These were made from about 1955-1960 they went with the all steel GE built in kitchens. They were offered in these kitchens with the wall refrigerators because they had such a small freezer in the wall unit. It is neat that you found one in such good condition that actually works. GE had big problems with compressors that would lose capacity till about 1964, though there is a good chance that it has already been replaced. The whole thing comes apart easily to make defrosting easier, otherwise it should work very well. It will use a lot of electricity considering the fairly amount of space it provides. But in any event I am impressed and would love to have one in our collection.

 

[austinado16]

Yes Doug, finished cabinet all the way around. There's an ad for a similar one on ebay right now, and it has a refrigerator on top of it, sort of like a stacked washer/dryer set.

I'm going to get it loaded and fired up today, so it'll be interesting to see how much it runs and what it does to the electric bill. One thing I've noticed about most of these old appliances is that they wind up being really efficient because of how well they're built. Our '52 Philco for example, hardly ever runs. I guess due to how thick the cabinet is, and how well it's insulated.

Thanks for the info John, I'll report back with better photos and a comment on performance.

 

[austinado16]

Larger photos below....

Runs great and makes instant cold.
Update: It ran for about 30min and was already cold enough inside to completely shut off.....sweet! Either that, or it grenaded...hehehee.

[this post was last edited: 12/24/2010-16:47]

 

[sudsmaster]

That is a nice looking under counter freezer. It could be perfect for an efficiency apartment/kitchen.

Watt meters are relatively inexpensive these days, and after a week or so the meter could show you how much energy, on average, the little freezer is consuming. I think I've seen them on sale for as little as $20 at the home improvement stores.

Chest freezer of course are generally the most efficient freezers. That's because not only are they well insulated, but also because every time they are accessed, far less cold air leaks out and far less warm air leaks in. A freezer with a regular vertical door will lose a lot of cold air and have to cool down the warm room air that replaces it.

The 15 cu ft Kenmore chest freezer on my enclosed patio is rated at something like 350 KWh/yr. That's about the same as most efficient fridges around that capacity. It may use less in the winter months because the patio is unheated. But of course in the summer it has to work harder, so it probably all evens out, eventually. Between freezing garden produce, turkeys on special at Thanksgiving, and things like frozen entrees and pizzas, it gets a lot of use. Don't think I would like to live without it now.

 

[a440]

Todd,
It is an awesome looking freezer! So Smart!
Do you have a place where you will place it in your home?
It looks to be in mint shape.
Glad to hear that it is running so well.
Brent

 

[austinado16]

GE Chest Freezer

Would have loved one, and there's one from the 50's on CL right now just north of here for $125 OBO. Definately the better design for being efficient. Still toying with the idea.

The bad news is that there is absolutely zero room in my home for one, no matter which model I get. The last remaining space in my kitchen has been given to a 70 gallon vintage Metaframe aquarium and our 3 huge gold fish. That little manuever cost me my coveted early 50's Whirlpool Mangle Ironer that was in near showroom condition....and I'm still not over having to sell it. Love the cool polished stainless aquarium and all it's period accessories, don't get me wrong, but losing my "mangle" hurt.

So, whatever freezer I get has to go outside and I'm going to have to fab up a little "dog house" type cover for it. Not cool......so to speak. In fact, today's little installation adventure included removing my single gang 220v outlet that runs my air compressor, cutting in a double gang box, and jumping one of the 110v leads from the 220v circuit to give the fridge it's own 110v plug-in....and then installing a weather proof cover over the new double outlet.

I've checked on the freezer a couple times today and there it sits....silent. Stuck my hand on the upper freezer plate and it's so cold my hand stuck to it. So, it's alive!!

 

[sudsmaster]

Hmm. It almost looks like three huge goldfish fillets in the bottom drawer of that little GE freezer...

 

[austinado16]

Mmm....wonder how that could have happened?

Smile!
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