No love for vintage appliances on Valentine’s Day

[thatwasherguy]

Hi everyone! Hope you are all well. At work yesterday, a scrap truck came by to pick up some junk and drop off a washer (I think you already know where this is going, so I’ll cut to the chase). The guy was fixing to junk a 1998 WCI Frigidaire 5000 BTU window A/C and turquoise 1960’s Singer sewing machine on Valentine’s Day! I couldn’t let that happen, so I offered him $30 for both machines, and the rest is history. The sewing machine (I think) just needs lubrication, so that will be a very simple fix. I’ve got a friend who was looking for a working vintage sewing machine, so I’ll give that to him. The A/C, on the other hand will be a little more entailed. It was not taken care of well at all, and is very rusty internally. Despite this, it still has a full charge of HCFC-22 (and it gets COLD!!). All I could find wrong with it was a mouse nest in the blower, stopping it from turning. I’m planning to remove the ac from the pan, and POR-15 any corrosion, especially what’s on the sealed system (I don’t want to lose any precious Chlorodifluoromethane). It’ll never look the best, as the grille is busted, and the knobs are gone. My aunt said that she was interested in potentially using it to cool her garage, so I’m hoping that will work out, and I can indefinitely loan it to her. If not, then I’ll have to get rid of some machines to make room for it at my house. I’ve waited too long for a working R22 system for my collection to sell this one.
Thatwasherguy.

 

[neptunebob]

Just Krazy glue the broken grille, maybe spray paint it white, and you probably have a collection of knobs from other old appliances you can use.

 

[bpetersxx]

looks really nice and functional

 

[thatwasherguy]

Thanks guys!

Neptunebob...
That’s a great idea for the grille! However, pretty much the entire bottom of the grille is broken off (it’s difficult to see in the pictures), and the piece was nowhere to be seen, so I can’t glue that back, unfortunately. However, I can certainly use that to deal with a couple of pretty bad cracks elsewhere on the grille. I do actually have some knobs from some other machines that I’ll have to try. Surely I can find something that’ll fit it (nothing annoys me more than turning a switch with a pair of pliers).

Bpetersxx...
Thanks! It doesn’t look as good in person (the blurry picture hides a lot of the imperfections). Stylistically, I am quite fond of it. I’ve always thought that the egg crate vents on these were quite nice looking, which is part of why I picked it up. It certainly does work well. I’d actually forgotten just how much colder R22 units got compared to today’s systems, until I tried this one out. According to my thermometer, it was producing roughly 25 degrees of delta compared to the ambient temperature of the room. Considering that 20 degrees of delta is generally regarded as an A/C system operating at peak performance, 25 degrees with unimpeded airflow is fantastic. It doesn’t draw that much current, either, only pulling around 420 watts, according to my load analyzer. That said, I imagine that this number will increase somewhat in warmer weather, due to higher head pressure causing an increased compressor load. It’s rated for 600 something watts, but I expect that they were a bit generous in that rating.

Thatwasherguy.