Ozone lamp and bulb

[Aaron98]

A short introduction; I recently bought a house (built in 1955) and it came with a pink 1960 Frigidaire Custom Imperial dryer (Model DCI-60)! I cleaned a ton of lint out of it, but it is up and running like a champ!

My only issue is getting the interior light bulb and Ozone lamp working. The specs on the ozone bulb that was in originally in there has worn off, so I am trying to figure out the correct combo of light and Ozone wattage. The 2 different ozone bulbs that I have bought are a: Sylvania 4W E17 S11 UVC Lamp Light Bulb (did blow the filament), and a 3W 10V UVC lamp.

Any guidance is much appreciated!
~Aaron

 

[114jwh]

Hi Aaron - I'm not familiar with Frigidaire - can you post a picture of the wiring diagram and machine? Wiring diagram is usually glued somewhere on the back of the machine. There might be someone else on the board that knows off the top of their head and can point you in the direction of options but in the absence of that, might be able to give you some help after looking at the wiring diagram.

Often, a regular 40W incandescent light bulb was used as a ballast for the ozone bulb. However, I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Frigidaire may have done it a bit differently so a wiring diagram will confirm.

 

[Aaron98]

Hi there,
Please see attached photo. It is running on 240V, not sure if that influences your answer.

Thank you!
~Aaron

 

[114jwh]

Hi Aaron,

Your wiring diagram confirms that the interior light is used as a ballast for the ozone bulb. As such, you need to make sure you are using a 40W incandescent bulb for the interior light. Usually these are available in hardware stores as "appliance bulbs" and look like a regular incandescent bulb, just smaller. Make sure it isn't an LED bulb.

The original germicidal/UV bulbs were usually General Electric - brochure linked here. However these are long long ago discontinued.

However, depending on how much physical space you have where the UV bub screws in, you might be able to substitute this modern bulb as Ben had documented in this thread here https://automaticwasher.org/threads/an-illuminating-lunch.14889/

It looks like these GTL3 bulbs are still available but just not cheap. If you just want the light to work and don't care about the germicidal function, you should be able to find a standard bulb that fits in place of the UV bulb. I believe its the same E17 base as the old larger outdoor Christmas lights.

If you are already using a 40W appliance bulb for the interior light and its blowing the bulb you previously purchased, something else may be wrong and I would double check the wiring to confirm its correct per your diagram and check the sockets.

Hope this is helpful. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Aaron98]

We are illuminated and disinfecting!

The bulb socket for the "regular" light was bad (no continuity on terminals), so I guess the 40+ watts was being directed to the ozone bulb. I had to bend open the metal box that the sockets are held in, but a bulb socket replacement for the box store fits: it's tight in the box and isn't secured like the original, but nothing I'm overly worried about.

For the next person experiencing this issue, yes both the "regular" light bulb and the ozone bulb need to be incandescent. An LED UVC bulb will get blown. I'm going to hoard a couple of boxes of incandescent bulbs, and already have 2 more of the GTL3 bulbs haha.

A glamour shot of "Thelma" and the new working interior lights. I have to put on the cover over the fan exhaust, but here she is in all her glory!

Thank you so very much!
~Aaron

 

[114jwh]

Congratulations on getting this nice dryer up and running and glad to hear you were able to figure out the problem and come up with a solution. Thanks for following up as well and letting us know how it turned out.

Enjoy!

 

[jeff_adelphi]

The UV bulb or Ozone bulb is actually an arc lamp. The filament is to preheat the mercury vapor until the arc starts. Arc lamps need a ballast to limit the current flow, some used a 40 watt light bulb others had a small magnetic ballast.