PA - 1955 GE Combo Fridge - Cannot figure out how to service/turn on fridge

[marlia1]

Hi everyone! I am looking for some help in either finding someone local to the Chester County PA area that can come look at our 1955 GE combination wall fridge, or some insights on why we can’t get it running. Finding someone in the area to help would be preferential.

We’ve been looking high and low, but have been unable to find any outlet, plug, or switch that would indicate how to turn this fridge on. Currently, it seems non-operational. The fridge is room temp, has a mildew smell, makes no noise, etc so I assume it’s been off for quite some time.

The top hood we cannot completely get off, it seems stuck. From what we CAN see, we don’t see any plugs or anything up there that we could use. I fear that perhaps it’s hard wired into the wall behind it, or somewhere else not easily accessible.

Any thoughts are highly appreciated. I’ve attached some photos for reference.

 

[turbokinetic]

The electrical connection is behind the top cover. The right-side end of the top area has the condensing unit. The power cord is in there.  The fridge is open all the way through to the wall behind it at that area, with a receptacle mounted in the wall behind the fridge.

The top cover pops on and off, with some spring clips at the lower corners of the cover, and it has to slightly lift up to come off the top attachment points.  In other words, hinge it out at the bottom about 1 inch; then lift it straight up to get it off the top attachment points.

 

 

[turquoisedude]

It's possible that it has been disconnected; if the cabinet light is not working, this is most likely the case.  These were not 'hard wired'; the fridge should have a short power cord that is plugged into an outlet installed to line up with the space on the top right hand side of the fridge where the compressor is located.  This is the space covered by wire mesh.  

To access this, you will have to pull the front cover off.  It may be gunked up from years of use  and you may need to gently pry this off with a screwdriver.  There are locking pins on the lower far right and far left corners.  I'd suggest you start there.   

 

The control for turning the refrigerator on and controlling the temperature is in the 'middle' section (the right hand refrigerator compartment door) and is located above the door.  There will be a kind of box on the right hand side of this compartment;  if you reach up on the left side of this box, you will find the control knob.  

 

Here are a couple of pictures that may help you situate things (pictures are of a 1957 model which I no longer have, but the placement of the controls and wiring were the same for all years of manufacture).   I suspect yours may be a 1957 or 1958 model as those years featured a pink interior. 

 

I have an instruction sheet for the installation of one and if this would be helpful, please contact me by email and I will send them to you.   It shows the placement of the power outlet for installation.  

 

[marlia1]

Thanks both! We were JUST able to get the top hood off. I’ve attached some more inside photos. It doesn’t appear that there is an accessible plug like the diagram shows, is it possible they ran it through the left hand side area and we’d have to get in there?

Regardless, having it not as accessible like this, makes me think it IS plugged in. Parts of the fridge are hot to the touch but nothing else works. I’m wondering if something else is amiss/not working but I could be wrong!

 

[turquoisedude]

If the sides of the doors are hot, that could be the mullion heaters which keep condensation from accumulating, especially in humid weather.  The compressor and condensor do tend to get pretty hot when running - were you able to see if the cold control was set to one of the numbers and not in the 'off' position?  If not, try setting the dial to 1 or 2 to see if the fridge starts.  

 

The wall outlet might be right behind the compressor, just based on how the power cord seems to be running... 

 

[turbokinetic]

Marli; it's great that you got the cover off. It looked like the wood paneling could have been an issue the way it was closely mounted to the top of the cabinet.

 

Your fridge has a much newer aftermarket compressor and condensing unit. That is undoubtedly something which was installed when the fridge stopped working properly.  The most common issue with this model fridge is that the original filter-drier goes bad and lets a blockage develop in the small capillary tube.

 

When you say "parts of the refrigerator are hot to the touch" are you referring to the door mullion area (as Paul mentioned) or are you talking about the compressor motor?

 

Were you able to see and move the thermostat control where Paul described it? When the thermostat is turned on, the fan by the compressor should run, and the compressor should run. Can you turn the fan by hand? Or is it stiff and hard to turn?

 

Sincerely,

David