Refrigerator Moving Advice Please

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melissa

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I finally bought a *working* vintage fridge! Now I have to get the fridge home without breaking it. Any suggestions would be very helpful. It's currently plugged in w/ a little frost in the freezer about 30 miles from my house.

When I purchased my last beau-tee-ful fridge (a broken one), some of you said when you move or unplug these fridges they often break. I think I read the compressor often gets a small expensive leak.

I obviously have to unplug it to move it? Do I defrost it first? Do I need to wait a certain amount of time before moving it? Once I get it home, can I plug it in right away?

I'm so excited!

melissa++4-21-2012-23-59-42.jpg
 
With any fridge, take care.

You may have to lie the unit down - otherwise you may not be able to get it into your trailer or truck without a lot of hands.

If you are gentle, leaks are practically impossible. You might want to carefully rope the doors shut, and gently squeeze in some pillows around the compressor to ensure nothing gets knocked.

Whatever you do DO NOT plug it in straight away when you get home, especially if it was laying down since the oil in the compressor needs time to come back to the system. Leave it overnight (in my opinion) and give it a nice clean, then run it for around 5 - 10 mins the next day. Shut it off and leave it for another hour. This will help get the oil back to the compressor.

After that, fire it up on its coldest setting for around 24 hours to check reliable operation, then return to a mid-way setting. If looking for leaks, look for fresh oily stains on coils etc.

Note: You can leave the unit for as a little as 3 hours, but I would personally leave it longer, as the old and frail need pampering and softhandedness to be able to survive the move!

Good luck and Congratulations!
 
Washer111 is right...

Whenever you move anything which has freon in it, always let it sit in its final resting place for at least 24 hours to let everything settle down before plugging it in. That will preserve the compressor.

Also remember that those condensing coils on the rear can be delicate. Be careful around doorways, make sure the coils won't snag on anything.

Good luck and congratulations. :)
 
Oh, after reading another aspect of your post, I don't think you have to worry about defrosting it, but what I would do is shove a towel in the freezer compartment to soak up any water from the melting ice during the move.

Once you get it home I'd remove the towels and leave the door open to let it air out for 24 hours. Then, before plugging it in, I'd wipe up any excess water which would be inside.
 
Congratulations!

The advise given above pretty much covers everything. Fortunately, this model does not have the delicate coils exposed on the back so it is easy to move without damage. The compressor is at the back more towards the right side so keep that in mind when using a dolly to move the fridge. You might want to make sure the drip tray is empty before tipping the fridge. It is located at the front left under the fridge compartment - swing out the kick panel under the door for access.
 
Agreed.  It's always best to keep the fridge upright.  If you're trying to lessen the odds of anything bad happening, I suggest transporting it upright.
 
Those who posted after me are correct. Laying down isn't the best option you could have. However, it means you'll need for than 3 hands (experience from trying to move a 64 Freezer, but 3 people weren't enough [and it was too rusty] so we just bought a little POS unit that still runs today).

Here is the thing - with any refrigerator, you should make sure you leave it for a decent amount of time before connection to electricity. It doesn't apply to old units only, all fridges should have this settling time, as our removalist was so wrong about ("Its just an old house wive's myth, and doesn't even apply to new models") Thankfully, the fridge didn't die after that, otherwise those removalists would have been in big trouble!
 
Is this a frost free model that whose advertisement was on YouTube? The ad started with "Joan will be back in a minute."

If so, maybe a video would be the general order of the day... I'd like to see how these things used to defrost!

 
That's a beautiful old GE fridge with separate freezer. It's definitely worth saving.

And it's not frost free. Manual defrost only.

Personally I'd defrost it before moving, esp if it's going to be laid down. You don't need water flowing into the insulation in the back.
 
Surprising that it's not frost-free - since it looks so much like that one from the vintage commercial!

I guess frost free didn't really penetrate until during the late 70s and early 80s.
 
"Joan?" as in I MARRIED JOAN?

I remember that show & how big it was on GE appliances--at least that fridge & a chest freezer appearing in one episode, too!

Yes, take all precautions & advice on moving that nice fridge, Melissa... We want it to work today as beautifully as it did, then...

-- Dave
 
The refrigerators were often advertised as "automatic defrost" because the refrigerator section does not need defrosting.  The freezer still needs defrosting however unlike a "frost free" refrigerator.  The idea is that with 2 doors you don't add moisture to frost up the freezer every time you get a beer like you do with a 1 door refrigerator.

 

These are great refrigerators, and quite energy efficient.  On mine the wiring was all dried out from age and it took some work to replace it.  Aside from that, as far as I can tell, it's never been repaired.

 

Ken D.
 
thanks!

Based on your advice, I'll unplug her & let her defrost overnight. In the morning I'll empty the drip pan, put a towel in the freezer, then rope the doors shut. I'll move her upright to the truck - doing my best not to damage the condenser coils (which are under the fridge in this model). Once she is in the truck I'll try to shove a pillow around the compressor.

Once she arrives at her new home I'll remove the towels, clean her, then leave it open and unplugged for 24 hours. Then I'll wipe down any water that's built up, plug it in & let her run for 5-10 min. Then I'll unplug it again and leave it for another hour. After that I'll turn it to it's coldest setting and plug her in for 24 hours. Finally I'll return to her midway setting ... and keep my fingers crossed the entire time!

I love the link with the vintage ad. It is a beautiful fridge and I am very excited to get her home. I've been searching for her for ages.

If there are any further warnings with moving it, please let me know.
 
I don't think you need to turn it up to the coldest setting.  Most if not all manufacturers advise against doing so. The suggested setting for normal operation somewhere in the mid range should be fine.  When she stops running check the temperature.  Yours may have a separate freezer cold control behind the kick panel.  If it doesn't, then adjust for optimum temperature in the fresh food section and the freezer will be plenty cold.

 

I place a glass of water in the fresh food section to keep tabs on the temperature at first.  It may take a day or two for the water to cool down and for things to stabilize, so don't mess with the cold control right away.  If you have a separate control for the freezer, stick a thermometer into a carton of ice cream to check freezer temperature, again waiting a day or two for things to stabilize before making any further adjustments.  Ideally, the freezer temp should be at zero, and fridge section no colder than 37.  I have found that on my '57 Combination, items on the top shelf near the cooling coil can be colder than those on the bottom shelf, even though that goes against everything you've ever heard about cold air sinking.
 
washer111

Most two door and some single door refrigerators in the 1950's were "automatic defrost" models which means that their refrigerator section defrosted automatically. Automatic defrosting of refrigerators is quite simple as the evaoporator coils from the refrigerator section are located in a non-freezing section and the ice that forms on them melts when the compressor stops. Melissa's refrigerator is certainly one of these automatic defrosting models...

Frost-Free refrigerators/freezers were available in the 1950s. Some brands like Servel and Westinghouse had them before the mid 1950's (and some were single door models). They were more complicated since they required either reversible "hot gas defrost" refrigerating systems or heating elements around the evaporator and a timer or a similar device to regulate it's operation...

I don't know exactly when GE introduced their first "Frost-Guard" models but I think it was in the late 1950's. Manual defrost and automatic defrost (refrigerator section only) models are still produced today but their popularity decreased quickly in the 1960's in favor of frost-free models (at least in North America)...

I currently have 5 refrigerators which are from the early-to-mid 1960's (from 1961 to 1965) and they are all frost-free in both the refrigerator and freezer sections. Frigidaire called it's frost free models "Frost-Proof".

Here's a picture of my 1961 Frigidaire:

philr++4-24-2012-05-20-45.jpg
 
@rp2183

I think you might have misunderstood me:
I meant just running at max for around 24 hours to bring the temp down cold, and leave it there for some time, so Melissa has a good idea of the unit's performance as well as so the unit can chill inside, as well as get the cabinet itself stable, so when the food is placed inside, it doesn't overload the thing.

Like I said, just run at max for 24 hours so you can gauge the performance, then after about that time (even just 12 hours) you can bring it back to mid and experiment on it from there.

The thing with these system is that the refrigerator doesn't cool until the freezer starts getting to around 50 and below (since the freezer has cooling first, and the pipes carry onto the fridge section), so running at max will mean the freezer is really cold, and can support the refrigerator's needs (I've seen systems like this run at -22F/-30C when the freezer is EMPTY! So the refrigerator coils are COLD really quickly and unit might not run as much) once you load it up considerably. Running it cold also means the chilling is highly effective in the fridge initially to take out moisture etc.

If it is the style of "Auto-Defrost" that the above posters mention, then it is a "Cyclic Defrost" and the fridge section coils may get really icy, then defrost. This system may use a small heater during the off stage, or the thermostat just waits until the coil is around 8C/47F, so temperature fluctuations might be an issue. Our cyclic defrost 2nd fridge is similar to this in that fashion

Anyway, good luck with it all, and report back on your findings of performance on that model!

Wishing you well,

Washer111
 

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