Repair Advice: 1964 Frigidaire Imperial

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Have a look at this video to see the internals of a rotary Frigidaire compressor. This is a smaller one that was made in England Frigidaire used to have manufacturing plants all over the world, it was certainly the most internationally known of GM divisions.

 
Refrigerator Possible Problems

Please Let Me Know If This Is The Problem Unit Runs Excessively;

Problem- AIR FLOW AROUND CONDENSER RESTRICTED;
REMEDY- ADEQUATE AIR FLOW OVER CONDENSER IS NECESSARY. ADVISE USER WHERE CABINET IS BUILT IN WITHOUT PROPER CIRCULATION OF AIR.

PROBLEM- POOR DOOR SEAL
REMEDY - LEVEL CABINET BEFORE MAKING ANY ADJUSTMENTS. CHECK FOR INTERFERENCE FROM PACKAGES OR FOOT PEDAL.

REMEDY- PLACING SUDDEN FULL LOAD ON UNIT SUCH AS ALL FRESH WATER IN ICE CUBE TRAYS OR HEAVY LOADING AFTER SHOPPING
PROBLEM- EXPLAIN TO CUSTOMERS THAT THIS HEAVY LOADING WILL CAUSE LONG RUNNING TIME UNTIL TEMPERATURES ARE MAINTAINED. THIS RUNNING PERIOD MAY BE SEVERAL HOURS AFTER HEAVY LOADING OF THE CABINET. REFER TO USE AND CARE, INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING RUNNING TIME.

PROBLEM- FAULTY THERMOSTAT
REMEDY- IF FREEZER PACKAGE THERMOSTAT IS BETWEEN 0 Degrees And 6 F Degrees., THE THERMOSTAT IS NOT AT FAULT.

PROBLEM- FREEZER DRAIN TRAP NOT IN PLACE
REMEDY- THIS WILL ALLOW WILL ALLOW WARM AIR TO TRAVEL TO THE FREEZER. INSTALL TRAP.

PROBLEM- REFRIGERANT CHARGE
REMEDY- TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE GAS. DISCHARGE, EVACUATE AND RECHARGE WITH PROPER CHARGE.

PROBLEM- RESTRICTION OR MOISTURE
REMEDY- REPLACE COMPONENT WHERE RESTRICTION IS LOCATED. IF MOISTURE IS SUSPECTED, REPLACE DRIER-FILTER.

PROBLEM- NORMAL OPERATION
REMEDY- ON FROST PROOF MODELS IF FREEZER PACKAGE TEMPATURES ARE BELOW 0 Degrees TURN COLD CONTROL WARMER.

If You Have Any Questions You May Email Me @ [email protected] Or Also May Call Me @ 724-506-0344 I Have lots Of Frigidaire Refrigerator Parts Or Am Able To Get Them For Most Frigidaire Refrigerators .
 
Vintage Frigidaire

I recently bought a Frigidaire all refrigerator from the 70's and when it came home it wouldn't run. Thankfully we have an older repair guy who happens to like and use Frigidaire. He put in a new cold control and we've off to the races every since.
 
LOL.."grounding out 12 volts"sounds like someone measured the volts to ground with
a digital voltmeter-those will always show voltage to ground due to the capacitance
of the motor's winding and the other wiring in the fridge.
I have had only one fridge with a bad compressor;an absocold mini fridge(a fairly
big "mini")- i bought it for $10,tried it and finding it worked put it away until
i was ready to put it into service as a garage fridge;decided to give it a better
test before setting it up-plugged it in,it started cooling,let it run overnight
and found it warm inside with a very hot compressor the next morning...-really
hoped it only had a bad start relay(it actually had a PTC positor starter)turns out
it has a shorted motor winding...Fridge is a very handy size and made in 1980,semi-
vintage-if i had the right tools to recharge the coolant,i'd be really tempted to
pull the compressor,cut the weld,remove and rewind the motor stator,reassemble and
recharge.Of course this operation would technically be nowhere near"worth it" for
a 31 yr old small fridge,but would be one cool "stunt" to pull off LOL.
I rewind motors so the stator rewind part would be easy.
 
The fridge is on the back burner

as I've been pushing to get my '65 Continental on the road before I resume classes next week. For now I'll just continue to keep it clean and safe; my spending money has been consumed by the car. Thank you all for the wonderful advice.
 
I love the wiper system on the 60's Lincolns -- when it's properly adjusted at the pump. 

 

I'm curious about what's required to make your car roadworthy.  These cars were built for the ages with systems that held up well, but I'm speaking from a California perspective.
 
I had the saftey clearance done tonight, and the insurance a

If all goes well, I'll be driving my Lincoln for the first time ever tomorrow night. Its been nine years of preservation, blood, sweat, tears, and restoration. I'm so thrilled and excited!
 
LATE 1950s-1960s FROST-PROOF FRIGIDAERS

Are beautiful and were once great refs, but they have not always aged well. If you have one that is working properly congratulations. After working on a couple dozen of these over the last 10 years or so I have found them to often have serious problems with maintaining proper temperatures, and these were the ones that appeared to work!. 65contential welcome to the world of free internet advice.

 

Cuffmeister has no idea what is wrong with your ref as he has no idea how it even works. Asking whether it is hot gas defrost or electric defrost. Frigidare never made hot gas defrost refs and if the compressor and inside fans are running it does not have a defrost timer problem, enough said.

 

Kenny my opinions may be just that to you but they do come from a lot of experience and it doesn't matter that your dad worked for Frigidare. I am talking about the here and know. These were once great working refs and nothing lasts forever. 

 

65 continental I am afared that the repairman that looked at your ref is probably correct that the ref has a serious problem. He may not have put it very nicely but is is the only experienced repairman that has looked at it including me. I would consider a 2nd opinion before giving up on it but that is up to you Good Luck, let us know what happens.
 
'65 Continental,

 

 

If you want to do something by yourself before calling another tech (if the previous tech hasn't already done it), you can remove the freezer baskets (easy to do, you just need to roll them out and lift them up (you'll see there's a place where the rollers can go out of the tracks, one at a time).  Then, you can remove the bottom tray and air duct to see the evaporator and condenser fan.

 

I have seen some that had melted during the defrost cycle, resulting in a melted fan (and plastic ducts).  If you plug it once you see the evap, you at least could see what happens there when it runs! A Frigidaire serviceman once told me that the '63-'64 models were good ones. He didn't like the earlier ones with two blowers and a cold plate in the refrigerator section but there are still some working (and I plan getting a '62 soon!).

 

Unfortunately, what John told you is probably right but I still wouldn't give up too quickly if I were you. If you have space to keep it in a non-working condition until you find someone and the required parts to repair it, and if spending a few hundred bucks on it isn't an issue, you might get it going again! But first you have to find a tech that knows these! I like having things that are unique or unusual! I like old cars too and I like when they are unusual even if that means they are harder to repair or keep going! I take pride in having things that very few others have!

Some old car fans like updating their rides with easy to mod and easy to repair Chevy engines (including a few friends of mine who have hotrods). I don't! 

 

Have you looked for traces of oil/refrigerant leaks at the compressor connections and service port?

 

Finally, there's probably at least another "member" on this board with a working '64 Frigidaire. It's a 14 cu-ft Deluxe with bottom freezer but it's very similar to ours. I don't know if he still has it but I'd like to hear from him about it!

 

see:

 

 
LATE 1950s-1960s FROST-PROOF FRIGIDAERS

The 1964 and later single evaporator refs are a little less troublesome in regards to temperature balance between the ref and freezer sections. But I still see lots of sealed system problems and defrost problems as these age. It seems that any FF ref with a flat evaporator has more problems in the long run with defrost issues. 

 

Phil R I am sure you meant to say when you suggested that 65 continental to remove the freezer floor to look at the evaporator fan and motor only, as the condenser fan motor [ if this model even has one ] is not accessible from inside the freezer. Also since you pictured it Robert's beautiful Frigidare ref is one of the many that I know of that is running all the time and is not functioning completely properly. I know of three other real appliance techs that have all struggled with and given up on thier 1960s bottom freezer Frigidares.

 

Phil R I do agree with you in that I do like to keep things as original as possible, and in fact it is hard to put newer compressors in these older Frigidares as they use a high side rotary compressor, where everything today uses a low side piston compressor. 
 
John,

My'63 Frigidaire is also a single evaporator refrigerator and it works great. The compressor cycles normally and it can get the freezer temp much below 0°F quickly.

 

As you're saying these do not have condenser fan motors. I meant evaporator fan motor, I guess was a bit tired when I wrote that!

Those that have two fans are the pre-1963 models with cold plates in the refrigerator section (and they still have no condenser fan!).
 
Temperature control on Frigidaire Imperial 19

I have a 1964 Frigidaire Imperial 19. My challenge is that the freezer isn't freezing but there is ice down the back of it and ice on the fan. I'm thinking I have the temperature setting wrong but have no idea what the letters and numbers mean! The options are A B C 1 2 3. Can anyone tell me which is coolest and how best to have it set? Does anyone have an owners manual for this fridge?

jstone-2020122119360904891_1.jpg
 
Correct Temperature Setting For A 1964 FD

Hi Jane, #1 or 2 is normal, but there's no wrong setting and if your ref and freezer is not cooling properly there is something wrong with it other than what ever setting you have it on.

 

If you give a good description of temperatures in each section and pictures of any ice accumulation etc we may be able to point you in the right direction to getting it working again.

 

John L.
 

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