Repulsion Start / Induction Run Belt Drive Frigidaire!

[turbokinetic]

Check out this beastly Thing of Beauty!

 

It's a true piece of industrial machinery given a place in the home. A friend located this 1927 to 1929 Frigidaire full size model. It is in amazing condition and I am trying to bring it back to life again. Repair process pictures attached. Due to time constraints, I'm not videoing the wrench turning on this one.

 

Video of motor. Compressor video linked at end of this one.



 

Sincerely,

David

 

 

[turbokinetic]

The cabinet....

It is more than 80 years old and looks almost new.

 

[tolivac]

Remember when Delta "Unisaw" table saws came with RI motors-was in an old school shop.Was like 2Hp.But that saw sure cut REALLY well!Ran off 120V They had another saw that ran from 3ph-direct drive 5hp.That one was like a small sawmill!Liked using both of those machines!The large one was tilting table-you turned the side handwheel to tilt the table for bevel cuts.Was awkward-but works.Shopsmiths do that to this day.

 

[turbokinetic]

Very interesting about the Delta saw with R-I motor. It's surprising to me that they used this design on a table saw. It seems odd because normally a saw is started up without any load on it. You start it and then bring wood into the blade. I wonder why they needed a motor which is known for starting very high inertia loads?

 

My dad has a Craftsman table saw which had a capacitor start motor. It's a 60's model I believe. That motor finally died because too much sawdust got built up in it. The start contacts were fouled by the sawdust and at the time, dad needed the saw up and running so we swapped in a newer (and totally enclosed) Dayton Farm Duty motor.

 

[tolivac]

I think its because the RI motor can have greater torque than single phase induction types of the same HP and do it with lower current draw.The saw could run from a 20A 120V circuit.It was old-but a very nice,well constructed tool.Would like to have it!!Worked well in that Jr hi woodshop.

 

[turbokinetic]

It's working!  Sort of.... It works but the evaporator float valve needs to be repaired.

 



 

 

 

[turbokinetic]

Got an update today!

 



 

 

 

[rp2813]

David, as usual, I'm beyond impressed with your expansive level of understanding for the process of refrigeration.

 

These videos are fascinating, educational, and entertaining!

 

Ralph

 

[toploader55]

Exactly what Ralph has said.

Your repair videos are addicting. And your work, repairs and restorations are just stellar.

Thank You for joining AW.

It is so wonderful to see these mechanical marvels of those days up and running again. I can't wait to see the water bath Coca Cola cooler finished.

Thanks again for your meticulous informative videos.

 

[turbokinetic]

Thank you guys for the positive comments!  I enjoy sharing these projects through videos and discussion.

 

One of the reasons I was initially drawn to the belt drive units was the general consensus that "none of them work, they are all a relic, good for dry storage only." You see them for sale often, sold as antiques. Most have been decommissioned and used for decorative purposes for years.

 

The first one I saw was on a field trip to Washingdon DC as a kid. It was in a museum. It was completely clean. The cord was snipped off flush with the cabinet. There was a sign on a plaque, stating that it was an "early design home refrigerator" and how "all poisonous and harmful refrigerants and oils have been removed from this system" so it is safe to have indoors in the museum. It's great to see it preserved, but it seemed lifeless.

 

Now, mine has dents and chips. It has the wear and tear of 80 years of life showing when you look closely at it. There's spilled Coke syrup in the cabinet where a drink froze and busted. There's dust on the fan and condenser because it runs every day. What you see here, is what these machines were really like. That's what I like to see.

 

Because these are a fully mechanical system, built with simpler materials and techniques available back in the day - there is no reason it can't run again. The Achilles heel of all belt drive fridges is leakage. There are so many gasketed joints, flare fittings, and other leak points. It's just very difficult to get them sealed up. They all leak to some degree around the compressor shaft, so it's important to use a refrigerant which is inexpensive and not hazardous. It will eventually require topping up.

 

 

 

[supersuds]

Have you ever come across a Norge Rollator? That’s what my grandmother bought after her town got electricity in 1929. I saw a Rollator compressor in a museum in Ottawa once, but like the Frigidaire you saw, it was just a lifeless display. I can’t imagine there are too many of them still working, if any.

 

[turbokinetic]

Norge Rollator....

I actually have two of them......

 

One of them, I'm the second owner of. It needs mechanical restoration and I haven't tried to run it.

 

The other one was a junkyard special.

 

[ultralux88]

Something so magical about those repulsion start motors! I've seen a vintage central vac with that sort of motor! I love how they sound on startup, whizzing up to speed and then the clack of the brush holders retracting.

 

[cfz2882]

rollator

I grabbed a rollator from the dump,in '82,and disassembled it-was just the skid minus the motor-IIRC it had a flat-belt pulley and there was a 3-blade fan on the pulley.Original finish of the compressor was silver with traces of red paint on the fan(I still have the fan ).Presuming these were the first eccentric roller"rotary compressor?.I have a few repulsion-induction motors in my collection:1/4HP Century,1914,3/4 GE,1914,3/4 Baldor,~1935 and a few other 1940s/50s ones.Oldest RI motor I have worked on was a Century from 1904-had to make some parts for that one-3/4 HP/1200RPM.I have seen a few antique belt drive fridges locally,but the compressor has been missing on every one of them...Love the restoration threads and keep'em coming Turbokinetic!

 

[supersuds]

Presuming these were the first eccentric roller"rotary compressor?

 

That's what I understand, Brendan, but not an expert.

 

[turbokinetic]

Yeah the Rollator was designed by a guy named Roloff and his name was used as part of the trademark. It works on the same principle of the Frigidaire Meter-Miser, and its contemporary; the Panasonic / Matsushita rotary compressor.

 

Here is a video where a guy opens a Panasonic compressor which uses exactly the same mechanism as the Norge Rollator. 

 

 

 

[norgeway]

RE THE Rollator

The Norge Rollator was a long lasting design,,,all but ONE thing, the shaft seal is on the high pressure side...so if it goes bad, bam it will blow out the entire charge very quickly, now as these used sulfur dioxide, you wuld quickly get run out of the house by the fumes,,lol, then they made the Rollator a sealed hermetic design,,,great, until 1947 when they tried to use it with Freon 12...the result was many many of them failed, nearly bankrupting Norge in 48 and 49....they fixed the problem and new management had them in number 4 position in appliance sales by 1954!! By the late 50s Norge quit building their own compressors and like Philco,Admiral etc started using generic compressors which actually were wonderful, im not sure if they used Copeland or Techumseh but whatever they never had another problem.

 

[turbokinetic]

Future Project...

Hi Hans; I hope you're feeling well these days, glad to see you posting!

 

I have a Norge Rollator project upcoming, actually. I am the proud second owner of the fridge in the pictures. I think it's all original, as well. Motor is a Norge-branded Delco.

 

Everybody has warned me about the shaft seals on these. I plan to just go ahead and replace that with a modern one and be done with it. Will use R152A and alkylbenzene oil since I have had such good success with this combination.

 

And there's more!  I have a very ghetto second Norge as well. It is a porcelain cabinet, so it's got that going for it. But it was left outside and the wood cabinet frame is bad.  It does have the earlier, stamped-steel case Rollator in it.

 

 

 

[cfz2882]

that is just like the one I got at the dump-except the one I got was on a steel frame and condenser was wider,covering the front of the compressor pulley-looks like unit in picture has just small overlap of condenser over compressor pulley.