Today's resto project, early 60s (?) Coldspot

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carmine

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My wife has been talking about a second fridge since I guzzle liquids at an alarming rate in the summer, plus extra milk, eggs, etc. storage. Even though she covers the electric bill, I insisted on a frost-full, uh... "yes" frost? However you're supposed to say "no expensive defroster circuit".

I think this should fit the bill. Paid $60 at an estate sale and it did start getting cold when I plugged it in. I see a major cleaning out in the driveway to take advantage of today's bright sun.

Your advice and comments are welcome. The only missing part I see loks like some kind of door inside the door, next to the egg trays. Anybody have one?

It also means I really need to step on the gas as far as selling my matched '64 no-frost bottom freezer Kenmore fridge and gas stove. Can I interest anyone?

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 I agree that this box appears to be a late-ish '50s Coldspot, likely made by Seeger as opposed to Whirlpool.  It's a perfect size for a spare fridge, and I'm betting it has a true freezer that maintains zero degrees, which can come in handy when the main fridge's freezer is packed full.

 

So was GE the only manufacturer of two-door frosts-freely models to furnish a drain in the freezer section?  That is a huge defrosting convenience I don't see on other makes from this period.

 

Some car cleaner/wax and plenty of elbow grease should restore the exterior finish to a respectable level.  Fingers crossed that the freezer door gasket still makes a good seal, otherwise you could be defrosting a few times per year.
 
LUST!!!!

This is a 57 or 58, I will have to look at my catalogues, this has the rotary compressor that will run forever! Absolutely fantastic fridge!
 
I hope you let it stand for about 48 hours after moving it, and before plugging it in.

 

 <span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The reason is that the refrigerant changes state from a liquid to a gas as part of the normal refrigeration cycle. This is true of all compressor-type refrigerators and air conditioners and is the reason they can move heat from one location (the evaporator) to another (the condenser). However, liquid cannot be compressed so if some liquid refrigerant gets into the compressor the latter will be damaged. When upright the cooling system is designed to keep any liquid out of the part of the compressor that compresses gaseous refrigerant but once laid sideways all bets are off. When the unit sits upright the liquid will gradually return to where it is supposed to be.</span>
 
freezer

It says "Whirlpool Corporation", but I'm guessing it's a Seegar design. Initial cleaning shows it's going to need some actual paint work. I'm going to give it a quick job to make it presentable, and perhaps when we move it will get a full-on restoration.

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Whirlpool purchased Seeger Refrigerator Co. in 1955, about the same time as they acquired Estate Stove from RCA (giving them rights to use the RCA trademark on their products for several years). These mergers involved Sears, as they were major stockholders in Whirlpool Corp. Prior to this time Whirlpool was exclusively laundry equipment. This allowed the company to start offering refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and ranges.
 
@polkanut

I believe the tipping over part about fridges has more to do with the oil in the compressor. When tipped over on the discharge line, oil will start to creep through the condenser and cause a restriction. On some modern refrigerators, both the suction and discharge are on the same side, so you can tip it the other way no problem.

I believe that when a fridge is not running, the whole system is gas.

This is just what I was told so someone please correct me if I’m wrong
 
Laying A Refrigerator On Its Side To Move Or Repair It

Is not likley to hurt anything, and you can stand it up and plug it in IMMEDIATELY with no possible harm.

 

In a refrigerator that is not running all refrigerant is in a gaseous state, there is no reservoir of liquid refrigerant.

 

The only possible problem with moving a refrigerator on its side is IF you take a running ref and unplug it and immediately place it on its side before the high and low side pressures balance out you could force oil out of the compressor into the refrigerant tubing. To prevent this be sure before placing the ref on its side that it is defrosted [ if manual defrost ] or just allowed to come up to room temperature if it is a frost-free model [ leave doors open for an hour or so ].

 

Even if you fail to observe the above cautions you can still take the ref out of you van stand it up and plug it in right away, the worst thing that could happen is the compressor will not start and trip out on the automatic overload for a while till the oil runs back in place.

 

We have moved HUNDREDS of refs [ new and old ] on their side over the last 40+ years, only once when we failed to observe the above precaution about letting it warn up before tipping it on its side did we have a problem. When we got a used WP FF ref to the customers home and stood it up and plugged it in immediately it failed to start for about 5 minutes, after this it was fine.

 

John L.
 
As long as we are talking about a properly charged system, refrigerants used in our industry exist at a state containing liquid and gas inside the sealed system at all times. Whether it's inside a new tank, recovery tank, or refrigerating system, there is both liquid and gas present at all temperatures and pressures until a unit is dropped to a temperature below the boiling point of said refrigerant. As an example, if a person takes a tank of R134a (boiling point of roughly -14F)outside on a very cold day, and allows it to come fully down to temperature, the valve on top of the tank can be opened and nothing will escape because there isn't enough heat to boil any refrigerant off to gas.

The amount of liquid in the system does go down as the net heat gain in the system goes up, but in negligible amounts.

As far as laying over refrigerators, oil loss is a bigger deal than liquid in the compressor, but both require pretty extreme situations to cause concern. The bigger problem we've run into is having motors come off the mounts inside the compressor, especially on older units. I've got an old sealed unit sitting on my desk that I cut apart and found it had jumped off two of the mounts once I got it open.
 
well I did promise "after" pics...

Ending up needing new paint, as there was some rust under the trim. I also built a 6" platform to get it up to a more useful height. Hot-rodded the interior light with a brighter (less wattage) LED.

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LOVE

That range!! But If I could find one of those early Coldspots I would have that in my kitchen so fast it would make your head spin, in my book a better fridge than GE, Frigidaire or anyone else at the time.
 
now need help....

When I bought this, I thought it was a frost-full style. I figured the "cycle defrost" was just a gimmick to make it sound modern when it was new. Well whoa is me, it does have a defrost circuit. Ugh.

Whatever type of coil goes around the freezer door gets hot as hell. Hot enough the door seal sticks to it. And... it's loaded with frost inside. Exactly the sh*tzzle I didn't want to deal with. Damnit.

So the freezer door seal is tight as hell, but the hot edges of the compartment are wet. I'm also not pleased with the freezer Temps.

Anyone have an idea? As it stands I'm planning to just disconnect the door seal heater.

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Well, IMHO the term "Cycle Defrost" still doesn't equate with frost-free.  It sounds like a similar system to other makes from the '50s, which prevents frost from accumulating in the fresh food section, as witnessed by the tilted serpentine coil and trough with drain cup below, but the freezer still gets frosty and requires manual intervention (this is the situation with my '57 GE Combination).  I see no drain in the freezer, either.

 

I think you're on the right track by disabling the heater, which I don't think is specifically for the door seal, but it shouldn't be getting that hot regardless.  Freezer temperature may improve as a result.
 
Does it have a Summer/Winter switch?

A lot of fridges here in that era have a small toggle switch inside the cabinet to turn off the frame heater in winter went it wasnt humid and let you turn it on in summer when it was?

Is the condenser on the back or underneath? If that is integral to the cabinet that would also be generating heat around the door, particularly if its hot at the moment. Our Modern F&P fridge with the condenser integral to the cabinet, can get too hot to touch sometimes in the middle of summer when there is a lot of fresh food added to the cabinet.
 

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