Turquoisedude's tale of dryer redemption - the 57 Frigidaire Imperial this time!

[turquoisedude]

I would have to declare 2019 as being the year of the dryer for me. The "fun" I've had with the '59 Frigidaire Imperial, the '57 GE Clothes Conditioner, and the '56 Whirlpool Imperial has not been at all in vain. I've learned LOTS and I have developed more of a 'wait a minute don't just plug that SOB in' mentality when it comes to vintage dryers.

Case in point, the recently acquired 1957 Frigidaire Imperial dryer.

This is possibly the coolest clothes dryer ever made, so naturally I was hoping to get this one into the Ogden Laundry to use and show off to visitors.

I took a slightly cautious approach for a change... The dryer was in damn fine shape when I got it, but I still wanted to give it a good going-over. It looks like the dryer lived in a kitchen for most of its life - a good sign - however there was some accumulated grease to deal with.

 

[turquoisedude]

I dove right in and took it apart.

It was a good move... will you look at all the lint!!

 

[turquoisedude]

I had been unsure of whether or not I should remove the drum. Turns out that was the right thing to do!

 

[turquoisedude]

I scrubbed down the interior of the dryer cabinet, but neglected to take many pictures... D'OH!

I also gave the front air grilles a beauty-parlor treatment.

 

[turquoisedude]

Back in with the drum, followed by the front panels, then the top.

 

[turquoisedude]

I did make one big boo-boo.... I dropped the door while re-installing it. Yes, there was a major flurry of expletives when I did this. Sigh...

 

[turquoisedude]

Behind the scenes, the rear panel got a thorough cleaning, too.

 

[turquoisedude]

The heater from this dryer had been removed, but it was still with the dryer. It needed a bit of a cleaning too. Oh, and I managed to smash my fingers when reinstalling it - getting that heater box lined up with the centering pin can be a pain. Well, I did it!

 

[turquoisedude]

Once the heater was back in, I had some creative rewiring to do. Recalling what the heater switches looked like on the '59 Frigidaire and '56 Whirlpool, I knew I wanted to install a relay. The centrifugal heater switch on the drive motor was in solid shape so I got creative. I contrived a way to use the switch that normally controlled the heaters to instead power the relay. This gave me a measure of additional security in case of a motor failure and of course, if the belt switch was tripped neither the motor nor the relay would be powered. I guess I am trying to, as we say here in La Belle Province, "Be a better catholic than the pope". But I feel better knowing how I've got a fail-safe with this dryer.

 

[turquoisedude]

The moment of truth....

I hooked the machine up to the 240v line in the garage and.....

Success!!

 

[turquoisedude]

I ran the dryer for a good 30 minutes; I observed that the cycling thermostat cut in and out, so I think I'm just about ready for a 'maiden dry' (that sounds odd, doesn't it?)

Next step - figure how the hell I'm going to cram this into the Ogden Laundry... LOL I believe it will displace the '51 Frigidaire TR60 dryer (and I will take advantage of that 'service break' to install a relay in that dryer too).

I still need to replace the ozone bulb that I broke when dismantling the dryer (just like I did with the '51...GRRR).

And, it's a Control Tower... Coolest. Dryer. Ever.

 

[toploader55]

Oh Dear...

When we got it, it seemed clean as a whistle and barely used. The pointer was gone on the dial ??? Hmmmmmm.... I will have to look up the day we got that with the photos.

Very Strange.

 

[repairguy]

Great job! Looks awesome!

 

[frigilux]

Bravo, Paul, and congratulations!

Every year heralded a wonderful, new console design from Frigdaire from the mid-'50s through the mid-'60s--- and the '57 is quite possibly the sexiest, most radical of them all.

 

[toploader55]

This is the day we picked it up.

That was 4-5 years ago. Strange

 

[turquoisedude]

Pointer and dial present and accounted for!

Eddie, the dial pointer is still with the machine - some of the pictures I took were while I was still soaking the knobs. The good news - the chrome underneath is pristine!!

 

[gansky1]

That's a nice example of a 57,  the grease laden kitchen is usually a good preservative for chrome!

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Looks great, exactly the same as mine, except yours works!

 

[swestoyz]

Lookin' good, Paul! And the relay is a GREAT idea. Gotta save those dryer motor switch boards before they go *POOF*

Ben