Waking up a few Antique Fridges...

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Fun stuff! It’s almost like being there (although you can never be sure if it comes across the same in a recording.)

Impressions:

The GE seems to be a mighty smooth, quiet machine.

After thinking it over, the chugging Norge reminds me of something Wile E. Coyote ordered from Acme. I seem to recall one cartoon where he made a contraption to produce ice cubes and I bet the sound effects people had a Rollator in mind. ;)

And the Frigidaire, too, has a sound of its own. Something may be loose and rattling, but if you close your eyes it sounds much like an old teletype machine.

Thanks for the virtual tour, David — Alabama Power thanks you, too!
 
Thanks!  Yes that GE is nice and quiet.  That is what GE had, in competition to the belt-drives of the time. No wonder their idea of a hermetic motor is the one which won out and we still use today! That one was found rusting in a junkyard, seized up. It was an interesting road to recovery for it.

 

The Norge does chug in an interesting manner. Its compressor runs at a fairly high speed as far as belt-drives go. As with all of them just being started, the load on the compressor was highest with the evaporator hot. That makes the single compression stroke of the Rollator seem more pronounced, because of the higher load on the unit.  When it's cooled down and cycling normally, it doesn't chug like that.

The Frigidaire is a twin cylinder pump at lower RPM.  Again, the compressor makes that "tinking" sound when it's under a high load at startup. I think it's coming from the compressor valves. The inlet valve is in the piston, and as the pistons reciprocate, the valve disc rattles up and down. When there's less load on the unit, you don't really hear that.

They all do have their own sounds.  That's what I love about working with and collecting all the different old machines like this!
 
Very, well, cool!

They each have a distinctive sound, just like cars did. I remember the GE monitor top so well, when I heard yours start, I immediately remembered the old spare fridge in my parents' basement, a monitor top that they used around holidays and parties.

That's a nice early collection that you have!
 
Isnt it amazing,,,!!

Machines that could actually be fixed and kept running!! Todays junk wont be around 20 years , much less 80 or 90!!
 
Thanks Y'all!   Yep these machines are a lot more fixable than what we have now-a-days.... not that what we have now can't be fixed it's just that you don't have a really neat project once you fix it LOL!

 

Stan, yeah that CA is the one which got woken up with 2-phase 240V power LOL!

 

 
 
Northport, Alabama?

David,

Hi, I'm Sarah in Tuscaloosa, and I would love to be in touch. It would be fantastic to have an local old appliance friend since my family rolls their eyes every time I get excited about some awesome vintage treasure.

Are refrigerators your particular thing? I'm looking for a good fit for my grandparents 1938 house down in Wilcox county--I've been particularly interested in a 1950s GE combo, but I'm open to other suggestions. I want a combo that's well insulated and can perform well in unconditioned space--preferably built like a tank and not a major energy hog..

Also, I have a friend in Eutaw who is trying to get his kitchen fridge going. His name is John, and he's mixrman here on AW. The thread on the dream kitchen is his. I'm linking his fridge thread below.

Best,
Sarah

 
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