Stop appliance genocide

[Countryford]

I had another 63 Lady Kenmore set(same as the turquoise set) but it was in that same coppertone brown. I ended up trading a guy them for a 1954 Kenmore gas dryer in white.

[Kamakiri]

And....on the other side of Kamakiri's room....

From left to right, a 1949 Westinghouse refrigerator, that I'm in the process of cleaning up. Gotta love lead based paints.....just a little steel wool followed by chrome polish, and the rust (well, most of it) comes right off

Next is a Coldspot chest freezer that I trash picked during a snowstorm about 2 years ago, and finally, the 1938 General Electric fridge, that works great but needs a new door seal.

The second picture is what the Coldspot looked like when I got it. Pretty ugly, but it sure cleaned up nice! Sanding, epoxy primer, and paint. The inside is porcelain lined and keeps things frozen easily at -10 F.

By the way, on top of the GE is my agile modulator setup

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by mstaton

If they told you the older ones use less energy, they wouldn't sell too many new ones. My sony LCD uses 300 watts of power about the same as a roundie color set. Not much savings there. The Sony is always consuming energy while plugged in and the old sets do not. People will believe almost anything they're told.

My Insignia 19" flat screen TV also uses a small amount of power (under one watt) as long as it's plugged in. That's just to keep the channel memory and other functions from disappearing every time the set is turned off; the TV uses something on the order of 25 watts in normal operation. There is no way to disable the standby function short of unplugging the set from the line when not in use, so we are pretty much stuck with TVs that use power even when turned off. The "instant on" tube type televisions of the '70s had the same problem, but the feature disappeared by the end of the decade due to concerns over fire hazards, to say nothing of increased energy use even with the set off.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Where the devil does one FIND vintage washers and dryers? With the price of scrap metal, most of them I imagine went to the recycler, as I haven't seen one for sale in like.....ever.

I would think that by the time the scrapper population exploded, most of those who were going to toss away vintage appliances had already done so, so the scrappers are less likely to get those that remain. Seems that major appliances being advertised here as being up for grabs to scrappers are never more than a few years old.

[truetone36]

I saw a 1955 Frigidaire refrigerator at my local scrapyard Friday. It was complete and probably still worked. I tried to buy it but the scrapyard doesn't sell anything once it's in the yard.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

And....on the other side of Kamakiri's room....

From left to right, a 1949 Westinghouse refrigerator, that I'm in the process of cleaning up. Gotta love lead based paints.....just a little steel wool followed by chrome polish, and the rust (well, most of it) comes right off

Next is a Coldspot chest freezer that I trash picked during a snowstorm about 2 years ago, and finally, the 1938 General Electric fridge, that works great but needs a new door seal.

The second picture is what the Coldspot looked like when I got it. Pretty ugly, but it sure cleaned up nice! Sanding, epoxy primer, and paint. The inside is porcelain lined and keeps things frozen easily at -10 F.

By the way, on top of the GE is my agile modulator setup

And to think all the fine equipment in your photo there uses the same energy that one (1) mid-80s refrigerator!!!! That Westy is a real miser as my 1947 unit is.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by truetone36

I saw a 1955 Frigidaire refrigerator at my local scrapyard Friday. It was complete and probably still worked. I tried to buy it but the scrapyard doesn't sell anything once it's in the yard.

Doesn't that make you totally sick? These scrap yard guys cannot be bought OR taught either
That old Frigidaire probably still had water dripping out of it - meaning: It was making cold before being junked.

[truetone36]

It did make me sick. It looked like it had only recently been taken out of the house. But I did have some good luck, I found a mid 50's Frigidaire that's been in a shed for the past 30 or so years. It's on a friend's place and was working when stored, probably still does. It's a TOTL fridge, too. I'm negotiating a deal for it and I'll most likely get it soon.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

And to think all the fine equipment in your photo there uses the same energy that one (1) mid-80s refrigerator!!!! That Westy is a real miser as my 1947 unit is.

Does yours have crisper drawers? I'm missing the bottom shelf in mine, and I can't seem to find a pic of what the rest of the inside *should* look like. Since I can't seem to find a shelf on ebay, I might have to make one.

Here's the inside of mine, before I started the rust cleaning

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

Doesn't that make you totally sick? These scrap yard guys cannot be bought OR taught either
That old Frigidaire probably still had water dripping out of it - meaning: It was making cold before being junked.

Frigidaire refrigerators of that era were notorious Freon leakers. My brother's Frigidaire, bought new in 1963, developed a leak after about eight years.
It froze the milk and other items in the bottom, while the freezer wouldn't get cold enough. A common indication of low charge.

[philcophan]

Sadly, the scrap yards won't relinquish stuff that they have unless you have an 'in' with them... I think it's part of the government crackdown on old appliances... read also global warming... biggest bunch of money-making nonsense out there, designed to part you from your money. ..
Here in my town, it is now illegal to pick up appliances at the curb since the city now sells the scrap and tells us how much they are saving us from rising garbage rates... YET, every year rates rise and they send out a notice of what you cannot put out... yes sports fans... higher cost, less service... seems to be an American institution of late....
IMHO, but what do I know???... I'm just a dumb mechanic.... FWIW....

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by philcophan

Sadly, the scrap yards won't relinquish stuff that they have unless you have an 'in' with them... I think it's part of the government crackdown on old appliances... read also global warming... biggest bunch of money-making nonsense out there, designed to part you from your money. ..
Here in my town, it is now illegal to pick up appliances at the curb since the city now sells the scrap and tells us how much they are saving us from rising garbage rates... YET, every year rates rise and they send out a notice of what you cannot put out... yes sports fans... higher cost, less service... seems to be an American institution of late....
IMHO, but what do I know???... I'm just a dumb mechanic.... FWIW....

Not only that, I believe scrap yards are paid by the ton. Illegal to pick up curbed appliances? That's pathetic. If things were that way here, well, call me a criminal. What about all the greenhouse gases produced making all these crappy new appliances? It's more than what would be produced keeping the old ones going. Higher cost, less service is not merely a hallmark of the American government, we have plenty of it too.

Being a mechanic makes no difference as to whether someone is intelligent or not; hell, I work in a store. There are plenty out there with a lot of education but zero sense.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Does yours have crisper drawers? I'm missing the bottom shelf in mine, and I can't seem to find a pic of what the rest of the inside *should* look like. Since I can't seem to find a shelf on ebay, I might have to make one.

Here's the inside of mine, before I started the rust cleaning

My Westy is a entry-level model and has no drawer at all, just the little icebox in the right center like yours. My 1951 Kelvinator TM-R does have a place for the full-width crisper drawer, which is missing

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

Not only that, I believe scrap yards are paid by the ton. Illegal to pick up curbed appliances? That's pathetic. If things were that way here, well, call me a criminal. What about all the greenhouse gases produced making all these crappy new appliances? It's more than what would be produced keeping the old ones going. Higher cost, less service is not merely a hallmark of the American government, we have plenty of it too.

Being a mechanic makes no difference as to whether someone is intelligent or not; hell, I work in a store. There are plenty out there with a lot of education but zero sense.

I haven't seen old TVs or appliances on curbs here in my small town for some time (I've lived here since November 1999). The last old (?) television I saw was a flat-panel Westinghouse by the trash barrels in back of my apartment this past summer. Just as well, I guess, since I don't have room for old things here.

This is also the first I've heard of any community in this country now declaring it illegal for anyone to pick up old appliances, electronics, etc. from curbs. My town doesn't have a law like that yet, that I am aware of anyway. Those areas that do have such ordinances must have found out how much money they can get from scrap metal, copper, etc., and obviously don't know or care that these appliances can, in many cases, be repaired and used again for a few more years. Another example of the power of the almighty dollar. Tsk, tsk.

[egrand]

Kamakiri

Here's a couple of magazine ads for Westy fridges in '49. One is for the TOTL model, and the other must be mid-line. Looks like the drawer fronts are different, but I bet they were same size, shape, etc. Maybe this helps.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dE4...erator&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=Vk4...erator&f=false