Stop appliance genocide

[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.

[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

[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 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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by 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

I think mine was used primarily as a beer fridge, so it probably parted company with the drawers long ago.

I'll keep cruising eBay just in case, but I'm not really optimistic....

[Electronic M]

I've seen (and had chance to purchase) over a dozen vintage appliances in the last few years. I don't buy them though as I don't cook or do laundry and my folks don't want vintage appliances on the ground level of the house. There is no chance in heck I'm going to buy something that big and heavy that I'll barely use if at all and have to haul up or down stairs.

Though I could see having a GE monitor top in the basement as a drink cooler...

[Jon A.]

There is, or at least was a crappy modern dishwasher curbed across the street from me when I came home tonight. I went back outside immediately with tools to beat the scrappers to the motor. I probably got most of its metal by taking that one part.

[holmesuser01]

About 5 years ago, I aquired a one-owner Whirlpool washer and dryer pair that is avocado, and was built in 1970. They are a matching set.

On the washer, I replaced the pump, inlet water valve, the motor belt, the tub snubber, and the fluorescent light in the cover.

On the dryer, I replaced the drum rollers, the belt, and the tensioner, along with the fluorescent lamp in the cover.

Absolutely no problems in over 5 years now.

One thing: There is no lid lock. I have to force myself NOT to open it and cram my head down into the spinning tub. I don't know HOW we managed to survive before lid locks.

The machine also has a mercury switch that will make the tub stop spinning, but not before I can cram my head into it. Imagine a modern machine with a working lid switch in 40+ years. I used to work on modern laundry appliances. All junk.

Oh yes, I bought a new WIG-WAG for the washer at the time, but did not install it. The OEM one cleaned up really nicely, so I have at least one spare part.

[tvtimeisfun]

Reallllyyyy nice appliances wish I was that lucky keep the oldies running I use to have a washer like yours the best of luck to you...Timothy

[Jon A.]

Doing laundry today...

One of the (newer) washers in my building has been pretty unstable for a long time, doing a lot of shaking when spinning. Today, a couple of very grumpy-looking women came into the laundry room, overloaded said unstable washer, which proceeded to do the most violent shaking I ever saw, moving itself farther back and rotating a little, then blowing its front panel clean off. I had to get building management on it. The drum is askew with a piece broken out of the top of the plastic tub.