Whatever floats their boat.... I dislike them in any condition due to their cheap engineering, and they work poorly even when in top shape. And to boot, they're probably more common than a 2007 Sony flat screen.

Charles

It's not mold. It's the plastic decomposing. (Mold doesn't easily even grow on plastic, although that set looks like it might have been somewhere where anything could grow!) There are a couple of threads here and elsewhere on the subject.

We had a young member of our club who had a lot of time -- and probably a lot of stubbornness -- who cleaned up a Predicta that was even worse than this one and it actually came out pretty good, so don't write it off as a parts set yet, but it would be a LOT of work.

Thanks for the info. I've read it's a common issue with predictas but wasn't sure what the culprit was.
I guess I'm lucky that mine only has some scratches. Not that it works yet, but it will again someday!

The corner of my living room where I keep one of my Predictas always smells a little bit like puke (fainter or stronger, according to the weather) or maybe like someone who hasn't bathed in a while. That's only one of the reasons my old TVs have a low "WAF" (Wife Acceptance Factor.)

From AntiqueRadios.com: the cause is the butyrate plastic used in the cover. This material normally smells like rancid butter, since it is the same family of chemicals in both cases (also present in human body odor). Philco originally masked the odor with a coverup fragrance, but over the years this cover-up has dispersed. It's possible that the odor also could represent an accelerated breakdown of the plastic. It does seem to get worse in warm weather. There is a wide variation in how bad these covers stink. Some don't seem to smell bad at all, and others outright reek. I've noticed in general that the ones that are cracked are the ones that smell the least. On the later model Predictas, Philco supposedly changed the formulation, and those covers seem to have little or no odor, but also seem to be the ones most prone to cracking.

From Wikipedia: Butyric acid (from Greek βούτυρος = butter), also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates. Butyric acid is found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, vomit, and body odor and has an unpleasant smell and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether).


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While I don't have a Predicta, I know what you are talking about. Some present owners have sprayed the plastic with a quality clear coat and that seems to slow the process. But it changes the look and finish of the CRT enclosure.

You may also notice that if you have a drawer in your toolbox that has screwdrivers, Craftsman comes to mind, you will experience the same smell. It does wash off but comes back when the humidity in my basement goes up in the summer. They get a white mold looking covering that can be a challenge to get off. Knobs on old radios and TVs get the same covering.

I must be fortunate with my Predicta Barberpole....The screen plastic has been staying stable but sure, if I put my nose on it that smell is (always) there. It used to be worse! When I had first got it, stunk pretty bad but it also had that white crusty mold on it and thick!
I took the screen off and gently washed it in the bathtub with Dawn, that's all I've done with it. I would imagine higher humidities and dampness would be a problem.

Don't you guys with basements use a de-humidifier? When I grew up in Michigan I was usually stuck with the duties of emptying the tray out then I got smart and rigged it up over the floor drain!
But the basement did stay dry and not musty. Plastics didn't get attacked with the white crusty mold either.

A dehumidifier would be great. But with the dirt floor, it is a little bit of a waste of time. Would be nice! And, I do not have air conditioning, live in Baltimore and if one doesn't think we have humidity, that person has not been here ;)

The cover on my Predicta barberpole has not been a problem in the 10 or so years I've owned it. Never noticed a smell, but I just walked over and stuck my nose against it, and there is a faint odor.

It didn't have cloudiness when I got it. I polished a couple of spots that were scratched, using Novus #2. Hasn't changed appearance since then. This is the humid Pacific NW, so maybe I'm just lucky.

My only screen issue is a piece of something -- maybe a fleck of tobacco or a little piece of dried grass -- stuck between the cover and the CRT face. Must have gotten in there when the CRT was replaced. I looked into pulling off the cover, but it's such a hassle with that spring on the bottom that I decided to ignore it for now.

Phil

I have a later Predicta, one of the cheap "motel" models, no mold, no smell. But I have a GE console radio from about 1939 and the plastic dial bezel was so bad I had to move the radio. When I got married it was parked in the bedroom and my bride was not going to put up with that constant smell! It has some cracks, too...someday, if my woodworking skills get good enough, I think I'll recreate it in wood.

Final... $134.49 Yikes!

jr

Wow... someone must really feel optimistic about that set! I wonder if the buyer's plan is to rebuild or use it for parts.

Well I sure hope one of the parts they're counting on is not the front crt cover. I think it's by far the most valueable part of this style Predicta and this one is cracked in several different places.

Cleaning and polishing the cover is no big deal, but a crack can't be fixed. A good replacement will be next to impossible to find and if you are lucky enought to locate one, it's probably cracked. Good luck on this one, whoever the successful bidder was.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but have there ever been any attempts to vacuum-mold new crt covers? All one would need would be the cracked/moldy original to make the mold, and then quite a few could be turned out.

Really simple stuff. Oh yeah, you'll need $20k* worth of equipment too...

*I did see a video of someone with a homebuilt vacuum mold setup, softening the plastic sheeting in their kitchen oven, all this to make their own Ghostbusters proton pack.

The people over at www.predicta.com claim to have the ability to remake most predicta parts. I wonder if they still get orders for sets? Seems if they have the ability to replicate parts, they'd be able to make a decent amount of change on the side.

Tnx guys! I was wondering why my Siesta has B.O.
Terry