Any one collects or uses old BIG electric apliances?
 

Any one collects or uses old BIG electric apliances? Like washingmachines, combo washingmachine/ladundry dryer, laundrary dryers, fridges/freezers/fridge + freezer combo, air condition.

I would use most of those things if I lived in a house. For the most part I have to use building owner-issued junk. It doesn't really bother me though, I don't have to pay to fix or replace the stuff. However, I have an old Kenmore A/C unit designed for casement windows, a newer but still decent Kenmore A/C unit in rather rough shape and a 1984 Kenmore microwave/convection oven that's used every day.

Just a big old Sunbeam toaster... ;)

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...1&d=1523442515

Back in our old house, I had set up a 1950's kitchen in the basement, because my mom expressed a desire for a retro kitchen. Appliances were an Admiral fridge and a Roper gas stove. Both of which needed some work, but nothing major. We generally plugged in the fridge a little before thanksgiving and used it for holiday food storage until after xmas. When the whole family came over for a holiday, a second stove was almost impossible to do without. Especially with a thanksgiving turkey in the main kitchen's oven all day long, we would bake pies and casseroles in the basement. We moved about 5 years ago, but I kept the appliances. Sadly, they need much more attention now than before.

The fridge I got by putting a want ad up on craigslist, the reply was from the daughter of an old lady. The fridge was in the basement of their house, and it looked like it was probably used sometimes. I think I paid $40 for it, and the lady tried to sell me a Sunbeam mixer for $70, I was like lolno. The fridge always cooled very well (good old R12 system), but now it needs a door gasket ($200 from the antiqueappliances.com - the only people who still manufacture it) and as long as I've had it, it was missing a little electric heater that sat in the condensate pan and evaporated it, so if I run the fridge it just constantly drips water. Ideally I'd like to dismantle it entirely, sand blast, and repaint, because the paint looks terrible up close. Oh yeah, interestingly, it has two unique features, 1. it has a 'Magic Ray Lamp' inside (a little UV light bulb) apparently to kill bacteria and make ozone to stop flavors of uncovered foods from mixing, and 2. it has a glow-in-the-dark radium door handle INSIDE so little Timmy doesn't get trapped inside while playing hide and seek.

The stove I got from a for sale ad on craigslist. The poster was in charge of demolishing a ~1950s ranch house - no idea why, it looked fine. The stove was still hooked up in the kitchen of the house, which looked entirely original. Yellow countertops, floral pattern wallpaper, crappy linoleum, the works. I wound up taking a section of base cabinet and a bunch of chrome handles from that kitchen as well. I can still use the stove, in fact, it's one hell of a performer. Not like these modern stoves, where each burner is a little smaller than the next. All 4 burners are approx. 4 inch diameter, and each one is a double burner. One outer ring, and another inner ring, that's a lot of fire! Has great control over it too, turning the knob from 0-50% only operates the little inner ring, 50-100% turns the inner ring down a lot and lights the outer ring, as you turn it up, it turns up both. I swear it could boil a pot of water in half the time as our modern stove.

Sadly, the top deck or panel or whatever you call it, has two rust holes on either side. A common problem with Ropers apparently, it's because the pilot light heat is directed straight to the either edge of the deck. As it's porcelain enamel, I'd have to repair the rust holes entirely in steel (no bondo or brazing [not that I like brazing]) and send it out to be re-enameled, about $500. And I'd like to delete the problem-causing pilot lights, and replace with electric ignition. For the purists out there, not only do the pilot lights cause rust holes, they always took too long to light the burners as well. I stripped a junk stove of it's electrics not long ago, so I have the stuff for retrofit, just not the time.

And then there's that Kenmore wringer washer. I was maybe 14 or so, walking to school, which I went out the back of the house, through the alley, and a couple houses down there was this washing machine next to the garbage cans. I looked at it, there was nothing crucially wrong with it, so I wheeled it to my back yard, and it's been in my care ever since. It's been ages since I plugged it in, but I recall that it did run. Still, it's going to need the whole restoration. On the bright side, the porcelain is perfect, and the rest of it is just paint, so it just needs a couple dents banged out and a respray. Now if only I can cajole this one guy I know to part with his washer's timer cover and knob...

Sears didn't use the Kenmore name for their cooling appliances earlier.
IIRC, they used the Coldspot name until the early '70's.

Friends of mine had a Hotpoint fridge and a Coldspot range/oven combo. :scratch2:

Wasn't there a Daffy Duck cartoon where he had to deal with a Possessed lady and the stove was full of ice and the freezer was full of flame?...Your post sounds like a tamer version of that joke. :D

There's a small shop near me that sells and repairs electrical appliances, something increasingly rare on the high street in the UK. In their shop they have a Hoover "Keymatic" washing machine. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...nes_museum.JPG

These machines were found in trendy homes in the 1970s and looked like no other washing machine before or since. The programme was selected by inserting a "keyplate" https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheste...7601120083935/ The keyplate mechanism was not reliable. A gimmick really.

I don't know exactly what vintage it is but it's definitely a Kenmore.

Well that's COOL. It's like a punchcard system for your washing machine! I can see why it would be impractical. Definitely a gimmick (punchcards in the era of early computing), but I don't see why it would be inherently unreliable. Maybe just a poor design.

I think the Keymatic was too complicated for its own good. Washing machine is also a fairly hostile environment with moist air and lots of vibration. Combine that with engineering down to a price and you've got problems.

Here is another washing machine that haves a card (it's not mine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWICPMVuylg

It's not mine, but what do you see here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X07Vokx8n8g&t=33s

That toaster is actually a retro reproduction of an earlier design. The Sunbeam logo is silk-screened on.
We had two Sunbeam toasters, the self lowering "Radiant Control" model. When they got older, the toasting wasn't consistent.

Hoover was never a big name in large appliances in the US. Beside floor cleaning appliances, they made compact washers, dryers and small fridges.
They did sell small appliances, Irons, toasters, blenders and mixers for a short time. :scratch2:

Right good question for me Telecolor! Glad you asked, or maybe not. I'm certifiable when it comes to the big vintage items.

I have three one-door refrigerator-freezers, 1950 Philco in basement is daily use, yet barely runs.
For drinks in the summer kitchen, 1947 Westinghouse with small ice box, and a Hardwick 5-burner gas range, no pic.

Attachment 197052

1951 Kelvinator I've had for 25 years but I suspect its losing charge at last.
Attachment 197053
A very-electric, non-energy star 1963 Montgomery-Ward dryer built by Norge like a tank. All appliances had these fluorescent lights built in, maybe for sale gimmick, I dunno.
Attachment 197054
The speed queen is only 5 years old and I would recommend this to anyone burned by the others. Consumer reports panned the SQ AWN-series washer because it used too much water, losing my confidence in CU.
If I could, I would find a Westinghouse https://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...g&action=clickbut my wife would make me do all of the laundry instead of 50%

I also use an Arvin 2-slice toaster, with brown-braid asbestos cord :saywhat: power cord , Arvin was their tv-radio-appliance name after the Noblitt-Sparks company was no longer making war goods.

We had a Hoover frying pan, mid 70's

I understand that in the UK, you "hoover up" the floor, rather than vacuum:yes:

Nice stuff... but I had to re-login to see your images. How the hell did you link them? Survivor appliances.

Yes, in the UK the brand name "Hoover" has come into general use, not only as a noun but also as a verb. And it's nothing to do with J Edgar:D

You see people referring to Dyson hoovers etc.

The Hoover company has effectively lost its brand name rights here.

It happens to other brands too. Scotch Tape (US) or Sellotape (UK); Kleenex (mainly US); Durex (different usages in US and UK but this is a family friendly forum) and probably many more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark

At the end of August I found this "General Freezer" model GC7L-1 deep freeze. Its capacity is about 6.7 cubic feet. It was sitting at a curb nearby with a sign on it saying "Works. Free." This is a street with a lot of fancy houses, and we know how wasteful the wealthy can be, but it's because of such people that I have much of what I have now. I finished my errand and then went home to fetch my trolley in very great haste as this place is crawling with scrap metal dealers. I cleaned it up and replaced the flickering power light with the "bag full" light from an old Electrolux. I was really stoked to find this as we needed one and there are very few out there that I consider worth having.

The top isn't yellowed, that's just an effect of my low-quality camera.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1936/3...56e6ea36_c.jpg

We've got a similar one with a wood grain top and no lock...It stopped freezing a while back. Once it gets dug out of the garage during the upcoming annual make the garage parkable again cleanout it is going to hit the curb.

Edit: Holey Mackeral this is my 10,000th post!... I spend too much time here.

Congrats!

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I bought a Canadian-built "Woods" compact upright freezer. It was in-new condition, bought from my favorite Charity Thrift. $35 USD out the door!

Cool! I hadn't heard of that brand, but I hadn't heard of mine either. The "Made in Canada" sticker fell off while I was cleaning the freezer but I still have it.

The Woods model I have is only about 6 or 7 years old!
The freezer you have is possibly a private label model from one of the Canadian retailers. :scratch2:

We still use our old electric Tappan range, oven, microwave free standing all in one stove.
We bought it new in 1979, and we are still using it in our kitchen still today in 2018. Everything still works and operates perfect, even the microwave. Only repairs I have even done to it was a coil burner plug, and the fan motor in the microwave. Made a perfect pumpkin pie and banana cake in it this week. Also we still use the microwave on a regular basis.

It would be cool to find out. I don't think there were many Canadian retailers that sold large appliances.

Plugging in your freezer's model and serial numbers on appliance411.ca might return a manufacture date. That site dated mine as a '90.
It's nice to hear about old appliances doing more than chilling brewskies for the likes of the Enterprise-D's night crew. Anyone who is concerned about reducing their carbon footprint can either use older, well-built stuff, or just try not to step in any carbon.

I got my 1984 Kenmore (Sanyo) microwave/convection oven over four years ago. It gets daily use, mostly for heating up hot drinks. I got it for a fiver from a thrift store, the only thing "wrong" with it being two missing feet. I have since installed a whole new set that I got from Mouser.

I found an old Camco-built GE compact clothes dryer by a dumpster back in June. It wasn't anything special really, the top was banged up, it had a little rust here and there but worst of all the bearings were shot in its welded-together motor. I decided to sacrifice that one to convert its shell into a 16U mobile equipment rack. It isn't finished yet but it's usable as-is.

My Freezer has the R134 refrigerant!
The Wood's brand was sold by Menards in the states.
The Sanyo compact fridges are made in Mexico.
They're starting to sell compact fridges at Wally world that use Peltier modules. Also, those fancy wine fridges with the glass door.
They take 24 hours to come down to proper temperature. :thumbsdn:

Last year I used an air conditioner I got for free just to survive the summer, what a hunk of junk, made in china of course. It used R410A which may have been slowly leaking out as it caused a weird smell in the closet when put away. I contacted a scrapper to come get it and left it at the curb for him. I got my Kenmore that September, pretty good savings there with the low demand. According to the model number prefix it was made by KeepRite. That one uses R22.

I hadn't heard of Peltier modules, I'll have to see just what they are. My freezer uses R12, it takes between 4 and 5 hours to cool down. A red light just below the amber power light stays illuminated until the unit has cooled.

Someone curbed a junky 2003 Whirlpool side-by-side fridge/freezer across the street. I took the cord, the tempered glass shelves, a coil of plastic hose and even the light bulbs, one of which I used to replace the one in our oven. The plastic shelf frames were a dog to separate from the glass and support brackets. I used one of those brackets on a music stand I modified for my mom so it will hold her iPad while she sits on the couch; now it just swings away whenever she wants to get up. I have the original height adjustment just snug enough to prevent it from moving involuntarily, and used a big washer from that fridge and a spring clip from the blower in another air conditioner to hold it at the proper height. I also used a 15-inch steel car rim that had been left by a dumpster for ballast and cut about 3 1/2 inches off the end of each leg so they sit just under the edges of the rim and allow it to sit closer to the floor. Finally, I have used one of the panes of glass as a mixing board for Bondo, it works quite well.

My Microwave will be 25 years old next month :)

Back in 2010, I stayed at a hotel in Berlin that had a Peltier type 'fridge'. It didn't do squat to make anything cold. Then again, the Germans don't do cold anyway, so I guess nobody over there cares.

Ohhh, so the Peltier module doesn't even use a compressor, no wonder it's a hunk of crap. I had forgotten to check on it until now. Just another kind of heat pump that's all the rage these days, I've heard of many dumping their air conditioners in favor of them. I even heard tell of one that had a breakdown and couldn't be repaired right away because the parts had to come in from china. And people are spending a couple of kilobucks at least on the things, ridiculous. The wastefulness of Western society really ruffles my feathers.

As far as I know warm beer is popular among Germans, I don't know about anything else though.

It takes at least 24 hours to come to the temperature setting.
The manufactures recommend that the items placed in the fridge are cold to begin with, otherwise it's a long wait! :thumbsdn:

I'm a small part German, but I like my beer and soft drinks cold! I have my Sanyo compact fridge in my workshop, set a little colder than normal.
The small German fridges were always the "absorption" type, using ammonia as the refrigerant. They even used those in the bar-hi-fi combinations.
It's a well-known fact that ammonia makes the best refrigerant but a little dangerous when it springs a leak. :thumbsdn:

There were refrigerated bar/HiFi consoles in the 50s or 60s? I've never heard of that, and I own a Blauplunkt HiFi bar.

I'd take a peltier "fridge" in a hotel room over a noisy compressor which stops me from sleeping.

Besides, if you really want your beer cold fast in a hotel, just raid the ice machine, fill up the bathroom sink with ice, and then top it up with cold water. Throw the beer in there, and it will be ice cold within 20 minutes. That's one of my travel "hacks" from 20 years of business trips, works every time. On the other hand, if you acquire a taste for warm beer, then more for you!

The refrigerated ones were a bit larger. I only seen pictures of one!

Warm beer hits you a lot faster!
The Peltier fridge has a cooling fan or two on the back, depending on the size.
The small compressor in the mini-fridges are very quiet.

Cooling fan is a continuous noise, almost like white noise after a while.

Compressor comes on, then goes off, then comes on, then goes off - that's what wakes me up. I can tell you 100% they aren't all very quiet, I've unplugged them in many hotel rooms at 2am, because I couldn't sleep.

+1. A long running habit in my family has been to take a fan (usually one in an room air filter or humidifier) and run it all night to drown out the hotel air-conditioning unit (some are ungodly loud), idiots making noise in Hall/adjoining rooms, and stuff outside the building... constant/white noise and near total silence I sleep great through, but anything intermittent wakes me right up... unless I'm in a really deep part of my sleep cycle (then lightning could strike 10 ft away and I wouldn't notice).