Well I think the "fridge" is dying.

[67Dart273]

^^Yeh, I'm familiar I used to work on this stuff. You can look in at an angle into the vent/ transfer slots in the cover and actually see part of the coil. It might be that the defrost timer is going intermittent, or as I said, that I got too much stacked up and plugged the vent holes. It's nearly MT now, and has been holding. I may replace the timer, have not decided.

I have a small mini chest freezer, and a "kegerator" so those are getting me by for storage meantime.

 

[Icetech]

^^Yeh, I'm familiar I used to work on this stuff. You can look in at an angle into the vent/ transfer slots in the cover and actually see part of the coil. It might be that the defrost timer is going intermittent, or as I said, that I got too much stacked up and plugged the vent holes. It's nearly MT now, and has been holding. I may replace the timer, have not decided.

I have a small mini chest freezer, and a "kegerator" so those are getting me by for storage meantime.

Ah sorry, didn't know you used to work on it I only work on this **** when i have to... i don't like replacing anything if i don't have to. good luck!

 

[67Dart273]

you sure your coils aren't iced up? I have to take the cover off mine and defrost them twice a year even though the defrost works as intended on it... first the ice is a little wet.. stuff isn't quite frozen solid.. just gets worse.. de-ice the coils and i'm good for another 6-12 months..

You might want to look into "if" your door gaskets are leaking air. Also you do not want to put much of anything in there that is uncovered or unsealed. Open juice or water, or even wet veggies/ fruits. The evaporation will condense and freeze on the evap.

 

[Icetech]

You might want to look into "if" your door gaskets are leaking air. Also you do not want to put much of anything in there that is uncovered or unsealed. Open juice or water, or even wet veggies/ fruits. The evaporation will condense and freeze on the evap.

Yeah, i know my seals leak a bit.. the thing is 35ish years old and i doubt i could find seals easily... now that i know the symptoms of it frosting up i just move everything out for a couple of hours and put a fan blowing in there to melt the ice.. not a major thing yes.. i'm that lazy

 

[67Dart273]

There's a 1949 Kelvinator in my basement that came with the house. When the last "main" fridge in the kitchen let go several years ago, I plugged it in and discovered that it still works. Quiet? No. Cold? Yes sir, and that's what mattered most at the time. I replaced the kitchen fridge in a couple of days (it's an odd size) and shut the Kelv down soon after.

It's got a rounded top, "kid killer" latching door with a huge chrome handle, extruded-aluminum hinges, chrome emblems on the door... if it didn't work it'd become a storage cabinet. It's too cool to let go. I'd love to restore it with more modern (quieter) internals and perhaps a Mark Donohue AMX paint job (after all, it is an AMC).

It's not this nice after years of neglect, but looks like this one:

View attachment 1716096970

Mom and Dad got one when they were married, so roughly the same vintage. I vaguely remember you could get a quart of ice cream into the "freezer" and if it had recently been defrosted, maybe two. The family didn't have anything with a freezer until after ?? 57 or so they bought their first "modern" fridge with a "real" freezer.

 

[67Dart273]

Yeah, i know my seals leak a bit.. the thing is 35ish years old and i doubt i could find seals easily... now that i know the symptoms of it frosting up i just move everything out for a couple of hours and put a fan blowing in there to melt the ice.. not a major thing yes.. i'm that lazy

You may not have to unload it. Maybe you could get by...............some defrost timers can be manually rotated, a little shaft. You can rotate it around and trigger another defrost cycle. Shuts off the fan, turns on the heater.

 

[Icetech]

You may not have to unload it. Maybe you could get by...............some defrost timers can be manually rotated, a little shaft. You can rotate it around and trigger another defrost cycle. Shuts off the fan, turns on the heater.

i hadn't even considered that... i replaced the timer but didn't think bout just doubling the time manually

 

[67Dart273]

Air leaking into freezers is a SERIOUS issue. When I got started in HVAC/R we had a couple of jobs, one could not be (easily) fixed. It was an old, OLD built in place freezer, AKA all wood, wood door, and the door did not fit well anymore. There was one area on one side that leaked bad. What this does is, ;outside "we" air migrates into the leak and freezes, and it just keeps getting larger and larger. Eventually the ice will break something--the wall, insulation, whatever

 

[67Dart273]

Just a follow up: Still don't know the cause, possibilities and thoughts:
1...May have gotten a plastic bag caught in the gasket overnight. I have a habit of stuffing a big bag of grapes in the door
2...Maybe the t-stat stuck. Doubt it
3...May the defrost timer is getting sticky. Possible.

So far (I have a thermometer in both freezer and fridge) it is back to normal and holding fine.