Rewiring a 1950's fridge ... or "I hate 'lectricity!"

So, I've had this fridge for several years. It's a 1952 Coldspot that belonged to my wife's grandfather. When we were moving him out of his house, he told me I could have the fridge in the basement. It was dingy, he'd painted it with housepaint one or so times, and hadn't been defrosted in about twelve years. The freezer (single door, internal freezer compartment type) was nearly a solid block of ice, so I knew the thing worked. When I unplugged it, the electrical cord came apart in my hands, it was so dryrotted! *YIKES!*

But we let the ice thaw, dried it out and moved it into my basement. Over the years, I pulled out the shelves, sanded off the paint and some rust and gave it a quick spray with some rustoleum. It's sat in the basement untouched for a while now.

Now that I'm stepping toward kegging, I want to do something with it. It's still an eyesore and I'll have to restrip, properly deal with the rust, and repaint it some day. For now, I want to rewire it. From my memory, it looked like the cord was simply screwed into terminals on the compressor unit. No ground.

Home Depot sells appliance cords for replacements. I figure I can just buy one and put it on. I don' thave a whole lot of electrical experience beyond changing out switches and installing lights. What do I need to be aware of? Is polarity a concern? I'm assuming the new cord will be labeled as far as which lead goes to which blade on the plug. I'm hoping the contacts on the compressor are labeled. But houw would I tell otherwise?

As far as the ground. So do I just drill a hole in the frame somewhere and put a ground screw?

Pics!!!!!!!!!

I am not an electrician so FWIW I'd drill a hole in the frame or look for an existing screw/bolt. However I would be concerned about the other wiring in the unit if the main cord fell apart in your hands. At least try inspecting as much of the wiring as you can prior to going live.

Well, I took some photos and spun the fridge around to get shots of the back. There was a plastic cover I'd never removed before, so I unscrewed it and looked inside. EEK!

There's a light in the fridge, which explains where the other leads go.

I may be in over my head here.













You can see that her grandfather spliced this SEVERAL times.





And, the rat's nest





So, anyone know of an antique appliance restoration shop?

Not sure what I'm looking at in the last pic, but two wire A/C is hot and Neutral. The hot lead is generally Black the Neutral White. Since there is no polarity with this plug and in 1951, there was no ground or standard polarized outlet, I would say it doesn't matter where the Black or White leads are connected. Use your best guess. Attach no green ground wire, as this may cause issues with GFI circuits which may be part of the receptacle string you're plugging into.

That is NOT in bad shape.....you've got yourself a really nice fridge there. I'd encourage you to look at other before and afters...you're sitting pretty. Even if the compressor fails, you'd still be wise just having a technician replace it. These things if properly restored can command a fair amount of cash (if you ever decided to part with it). Here's an example of one, I think yours could look better with flames or even some kind of dark metallic gloss.

So, I had some guys from church over last night and we looked at the fridge. Someone suggested I have a mutual friend, who is an electrician look at it and rewire. I'm sure as heck not going to do it myself. Now I have to go about figuring out how to get the case off to check the interior wiring. I assume the wires going into the case go to the 1) thermostat and 2) interior light. Because the thing is insulated with fiberglass insulation, I want to make sure those wires are sound.

I already threw away the insulation from the door when I painted it. Should I just get standard insulation or can I adhere foam to the door to insulate it? I figure I'll put PVC shims in the door cavity between the exterior and door panel to give the shanks something to cinch down on and not deform the door.

I just used standard wall insulation for a home in mine. Just don't pack it in there tight.

damn you JetSmooth.

After seeing this awesome fridge, I went to CL and found...THIS FRIDGE...apparently I was too late.

Nice find man!!!

How'd you keep it from sagging and bunching in the bottom?

Is that the one from my parent's basement from when I was a kid? Just joking but that is the very same model. They gave it away in the 70's while it was still working. I would not sweat the wiring, for someone comfortable with electricity it should be an easy job. Stay away from an antique appliance restoration shop, they would most likely charge and arm and a leg to do it.

JetSmooth said:

How'd you keep it from sagging and bunching in the bottom?

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Buy a smaller size so they fit tighter???

Jester. Haha yeah, I had it on CL because the wiring freaked me out. But I remembered a guy at my church is an electrician AND craft beer fan. I can likely get him to help me out for a few sixers. When i get it working, you can come over for a pint.

Jgln, i looked at some of the antique fridge restoration shops. In addition to being in like Georgia and Florida (meaning I would have to crate and ship the beast), they have like 18 month waiting lists and seem to charge upwards in the two or three grand range for a full restoration. I have no doubt they do quality work, but this is a hobby, not my whole life.

jgln said:

Buy a smaller size so they fit tighter???

Click to expand...

I'm just going to ignore that.

JetSmooth said:

Jester. Haha yeah, I had it on CL because the wiring freaked me out. But I remembered a guy at my church is an electrician AND craft beer fan. I can likely get him to help me out for a few sixers. When i get it working, you can come over for a pint.
.

Click to expand...

Oh, that was you?? Damn, that's cool. Didn't realize you were that close!

You need to come down for a brew sometime.

If you end up bailing out, I want dibs on the fridge!

Would be willing to trade another new (1 yr old) smaller fridge with freezer (don't think it would hold cornies very well, but it is a $300 apartment/dorm fridge) for it straight up if you can get it running as just a fridge..I'd put my own keezer parts in it. Would throw in some mead to sweeten the deal, hehehe

NECROMANCY!

So after months of homebrewing haiatus, I have just about got my AG setup ready to brew. I figued I should also look into finally converting this old fridge. Even if I'm not going to repait it right now, I can at least rewire and do temp control. So here's where I'll document that.

Probably go with naturally carbing the kegs and using cO2 chargers and a picnic tap until I save up the scratch for a full fridge kit.

First step, I ordered the STC-1000 aquarium temp controller from eBay.

Next step, I'll get my electrician friend to help me rewire this. He tool a look at it once and said he didn't think it needed a full rewire. just the power cord. Provided I put everything back together in the plastic box when I took it off last time. ;P

Thinking about selling the old girl now. I'll have it rewired by my friend, but put it on CL to gauge the interest.

http://baltimore.en.craigslist.org/app/2475983746.html

I went ahead and hacked the socket end off a two-wire extension cord (at the advide of an electrician friend) and replaced the old cord. The fridge started right up and the coils (freezer section) got COLD! I let it run with my temp probe on my eBay aquarium temp controller sit in it overnight. It got pretty dang cold. The freezer iced up really fast. It's LOUD!

It's been running for several days and I put the temp controller inline and set it for 3 Celsius. It hols pretty well. Cycles every half hour or so for a while. The door could be reinsulated and the door deal is brittle, so I could probably swap that out for some weather stripping.

My problem is condensation. The coils are eposed and ice up really fast but of course I'm trying to keep this just above freezing. So the compressor will turn off and all that water will fall down or cling to the inside of the frige. It's a LOT! I have the kegs sitting on a case of Sam Adams bottles in their cardboard box with another carboard box top over it ot make it flat (until I can set up another shelf). I'm worried the thing is going to get water-logged.

I haven't filled my Co2 bottle, but have everything else ready. I'll just be using picnic taps for now, since I don't know if we'll kepe this fridge. If I get rid of it, I'll get a chest freezer and I'll want a tower on it. So opening and closing will definitely create some condenstaiton issues, I suspect.

I bought a bucket of damp-rid and put it in the freezer, but I don't know if that can handle all the moisture in the fridge.

Still may put it on CL and try to get some money out of it, since we now know it works.