Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

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Willa
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Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Willa »

Sadly, my cute little early 50's Admiral fridge has decided to slowly die, after its first defrost. As far as I can tell, the compressor is the issue as it is very hot to the touch, while the fridge is barely below room temp. inside, with no freezing in the freezer.

The closest reputable vintage appliance repair is 3+ hours away in each direction. NO appliance repair places locally deal with vintage anything.

In desperation I ordered a new 10 cu ft fridge from a big box store, that claimed they had a local warehouse, and could deliver next day. They could, except not with fridges(information only divulged AFTER ordering), so I'll get two weeks of only preparing what I can eat without leaving leftovers, and only using condiments that are safe at room temp.

Of course before ordering the fridge I desperately looked to see if there were any acceptable vintage fridges for sale locally, but none in decent working order for a reasonable price. No vintage man-cave beer fridge tinkerers either.

I cannot express my sadness at having to purchase a new, inferior appliance with no visual charm whatsoever.

(Yes, I watched several YouTube videos of vintage fridge repair and compressor replacement, but this is over my head so no DIY fixes here.)

Bonus: my 15 y/o cat is suddenly very ill and at the vet on IV. It's a tough day for oldsters here.

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Mick_VT
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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Mick_VT »

Hmmmm... compressor being hot could be refrigerant loss I believe. You might want to call a few local commercial refrigeration companies they may be able to do a recharge on it for you
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Willa
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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

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Mick_VT wrote:You might want to call a few local commercial refrigeration companies they may be able to do a recharge on it for you


I can try that, though this city has no old appliances anywhere - not even in run down rental houses for sale or used appliance places. Previously I spent a few frustrating hours phoning around with regards to servicing a 1950's gas stove I was interested in purchasing and no one would even look at it. The level of disbelief that I was considering purchasing then USING such a thing was pretty amazing (to me).

I suspect the commercial refrigeration places would have a minimum service call amount that may be 1/3 of the new fridge, and would probably balk at a residential call.

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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Manalto »

All I can do is sympathize. I think we've all heard the standard comments assuming we'll replace those crummy old wooden windows with vinyl, put down Pergo flooring and knock down walls for an open (yawn) floor plan. The failure of your charming Admiral refrigerator - after 60+ years! - is only grist for that particular mill. I hope you'll hang on to the fridge now that you have the luxury of time to get it working properly again. I'm particularly interested in this topic because I had my eye on an overpriced monitor-top GE fridge in really nice condition. The seller's friend says he cares who it goes to and claims that when the right person comes along, he'll drop the price.

I sympathize too with your situation with your cat. Our pets are the innocents among us; it's painful to see them suffer.

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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Lily left the valley »

Willa, as the companion of a kitty that will turn 20 this month, I hope yours recovers soon.

I also hope the third bad luck was the delay in the arrival of the fridge so you've already managed the terrible three.

As to the old fridge, that's a huge bummer. The miscommunication about the new delivery was just bad form. Did they at least knock something off the shipping cost as an apology?

I'll echo the idea of trying to hold onto your Admiral for a later fix if you can spare the space. If you can't, I wish you luck in finding a new oldie but goodie. You can always sell this newer one on its way if you do to at least lessen the blow.

The new mini we got isn't as good as the other one we used to have. If the freezer gets too empty, the fridge doesn't stay cold. We've been packing it with what reusable freezer things we have to try to stem that, but it's barely into July here and we will not have an AC unit at all this year for certain. So we're a bit worried about it, and have actually talked about moving it to the cellar to see if that helps since we can't afford another fridge right now.
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Willa
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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

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Lily left the valley wrote:Willa, as the companion of a kitty that will turn 20 this month, I hope yours recovers soon.

As to the old fridge, that's a huge bummer. The miscommunication about the new delivery was just bad form. Did they at least knock something off the shipping cost as an apology?

I'll echo the idea of trying to hold onto your Admiral for a later fix if you can spare the space. If you can't, I wish you luck in finding a new oldie but goodie. You can always sell this newer one on its way if you do to at least lessen the blow.


My cat is responding to IV though the cause of her lethargy, high WBC and overall unwellness is unknown, so far. It could be a virus or cancer. Xrays and palpation did not reveal any masses, but ultrasound would tell more. I'm taking it step by step. If she was not improving with IV and supportive care then more diagnostics would not help her outcome. She came home with the IV port overnight (clinic is not staffed 24/7) but is going back in the early a.m. for more IV.

I will hold onto the Admiral for a little while, in vain hope that someone local who can fix it may present themself. As far as I can tell, the fridge is a 1950-52 model. It's only 67 years old - it's still good !

There seemed to a be a rash of dudes (via Kijiji) who were all about getting an old fridge to modify into a keg fridge, so I assume the compressor replacement is within the realm of possibility - though probably not someone I can scare up in an urgent fashion.

I ordered the new fridge online, so the messages were all automatic regarding delivery fees and dates. I looked around online and the delivery times were all about 2 weeks, but I bought the model on sale so at least that saved some $$$. But : ugh ! Useless to duke this out with a big box store as there is all kinds of fine print and policies to further confuse consumers. Obviously the design and function of the checkout is carefully considered. I can still cancel my order, but cold fridge trumps "cool" fridge.

I'm going to get the cheapest cooler and an appliance thermometer I can find, and use that for perishables. Buying a used fridge via CL, etc. seemed like another hassle as I would have to scare up delivery, and have no warranty. But this is a drag to say the least. If it was Dec. or Jan. my unheated porch would be a fine fridge substitute.

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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by 1918ColonialRevival »

If you've got the room, keep this one somewhere until you can better troubleshoot it. This is definitely serviceable, you just have to find the right person to do it.

You said it worked fine until the last defrost. Most refrigerators of this era used a hermetically sealed refrigeration system, meaning that the only way that you can have a refrigerant leak is if one of the metal (usually copper) lines gets a hole in it somewhere. While it was defrosting, did anyone try to jimmy any ice buildup loose in the freezer? That coupled with a weak spot in the casting (from the factory) can make a tiny pinhole that will allow the refrigerant to leak out. If that's the problem, any cooling tech can add a valve (most refrigerators of this era didn't have one), find the leak, repair it, and recharge the system. These compressors use R12, which has not been in widespread use in the US since about 1994. I'm not sure when it ceased in Canada, but R12 is still being made to this day in Mexico. R12 is still available, mostly old stock in the US and Canada, but it's expensive now, so it's important to test the system to make sure it's leak-free before it is charged. Again, any tech worth his salt will know this.

Was there any oil on the floor underneath the refrigerator? If you can find a service manual for this model and figure out if it has a port to add oil, that also might be worth a shot if it was overheating.

A bad thermostat could be another possibility.

Hope the kitty continues to improve. It's never fun with a sick pet.

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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Willa »

1918ColonialRevival wrote:You said it worked fine until the last defrost. Most refrigerators of this era used a hermetically sealed refrigeration system, meaning that the only way that you can have a refrigerant leak is if one of the metal (usually copper) lines gets a hole in it somewhere. While it was defrosting, did anyone try to jimmy any ice buildup loose in the freezer?

Was there any oil on the floor underneath the refrigerator? If you can find a service manual for this model and figure out if it has a port to add oil, that also might be worth a shot if it was overheating.

A bad thermostat could be another possibility.

Hope the kitty continues to improve. It's never fun with a sick pet.


The fridge seemed fine-ish prior to the defrost. The freezer is pretty small and wasn't well sealed (front and back doors didn't fit perfectly and wasn't well insulated). There was a lot of frost built up around and inside of the freezer, but things like ice cream got a little soupy = not quite cold enough. There were a couple of days where the fridge got much colder without any adjustment on my part and my water jug was half frozen. I thought this was strange but assumed this erratic spurt might be due to the fridge needing to be defrosted. I unplugged it to defrost, and left the door open.

I didn't prod at the ice and only removed what was very loose. A long time ago a friend had been chipping away at the ice in their freezer with a knife and punctured the line, so I didn't want to repeat that.

Nothing was odd during the defrost - no puddles of strange colored liquids below the fridge, or odd smelling liquids or goo in or beside the fridge. After it was defrosted and I plugged it back in, even after 6 hours it just wasn't very cold inside and there was only water, no frost inside the freezer. I did notice that the back of the fridge seemed very warm, and that what I believe to be the compressor casing was hot to the touch. One online piece suggested that compressors could be glitchy so I unplugged it until this was cool then plugged it back in. There was no improvement. I also dusted the coils.

From what I've read the hot compressor usually signals an issue, though it is possible that there are multiple issues like a bad thermometer and bad compressor or bad compressor relay or ???

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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by JacquieJet »

Willa, as a fellow Ontario-ian, have you heard of Ed White? He's in Port Hope, and only deals in vintage appliance and repair. He's everyone's go-to old appliance guy around this end of the GTA.
He doesn't do email, but if you google him you will find his phone number.
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Re: Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

Post by Willa »

JacquieJet wrote:Willa, as a fellow Ontario-ian, have you heard of Ed White? He's in Port Hope, and only deals in vintage appliance and repair. He's everyone's go-to old appliance guy around this end of the GTA.
He doesn't do email, but if you google him you will find his phone number.


He's the 3 hours away in each direction guy. He is currently rebuilding a 1952 Moffat stove for me. I know he can fix it - but the hassle/expense of transportation each way plus the repair cost plus needing a working fridge ASAP = not right now. I have not been to his shop, but from phone conversations it sounds like he has some serviced and rebuilt inventory on hand. If I was going to splurge on a rebuilt model I might opt for something a little older or with more bells and whistles.

I bought the Admiral as it fit perfectly into the corner, the seller was able to demonstrate that it was working well, and it was $$. I like the exterior, but the interior is pretty utilitarian, and freezer isn't designed well. If I can find someone local who can troubleshoot my issues for a reasonable price, then I will have it repaired. I suspect the fee for getting the fridge TO Port Hope would be almost half the price of getting it repaired/rebuilt then it still has to return here. (And Ed's prices are reasonable, too).

It really sounds like there are only a few and far between vintage appliance repair places in Canada. I know of Ed White, the guy in Sherbrooke, Que., and someone in Alberta or B.C., I think ? It doesn't sound like Ed White has trained anyone to do this. The younger appliance repair dudes I have met are not skilled with vintage appliances, and from experience seem incredibly lazy about sourcing parts, despite the internet. One guy I spoke with had taken over his dad's shop, which had been a place where you could buy a vintage stove, though the owner had no particular love for old appliances. Young son cleaned out his dad's shop and THREW OUT the old inventory of parts stored in the basement since he felt they were worthless and took up space. DECADES worth of parts. Like he could have sold them on Ebay or asked around for a different repair shop to take them away for $ 0.00 or anything but this lazy solution. And nope, the son would not look at vintage appliances or service them.

It made me desperate enough to consider moving to Port Hope to apprentice with Ed as a vintage appliance repair person. I have no experience with this, and it seemed like it would wind up being one of those labour of love professions where I could hope to make $3.00/hr, after years of work. Ed also does repair new appliances. It sounds like he has been in that community for a long time and probably has a modest overhead, which makes vintage appliance repair possible.

There are several places in the US that seem to be hopping with repairs and rebuilds for vintage stoves and fridges, but whoa, Canada does not seem to be "getting" this, even in urban centers like Toronto or Vancouver.

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