Vintage Fridge is Giving Up the Ghost (vent)

[Willa]

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.

Robert Crumb has drawn a few comics about his love of vintage appliances, and the desperate lengths he and his wife went to in acquiring/replacing them. In particular there was a strip about the death of their monitor top fridge, but they spotted a discarded one that was identical sitting outside in a bad part of town. I think this was in a book that was a compendium of his work ? His appliance lust may have changed since they relocated to the south of France, though ? Though a country with 400 year old habitable houses must have some appliance repair personnel who would fix a 60 year old fridge, you'd think ?

What is the most frustrating to me is that vintage appliances are infinitely repairable - by a person who knows how. I don't know how, and there is no school to go to, to learn how. There are forums, online, but I have no experience or skills, and I am very leery of electrical anything, so I'm not willing to jump in with a voltage meter, screw driver and blind faith.

Yes, the old gal and her troubles are worrisome. The vet seems sensible with a moderate approach. It may be a constellation of old cat troubles ie virus + dehydration + constipation + bad tooth, which are separate issues, or it may be something more grave. She may bounce back from supportive care, or the improvement may be temporary if cancer has the on switch, and the slippery slope has begun. So far, so good, cross your fingers.

[Kashka-Kat]

Hard to judge by the photo but it looks to be in very good condition - dare I say pristine? Esp. if the exterior/interior is still shiny and intact I would think of it as an investment, even if you have to pay someone to repair and/or arrange some way of transporting (perhaps combine the transport with a vacation somehow).

Its kinda like vintage collector cars - they are not for everyone, but there is a good market for them and probably always will be. If you google price/pics of restored refrigerators youll know what I mean! Perhaps a restorer could appraise it &give you a value for your specific model, restored vs unrestored, which might help your decision making process whether to go ahead or not.

I kinda regret getting rid of a little ge monitor top fridge I had years ago in excellent condition - that thing was so adorable with a little foot pedal to open it, but it had a toxic chemical for a refrigerant and I just got scared ahving it in my house. Only to find later that they can put in new motors/different refrigerants and now I see same models for sale for $3 -4,000 restored. Sigh!

[Kashka-Kat]

PS there is a monitor top restoration forum, perhaps other vintage appliance forums as well.

[1918ColonialRevival]

I kinda regret getting rid of a little ge monitor top fridge I had years ago in excellent condition - that thing was so adorable with a little foot pedal to open it, but it had a toxic chemical for a refrigerant and I just got scared ahving it in my house. Only to find later that they can put in new motors/different refrigerants and now I see same models for sale for $3 -4,000 restored. Sigh!

I'd keep the original cooling system in a monitor top if it was still good. They rarely develop refrigerant leaks unless the lines suffer some kind of trauma and the older compressors are far better than the newer Chinese junk they will be replaced with (expect a 5-7 year life out of the replacement versus 80+ for the original). The refrigerant used in most units of that era is sulfur dioxide. Believe me, you would know if you had a leak, as unlike most other refrigerants, sulfur dioxide has a distinctive noxious smell.

As we all know, a lot of fear-mongering has taken place over the last couple of decades regarding refrigerants, lead paint, asbestos, etc., the end result of all of the lawsuits stemming from them. Casual exposure on the consumer's end is harmless in 99.999% of cases. I wouldn't want to work with sulfur dioxide in an industrial setting for 30 years, but encapsulated in a cooling system it won't hurt you. If the worst happened and the system developed a leak, open the windows, run a couple of fans and all will be well. If this stuff was as harmful as the lawyers try to make you think, it would have never been allowed in consumer products in the first place, even in 1930.

[Kashka-Kat]

My monitor top had methyl chloride as refrigerant, which is no longer used for that purpose because of its toxicity/flammability - I did have some reason for concern I think . This was back in the 1990s and this old geezer appliance repair guy told me I should get rid of it because in his day people used to die from exploding refrigerators

Then later, after Id gotten rid of it, I read in a monitor top forum though how to safely remove this substance so I could have at least still kept it for storage or something.

[Willa]

Hard to judge by the photo but it looks to be in very good condition - dare I say pristine? Esp. if the exterior/interior is still shiny and intact I would think of it as an investment, even if you have to pay someone to repair and/or arrange some way of transporting (perhaps combine the transport with a vacation somehow).

I think the admiral was an economy model. The pics make it look in better shape than it was, as there are some paint flecks and chipping of the porcelain interior. It was well used. The exterior is nice with the asymmetrical design detail, and the handle that sort of clamps to open. It has nice exterior chrome hinges, too.

There are some fridge of this era that have a different finish that is more like paint, becomes matte and yellows. When I was looking there was a late 30's General Electric fridge that looked good, but had this finish, which I knew would bug me. The rarest is finding a fridge with all its shelves and storage compartments intact and in good shape.

I think the R.Crumb monitor fridge saga included having movers who panicked at some red goo that was dripping from the fridge, thinking it was sulfur dioxide, which turned out to be a melted red popsicle.

I've read the monitor top fridges are actually a much more efficient design that lets the heat dissipate better, v.s. being trapped behind the fridge. I did briefly speculate about whether an icebox was an even more environmentally sound choice, but without a regular icemen this seemed like a hassle.

[Willa]

As we all know, a lot of fear-mongering has taken place over the last couple of decades regarding refrigerants, lead paint, asbestos, etc., the end result of all of the lawsuits stemming from them. Casual exposure on the consumer's end is harmless in 99.999% of cases. I wouldn't want to work with sulfur dioxide in an industrial setting for 30 years, but encapsulated in a cooling system it won't hurt you. If the worst happened and the system developed a leak, open the windows, run a couple of fans and all will be well. If this stuff was as harmful as the lawyers try to make you think, it would have never been allowed in consumer products in the first place, even in 1930.

It can be hard to parse out the truth about "dangerous" vintage materials in their end use state. Asbestos flooring is only dangerous when it is crumbling or sanded, for example. Lead paint performs much better but can be toxic to children when not properly maintained.

There have been many lawsuits from the workers who were poisoned by materials used in manufacture - from the radium girls who painted luminous watch dials, who were encouraged to put the paint brushes in their mouths to keep the brush pointed (many died of mouth and jaw cancers at very young ages due to this). The documentary "Blue Vinyl" explored one woman's battle with her parents, who were going to get vinyl siding put on their house. She did a bunch of research, which included interviews with workers in Italy from a vinyl siding plant whose exposure to chemicals there gave many of them cancer. The finished material may be somewhat inert - like plastic - but a horrible, poisonous blend of materials is used to create the inert substance. Vinyl siding can't be recycled and is toxic when it burns, too. The biggest problem always stems from the Montgomery Burns type owner at the helm, who views workers health and safety as a very low priority. Also the cabals of manufacturers who conspired to create planned obsolescence to maximize profits (see: light bulb manufacturers in the 1920's).

[Manalto]

There, you've done it, Willa - talked me right out of vinyl siding.

[Mick_VT]

Nobody should use vinyl siding... It is a myth that it cannot be recycled though - a large amount is recycled every year in the US, though most people do end up throwing it in land fill instead of taking it for recycling

[1918ColonialRevival]

Nobody should use vinyl siding... It is a myth that it cannot be recycled though - a large amount is recycled every year in the US, though most people do end up throwing it in land fill instead of taking it for recycling

It can be recycled, but I've read that like some kinds of plastics, the expense and amount of energy needed to recycle it makes it hardly worth the effort. I have a feeling that in another 20 years disposal of vinyl siding will be difficult to say the least.