GE "Combination" Refrigerator-Freezer from 1957

[Greg G.]

I had a 1939 Westinghouse a little smaller than the one pictured below, and it conked out in 2008, just shy of 70 years in continuous operation.  The oldies of just about any make were built to last.

Wow, that looks familiar!  We had one in our household for years, last I remember seeing it was in the mid-60s.  But I thought ours said "GE", did they make one that looked similar?

[airgrabber666]

Here is a pic or two of the new "Petal Pink" '58...

[rp2813]

As they say, nothing lasts forever.

A few weeks ago the '57 Combination started making a buzzing sound while running.  I left town for a few days and when I got back the buzz was louder.  Two days later the fridge stopped running.  I found a NOS relay for it on ebay, but it didn't fix the problem.  It's likely a bad run winding on the compressor, as it tries to kick in and then quits.  The old relay (which isn't faulty) has a date of 4/20/57 on it.

So, she had a good run of almost 62 years.  Per an appliance repair guy I know (but alas he's on the opposite coast), compressors on GE refrigerators from this period and into the early '60s had failure issues early on, and most were replaced under warranty.  That would explain the replaced compressor on that nice '58 shown above.

And yes, GE produced a model that resembled the '39 Westinghouse. 

For the '58, any trim pieces that are easily broken like door shelf guards, particularly the rod across the bottom door shelf in the fresh food section and the lower piece on the freezer's door shelf (not shown above), are candidates for spares.  A good cold control is another thing to have handy, as these were the weak links on GEs from this period.  Aftermarket universal fit controls will work, but those are about as hard to find as OEM these days.  Above all, keep the condenser coil underneath the fridge clean.  Vacuum the coils or use one of the special brushes designed to clean them at least once a year; more often if it's in a dusty area or you have pets -- cats in particular.

The hunt is on for an interesting replacement fridge for beer and soda.  I've been spoiled by the elegance of revolving shelves, but it was fun while it lasted.

[Babybearjs]

We had 2 of these when I was growing up, white and yellow. used to love the shelving... they would swing out for easy access and were adjustable. and there was a 25T10 bulb in the freezer! you don't see that too much anymore. miss that model! but, now the new ones come with an Ice maker! (WOW!) how times have changed!

[LarryInMichigan]

No offense, but this reminds me of a few times in my youth when I moved into apartments and had to clean decomposing filth out of the pink refrigerators which came with the apartments.  In one apartment, the old refrigerator started failing, so I told the manager.  She obliged me by replacing my refrigerator with a somewhat newer but filthy one which had come out of a recently renovated apartment. 

Larry

[rdelius]

Are those the ones that the shelves rotated around a shaft and  were aluminium? Had one where I lived in 1966

[tubaman]

Just a thought, but do those old fridges have a motor run capacitor as that could be the problem with it?
It's a real beauty and such a shame that it has stopped working.

[AL_as_needed]

My parents had a GE "Cool-o-lator" (at least I think that's what it was called) from who knows when. It came with their first house and moved with them to their present house. I worked like a charm and only needed the occasional shut-down to defrost it in the humid summer months. Sadly it was traded in when Lowes was running some sort of promotional deal where you'd get a credit for older appliances.

[Greg G.]

In 2014 we staid at a resort in Eastern Washington that had vintage turquoise Hotpoint refrigerator and stoves in each room.

[Babybearjs]

I saw a posting through MSN about the pink appliances in the 1950's... could you live with all pink appliances in you kitchen?

[FABphones]

Common problems why many old fridges stop working is compressor issues, refrigerant.
Laws have changed re the gasses allowed since many of these old appliances were manufactured, so usually they need whatever gas they might have removed, and the replacement gas put in. After checking for leaks etc.

[andre_janew]

A new compressor that would handle the newer R134a could be installed, but it would be cheaper to buy another used refrigerator-freezer.

[AL_as_needed]

A new compressor that would handle the newer R134a could be installed, but it would be cheaper to buy another used refrigerator-freezer.

I have serviced many an old AC unit with older gasses. You'd be surprised how many people "know a guy" who has a few pounds of some ozone depleting goodness hidden away.