1952 GE Kegerator is Complete!

[Constrictor]

For those of you who have been following my progress of my door conversion of a 1952 GE fridge I got from my grandparent's basement, I finally finished the project tonight.

For the original thread, click here: Hello From New Member

There's still a few small details that I need to work out, and I haven't actually bought a keg yet to try it out, but all the cosmetic stuff is done. I got the Budweiser handle off ebay and its one of the 7" models. I originally wanted a fullsize 12" one, but after mounting it, I noticed its the perfect size to fit under the freezer door if I need to open it without hitting the tap handle. Had I gotten a 12", I would have had to keep opening both doors to get into the freezer, so that worked out nicely.

As you might imagine, these pictures don't do it justice. The paint looks a little washed out in these pictures, but its not like that in person.

Here are the pix:

[Constrictor]

[psychodad]

Looks good. One of these days I want to build one like that and convert my kegerator into a lagering cooler maybe.

[Wiggum]

Looks really nice.

[bryan73]

It looks really cool.

I have just a small question did you ever test the unit to see if it cools liquid to
the mid 30's with a thermometer? I'm sure you did but I didn't see anywhere on the previous posting. I see you said it cooled but it would be
bad if it didnt get down to the temp you needed after the great restoration you have done to it.

[Constrictor]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. This has been a fun project to do, but sadly, it doesn't end well. I dont know what happened, but somewhere along the line of painting this fridge, it decided it didn't want to work anymore. I purposely let this thing run for 4 days straight before I did a single part of this project to make sure it was running.

You can even see frost on the inside of the unit in my very first pictures of the intro thread.

Anyway, the compressor still works and I can hear liquid circulating throughout the system, but it doesnt cool at all. I double and triple checked my wiring to make sure I didnt wire something wrong and the wiring is exactly to the schematic.

I called 7 appliance repair places by me, and 4 of them wont touch a unit this old and of the three that would talk to me, all they said was it isnt worth it. R12 is SO expensive nowadays that for them to just recharge it, I got quotes upwards of $600 and thats assuming there isnt a leak or a problem with the compressor.

I guess I should have known better before I started this, but I figured this thing has been running for 55 years, why stop now? Oh well, thanks everyone and unless a miracle happens, I got myself a nicely painted, extremely heavy paper weight.

[psychodad]

Don't throw in the towel just yet. Keep in mind that you may have simply knocked a wire loose from a fan or something while doing your conversion and painting. Feel the compressor lines if they are accessible. One should be cool and one should be warm. If so the general health of the compressor is OK. Make sure the air movement over the condenser coils and whatnot is OK.

[lunkhead]

I agree with psychodad. Take a closer look at a few things. If the compressor is running and it sounds like refrigerant is flowing make sure the condenser coils have enough airflow to remove the heat. The unit had/has been sitting upright for at least 24 hours before turn on?? Make sure you haven't kinked or dented a refrigerant line either. Them old units can and still work. My parents still have a 1950 fridgidare by GM that still runs, was drinking ice cold beer from it this past weekend. My dad had painted it an off red/brown color a couple years ago so when I saw yours it was like deja vu

[BartenderPlease]

Wow, I'm very impressed! Amazing transformation from the previous to now!
You should be very proud!

[Scott Zuhse]

Impressive Oldie! Hopefully you can salvage it and acquire a decent temperature. Once you do, you will have a perfect dispensing system. The reason for this is you do not have a drip tray! You do not require one for the perfect system. Good luck with your troubleshooting.

[Constrictor]

Thanks for the kind words of support everyone. In the months since I realized the fridge wasn't working anymore, I had a guy with an R12 leak detector and he did the best he could (without disassembling) anything to detect a leak and he couldn't find any. Which means either the system isn't leaking and has another problem, or the more likely of the two scenarios, that the R12 already completed leaked out and has nothing left in it.

I did have the fridge on wheels the whole time I was working on it, but I was pushing it around alot and going over bumps and such, so its likely that there was a tube or leak somewhere that was about ready to go, and it just had one too many vibrations.

The only hint of good news is I found a guy who can give me tips on retrofitting a new compressor in the fridge. Looking at the condensor, he says that I should be able to retain the use of most of the fittings. Its still a risky project because I still don't know the condition of the tubes inside the inner walls of the fridge. I can easily get to the under side and back, but nothing inside.

I won't even consider tackling this til sometime this upcoming summer. I already have the fridge painted and pretty. And I have a big garage, so theres no reason to get rid of it. So right now, it will remain an interesting conversation piece and heavy paperweight, but there is still hope that one day it can become a kegerator!

[BigBadJohn]

Im sure you could find r12 cheap somewhere.
My uncle gets all sorts of refrigerant from old appliance stores and uses them to fix his friends old tractors