These are some of the best made modern coolers. Not many bottlers using them nowadays because they're so expensive...but retailers often request them just because they are so reliable.
Thanks for the comment! I agree that True coolers are extremely well made. Old-school engineering and heavy. They are easy to resell and buyers are always very thankful to have found one.
Knowing is caring. Relay and reduced speed fan is what one is paying for. I would have quit at thermostat and been really proud of myself. Until compressor failed. Always enjoy your knowledge and detailed explanations. Keeping it real David!
I have the exact same model here. The thermostat was changed years ago. The tech went the cheap route and did not put the correct constant cut in type. I was using a sweet spot on the setting to keep from getting ice on evap...what a pain that was . I have the correct thermostat ordered and will install it soon. Great info you provided....Thank You!
Yep, they are pretty common in all-refrigerator cabinets which have no active defrost heater. Also, in the early days, makers such as GE and Philco (and others) used them in combination fridge/freezers. These typically had a manual-defrost freezer compartment but a frost-free fresh food compartment. The fresh food side used a constant-cut-in thermostat.
Dave, it is soooo common for those thermostats to fail on these. Usually, they won't turn off and freeze things. I uses a True cooler for my personal refrigerator. True makes their own deck for the unit but is basically a Tecumseh condensing unit. Beware that some models are using electronic fan motors. They are made functionally the same as a regular shaded pole, but they fail. Both of mine did and fortunately I caught it and just changed both out. These are med temp units and condenser requires alot of air flow hence a deep pitch fan blade and higher wattage motor 1550 RPM. Yours is a slightly older model. Changing the thermostat out is a joy. Re assembling the evaporator cabinet is sometimes a fight. I would like to get that mod from you that slows evap fan so I could do it for mine if your would. One more pointer, True uses a thin wall tubing in their system. It's fine as long as there isn't any water allowed to corrode the return line. Otherwise they are good simple machines.
Thanks for the comment! Feel free to reach out to me via e-mail or Facebook Messenger and I can send you a schematic and parts numbers for the two-speed fan mod. I agree about the poor results with electronic fan motors. Totally unnecessary complication and reduction of reliability. The thermostat location is harsh in the evaporator area, and I think this one had no drip loop in the capillary tube; allowing water to run into it. When reassembling the evaporator area, I used some sheets of Nomex 410 insulation paper as a "shoehorn" to slide the parts in position without cutting into the finish on the inside of the cabinet. Still bend the light mounting plate, though. Had to do some percussive maintenance on that to get some creases out of it!
Yes, very good point. One of my best friends was almost electrocuted by one where the previous owner had done that. The outlet where it was connected didn't have any ground fault detection. The compressor motor was internally ground faulted. Due to the winding ratio of the motor, and the location of the fault, there was over 200V of potential between the body of the cooler and ground. My electrical safety shoes worked, and I felt nothing. My friend wasn't so lucky.
@@davida1hiwaaynet oh no, we all get complacent after 36 years in the trade, and my complacency reset when I get a little tingle every 5 yeas or about 😂
I used to work on this sort of stuff all the time with a school system in Florida.. The handfull of True’s we had were very reliable for the most part, but when failed, 99% of the time were this thermostat. (Not gonna lie, all of them got an A30-261, and the cap tube coiled up under the intake) What I didnt like about them were that the condenser’s got a lot dirtier being on the bottom vs the Mcall’s and Traulesen’s. Also, the wick condensate pan would overfill on these because they would turn the a/c off in the buildings during the summer.
Thanks for the comment! This one I don't think has wicks for the condensate pan. Not sure if that was newer or older ones. I do like that idea though, and have added wicks to some older coolers. Unfortunately the one place I was getting wick material no longer sells it. Do you have a source? No hard feelings about the thermostat change. If the owner is happy with the results, all is good.
No, unfortunately I never had to buy the wicks; when I had a problem cooler or milk box which overfilled, I ended up modding in a heated condensate pan. I liked the Mcalls and Traulsens because they used a discharge line coil to evaporate the moisture. Never had an issue with these for this issue,, and they were so much easier to work on. We had at the time 48 schools with kitchens; if we had a call back, we would have to work on our own equipment, so it was in our best interest to keep them in good working order. We had a lot of pass thru refrigerators, walk in coolers and freezers, and ice machines.
Yep, that was a Westinghouse water bath cooler originally. The owner wanted it converted to a dry cooler, so it got that cold wall system built for it. I actually made a video on that conversion, which I'll try to share a link for. It's a two-part video, and this is the link to part one. Check the description of part one to find the link for part 2. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zpqovrvJApE.html
@@davida1hiwaaynet I can understand why the owner might want the conversion. Back in those days, the Cokes were delightful...but the water was, shall we say, questionable.
As always David your repairs are top notch. I have a true fridge similar to this is there a wiring diagram for the two speed fan or just send voltage to the second winding on a compressor call?
Nice repair! I’m curious as to whether the fan speed reduction is achieved by a self contained device (like a ceiling fan switch)or did you fashion a reduction circuit with capacitor or resistance components.
Thanks! For the speed control, it's a TRIAC based controller. Basically a simple, plain-Jane light dimmer. In the past I've fashioned capacitive dropper circuits, but that is more tedious and less adaptable if some operating dynamics change over time.
Thanks, and I am sure you're right about the thermostats being a source of headaches on these. Several comments lament about how poor these thermostats are. Hopefully the Ranco will last a long time.
Great video. I have the exact same cooler shown. Called a repairman who said is was the compressor and quoted me $1200 to replace it. A ten dollar 3 in 1 capacitor fixed the problem until yesterday. i am replacing the thermostat. Is there some technique in feeding the temp sensor through the back of the box? Those Coke bottle handles are wanted by collectors..
Thank you. The temp probe can be inserted after putting grease on it, actually! Interesting about the Coke bottle handle. Had no idea that was desirable.
Great video - very informative! I picked up one of these last week from an auction (prob a newer model - it has an Elstat controller) but it also is not cooling. Both the condenser fan and compressor are running so I suspect it is a refrigerant blockage or leak. That exceeds my capabilities as a DIYer so I'll likely call a tech out to get it cooling again. Nevertheless, I plan to replace the start components as you recommended so it'll keep running - and save the compressor. Those things are expensive! Any recommendations on where to get those start components or any other parts for these coolers? Many thanks!
Try some PB Blaster on the tape adhesive. Can't promise you it'll work, but it has helped on rare occasion for me. It was something I tried out of pure frustration once.
On some old vacuum tube equipment that had really old inspection stickers I used Mineral Spirits. It takes awhile to soften the adhesive but seems to be fairly gentle to paint. Not sure how it would be with a silk screening.
great video, thank you. quick question, i have a similar unit and the issue that i am experiencing is that my unit gets cold but after a day or two, the upper fan still runs but it no longer is pushing cold air. any thoughts or suggestions?
Hi there. If you are getting no airflow from the evaporator fan, but the area around the evaporator is still cold, this sounds like the coil has become blocked with ice due to a problem with the cycle-defrost setup. Could be a bad thermostat, or an incorrect thermostat installed by someone who didn't know better.
Great video! Is it possible to retrofit a constant cut-in thermostats to and older refrigerator that is not frost free and have a unit that will automatixally defrost itself?
Thanks for the comment! It is not simple to retrofit a constant cut-in thermostat to a fridge not originally having one. They did sell them, such as the GE Combination models of the 50's and 60's and the Frigidaire Cycle-Matics of the same era. These were engineered with an evaporator having enough surface area to cool the cabinet in spite of warming up above freezing between cycles. The manual defrost designs needed the evaporator to stay constantly cold, for it to effectively cool the cabinet. There were many attempts to engineer self-defrosting fridges, before the current tube and fin with fan evaporator design was settled upon. Exposed, static evaporators tend to be problematic when automatically defrosted. If the evaporator is part of the freezer compartment floor, all the food packages will become stuck the evaporator each time the system defrosts and then starts back up. Coldspot and Westinghouse and probably others had this design. It was marginal at best, and disastrous at worst.
John, there is a copper line coming from the compressor which is crimped closed. There is also another similar line on the high pressure side of the system. These are called "process stems" and are where the factory evacuated and charged the system. When we repair these systems, often we cut off the crushed section and install a Schrader service valve on this tube.
Friend im having trouble with the plastic trim on my 1955 ge LB81-M restoration... everything has come out perfect but the trim seems to lift off the cabinet and i cant see how it was ever flush... my 1956 doesnt have this problem and it has a few screws hidden to hold it. Ive tried the old clips and ome newer plastic auto type clips... i either need a NOS of trim retainers or maybe a fabricate out of brass or copper sheet metal (thats my next attempt)
@davida1hiwaaynet I feel so dumb... I reviewed my before pictures and found the straps slide under the door frame edge on the 55 and on the face on my 56' ... Thank you for the response.I appreciate it. I still can't find your email. I'm gonna post a video soon of my restoration. I think you'll enjoy.
@davida1hiwaaynet do you know what pot relay I can use with the 50s style R12 GE compressors I cannot find anything to match a WR7X21... I called EVERYONE from GE to Mars to Grainger... I see plenty of replacement but I don't want to blow it.
I have a coke model with the ems55advanced controller. It stopped cooling and I have tried some programming. The compressor starts briefly after it restarts then it kicks out. Any recommendations?
Thanks for the comment. The switch box device has a double-break safety switch to be used as a test tool. The switch breaks the power to the outlet on both live and neutral. The Kill-A-Watt meter has an additional wire added to it which is routed from the "metered" side of the meter and out the rear of the meter through a drilled hole. It goes to the switch and then the test outlet. Need to do a video on this tester!
