How long did YOUR freezer last?

[dirtydan]

When we had an auction of my parents place in 1999 there was an International Harvestor brand freezer that we sold. I don't remember exactly how old it was but I know it was close to 50 years. Big heavy thing. Only brought $5. No more than it brought I wish I had left it in the basement. It was tough getting it up out of there.
My freezer is a Whirlpool that I bought back in the mid eighties. Still works fine.
Dan

 

[JDgreen227]

When we had an auction of my parents place in 1999 there was an International Harvestor brand freezer that we sold. I don't remember exactly how old it was but I know it was close to 50 years. Big heavy thing. Only brought $5. No more than it brought I wish I had left it in the basement. It was tough getting it up out of there.
My freezer is a Whirlpool that I bought back in the mid eighties. Still works fine.
Dan

An International Harvestor brand freezer....SHOOT !!! That would have been worth BIG BUCKS to an IH collector these days....you sold it way too cheap !!!!

Oh, that reminded me of something that happened here back about 1992, my dad had a friend who stored stuff in my barns out here, one of them was an 8 foot long, rolling salad bar that the guy purchased at a state auction for $1. He trailered it home, stored it in my barn, then my dad had an auction and the guy put it up for sale. Somebody purchased it, and the former owner spent an hour helping take it apart so it would fit in the buyer's pickup...know what it sold for at the auction? A DOLLAR !!! All that time and work moving the thing around and taking it apart and he didn't earn anything selling it.. I still laugh when I remember that.

 

[tallyho8]

I think you meant to say manual defrost.

Yes, I meant to say one that you defrost yourself. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Bison]

I bought mine new in 79,been moved 7 times from house to house,prob 5000 mls in all.
It never lost a beat,still going strong.:thumbsup:

 

[psj12]

Old refridgerators did have the condensor and compressor on top. This was to keep the heat from rising around the fridge. The idea still applies as commercial ones are made this way. I guess the coils were moved to the bottom for looks.

 

[wolc123]

I still run the old Montgomary Ward Deluxe that my grandad bought new in 1980. After reading this thread, I got scared and went down to find it still going strong and packed to the gills with venison, corn and fish from last year The only thing we have done with it, as far as maintenence, is defrost about every 3 years. It has never missed a beat except for twice when the basement flooded, submerging the motor and compressor. When that happened, I just pulled the plug, pumped the water out of the basement, let it dry a day or two, then plugged it back in. I suppose the high-water maybe rinsed off the dust and such, prolonging its life a bit. I have heard that running a freezer in unheated areas during the winter is a bad idea, doesnt save energy, and shortens life. Temperature in my basement is always cool but above freezing and fairly uniform which I suspect may help with longevity.

 

[ultrarunner]

Ammana upright freezer 1967 and still going strong.

Grams Philco circa 1950 is working too... it only now gets plugged in for the summer...

Both are very heavy.

I see people tossing old (10 year old) appliances each year when the city has a bulky pick-up day.

I guess nothing lasts if you don't expect it to.

A co-worker has an old harvest gold refrigerator that will not die... she has tried to kill if because her husband says they are not spending money on a new fridge just because she doesn't like the color...

Where's that thread on marriage and fights?

 

[Pirate]

My coils are all below my fridge. I can clean the first row but all behind I can't. Once and while I blow compressed air to try and clean them. The best way would be to completely empty out the unit, tip it on it's back and clean from the bottom. Stupid design. I would prefer them on top or behind.

 

[ultrarunner]

Should never tip a freezer of fridge on it's side... causes all kinds for problems... most can be cured by standing the unit right side up for at least 24 hours before turning on.

 

[clemsonfor]

I still run the old Montgomary Ward Deluxe that my grandad bought new in 1980. After reading this thread, I got scared and went down to find it still going strong and packed to the gills with venison, corn and fish from last year The only thing we have done with it, as far as maintenence, is defrost about every 3 years. It has never missed a beat except for twice when the basement flooded, submerging the motor and compressor. When that happened, I just pulled the plug, pumped the water out of the basement, let it dry a day or two, then plugged it back in. I suppose the high-water maybe rinsed off the dust and such, prolonging its life a bit. I have heard that running a freezer in unheated areas during the winter is a bad idea, doesnt save energy, and shortens life. Temperature in my basement is always cool but above freezing and fairly uniform which I suspect may help with longevity.

I wonder if all those folks throughout the south and apalachia with the frezer on the porch from the 60s or 70s had a problem with theres outside? I have seen many houses in the moutainous areas of SC with the freezer on the porch. I always thought this is why the key lock was on some models, to either keep the neighbors honest in hard times or to keep the kids out of it in the summer, maybe neither is true?

In my farm house, which my dad gave me last year on our family land, is the old refrigerator that my grandpartents got somewhere. It sits on the unheated/cooled closed in porch. Its a frigedare model from the 40s or 50s i think its the one with the one handle that pulls out and the whole rounded door opens, there is just one freezer box on the inside of that door. They had one just like it on pawn stars a couple months back. IT still runs and kept cokes in it as i was growing up, it always seemed to keep the drinks colder than the indoor fridge for some reason, maybe mind over matter. I think back then they had chlorine gas in them for freon, i think?

 

[bironacad]

Back in '92 I paid $365 with tax for a new GE 15 cubic foot chest freezer, it died from compressor failure three days ago. I went and purchased a new Kenmore, same size and type, $394 with tax, and switched them in a timely enough manner I only lost about $30 worth of food.

I really thought the GE would give me more than 19 years of service, and the salesguy told me the new models today have smaller compressors so the makers can claim they make the "Energy Star" rating, and he further said I'd be lucky to get 14 years out of the new one.

A lady I know tells me the chest freezer in her garage is at least 50 years old and it's still running okay, probably a real energy gobbler but the purchase price was long amortized.

If it hadn't been such a rush deal to save $400 worth of meat and if getting a replacement for my compressor was a DIY job I would have preferred to salvage my old model.

Any comments? Thanks.

The $ spent in energy consumption for any fridge or freezer over 15 years old will pay for the new unit in $ saved. The new efficient models will pay off in a relatively short time. So not to worry you will be saving money soon.:thumbsup:

 

[JDgreen227]

My coils are all below my fridge. I can clean the first row but all behind I can't. Once and while I blow compressed air to try and clean them. The best way would be to completely empty out the unit, tip it on it's back and clean from the bottom. Stupid design. I would prefer them on top or behind.

I have found an ideal tool for cleaning below appliances is a long handled poly duster...or some call they poly brushes...they have thousands of tiny polyester bristles, dust sticks to them and you can pull out a LOT of debris, and dislodge what is left to make it easy to use a vacuum wand to get the remainder. And believe me, NOTHING works better than the poly dusters for cleaning spoked car wheels, they cost a fifth of what fancy wheel brushes do and work so much better.

 

[clemsonfor]

The $ spent in energy consumption for any fridge or freezer over 15 years old will pay for the new unit in $ saved. The new efficient models will pay off in a relatively short time. So not to worry you will be saving money soon.:thumbsup:

But does that take into account that you will buy one every 8 -12 yrs!

 

[JDgreen227]

But does that take into account that you will buy one every 8 -12 yrs!

GOOD ONE...!!! :thumbsup:

 

[32 chev]

Our old coldspot was purchased new in 1947-1949 and is still running strong.

 

[SPIKER]

Sulfur dioxide

Anhydrous Ammonia was one of the first ones used due to the low evaporation/condensation rates. Quite dangerous but worked great, still used for /in commercial ultra cold freezers I do believe.

interesting fact about alaska pipeline, where they crossed marshy areas they used sealed ammonia cooling towers to keep the permafrost frozen, the low temp of the evaporation & condensing during winter the gas condenses falls into the bottom into the warmer ground cooling the ground it then re-evaporates and floats up to the top of the cooling tower where the ultra low winter temps causes it to condense & cool drop to the bottom cooling the ground more. in the summer it stops due to the gas does not condense into liquid. see here
Pipeline Engineering

we had one of those big half round fridges growing up that if you held the door & pulled the handle with the other hand you were zapped happened without fail hahaha it was always fun to get one of you school buddies to grab a cold drink & set back & watch the show.

I have a set of washer & dryer at the farm both are sears kenmore circa 70's going strong, yet we have gone through a washer and dryer at home every 5 years it seems. even fixing them myself they are just junk... GE one we had last time lasted 3 weeks & soemthing died. all sophisticated and sent back to LOWES they were good though they wanted to give us the same type and I said NOPE this one died for a reason (it was one of those new low water use with a low rise agitator which didnt clean the cloths at all.) They had some others in same price range but none were of similar capacity the manager was really good and ended up letting us have a much more pricey washer & swapped them out even up. New one is also low water use but actually cleans pretty good has full size agitator but still has all the fancy electronics with automatic load sensing all you have to do is tell it what color and temp & it does the rest...

Mark

 

[buck12]

A couple of weeks ago I helped my Dad rerplace the original motor in thier 40 plus year old Kenmore Freezer. My freezer is about 14 years old.

 

[bironacad]

But does that take into account that you will buy one every 8 -12 yrs!

Welcome to the nineties

The smaller compressor size is due to better insulation therefore less heat gain thereby smaller capacity required. Scroll compressors are smaller still and much more superior to the older piston technology. Actually most manufacturing has improved significantly. A car in 1970 that had 70,000 miles was getting old today with new oils and technology we would think that is barely broken in. Things change, sometimes I have a hard time with that. It has been said that resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other guy dies, lol. The glass me thinks is half full.:thumbsup:
I noticed the price was still almost the same, what twenty years later? How does that work? Choices? I have a cousin who will build you a walk in freezer if you want to pay for it and it will last. Enjoy while you can, or don't but there are up sides.

 

[tallyho8]

We had old Servel gas refrigerators when I was young. They used ammonia for the refrigerant. You knew instantly when one sprung a refrigerant leak. You had to evacuate the house and then open all the doors and windows till it was through leaking and the house was aired out before you could go back in.

 

[tallyho8]

I think back then they had chlorine gas in them for freon, i think?

Almost all electric refrigerators and auto air conditioners also used a form of chlorine gas up until 1994. This was dichlorodiflouromethane, otherwise best known as Freon 12. It was banned because of it's harm to the ozone layer and replaced by a less harmful refrigerant.