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shanes696
10-12-2005, 11:13 PM
Am I just lucky with home appliances or am I just too tight to buy new ones? :D I bought my Indesit fridge/freezer (on R12) 2nd-hand back in '92 & it's still working perfectly. Haven't had to touch it. The same goes for a Hotpoint washing machine bought 2nd. hand in '95 (have had to put new brushes on the motor on that though, but that's it) & a microwave I bought new in '92 (although I don't stand in front of it when it's running for fear of nueking my internal organs:D ). Anybody else found or owns fridges that are older & still working?

Abe
11-12-2005, 01:01 AM
Im a fridgy...........
My Zanussi is 20 years old
And works like a DREAM

But..............I religiously clean the condenser every spring
And Ive changed the stats twice

Twin compressors still working like new

Abe
11-12-2005, 01:03 AM
I forgot to add

I got the fridge off a customer...........( second hand)
because he couldnt pay the bill !!!

Yes...........I can get a swanky new fridge....with ice maker an all............But what the heck...........

Abe
11-12-2005, 01:05 AM
My Hotpoint washing machine kicked for over 10 years or so...........just brushes and stuff

Last year I replaced it with a Bosche...

slingblade
11-12-2005, 12:48 PM
I have a peculiar tale to tell which is slightly related to this topic. i have a whirlpool american style frost free(the one with the ice maker). this unit was introduced to me via service call, as it was not working at all. i traced the problem to the main pcb as the compressor relay would not pull in. phillips wanted best part of £200 for a pcb. i desoldered the relay and replaced it with similar from rs components. it worked fine for two days and did the same. i then replaced to board and again it worked fine for two days and the relay blew. phillips replaced the board under warranty and (yes you guessed it) two days later, relay fault. the odd thing was the compressor showed no signs of any problem at all, current draw o.k pressure/temps. o.k. my customer then decided to replace with a new unit. this dead unit sat in my workshop for a few days awaiting disposal. the thought struck me that i could bypass the pcb. the only problem was control of the fridge temp. however the fridge is controlled via an air flap from the freezer on a different pcb and thermistor. the main compressor/fan/defrost pcb was removed and replaced with 1 ranco thermostat (set -20 c sensing return air) 1 ranco standard defrost clock and some 3 core flex.the original fan, def. heater and cut out klixon stayed the same. the unit has been working very well for the last 18 months and is currently in my garage full of beer and frozen food.
the moral of the story, new technology is very well and good but old can be better.
my sister has 2 lec 5 foot uprights (1 fridge and 1 freezer) both on r12 estimated 15/20 years old, never gone wrong.

Snowman123
12-12-2005, 12:55 AM
Re Hotpoint washing machine, have done the brushes now onto main drum bearings. £20 for the two of them and the inside one is a nightmare but have bashed it out with big hammer. Fridge/freezer wise come back R12, the R134a blocks the driers giving the short of gas symtoms :mad: . The best domestic fridges are the ones with ice box in the top small 2* freezer section for the under counter or worktop ones. Chill down to -4deg c. Good for the summer as they keep beer and wine very cold :) .

davidchesson
06-06-2006, 10:49 AM
In the early 1980s I was working for Comet as a DA engineer where I was asked to remove the compressors from a badly damaged Scandinova fridge/freezer for use as service replacements on other machines. When the time came to dispose of the damaged carcase I looked at it and realised it would fit in my kitchen with the damage hidden and propped up by the wall so I spirited it home and replaced the compressors with units that had been removed and scrapped by colleagues from other customer units for being too noisey. That machine is still working in my kitchen to this day and has only had one fridge thermostat replacement to date. I have never moved it in all that time so heaven only knows what the conditions are like behind it!

Andy W
06-06-2006, 12:04 PM
Regarding the american type with the fancy electronics etc, I have always wanted to adapt an Elliwell to do the job, at one time I did toy with the idea of designing a standard universal set of electronics for all frost frees as a remote module attached to the back out of the way.

Dan
06-06-2006, 11:59 PM
Not a Fridge, but then I was still in college when we bought the old Fedders 2-ton window unit. The fan I cannot comment on other than its rhythms and waves rocked me to sleep before and during my earliest memories. My mom just sent this:


We are having a hot spell and Murphy's Law is in operation, The big AC
in the sunroom has given up the ghost and the technician says he doesn't
recommend putting in a new compressor, I wonder why---we just bought it
in 1968, Our window fan is older than you are,

S_Line
11-06-2006, 09:10 PM
I bought a Bosch Freezer 5 years ago and its Game over :(

-23 turned to -20, then -18, then -10 over a few days :(

Seems like a leak,
Oh well 5 years for a Appliance is good going for this day and age.

billyfridge
11-06-2006, 09:47 PM
Regarding the american type with the fancy electronics etc, I have always wanted to adapt an Elliwell to do the job, at one time I did toy with the idea of designing a standard universal set of electronics for all frost frees as a remote module attached to the back out of the way.

l've been looking at modifying frost free's for a couple of years Andy, but the wiring and PCB layouts are so varied it's almost impossible to do this on site....some f/free's even have photo electric cells that turn the internal light on and off. the only way l can see is to learn how to repair PCB's:confused:

Electrocoolman
23-10-2006, 12:32 PM
On the subject of old units....I've got an Electrolux fridge freezer (TR1241? Swedish made) bought in 1976(?) ....before VAT went on everything.
Its in daily use and has twin danfoss compressors. Hope I'm not tempting fate, but its never let us down or had anything done to it in 30 years!

Adrian

Niculin_Dumitru
31-10-2006, 05:11 PM
My parents have one refrigerators at home (with freezer 2star compartment) one dor 25 years old and its still working. But it takes at least 2-3 Kw per day and it become noisy.
They have changed only the door gasket 6-7 years ago.