Vintage fridge repair?

[Kozmic]

Any DIY vintage fridge help in here? I picked up an old Frigidaire fridge for the shop. Early 50's I believe. It's in good shape cosmetically, the seller told me it runs, but the cord was damaged, so it needs a cord. Well, it was a bargain, and I figured I could fix it. Well, of course they lied. the cord was damaged, but the start relay is gone too. So someone was working on it. I bought a start relay, but the compressor doesn't want to run. It pulls very high starting current, 40+ amps.
I assume The compressor will need to be replaced. It's a 1/9hp meter miser. I could just scrap it, but I kinda like it.

 

[carlaisle]

Compressors from that vintage typically had stupid high starting currents. Don't assume it's bad until it proves it won't run. Those old compressors were built to last, unlike anything you can buy today at any price. I know where there's a deep freeze that was purchased new shortly after WWII that has been in constant use since it was installed. Other than being turned off for a couple of days twice a year for defrosting, it's been in continuous service for over 70 YEARS.

 

[BillK]

Compressors from that vintage typically had stupid high starting currents. Don't assume it's bad until it proves it won't run. Those old compressors were built to last, unlike anything you can buy today at any price. I know where there's a deep freeze that was purchased new shortly after WWII that has been in constant use since it was installed. Other than being turned off for a couple of days twice a year for defrosting, it's been in continuous service for over 70 YEARS.

Agreed. We have an old Coolerator in our attached garage for sodas etc. My inlaws purchased it new in 1950 !

It has only been unplugged when we moved it here from their house and like you say for defrosting once a year or so

 

[American Locomotive]

First, verify you actually have the starting gear wired right. Check the winding resistances. The start winding to commom will always have a higher resistance than the run winding.

There's a guy on YouTube who specializes in old fridges. He has found that sometimes if its been sitting for a very long time, the compressors can stick. He will often briefly whack an old fridge with 240v (just a couple of seconds) to get the compressor unstuck, and then it will be fine after that on 120v. He recently had to hit a very old GE (like 1930s) with 400v to get it unstuck, but it was fine after.