I've done quite a bit of digging online but have only found articles that apply to newer refrigerators. In my garage, I have a 1952 Philco round top refrigerator. It worked awesome for its entire life, but now it doesn't run. The interior light comes on when I open the door, but that's it. Does anyone here have experience troubleshooting old refrigerators? I asked my local appliance repair man about it and he gave me that "deer in the headlights" look.
I'm very familiar with automotive air conditioning systems, but I'm not an appliance repair man. I have a feeling that this will turn out to be something relatively simple, but I am unsure of where to start. I've pulled it out and done a visual inspection. Everything appears to be in order. There are no obvious signs of any component failure. Where should I start?
It is possible that this ancient beast has simply reached the end of the line and the compressor motor is just shot.
Just like a car, check the simple stuff first. You know you have power because the light comes on. From your description there is zero sound coming from the compressor, right? If so, it's either a bad wire to the compressor (easiest to check), a bad thermostat sending an "I'm cold in here don't bother to start and run" message to the compressor, a totally dead compressor, or it could be a bad start capacitor, or a starter switch, if it has one. The dead compressor is a problem but the others could be reasonably simple fixes.
Check the thermostat - it's just a switch, if you bridge the contacts in it that should bypass the mechanism and send a start message directly to the compressor. If that does nothing to change the situation . . .
I think the next easiest check is to test the start capacitor on the compressor motor- assuming it has one, and it probably does. Do this.
1. Unplug the fridge
2. find the compressor motor
3. Locate the capacitor (probably on top of the motor) I have no clue what it looks like on your Philco, often square on a fridge but might be cylindrical too. There might be two of them a start cap (usually quite a bit larger) and a run cap.
4. Short the two leads on the capacitor to dissipate the charge - it could really hurt if you don't - use a screwdriver with a stout plastic handle to do this.
5. Get out your trusty analog multimeter - you still have one, right? Set it to around 10x ohms and adjust the zero while touching its two leads together.
6. Put one lead on one of the cap's terminals and watch the meter as you touch the other lead to the other terminal. The meter should jump towards zero, briefly, and then go the other way as the capacitor soaks up energy from the meter's battery. If the meter does not move, there is an open inside the capacitor, if it jumps to the zero and stays there, you have an internal short. Either way, it will need to be replaced.
