NOT A, but i need your help!

[MrTube]

First off let me apologize for posting this here. This is one of the few forums where I post regularly. I also know there are MANY skilled people here.

I am restoring a 1933 GE monitor top refrigerator (hey, same era as an A). And I am at the point where I need to do some painting. I have hardly painted anything before and I have one chance to get this right.

I sand blasted the top, compressor and condenser (they are all steel). After sandblasting down to bare metal I used a primer I had on hand which was Seymour MRO industrial primer. I contacted seymour regarding this and have confirmed Appliance epoxy paint will work great with this primer.

So anyway I am not sure the best way to spray this. If I should paint the inside of the condenser and compressor dome first, and then work my way around, or what.

The top (which includes the compressor and all) is ontop of a home made box to support it and cover the evaporator while I do all of the work. The pictures where it is brown is after the sandblasting and priming. A friend did the priming and it came out really really clean.


Here are some pictures of what i'm working with to give you an idea.









Again, I'm sorry for posting this here as it is a little out of place. But I really don't know where else to go. And I'm hoping a few of the A'rs might find this interesting.

I know everyone else in my age group "29" think i'm out of my mind.

[ford1]

hey i love those old period pieces, i think i would have had it powder coated

[MrTube]

I had thought about that.
But I don't think its possible. the compressor and condenser are filled with oil and refrigerant. Doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to bake it

The cabinet is porcelain enamel so only needs touch ups around the edges.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I think I would spray the inside of the condensor first, then the outside. Just like a radiator, keep the paint thickness down for the best cooling.

I have two refrigerators just like that. Where I used to work I had one to keep the lunches cold. One day,when the boss bought a new scope he kept unplugging my refrigerator and plugging in the scope, then switching back to the refrigerator. I told him he can't do that as the refrigerator needs time before being replugged, or it will burn out. The boss, being the jerk he was, burned out the refrigerator.

[Keith True]

I've painted a few of those for a man that used to restore them.He always had me paint the outside,or visible parts,and told me to leave the inside alone.He said he would hit it with a rattle can.He felt light protection would be enough as they would always be in a good environment,and his main concern was heat transfer through all those fins.He liked that mile deep look on the outside,but did not want thick paint holding in all the heat.I have one in the cellar like that I have planned on doing for over 20 years,but the old boy I painted them for has died.He was the refrigeration guru on them.My coil is open on the sides,you can kind of look through it,it is not smooth sided like yours.

[mass A man]

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Be careful with the coils. The refrigerant is HIGHLY flammable. I've worked on dozens of these. Many variations and all sorts of accessories. They ALL came with small black, hard rubber "feet" that fit onto the end of legs. I think I still have a set of the G.E. glassware that came with them also.

[peters180a/170b]

Looks pretty nice. Would go good with Timothy Kelly GE Deluxe service pickup or his GE TownCar Delivery. Anyway its looking good and follow what you said. Work from the inside out and then around. Would like to see after you finish. People said the same thing when i started collecting old stuff at age 23. WHAT DO YOU NEED WITH THAT OLD JUNK..I still have alot of the OLD JUNK . $$$$ today !

[MrTube]

Thanks for the responses.
I am planning to keep the paint as thin as possible. But will have to do a few coats to cover the dark brown with white.

Tom : thats a shame about the one your boss burned out. A man by the name of Mike Arnold from Troy NY rebuilt my relay in early 2007 using a solid state replacement that has built in overload protection. It already tripped once when I fired it up for the first time in 3 years and the float stuck. Nothing was harmed, the solid state relay is MUCH more sensitive to overload then the original mechanical one, which didn't even get close to tripping.

mass A man: I have more fear of the Methyl Formate then I do for gasoline . I have 4 recently made reproduction black feet for it as well as a reproduction door gasket.

Do you guys think using the appliance epoxy paint is my best bet? I want something that is very durable and will hold up for many many years.
Whatever I will do will most likely come in a spray can as I do not know anyone that can spray it for me.

btw. Mike Arnold unfortunately died in late 2007. I feel very lucky I had a chance to meet him. He was known as "mr monitor top" to most people.

[tuneman]

Beautifull box, That and the washer next to it bring back a lot of memories for me!

[Special Coupe Frank]

Sad to hear about Mike's passing; he spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me once, giving me some helpful "direction" with my own Monitor-Tops; I have a 1933, just like the one in question here (and I am seeking another temp control unit for it: the bakelite box with the two knobs, if anybody has a junker...), a later one, c. '37, and a '28 or '29 sulfur-dioxide unit; all still function.

My 1933 has exactly the same paint issue on top. I am planning to paint with Rust-oleum appliance epoxy; I've used this on other small vintage appliances, with good results. Usually right onto the bare steel (clean with lacquer thinner or brakekleen first to get all traces of oil off).

Our present everyday refrigerator is an early '40s GE that friends gave us from a relative's estate; it replaced my wife's 15 year-old Gibson that had the nerve to die one holiday weekend about five years ago...

Now, if I could just talk the wife into a gasoline-powered Maytag wringer-washer...

[Tom Wesenberg]

"Now, if I could just talk the wife into a gasoline-powered Maytag wringer-washer... "

Are her arms broken? What's wrong with the old washboard? LOL

[MrTube]

Originally Posted by Special Coupe Frank

Sad to hear about Mike's passing; he spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me once, giving me some helpful "direction" with my own Monitor-Tops; I have a 1933, just like the one in question here (and I am seeking another temp control unit for it: the bakelite box with the two knobs, if anybody has a junker...), a later one, c. '37, and a '28 or '29 sulfur-dioxide unit; all still function.

My 1933 has exactly the same paint issue on top. I am planning to paint with Rust-oleum appliance epoxy; I've used this on other small vintage appliances, with good results. Usually right onto the bare steel (clean with lacquer thinner or brakekleen first to get all traces of oil off).

:

I've wanted a monitor top since I was around 9 years old (late 80s). It took a LONG time but I finally tracked down what it was, and where to find one in 2007.

In the end, I really want a 1935 model with the round plate and controls mounted on the condenser. A 34 model is close, but not perfect, and as you know my 1933 model is very different.

When I first spoke with Mike he was surprised my door is hinged on the left and not the right. He said this makes it a very rare version and the fact its from 33 makes it rare to start with.

Frank : I have a slim but small chance I can track down the controls for you. I know someone that recently had a problem with his 33 and broke the refrigerant line on the back (something Mike warned me about early on).
I sent an email and will let you know.

After talking to everyone here, i'm kind of wishing I didn't use primer. I guess I should have sandblasted it and put a coat of the epoxy paint right on the steel? Will the primer give the paint a better chance of sticking, or is it just added insulation at this point?

[Keith True]

The primer will help,at this point it is done,and where you are going to use rattle cans I would not worry about it being too thick.I don't remember what is in mine for refrigerent,but for some reason ammonia and water comes to mind.When I used it over 20 years ago every couple of years it would lose its cool.I would stand it on it's head overnight and the combo would remix and I was good for another couple of years.The man I painted them for was going to change mine over to another kind if refrigerent with different components but never got to it.My plan was to tie this up in the back of my A pickup for shows,but I found I only like shows to see other people and cars,not to show off what I have.

[MrTube]

Keith : It sounds like your thinking of absorption refrigeration which uses ammonia and water and I think salt? Don't know too much about it though.

There were two types of refrigerant used in the GE monitor top refrigerators. sulphur dioxide 1927-1932 and 1935-1938?

Methyl formate was used only in 1933-1934. The problem you describe is typical of a stuck float. Flipping it over for a few hours causes the float to drop and open the valve.



I've heard rumors that flipping the top of the GE upside down can cause the compressor to fall off the springs, but I have no evidence of this and will not know for sure until I get my hands on service manuals which i'm currently waiting for.

[Special Coupe Frank]

"In the end, I really want a 1935 model with the round plate and controls mounted on the condenser."

This is the later model that I have; I will get the model number and some pics... it was treated to a copper rattle-can spray job at some point, and the original wire shelves went missing... but the refrigeration side works well... I'm not certain, but I think this is a methyl-formate machine too... the "scariest" part of methyl-formate for me, is the possibility of losing the refrigerant charge, because "they don't make it any more..."

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the primer layer on your unit; the main cooling radiation for the refrigeration unit is from the steel "fins" that connect the condensing "drum" to the compressor "tank"; due to the construction, you probably can't get enough primer / paint on those to radically reduce its efficiency... that said, I'd just spray enough paint over the top and bottom (the more challenging part) to make it look good, then move on to the rest of the top.

BTW, my '33 door is hinged on the right, as you look at the ice box.

SC Frank

[Keith True]

Mr.Tube,My wife tells me it was the gas refrigerators we had that I used to flip over.That sounds more likely as I remember just rolling them over without having to be careful of the top,which I would have been careful of.That was more like 25 years ago when I lived in the woods with no electricity.The gas fridge was the beer locker.My garage was 5 miles away,and I had the old monitor in there.(Had power there too)

[MrTube]

Keith : ah, yea gas refrigerators use absorption refrigeration.

[Skeezixx]

I used acrylic enamel on my 49 Leonard

[MrTube]

Finally started working on the 1933 fridge again.

Spent time sanding and priming and sanding and priming until it was pretty good.

So far I put two top coats on. I'm using Krylon appliance epoxy spray paint. Its going to take 4 or 5 coats to complete cover it.

I did one small cover first which came out fantastic. Unfortunately I've found the rest to be far more difficult to paint. First coat was way too thin. Second coat I ended up with two runs.

I'm learning quite a bit. Lay it down too thin and its rough. Lay it down too thick and it runs. Lay it down just heavy enough and its amazing.

I'm using steel wool in between coats to take the gloss off as well as correct any mistakes I made as best I can. I've pretty much accepted the fact this is not going to come out perfect and to simply accept the best I can do.

So far with only two coats it looks better then it did when I started.

Some pictures of it with the second coat.

[Larry Brumfield]

Tube, when spray painting anything always spray "wet coats" or in other words, enough paint to gloss as applied (and of course as you have discovered; not so wet that it runs).

On the other hand, thin dry coats or as you described, "lay it down too thin and it's rough" not only are rough but a thin dry coat will have poor adhesion, i.e., won't stick well and also poor or no lustre if using paints that are supposed to dry to a gloss.

The greatest error made in spraying enamel or enamel type paints is putting too much on. A thick film is no more durable than a normal film thickness. In fact, an excessively thick film may often be less durable.



.

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by Special Coupe Frank

...Now, if I could just talk the wife into a gasoline-powered Maytag wringer-washer...

My parents had one of these when I was a teenager. Dad converted it to electric, I used the 2-cylinder gas engine to power a go-cart! That "Kick Starter" was a hoot!

[Cool Hand Lurker]

OK, so this is not Model A. But it sure has been interesting!

[MrTube]

Third coat.

Looking good IMO.













Will probably be doing a 4th coat tomorrow.

[Steve Plucker]

Keep us informed on the progress...nice restoration so far!

Pluck who has never seen one of those! Of corce everyone living where I do still uses an ice box...looks like we have something to look forward to!

Great job Mr.Tube...love it!

[MrTube]

Painting is finally done.
Will install the start relay and its newly painted cover in the morning after the paint hardens good. Need to clean up the controls and the plate for it as well.

First picture was with a flash and the color balance is way off. Its not perfect but I'm happy with it. This was the first thing I have ever sandblasted, prepped and painted.

One important thing I didn't learn until the final coat was you can look at the surface from an angle to see light reflecting off of it to see how your paint is covering.

I tried to capture the shine and gloss best I could with the pictures. The dark spots under the condenser are from light shining through the top and being blocked by the fins.











If anyone else is restoring one of these be sure to be gentle with the wires. The insulation falls off if you bend the wires and you cannot access them below the top to replace them. I used the correct color heat shrink tubing over the wires where I had to bend them.

I will follow up with pictures of the cabinet as I work on it.

[LukeDahlinger]

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Looks nice! I have a 1920s Frigidaire that I need to get busy on, but never have.

[MrTube]

I'm glad the hard part is done on this one. I have been worried about being able to do it for years.

Now the fun of trying to grind down rust spots and patch them in the porcelain enamel cabinet. I'm thinking of using the same appliance epoxy paint for the touch up. It seems like there is no real way to patch the spots with real porcelain. Although I am not sure if I should use a brush, or mask everything off and spray the spots.

The worst is the legs. The edges are rusted yet 90% of the porcelain on them is in decent shape.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by MrTube

I'm glad the hard part is done on this one. I have been worried about being able to do it for years.

Now the fun of trying to grind down rust spots and patch them in the porcelain enamel cabinet. I'm thinking of using the same appliance epoxy paint for the touch up. It seems like there is no real way to patch the spots with real porcelain. Although I am not sure if I should use a brush, or mask everything off and spray the spots.

The worst is the legs. The edges are rusted yet 90% of the porcelain on them is in decent shape.

Check with the places that repair chips in bathtubs. I'm not sure what they use, but I've seen them advertise that they can repair chips in the porcelain.

BTW, that is a cool advatar. Is that an old GE ad? And where can I find such an ad? Thanks

[MrTube]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Check with the places that repair chips in bathtubs. I'm not sure what they use, but I've seen them advertise that they can repair chips in the porcelain.

BTW, that is a cool advatar. Is that an old GE ad? And where can I find such an ad? Thanks

Tom,

Its a GE advertisement from I believe 1935. It was suggesting the Monitor Top would last longer than time. They may have been right .

I have a few original GE Monitor Top ads but unfortunately not this one. I found it under Google images.

[MrTube]

Have great news.

The racks to the 1933 fridge are currently being nickel plated by a friend.
I originally asked for zinc electroplating being thats what I've been told they were originally. My mind changed pretty fast when he asked if nickel would be acceptable.

[MrTube]

Got the racks back.

It was worth waiting so long for this. They came out beautiful in nickel. I only took a few quick pictures. There are three racks, two of which have brackets and slide out. The basket is for eggs or vegetables I guess, either way it was original to the fridge so I kept it.

I'm thinking nickel plating should hold up great.

[Steve Plucker]

I just saw in Ford News a pickup hauling one of these!

It was in a 1931 issue.

Pluck

[FL&WVMIKE]

Mrtube ...................
Years ago, a friend of mine and I were in the attic of an old auto parts store, and apparently, they also sold refrigerators at one time too. We found eight boxes of old water bottles for ice water. They were frosted green glass in a Ballerina pattern, complete with stoppers. They are the same style as a clear vineger bottle of the same time period. The ole' fellow told us that was what they were. I think that I still have a few sets around, somewhere. I don't know what refrigerator they were for.
MIKE

[MrTube]

This is an old thread and not "A" related but I recall a few members being curious on my progress.

If you wish to see how my 1933 monitor top restoration is coming along please visit the following URL. This will keep the "A"s here and the fridges where they belong.

http://monitortop.freeforums.net/thr...16-restoration