Vintage refrigeration compressors

[P1001AT2]

you should keep these and reuse them because they will last a lifetime unlike moderne junk which breaks in 10 years or so if id did not break until today it will not break tomorow

[jonasgu97]

can you explain me why there comes oil out ? because normally there is only gas in it.

[orlandotech]

@jonasgu97 oil is distributed along with the refrigerant in all air conditioning/ refrigeration systems. The oil that was spraying out of the discharge line is normal. It is just a mist of oil and not a slug of liquid when it runs unless the fridge was tipped up on it's side and then immediately turned on after standing it up normally. This is why you should let a refridgerator stand upright for approx. 10 hours or so after laying it down before up plug it in and run it.

[therealKINDLE]

Oh I miss my miniDV Camera. I remember the quality was stunning. We've said goodbye to tape for Digital compression, & yet we owe so much to Magnetic tape. And the quality isn't anywhere NEAR as good. Yet they charge us higher prices. These 2 compressors are of unique & inspired design. And they really do look the business when in action! Great video with all the detail I was itching for!

[shades2]

Interesting.. thanks.

[Palominostudio]

Those pancakes were easy to service after a burnout.

I had the stator rewound by motor people, put it back in and it fired up.

Welded it up with a CO2 purge, ran it and let it suck in fresh oil of the same amount I had taken out.

Put back in the Kelvinator and it ran, never saw the fridge again!

[timerider4]

3:10 oh wow. Framerate of the camera has a nice effect on it.

[James1095]

Where did you find a scrapyard with all those compressors? I've been looking for a few old fridge compresors but the last place I took scrap metal to didn't have any. Did they charge you for them?

[bastbse]

Lol try the same thing with a 5hp :)

[phonicsquest]

What is the name of the gas used?

[tesla500]

@phonicsquest The refrigerant I used was R152 from a bottle of dusting gas.

[Bigrick356]

I have that exact same pancake compressor and it runs excellent. Alot of air flow. Its sort of loud. I plan on using it as a tire pump.

[airconguy1]

I have a Kelvinator Cyclic 340 with a pancake compressor! It starts VERY quiet then gets a little louder. Ive had it sitting for over a month and started it up, yesterday, it had been running for about an hour and the WHOLE of the return line had iced. The evaporator was -30c (in the fridge) and was the same in the freezer!

[AcaAllertor127]

if there were hundreds i would have taken as many as possible!

[ICUC007]

VERY NICE. Thank you

[97bosko]

i've got a 62 year old fridge compressor and it works perfectly, do you have any idea how long it will last?

[airconguy1]

@97bosko About till the next millenium!

[douro20]

Both of these compressors are in excellent shape.

[coolbluelights]

wow I found one of those pancake compressors out in the woods back in '01, got it apart by cutting around that seam with a manual hacksaw :P mine was a LOT louder than the one you have though. looks like yours has some kind of muffler on it, mine didn't. and I ended up throwing it out a few years ago. really cool vid!

[fredlezonard]

i use one of them as an air pump for tires (i've got to build a new one ) and i'd like to know what is that oil inside it and if i have to remove the freon

[140hp]

I've got a coke cola machine in my garage with a pancake compressor and it still works

[risjnet]

Excellent video, very nice! thanks for upload this

[DragonFlyback256]

Very cool compies. All seem to have 4 pole motor. Is that infrared light on your cam right?

[tesla500]

Thanks! All these old compressors seem to use four pole motors, the slower rotation probably leads to higher reliability than today's faster two pole machines.

Yes, that's the infrared nightshot mode.

[jackfortunato]

I have a 46 crosley shelvador compressor.......it has 3 terminals, white, black, green. I want to use it to make compressed air for a furnace gun I'm bulding, but can't figure out how to start the motor. The fridge is gon, I have the motor, relay and chassis only. It looks just like the big cylindrical motor you did just now, any ideas, thank you, Jack

[locohog91]

can u make a vidoe of the fan on the wall in th back? great vidoe , now i knwo how these work better

[NOmeansnoFAN]

Great channel you have here!

As a refrigeration mechanic I can tell you that the oil coming out of the discharge tube is the proper function. The oil circulates with the refrigerant. You will kill these ol' girls running them dry!

They require the oil AND refrigerant to cool themselves.

[Aussie50]

Excellent video!, what model camera are you using, the quality is fantastic!.

That pancake compressor is very similar to the ones used by Kelvinator fridge/freezers in Australia

That cylindrical one is very cool!, the old ones have lots of accumulators and mufflers on them. new ones are too simple.

[tesla500]

Thanks!

I'm using a Sony DCRTRV25 miniDV camera, nothing too special. The real secret is the video processing after the video comes off the camera. A program such as AutoGK will produce an excellent quality compressed file suitable for Youtube. I typically run a bitrate of 4Mbit/sec.

Old compressors are very cool. The slow speed and all the mufflers make them exceedingly quiet. Not very efficient though, the pancake one draws the same power no-load (150W) as my ~15 year old fridge running.

[airconguy1]

@Aussie50 Yes, the same as my Kelvinator Cyclic 340

[HDXFH]

i nthink its normal for them to spit oil because instead of using a piston ring they have a groove thet's constantly pressurized with oil to keep the piston thoroughly lubricated

[tesla500]

All the compressors I've used spit oil, but this one was quite bad initially. However, it may just have been oil accumulated in the mufflers getting blown out.

After I made this video, I took the piston out, and it actually does have a piston ring. I've never seen that in any modern compressor.

[partypalooza5]

I wish I could get my hands on some old compressors as well! They sure don't build them like they used to.

[67tr876]

wow dude thats cool i wish i could get one of them but i do not know a scap yard over hear in NJ i do thing there is one i will have to look