hauling a refrigerator

When you set them on their sides, the compressor oil or lubricant will apparently either leak or move out of its normal storage position. And if startup the compressor will end up with a very messy floor and stinky room. It happened to my brother some years ago. But apparently can upright them and let them set for like 24 hours and it will drain back to... and be ok. Check with your refridgerator guy. Its only a phone call.

Kind of like my '79 Harley. If sets too too long, the oil drains down from the oil tank into the crank case. First time go to kick it, pukes all over the floor as blows out the breather. Messy.

Mark

The reason you want to haul the unit in the up right position is the system is under pressure even while not running and if you layed the unit on it's back (for example) the compressor is probably loose in it's rubber mounts and has enough room to move and will maybe break a refrigerant line thus it would need repaired. It's probably a 70% chance that you will cause a leak if hauled on it's back or side.

Hauling in the up right position there's less chance of causing a refrigerant leak.

You also need to be aware that older refer units don't fit the dollies very well (under the bottom) so take a look to be sure where you lifing from is safe.

As stated a 24hr rest period after moving will asure that all refrigerant has returned to it's correct location.

T_Bone

This refrigerator doesn't sound like a bargain to me. If your pickup gets 25 mpg and gas is $2.50 per gal where you live, it's going to cost you $60 to get it. Where I live, you can always get a used fridge for about that, and not a 55 year old one either. As someone said earlier, those old ones cost a fortune to run, so the longer it lasts the more you lose. You're also going to be spending 8 to 10 hours on the road, and you've got to count your time and the wear on your vehicle as a cost too. Even I would give that freebie a pass, and that's saying a lot.

All the best, Stan

In that case, let me expand on what Kelly Campbell said about a ramp. I knocked together a ramp out of scrap lumber a few years ago, and I've been able to load and haul just about anything upright using it. Instead of an appliance dolly, I bought one of those Harbor Freight hand trucks that have 13" pneumatic tires, and some ratchet straps. I built the ramp so that the planks are centered on the hand truck tires, and held together from underneath with 1" lumber. On the outside edges of the planks I nailed 1X1 strips so that I will feel a tire going off course before it drops over the edge. The most important thing is to figure out a way to secure the ramp to the vehicle quickly but solidly. It's wonderfully reassuring to know that the ramp isn't going to fall out from under you. I drop a long bolt through the 1" lumber at the top of the ramp and it fastens through the hole in my bumper where a trailer hitch ball would go. Whatever works is good.

If you decide to go this route (sounds like tipping the refrigerator into the bed of the truck would be easier) be sure to take the time to think it through and do it right. Guys like us are injured every day doing things just like this. You have to do things by yourself that reasonably should be done by two or three people. Most of the time you get away with it, but not always. I've been to the emergency room a few times, and temporarily incapacitated a few other times because things went bad fast. And I'm a careful kind of guy.

All the best, Stan

When it is plugged in, the compressor piston bangs the non-compressible liquid into the cylinder head and reed valves, possibly breaking a reed valve, bending a connecting rod, damaging the piston, or sticking the compressor.

Allowing the 'fridge to stand upright for 24 hours or more allows the fluids to migrate back to where they're supposed to be, preventing compressor damage.

Sometimes, when an old 'fridge or freezer that has been running "forever" is shut down for a while, or moved it doesn't function upon re-start because the "capillary tube" has corroded shut, or been clogged by sludge or debris because the filter-dryer in the system is old, and may not be doing it's job. The Freon has to flow from the condensor outlet, through the filter-dryer, and then through the capillary tube, to the evaporator, where it expands to "make cold".

The capillary tube can have an ID as small as .021", and it doesn't take much to clog it!

55 years old would make it 1951.

What's your point?

Absorption refrigerators using ammonia have been made since the 1800's, and are still being made.

Sulfur dioxide (NASTY stuff) was used in household refrigerators until replaced by Freon in the 30's.

So, ammonia and Freon refrigerators CERTAINLY co-existed in the 1950's, and the are surviving sulfur dioxide machines, even today.

Freon is a Dupont trade name. Refrigerant is the correct name. Refrigerant R717 is Ammonia, and refrigerant R764 is sulphur dixoide. All major refrigerants have a number issued by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers) for indicating the refrigerant type.

Back when Dupont developed newer chemical refrigerants, implementing the new refrigerants into the maufacturing process was too expensive so Dupont built mfg plants to produce the new refrigerants under the Freon trade name.

Since Dupont is a enity set-up to derive income from development and design of new products and patents, not manufaturing, they sold the refrigerant manufacturing facility as soon as it was profitable to United Technologies??? that produced many refrigerants under the Dupont brand name "Freon" for awhile.

In the early 1990's they were still producing some refrigerants under the Dupont Freon name, then Dupont, then several hundered different brand names. I have no idea if UT's owned all the mfg facility's and brand names or just sub-leased the refrigerant process.

Bob, Good to see another referman aboard :) You do need to remember without body language alot that is typed doesn't always mean exactly what is stated in type.

T_Bone

• Hobby farm

43