Your ability to clearly explain and illustrate is exemplary. Your tone and relaxed pace has me constantly rewatching your videos, and on the lookout for new ones. You have a gift, and a wealth of experience . Thank for finding the time to share it with others!

David, thoroughly enjoyed this CK-35 series as I do all of your restoration videos. I appreciate your comments about keeping the original start relay and the sound of the machine which is part of the experience. That’s why I was so grateful that a year ago you rebuilt the relay and serviced the start controls on my Monitor Top which is running great! Keep the fantastic videos coming!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed the video; and also very happy that your Monitor Top is still working like it should!

The relay modification process was very interesting, thank you. Field Trip to the house museum!

@davida1hiwaaynet

6 ай бұрын

Thank you Brian. I'm unsure when this will be completely restored or visible in a public area, because the owner will be doing a cosmetic restoration first. She has a full plate at the moment. It belongs to the Magic Chef Mansion in St. Louis.

Dave, Better than original on that relay. Wow!.Additionally, I sincerely appreciate that you understand and respect the "experience" restoration aspect of the machines. We've all seen re-builds and substitutions that make a working unit but in doing so part of the soul of the mechanism is lost. Sometimes it happens and it's better to have it working than not, that is for sure. When you respect the true engineering, mechanical and electric art of the mechanism and controls it is so much more rewarding. I have machines that don't look great but run and sound like new. Every time I hear a Monitor Top (or even other similar vintage machines) turn on I think of the marvel of engineering they were and still are. Thank you for sharing your art!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment! I'm pleased that you understand and appreciate the effort which goes into keeping these working in original condition. We have had people join our forum and show badly mangled examples of "retrofits" which are never well received. One of them was done because they broke a line and took it to "the wrong" repair shop. Instead of brazing the line back and recharging, they bodged the system from a mini-fridge onto the back of the cabinet. Instead of the simple fix, they butchered and bastardized it and left its now defunct compressor on top of the cabinet as a lifeless monument to how incredibly incompetent they are for doing such a modification.

An amazing video series. I haven't seen a big CK35 worked on before and I never stopped to think about the relay differentiation. Thank you for taking time to create and share this!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Rich. There are many details to these!

Sounds absolutely wonderful. I also agree with having as much of the original components as possible. Newer parts are hit or miss, or don’t fit properly at times. Also nothing beats hearing all the clicks n hums everyone else heard when it was new back in the day. -Alex

@davida1hiwaaynet

6 ай бұрын

Thanks Alex! I agree that is most likely to grant longterm success when originality is retained. I have had moderate good luck with aftermarket start relays, however the few failures which have happened were catastrophic and presented a fire risk.

Awesome David: Your attention to detail and knowledge make this and all your videos great to watch and learn from. Thank You!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thank you!

I like my vintage appliances the same way you do -- bone stock. I'm completely in awe of you skills as a monitor top technician. Your videos are perfect just the way they are. Don't change a thing!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thank you!

I love watching you work. It inspires mem to do repairs. I learn so much from you. Thank you and God Bless.

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the comment!

Excellent video David! I have learned so much from you. I can't thank you enough!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for your comment! Glad my videos are helpful to you.

I dig the channel. Its not perfect video all the time but thats real life. I learn and its intresting stuff. Love your work!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it. Sometimes I need to share part of the process, but can't afford the time to make up a proper filming setup. It's sub-optimal but I manage to get the info out. I appreciate your understanding that it's just how real life works.

Glad you got this relay repaired on this fridge and it works amazing not bad at all

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks again, I am pleased with how it sounds!

How about that- I used a Magic Chef microwave to heat my coffee that I was enjoying while watching you work your magic on this machine. ;) Didn't know they had a museum. Will have to check it out someday. Only thing I'd add would be to truly emphasize that the modern replacement start devices cannot restart without waiting a few minutes. And that, if for any reason a restart is attempted, even just a brief power failure, it's going to cycle on the overload, unnecessarily stressing the antique insulation in the motor. In the absence of an available original start relay, I think I'd go with a modern potential relay before a PTC device.

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Completely agree with you on all points on the start device. I need to make a specific video about this, as well.

Sounds great!

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

Hi David - thank you for your incredibly detailed repair videos of vintage fridges. How do you go about refinishing the interior racks in these units? Does anyone ever have a shop make new ones from stainless steel or do you just have them re-nickel plated or re-chrome plated? I've also seen one video where the owner took the racks to a body shop that sand blasted them then powder coated them with a white and black speckles effect. I had a 1933 Monitor top in an apartment when I was in college - I spent a whole day cleaning the inside and outside - it had a pedal to open the door which still worked. Although at the time I would have liked the landlady to replace it, as time went on, I realized just how neat it was to have and use. It was still working fine when I graduated and left in 1970.

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Very nice college accommodation with a Monitor Top. I've sent racks off to be re-chromed, and there are shops who will make wire shelves to order; although I haven't done that. Other on the Monitor Top forum have used these services.

Thank you David for this video and all your videos, they are interesting, I agree with the others, don't change a thing! ...unless it's to see even more antique fridges 😉 I really enjoy the unusual models. I was SO excited to see this detailed job on a CK35 posted!! This is the motor that's on my 3-door, which sadly is still in a state of storage; you and I have chatted about it on the monitortop forum. So this motor in the video is headed for the Magic Chef mansion, wow, it's on my list of places to see. I also have a Magic Chef Series 1000 that I use every day; its ovens are incredibly efficient, far better than any modern stove I've used. Incidentally, I know the total weight of my cabinet and motor is 1000 pounds, from the freight carrier. Do you happen to know the weight of the motor you worked on? Thanks! Jo in Oklahoma.

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for your comment! I highly recommend visiting the Magic Chef Mansion! I was blown away at the level of detail and amount of amenities built into that home. The rest of the fridge will be restored before it is put in service, so I can't say when it will be visible, but that is where it will be once it's done! The GE manual says that the CK35 machines weigh from 175 to 195 pounds; varying somewhat by the year of manufacture. In GE's factory shipping crate the shipping weight is 265 pounds.

Thank you for sharing David Always enjoy watching ur repair video’s. How did u resolve the missing pointer on the control

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

HI Stan. I appreciate your comment! As for the pointer, I normally fill in the opening with dark colored silicone. It protects the electrically live screw, and from a distance you can't really tell the difference from an original pointer. Also the silicone can be dug out and the knob still removed if necessary.

Very nice; Amazing this little compressor has lasted pretty much, if not a century, and these geniuses now put out an “inverter linear” compressor that lasts two years, ruining countless people’s food, and wallets. (Of course all by design) What refrigerant did you go with, r114?

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment! General Electric tasked their engineers to design these for a minimum 25 year life. They didn't design them to fail after a certain number of run hours like modern ones do. This unit in the video is a 1936 model, so it is 88 years old this year. These don't go after a certain number of hours, they run until some external factor kills them. Those linear inverter compressors are the pinnacle of worthlessness. You have all the sudden-death power electronics with electrolytic capacitors to fail and leak after 10 years; along with a glorified speaker voice coil for a compressor, with high fatigue stress on all the flexing and bending parts. Totally a worthless idea on all counts. As far as the refrigerant, these were SO2 machines. R114 and then R124 were the first replacements for SO2 but both of them are being phased out and are subject to price gouging as a result. They also are poorly suitable for GE Monitor Top units because they will mix with the oil and cause dilution. I used R152A which is less soluble in the oil and won't cause the problems mentioned above. It is not a universal SO2 replacement but is very well proven in the CK Monitor Top machines.

David, Great video! I have a monitor top that I believe needs a start relay rebuild. Is this something I could remove and mail to you? Please let me know. Thank you, Mark

@davida1hiwaaynet

5 ай бұрын

Hi Mark. I can repair your relay more than likely. Please reach out to me via e-mail or Facebook Messenger. The links for those are in my channel about page.