Help with Mills 47N compressor

[sc1101]

 I'm having the Mills 47N restored and I need some assistance with the compressor pictured below. It is in tuff shape and missing the compressor motor. I'm curious if anyone has restored a compressor such as this. Here is my dilemma I'm being told I can have a new compressor system put in or restore the old one. I personally would like to restore to original but want to use the machine. The issue is that my restorer is being told by his refrigeration guy that these leak all the time and if its rebuilt it may leak refrigerant because they are prone to. Now with that said I know that a new compressor all together is the best option but I don't want to go that way if I can have the original restored and be reliable. I don't even know if parts are available to even rebuild or repair. That is where I'm hoping all of your experience will save they day.   I found an article of a member that had restored a cavalier and the compressor set up looked very similar to the Mills. I referenced the article below. The only issue is the pictures of his compressor are no longer there. I'm not sure if someone will recall what machine it was. That may be a start if we find it is the same compressor. Now if you have dealt with the mills compressor or can help in any way please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance. Seth  


http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,14781.10.html

[SIGNGUY]

It sure would be cool to be able to restore and reuse that original set up like that... sure has some cool character to it...

as far as it "leaking", I'd guess that would be just because it's old and has bad lines... but if restored, and get all the lines redone, shouldn't be prone to leaking any longer? not sure as i'm not a refrigeration guy..

I'm sure the experts will chime and and provide some usefull info.

Good lucK!

[johnieG]

No pictures huh? geeez, that's a cryin' shame...     guess you could try to contact him & ask to have the originals emailed to you or something...

[MoonDawg]

       I'm with you Seth. A large part of the value would be having the original compressor.
       Is the system empty or did the guy find a leak? Before you clean that unit look for areas that look like oil has blown though.
       My guess is that he is referring to the O rings inside that may develop leaks.
       There is only 1 guy I would turn to at this point.........that's Eric.

[sc1101]

Johnie you were the first person I thought of when the pictures didn't pull up. When I first joined here I always thought why does this guy heckle everyone about the pictures. Over time I have grown to understand why and today have found a new appreciation for your ongoing efforts. Keep up the good work. I will try to email him tonight.

John, I really want to keep it original so I'm going to exhaust every avenue I can. Hopefully there's someone who can fix it.

I think you are correct about the compressor Glen. I think the leaking he was referring to is the seal or o ring. I just don't know if that part or parts are still available. If they are then I would think that it would work just fine once rebuilt. If it ran constantly many years ago with heavy use I would think after a rebuild it could handle me using it occasionally without issues. If you think Eric can fix it I'd love to hear from him. I hope he chimes in here.

[johnieG]

Yep..."Cloud"  based pictures are nice, until you lose the "Cloud" (Server or the link goes dead) the old style seals were natural rubber and shrink & dry-rot if not kept bathed in the compressors mineral oil.  they really don't like just sitting around.  the system can be rebuilt. all it takes is some T.L.C. ( Tender Legal Care) or ( Tons of Lovely Cash.)

[sc1101]

I kinda figured this job would require some "TLC". I'm just hoping it's not truck loads. Well if there is someone out there that can rebuild it I'm sure I will find them on here.

[MoonDawg]

        He said it "may leak".  Or it may not? 

        Have him charge it up with the understanding that you know he may or may not be sucessful.

[sc1101]

Very true. I may go that route but for piece of mind I would rather see if I can have it rebuilt first. That way it will give me a little bit more piece of mind as for reliability.