Vernors Quikold 1400CWD

[johnieG]

Just got this Vernors Quikold 1440 CWD chest cooler in for refrigeration repairs, the exterior chassis is in very good original shape, but as you can see the liner is rotted out on the bottom, this will complicate the repairs as the evaporator coils are part and attached to the liner sides, ( very similar to an Ideal or a Glasco slider) but it can be saved.

[Eric]

wow... yeah that tub has seen better days... will you replace it?  the outside looks great.. just a lot of use obviously from the looks of the liner...

[SVOGator]

Now that’s a good looking cooler, it really does need to be saved! 

[johnieG]

wow... yeah that tub has seen better days... will you replace it?  the outside look great.. just a lot of use obviously from the looks of the liner...

Yes, the liner will be reproduced & replaced & the cooler converted from it's convection cooled / chilled inner walls to an air-cooler evaporator & fan unit, it will be more efficient & easier to service in the future.  plus the insulation will be replaced as well.

[johnieG]

Now that’s a good looking cooler, it really does need to be saved! 

It's a unique flavor/brand too.... Vernors is a sweet Ginger-ale from Detroit, the formula is from the U.S. Civil war era. for those of you who don't know

[johnieG]

wow... yeah that tub has seen better days... will you replace it?  the outside look great.. just a lot of use obviously from the looks of the liner...

the liners condition was caused by the use of Ice in the tank which wasn't designed to hold water ( this is a dry-chest) probably after the compressor stopped working sometime in the past, there was even a small cork plugging the condensation drain inside the tank ( still in place)

I've seen the same damage to Glascos & Ideal sliders that were victims of Ice use as well. 

[Eric]

keep us posted on the progress of this project... great cooler.. it should be saved.. nice survivor.

[johnieG]

Yep, plan to... for those of you who've ever wondered what a quikold system looks like, welcome to my nightmare...

Here's the tank removed from the chassis, as you can see it's a jungle of evaporator tubing, this setup built like a slider on steroids, I've already compared the Quikolds tank dimensions to that of a Westinghouse WD10 / WD12 chest coolers tank, the Westy's 1/4" too wide & 1-1/4" too short in length, the depths the same at 16" though... too bad it wont fit as  I have a reproduced Westy WD12 tank already fabricated in storage

[johnieG]

with the tank pulled you can see the inside / bottom pan has faired no better, interesting to note that Quikold used 1/2" x25" strips of homesote insulation board ( a type of fiberboard made from treated paper fibers) to form the bottom support rails for the tank itself, while Westinghouse used oak 2-1/2" x 4's to hold their tanks in place underneath in the WD10 & WD12 post WW-II chests plus many other models.

as you can see it didn't hold up very well when wet...     But the whole outer shell of the chassis is solid & rust-free  so some good fortune here.

[johnieG]

Well, the machines been disassembled down to the bones , getting the rotted floor-pan out relatively intact to use as a pattern for the replacement wasn't any fun, but fortunatly the sides of the Quickold can be removed by removing some nuts & bolts making access a bit easier, now it's time to start installing some shiny new sheet metal

[Jim]

You've really rolled up your sleeves and dug in on this project...
Well done on resurrecting another one ! ! !
Thanks for sharing!

[Eric]

Looking good! Great work... will keep watching!

[johnieG]

Ok, reassembly has begun after some test-filling & tweaking the sheet metal for a better fit,  The replacement bottom pan sits nicely now, So form the earlier pictures showing how the old floor pan which originally supported the tank on a series of side-ways stacked set of Homasote boards ( as opposed to 2" x #3" wood slats  such as used by Westinghouse chest machines & others) as you can see that really didn't hold up very well once it got wet,  So I'm adding som 2-1/2" x 1/8" aluminum slats for support of the new floor pan, then I'm adding 2-1/2" of Pink closed-cell foam insulation for the tank to sit on, now this can cause some annoying "squeaking" in a compressor cooled machine as the tank vibrates & rubs on the pink foam when the compressor kicks on & vibrates the tank, ( yes I've gotten complaints of this ) so I've learned to put a thin layer of un-faced bat insulation between the two to help cushion it

Mind you that these pictures are taken as I'm fitting & cutting the pieces to fit,  the tanks outside will be sprayed with a truck bed-liner coating to help prevent condensation from directly attacking the galvanized tank, plus it helps with sound-deadening,  the floor pan will be painted semi-gloss black underneath & also undercoated on the top-side, the gaps between the foam & chassis sides will be foamed / caulked to prevent air infiltration & help reduce sweating on the tanks bottom & insulated sides

The hole near the bottle crown chute is for the tanks drain fitting & the opposite sides hole is for the new condenser coil assembly's refrigeration tubing & electrical feeds from below.

[johnieG]

A few more pics...

[johnieG]

Here's a sneak peek at the new evaporator coil assembly... I could have used a retro-style Vendo V63 dog house style evaporator, but settled on this unit, I've use it in the past on othe projects & it's a very reliable setup , it pulls warm air in the front & exhausts the chilled air out the back & both sides, so it chills the box evenly , plus it's adaptable for either a 'Cap tube system or a TXV setup

[Jim]

That's a pretty "cool" evaporator setup!  Interesting that it's curved/rounded along the ends. That will look nice inside!

[MoonDawg]

That evaporator setup beats the 63 style in so many ways.   
Can I ask where you buy them?

[johnieG]

That evaporator setup beats the 63 style in so many ways.   
Can I ask where you buy them?

sure...personal message sent

[johnieG]

Well I've gotten the tank back from the bed liner coating shop, so now it canfinally get ready to be re-installed, a hole for the drain, one for the new refrigeration lines & its  rubber seal, the new foam bottom insulation is foamed in Place & the fiberglass mat for the tanks bottom is cut to fit.

unfortunately the water damage from the leaking tank put a bunch of pin-holes in the condensing lines & the condenser itself, so the machine will receive an entire new cooling deck as well...

[johnieG]

Well I've got the main / side insulation in (with the help of the old cardboard trick) and the tank in place, the height ( top edge of tank) is perfect thanks to the 2-1/2" of bottom rigid foam board..   next is drilling the liner to accept the lids slide-rails & next we install a backing plate to help support the new evaporator that will hang off of the rear-wall of the tank, then it' son to the refrigeration system.

as a note the main insulation is bare ( no vapor barrier or facing paper) & I used an R-15 / Owen-Corning "Pure Safety"  brand, it's formaldehyde free, with  no Volatile HFC's or organic fumes & it's 65% recycled content, plus it doesn't shed any scratchy glass fibers. it's really soft & easy to work with.

so now the machine has its nice new shiny tank liner!

[FlaJunkie]

...so the machine will receive an entire new cooling deck as well...

Did you use one from a refrigerator? Has anyone ever done that?

[johnieG]

No, the compressor deck shown in the prior pictures is a new unit.

I don’t install used compressors.  I know some other people have installed old refrigerator units to replace bad compressors because I’ve repaired a few machines it’s been done to. I don’t recommend it unless it’s an identical model from an identical machine.  Otherwise you’re mixing bad apples with a lemon. 

[FlaJunkie]

No, the compressor deck shown in the prior pictures is a new unit.

I don’t install used compressors.  I know some other people have installed old refrigerator units to replace bad compressors because I’ve repaired a few machines it’s been done to. I don’t recommend it unless it’s an identical model from an identical machine.  Otherwise, you’re mixing bad apples with a lemon. 

Cool. The replacement compressor assemblies don't look too expensive.

[johnieG]

Here's the new Evaporator mocked up & ready for the lines to be brazed to the compressor deck down below, the blue color is just a protective plastic film that peels off after you are done mounting the unit.

The straps you see are just some cargo straps I'm using to clamp the lid-rail in place while I drilled some pilot holes for the new mounting screws, ( which worked out very well)

[cohammer]

That’s a lot of good looking copper tube work

[johnieG]

Well finally wrapped up the Vernors Quikold 1400WD

it's cooling like a champ & quiet as a kitten purring...  I've decided that the new evaporator style will be used in my future rebuilds, they have a smaller version that will make a nice conversion for an Ideal-55 or a Glasco-50.

I ended up moving the T-stat topside for easy access, plus I wont have to worry about the hot compressor area in the summer effecting the control range if it were mounted down below. the biggest pain was tweaking the bottom lid back to some resemblance of squareness so it wouldn't bind in the tracks, the core of these lids is plywood, so they can warp quite a bit. now they slide easy & seal well, I had to add some plastic glide strips along the side-edges to reduce the metal on metal friction, worked like a charm.

[johnieG]

Pic of the compressor compartment, the plastic tray to the far left is a substitute for the missing original cap-catcher , not show is the drip tray.

[Eric]

Great work... it's ready to go another 60+ years!

[johnieG]

Thanks Eric, it’s been a fun project, BTW for those of you who pm’d me regarding the compressor unit, it’s a Copland R134a 1/5 Hp 950/btw model in conjunction with 99” of SUPCO#2. Capillary line , that along with the higher efficiency evaporator assembly, it’s running 33 degrees F at the #4 setting on the T-stat,    also I replaced the old cork thermal tape under the top trim pieces with a thin closed cell foam tape to keep the heat transfer from sweating up around the upper trim.  & between the tank liner & the lid support stainless steel channel.

[cohammer]

That’s a great cooler , not many around for sure .