When did Whirlpool start go to bad?

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Reply #14

"The WCI Frigidaire machines were terrible and didn’t turn anything over, and they had reliability problems also. They also lacked tub brakes. The WCI Frigidaire washers just didn’t clean your clothes and didn’t last very long".

Those are some bold claims there you're making.Yes WCI is much maligned and rightfully so, BUT their agitators could turn over loads and clean them.

I'm thinking of the 5 vain straight vane used in WCI Frigidaire machines. The DAA could also turn loads over.

Everything else I would agree with. Cheaply built and they rusted out easily and most just didn't last.
 
The GE model Ts or WCI Frigidaire just didn’t clean as well as a Speed Queen, older Maytag, or a Whirlpool direct drive.

Both the WCI Frigidaire and Model T GE were bad machines, and when they failed they had to get scraped. Frigidaire also made a terrible high efficiency system with the agitub design. Looked like Frigidaire’s answer to the GE HydroWave (which was a terrible machine of it itself), but they used a motor used on a TR Speed Queen washer.

The tubs were plastic, but they used bottom suspension.
 
Well to me, a cheapening of could have happened during the time plastic handles replaced the metal ones, and the machines were no longer offered with independent speed selections or even separate wash and rinse temperatures...

 

 

 

-- Dave

daveamkrayoguy-2025052918064503484_1.jpg
 
 
Dave, WP offered speed selection independent of the timer cycles only on top-of-line Imperial Mark 12/18 models and a few Imperial non-Marks as I recall during the classic belt-drive era.  Direct-drive models initially had speed programmed into the timer.
 
This has been discussed over the years, but personally I think Whirlpool began to decline once they discontinued the belt drive washers. While the direct drives have proved themselves over the years, still don’t wash or rinse all that well compared to the belt drives which had a longer agitator stroke which flexes the fibers more along with spray rinses to help rinse things away a bit better.
 
as a kid,thought Whirlpool was on it's way down when they started "welded" plastic pump covers about 1978 instead of the earlier clip on ones...:) About the same time,WP went with all Emerson motors vs GE/Emerson mix.
 
Didn't Whirlpool improve the new direct drive washers with a new drive type after the older Cabrio full size models? Those had The F.P. type induction rotor/stator no? Do they still make the crappy VMW belt drive?
 
#31.

Don't know if I say I can agree with that. Been using direct drive washers for 37 years and I can compare them directly with the two belt drives I have.

It's funny isn't it? Frigidaire pulsator washers didn't really flex the clothes but just kept them spinning in the same spot continually and yet they were supposed to be some of the best cleaners.

I know one thing that the direct drive can handle unbalanced loads better then the 74 Kenmore Jumbo tub I have .
 
agiflow said:
#31.

Don't know if I say I can agree with that. Been using direct drive washers for 37 years and I can compare them directly with the two belt drives I have.

It's funny isn't it? Frigidaire pulsator washers didn't really flex the clothes but just kept them spinning in the same spot continually and yet they were supposed to be some of the best cleaners.

I know one thing that the direct drive can handle unbalanced loads better then the 74 Kenmore Jumbo tub I have .
Click to expand...
Whirlpool must've had the most advanced technology back then when the DD came out.
 
agiflow said:
Well Jerome Whirlpool definitely ushered in a pretty radical departure from what they had with the L.E.A.P. design that everyone knows as the direct drives. They revolutionized the industry with those machines.
Click to expand...
They were high-tech compared to the GE filter-flo, and from what I read they were built off a computer-driven assembly line.
 
What do guys think about a Kenmore (whirlpool) compact apartment sized model 110.8441100 (direct drive heavy duty)
I figure it's about a mid-80's model, with the corkscrew 2 section agitator.
I got it cheap in the 90's to use in my apartment back then, and all I ever had to replace are those ratchet dogs in the agitator.
And man!... that agitator moves like a hyper animal!
I also got a replacement motor-to transmission coupler, but it never needed it.
It served me well for the whole time, until I moved and aquired a full size Maytag set, but I kept the machine as a spare.
The one thing that I liked about the Kenmore, is the warm wash/rinse option.
 
phillymatt53 said:
What do guys think about a Kenmore (whirlpool) compact apartment sized model 110.8441100 (direct drive heavy duty)
I figure it's about a mid-80's model, with the corkscrew 2 section agitator.
I got it cheap in the 90's to use in my apartment back then, and all I ever had to replace are those ratchet dogs in the agitator.
And man!... that agitator moves like a hyper animal!
I also got a replacement motor-to transmission coupler, but it never needed it.
It served me well for the whole time, until I moved and aquired a full size Maytag set, but I kept the machine as a spare.
The one thing that I liked about the Kenmore, is the warm wash/rinse option.
Click to expand...
Is the Maytag set belt drive or direct drive? Whirlpool seemed to be ahead of their time ahead of everybody else, including GE as far as their direct drive is concerned.
 

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