1956? MAYTAG GAS DRYER - MINNEAPOLIS

[gansky1]

Older and weaker! That's funny. The young soccer player for Iowa Western College (you should have been there!) that helped me carry it out of the basement and to the parking lot commented on how much heavier the Maytag was than the Kenmore they just moved out of the basement to their new place.

Radial-heating & exhaust patterns seem like a very efficient way to dry clothes tumbling in a drum. I still would like to have one of the ADC built machines they did for KitchenAid right at the end of the KA laundry era.

 

[a440]

What an awesome find!
It looks so well preserved.
Thanks for the scans and pictures of the dryer with the back taken off.
Will you be using this dryer? I bet it would be great with towels and heavy fabrics.
Brent

 

[kenmore71]

VICTORY!!!

This is what it looks like when connected to gas!!!

 

[kenmore71]

And a little home movie...

 

[a440]

Awesome Video!
How long did it take to cycle the burner off the first time?
I love this dryer!
Brent

 

[kenmore71]

Didn't pay attention to how long before the burner cycled off.

I did dry two loads of laundry in it and I have to say that I'm impressed! It dries HOT and relatively fast. A load that would take 60 minutes in the HOH was dry in 50 in this dryer. And the towels seemed fluffier. Maybe that's just because that's what I wanted to believe but I think it's true. There also seemed to be the faintest "filtrator-esque" smell to everything. Mind you, there is no ozone lamp on this dryer. Yet.

 

[a440]

Very interesting Mark about the drying performance.
I find the burner set up is like commercial coin op machines.
I wonder why manufactures quit using this type of set up, with the drum that is perforated. I am sure it had something to do with cost.
You found a gem!
Brent

 

[combo52]

1956 Maytag Gas Dryer Burner operation

Thanks for posting the video of the ignition sequence Mark.

 

Maytag and many other gas dryer makers used this same system for many years, WP-KM used this system through 1963.

 

When you first start the dryer the pilot valve coil is opened and the Platinum 2 1/2 volt glow coil are energized, this lights the pilot flame which starts heating a mercury filled sensor bulb that in centered in the pilots flame. Once the mercury filled bulb is hot enough to flex a diafram and push a switch at the other end of the sensor to the hot position it then completes a circuit that allows the second and main gas valve to open and 18,000 BTUs worth of gas flows to the main burner.

 

These systems were fairly relibible and most gas dryers left the polet flame burning the whole drying cycle and just cycled the main burner. My friend Bob in Ohio found this same dryer last year and after fixing a few things on it has been using it as one of many machines he has.

 

[coldspot66]

I wonder why Maytag "digressed" and went to a standing pilot for the HOH dryers.
Seems backwards to me....maybe cost???

 

[kenmore71]

The issue of the standing pilot in the HOH dryer has been discussed here before. I'm not sure that cost was as big of an issue as PERCEIVED reliability issues by the service techs in the field. I really don't know if there were many issues with the electric ignitor systems in the field, but the pilot light is certainly simpler!

 

[wft2800]

Apologies for necroposting - does anyone know what model numbers the pre-"Halo of Heat" perforated-drum Maytag dryers were given?

 

[norgeway]

Even after

Having such terrible luck with Maytag products, and really hating them...I have to admit, they are really well built and beautiful.Im glad they are being preserved.

 

[swestoyz]

Sure - dryers listed from 1953 through 1957 that are lower than the *41 models are pre-HOH dryers, with the exception of the two digit 65C/75C Highlander models from 1956, which were the first HOH dryers.

MAYTAG Automatic washer & Dryer year of production charts

From time to time I get requests from folks for the specifics of the years of a production for a specific Maytag model. I am ALWAYS happy to respond to these requests personally, but I thought it might be helpful to those of you out there in AW land for me to post the charts that I actually...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[wft2800]

Thanks! What do the B, C and W suffixes indicate?

 

[kenmore71]

I don't have a definitive answer for you, but perusing the trove of Maytag service and promotional literature that I have I'm going to make some guesses:

C = "conventional" dryer, flowing air that requires an exhaust vent
W = "water" dryer, a condensing water dryer that is not vented, but requires a cold water supply and drain
B = I have no clue

 

[maytag85]

Kenmore71

I almost got a early 60's Maytag A902 set, but someone beat me to it. The dryer was not a Halo Of Heat, but it was a push button electric version of your 1956 Maytag gas dryer. I don't have that big of a collection, but I do have a early 80's Maytag A810 set, and I also have a mid 80's Lasy Kenmore portable belt drive washer and dryer.

 

[combo52]

Maytag A902 Washer

Would be a 1965 model. the matching dryer would be a HOH style dryer.

 

John L.