1966 Maytag's First Power-Fin Agitator

[redcarpetdrew]

Thanks for the scans, Greg. I think I'll be off in search of a shower and a cigarette...

I have the 906 dryer in coppertone but am really looking for the matching CA906 washer. Alas, it has proven to be elusive so far...

RCD

 

[scrubflex]

Soooo, what about the '66 new power fin agitator?

 

[a440]

Awesome Scans!

Thanks guys!
I did not see anything on the Gas dryers.
What the the BTU's for the Gas Halo of Heat Dryers?
Thanks
Brent

 

[gansky1]

Gas! Careful, you'll upset Jean...

18,000 on Natural gas.

Anyone know what the "keep warm" burner (pilot) rated?

 

[scrubflex]

Thanks anyway Greg, appreciate the scans and of the other power fin.

 

[bajaespuma]

OK Tom, I'll bite

Now I'm curious. Who was/is Lumpy Rutherford?

 

[polkanut]

Lumpy Rutherford was a high school friend of Wally Cleaver's on "Leave it to Beaver".

 

[yogitunes]

Don't you think the black agitator gave better wash action compared to the turquoise flex fins?....just seems in theory that the flexing would decrease the wash action.....

 

[mrcleanjeans]

Yes,the black agitator washes a bit better. The Power Fin came out,because the flexing reduced strain on the tranny and motor, thus the long long life of the washers! You cannot stuff these machines and expect good results. Of course, that goes without saying. One should not do that anyway and expect good results, it's just that some other designs would be more forgiving in that respect. But these are still GREAT washers as long as the load is not too heavy!

 

[yogitunes]

I know the results of overloading....but it's just the issue when it comes to these machines "lasting" so long....every repairman I have ever come across say the same thing....under normal conditions, these machines will "give in" to the load to spare the machine, the concern is not doing it "job", but to save the machine from wear and tear....a good thought in one way, but the thought of a machine holding out on cleaning clothes for which it was designed doesn't seem right....

thats why I think the lid switch was designed to shut off the whole machine when the lid is opened, so you never see what is really happening...outside of the safety factor...

Most other machines out there operated with the lid open, you can see results of the wash action.....

unfortunately, Maytags will give in to a full load of water with no clothes in it, may not be much but there is slippage on the belt, I have tested this many times by applying extra pressure or an extra spring to the motor, then the speed picks up....

don't get me wrong, Maytags are nice machines, I have a few, but for heavy duty use, I would tend to stick to a GE FF.....then onto a kenmore/whirlpool....but I think this leads more to a tightened belt compared to one on a spring tension, designed to slip in place of a clutch...pros and cons in both cases....

 

[gansky1]

The flexible fins were a supposed to be bit easier on the clothes and compensate for heavy loads compared to the black Gyrafoam action, especially for the larger, deeper tub in the extra-capacity washers. Whirlpool experimented with stationary fins on their large capacity machines and nicknamed them the "Golden Gobbler" for how it ripped up fabrics in lare loads. The agitator strokes-per-minute actually went UP (9 per minute more) with the change to the Powerfin. The sliding motor & belt-clutch system takes the strain on the machine from overloading, etc. I had someone call once that said they crammed a queen size comforter in their standard capacity 'Tag (1977 408) and for some odd reason now the washer wouldn't spin. I suggested they take out the comforter, cut it in half and then try again. (to the coin laundry with that!) Once they got that out of the washer, it worked perfectly for another 7 years until the timer went out.

For a short time, Maytag made the BOL WashPower washers with the black bakelite and slower stroke, eventually changing over to all Power-Fin.

 

[bajaespuma]

The eleventh commandment.

We could start another whole thread on this topic but of all the vintage top loaders I've ever experienced, Maytags suffer more than any other from overloading. You CANNOT deviate from the prescribed loading without losing rollover and noticeably straining the works. I've always been surprised and suspicious that CU never seemed to notice this.

You could even overload a rollermatic and the machine would just go on its merry way and those clothes would move, if just up and down, but they'd move. And with a Filter-flo, fuggeddabouddit.

 

[qsd-dan]

unfortunately, Maytags will give in to a full load of water with no clothes in it, may not be much but there is slippage on the belt, I have tested this many times by applying extra pressure or an extra spring to the motor, then the speed picks up....

One or more of the following will cause belt slippage in Maytags:

Weak carriage springs

Worn rollers/guides

Lack of polylube for rollers/glides

Pump belt adjusted too tight/Excessive pump bearing friction from lack of lubrication (the pump requires periodic oiling intervals)

Thick transmission oil

.....And the #1 reason, upper shaft binding due to thickened oil (there's no oil flow up there)

After overhauling the trans in my '75 HA806, I adjusted the max water setting even with the lower portion of the lint filter. Overloaded the tub with towels and let 'er rip. Watched the agitation for a couple of minutes to get the rhythm down, then jammed the motor backwards with the back of my heel. No change in agitation speed. Proceeded to do it several more times and with no noticeable change, except the motor grew several times louder when it was jammed backwards.

Did that with my '74 806 and the trans agitation would speed up. I was expecting that since the agitation is a little sluggish. Since the machine has new belts, glides, springs with everything adjusted properly and lubed up, it's trans rebuild time. Yep, she's next on the list.

It appears I need to drag the camera out for some video proof of the above

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you take the time to look at the black Bakelite agitator and the turquoise Powerfin agitator side by side, you will see not only that the Powerfin has the flexible fins, but their shape is different from the high, fixed fins of the Bakelite agitator. With large loads in the narrow tub of the automatic, the high fins that extended to the edge of the skirt actually impeded turnover whereas the Powerfin design features fins that taper down toward the edge of the agitator skirt. You will also see that in the Powerfin design, the vanes emerge higher on the agitator column relative to their height at the base. This gives more of a vane on the agitator column that helps with water currents to pull clothes downward. This coup[led with the slightly speeded up ocm of the agitation makes a lot of difference in the turnover.

Another thing Maytag did when they introduced the new agitator was extend the rows of holes in the side of the tub down to the bottom. The older style tubs were solid opposite the agitator fins. The new design obviously forces water through the load at the bottom of the tub and out through the holes into the outer tub which might help cleaning. I know from having the Powerfin in a '61 Highlander where the holes do not go all the way to the bottom of the tub that the washing action is far more vigorous in the old-style tub than in the newer. In the newer tub the water is forced out of the tub through the lower rows of holes whereas in the old tub, with the same agitator, the water is forced up around the outside of the tub when it hits the solid portion which means that more water is pulled down near the agitator to better encourage turnover. Don't forget the problems Maytag had with bleach damage in their automatics, partly because agitation stopped when the lid was raised to add the bleach and partly because the shape of the old agitator did not encourage much downward water movement around the column. The Lint Filter agitator improved this somewhat.

If you have ever seen the inside of a Maytag conventional washer, you can see how much wider the tub is beyond the agitator skirt than in the automatics. The Gyrator created great water action and rollover in the wider tubs and, due to the width of the tub, the clothes were able to roll off from and away from the fins instead of being stuck right over the agitator in the narrow tub of the automatics. I agree that Maytag wanted to hide their anemic washing action from users. Only the bol, time fill AMP would operate with the lid up and after that they had the full cycle safety lid switch. When designing the automatic, Maytag refused to re-engineer their Gyrator to the realities of the narrower tub in the automatic. They could hide their washing action, but people who had a Maytag and then switched to a Whirlpool told John how much cleaner and better rinsed their clothes were with the Whirlpool.

 

[scrubflex]

Hey Martin, Dan, Greg, guys check out this article about Maytag "NEW GENERATION WASHERS" with the new Power-Fin Agitator. It explains the purpose of the flexible fins and it's ability. You'll need to ZOOM IN to read it clearer.

Harry

 

[scrubflex]

Guys you may cring when I tell you this but, I washed a big load of 6 sheets in my 712 and the entire load finished beautifully. The load consisted of 3 queen size flats, 2 twin size flats and 1 fitted sheet.
Now I made a few changes to accomodate the load size... I set the water level to my version of super load using (22 gallons of water), added 6 minutes more to the wash time and let it rinse 4 minutes for extra rollover time. The power fin agitator did an AMAZING job of cleaning all of the sheets.
You may not believe it but, it continually turnover the sheets. My sheets were sparkling clean...I used 2X ultra tide cold water liquid detergent. AWESOME!!! The 712 is performing way beyond my expectations. I am really surprised by the deep tub usable capacity and the power fin's dazzling cleaning ability.

Harry

 

[bajaespuma]

Harry, thanks for posting that old ad, haven't seen that, literally, in 43 years.

Yours is my point exactly: most of the people who do the Maytag thing, have at some point, in some way, tinkered with their machines to beef performance up a bit. If one uses the machine as manufactured, one has to load as instructed, only up to the top row of holes and without stuffing or compacting the load. Another issue is that the wash and rinse times are stingy, if that rollover doesn't get started early, especially in the two minute deep rinse, ain't going to happen.

The only tinkering I will ever do with Filter-flo's is to replace those idiotic straight vane activators, whenever and wherever I see them, with spiral ramp ones. I've seen GE's move loads of clothes that are close to their "claimed" capacities.

 

[scrubflex]

You're welcome Ken...

I know to most my big sheet load is stuffed and compacted but, I found you really cannot overload a Maytag washer, the power fin agitator will not cooperate. I always listen to the motor and watch the turnover, if it's humming too loud, I'll add more water to the load. If the load is moving extremely too slow, I'll also add more water. That will resolve the issue. But, I truly believe a well designed and powerful agitator can move the load even when it's handling big loads.

The only reason the power fin can be uneffecive is because (the width of the flexible fins is too wide at the edge.) A narrower and more tapered edge will allow smoother circulation of the clothes at the bottom of the tub...there's more room to move around.

Any and all turnover will slow down with full loads...that's with the best agitators...that's automatic. You cannot judge any agitator's ability by overstuffing the washtub. IMOP, the power fin agitator does a great job with rollover. Big loads, much better than I ever expected.

Harry

 

[scrubflex]

Guys, I never read anything about the power fin agiator being too hard on clothes. I'm experiencing some tearing in the laundry, what's going on?

 

[yogitunes]

the only problem I ever see in machines like this, is the fins are at the bottom only, they have to produce all the work, even some kenmores are the same....not to compare apples and oranges, but GE FF and whirlpool have vanes that come all the way to the top, and somewhat performs cleaning at all levels....

wether the powerfin is white, turquoise, or black...Maytag has never changed, theres nothing to compare it to, like GE, Whirlpool and Kenmore, you can switch different agitators out, to see a difference in performance and turnover....UNTIL NOW!!!

WHY, is that a GE straight vane in a Maytag?....say it isn't so!.....try a GE ramp rotoswirl or even a Surgilator....

curious aren't you?