1991 Kenmore DD portable

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The "multiprocessor agitator" is designed by North America Whirlpool!! The are really similar to agitators used at the basic models on whirlpool.

I have something to say:

Brastemp (Whirlpool) it is the one that more seel in Brazil. They have the best service, and the biggest Market Share.

Thomas don't like Brastemp because seels 2 time more than electrolux (his favorite brand).
That's just Thomas opinion, not a reality here!
 
Davek, this is my favorite model. Extremely efficiente washer.. Take a perfect clean fabrics and at moment is the favorite Brazilian Washer..
The appliances store always need to wait for more pieces like that cause this washer seels a lot!
 
The Brastemps I see on this thread have more options and settings than the new American Whirlpool or Kenmore portables I've seen lately. My newer portable was made in 2002 with dials and electronic controls, but no mechanical timer. It has the Brastemp agitator, but with a fabric softener dispensor. It will do two blankets with no problem, while my belt-drive Whirlpool made in 1978 can't because of its smaller capacity.

My belt drive Whirlpool and davec's Kenmore are both older models, long discontinued. The difference is that davec's is a direct drive, with a dual action agitator. Mine has a miniature version of the full-sized super surgilator agitator found on Whirlpool's older machines that were made back in the 1970s. Both of these are fairly difficult to find, especially the ones with belt drive.

NorfolkSouthern
 
Drovetto is partially correct.

Whirlpool has a higher market share here in Brazil, because it's divided in two. Brastemp and Consul.

Consul has excellent products (and some ridiculous very cheap models), and it's one of the favorites for the "middle class".

Brastemp still sells a lot, because of it's fame. Many people still have the "Brastemp Luxo", which is nothing more than a Lady Kenmore, and most of that machines still running after 2, 30 or even 40 years.

Electrolux arrived in Brazil only in 1997. Most people still afraid of the "new" brand, and there still some people that don't know Electrolux bought Prosdocimo and absorved all it's tradition, plus the more than 100 years of experience in europe (considering Wascator)

Somebody has to be nuts to say the Brastemps available today are better than the old Brastemps. It's not a question of "my" preference.

People who buy Brastemp today, are looking for status (It's the most expensive brand and also the most beautiful design)
Who buy a "new" Brastemp and buy the second "new" Brastemp is crazy, dumb, rich enough to don't care about the money spent in a machine that won't last or never cares about the machine or the destroyed clothes.

Here in brazil happens exactly the same as in the US with the "shredmores".

The best washer I had (still have it stored in my sister's house) was a Brastemp and I bought it in 1980. The only problem it had was a broken belt.
 
Brastemp

We might need a new subject for this. Having watched some of the videos on YouTube, it appears that the higher Brastemp models just a few years ago were the same as big American Whirlpools. They have the same tubs and agitators, and sound the same as the direct drive models, see video link below. That machine is obviously identical to Kenmore/Whirlpool large basic models from the late 90s.

I can see what Thomas is saying here: today's models of theirs, no matter how expensive, are apparently different versions of the World Washer. That's belt-drive, and certainly wasn't designed to wash a huge load. People here dog Shredmores, but I would guess that eliminating the belt made a huge difference in customer satisfaction with the machine. A washer might be tough for years of use, but it will sometimes need a belt. Kids grow out of clothes before most get worn out anyway, so being easy on the clothes wasn't something many family buyers would've even noticed about the Shredmore. They may have been tough on the clothes, but they were tough all around and last a long time. They often ran for years with little or no repair. My parents had at least two that were replaced over their first problem, in one case it was rust perforation of the outer tub! Family of 5 wears them out. Stretching the World Washer mechanism beyond its original design and adding more complicated electronics doesn't make for a dependable machine. Unless all of their models are "portables" at least nominally, (doubtful) they would be better served by styling the direct drive mechanism and putting a glass lid on it. The "Baby Mondial" is mentioned before as being really tough...it's overbuilt for its tiny tub. The "15kg" machine of today, apparently sharing at least part of its mech with the Baby, is overworked.

I'm slowly working on a degree in ME, so I know how something at 85% of its rated capacity can last forever and wear quickly at 105%. Perhaps Brastemp has that sort of problem with machine dependability right now.

 
Not only Brastemp, but all the Brazilian manufacturers have problems with dependability.

If we see only by the capacity point of view, the manufacturers has absolutely no fault over it.

Here in Brazil the machines are designed and the prototypes are sent to the INMETRO, which is the government regulation agency that cares about all the standards. The standards follow the ABNT (National Agency of Technical Standards).

Unfortunately ABNT created a wierd way to designate the washer's capacity.

For example a Lady Kenmore, which is a machine that both Brazil and US have exactly the same model. In the 50's, 60's 70's and 80's it was a 4kg capacity washing machine. 4 kg is perfectly acceptable, no matter if you wash jeans or cotton T-shirts, right?

Well, by the new standards, exactly the same machine, today, would have a 8kg capacity and we can find a huge observation on the owner's manual saying 8kg* is based on the ABNT standards, considering a load consisted by 100% cotton towels, shirts and pillowcases, simulated by 50x50cm squares and 50x10cm stripes.

Some consumers are so stupid (of course they don't read the manual) that they think: "Well, I have a 10kg capacity machine, my king size duvets that look like a parachute weight only 2 kg each, so I can toss 5 king size duvets inside the machine and it must wash, rinse and spin perfectly and last forever."
 
Whirlpool Cabrio, if launched in Brazil would be a 21kg capacity washer...
that's more than ridiculous, but there's nothing we can do.

My recommendations to everyone is use the brain and ignore the capacity rating when loading the machine. If there's no rollover, you can hear the motor being forced or the agitator bending, MAYBE, the machine is overloaded LOL.
 
21kg?! I believe that I agree with you about their standard being bad. Good luck cramming 21kg of stuff in the tub.
 
"By the way, this new 11kg Brastemp Ative has exactly the same tub as the 5kg Brastemp Mondial."

Thomas, you get a mistake again.

Brastemp clean was a 22" cabinet - Cabrio have 24" whit tall tub inside and different agitator!
 
Here's a picture of the Consul-built Kenmore portable sold today. It probably holds more than my Kenmore does, and it's both taller and weighs less.

4-25-2009-19-42-58--davek.jpg
 
It'1s the Brazilian Consul!!!!

This machine was great! (Not as Brastemp Mondial).

The difference I can see is th not transparent lid.

The Brazilian version had an acrylic instead of that grey "smile" on the lid.

Unfortunately this model isn't available anymore here in Brazil.

I saw these machine sin argentina too, sold as "Eslabon de Lujo", other Whirlpool local brand. There it has hot/cold fill, while in Brazil there's only the cold fill and any option for hot wash.
 
Eslabon del Lujo

I looked at their site. Most of their models now are Brastemp V-design as you show above. EdL shows origin of the machine on their site, most top loaders are from Brazil, and the front loaders are made in Argentina. There was one top loader from Czech Republic.

No big Whirlpools to be had anymore down there?
 
Here in Brazil we had a big Whirlpool "Brastemp Super Capacidade" a few years ago. nothing more than an average American Whirlpool top loader.
It wasn't a success because of it's design (totally square, without glass lid) and very expensive because it was imported.

A few years ago the "Duet" was launched here in Brazil. not the same American Duet, but the Maytag one.

Now the Brastemp TOL is the "Duet Black". It seems to be a good machine (Maytag Epicz) but the price is more than ridiculous. It costs R$ 7000,00 (aprox. USD 3050), while it's competitor, the Electrolux Ecoturbo (Frigidaire Affinity) is sold for less than R$ 3000 (USD1300)

In a few months we'll have here in Brazil the American Electrolux front loaders (this machine was 100% developed here in Brazil for the american market)
The Brazilian version will have the LCD, but will be white.

Electrolux also plan to launch a Brazilian top loader in the U.S. the top 15. it fills with proper water lever, but can be considered HE because it has a function that increases the spin rinse and eliminate the deep rinse. Here in brazil it's an option (you have to select this option every time you want to use it), but in the US it will be inverted. (You have to select every time you DON'T want to do it.)
The american version will not have the 2nd rinse button, but will have the mini basket.

Also, the maximum water level won't the same as the Brazillian version.

The price will be OUTRAGEOUS!
 
Dave,

Did you ever get the agitator/fabric softener situation resolved?

I just bought, this past Saturday, the new Kenmore portable you posted above, to replace my leaking purgatory-to-repair World Washer.

I am wondering if the agitator from my now bits 'n pieces World Washer would work for you? It's a straight-vane agitator with the fabric softener dispenser on top. It's 18.5 inches top to bottom with fabric softener dispenser attached, flairing to 13 inches at the bottom. The set screw is about 3.5-4 inches from the bottom.

If it will work, you can have it.

John
 
Cool

Mine uses a two piece agitator, so I doubt the whole thing would work, but if you would, pop the dispenser out of the agitator. Does it have a filter attached? If so, then it wouldn't fit anyway. If not, I would like to try the dispenser only. The dispenser top of the world washer usually has cross-bars over the fill hole and resembles the low-profile dispenser on my big WP. If it's that dispenser, I'd like to give it a try. Just email me your findings-address in profile.

Out of curiosity, was the new washer still on sale sunday? It was $511 last week and is usually $640. Did you get at least that good a deal? It's a stylish little washer. Before I bought my used set, I was looking at Haier. Did you consider them?
 
Alas...

...the lint filter and stem are firmly attached to the dispenser. Drat!

What you saw was the base deal. They knocked off a bit from that and added free delivery.

I did check out Haier...but I must admit, what sold me on the Kenmore was seeing that straight-vane agitator. I knew it did a good job in the World Washer. My next question was about spin speed, and of course the sales guy didn't know. So I took a chance and got it. Spins seem long and fast, and things come out just like out of the WW, saving load on the dryer.

John
 
By the way...

...I hope a redundant pic is ok...as I posted this on my World Washer Uh Oh thread...but like Dave says, the inside of the new Kenmore/Consul/Whirlpool, whatever is not correct on the Sears page.

Here's the inside of mine. And no, the basket was not crushed like a beer can then straightened out. Flash and reflection from my camera, I think.

Bleach dispenser lower left, fabric softener dispenser topping the agitator, lint filter underneath, and detergent drawer open. I kinda like the detergent drawer :-) Not exactly Norge Dispenso-mat, but fun nevertheless...

John

4-27-2009-19-31-50--jdinstl.jpg
 
Argh...I should have scrolled back a bit..

Dave already posted a money shot. My apologies, folks.

John
 
Glad you got a good deal. $637 is too much, but >500 puts it within spitting distance of the Haier Target sells for $300 by the time you figure about $100 for shipping.
 
Well..

...I really didn't want to shell out that kind of money. But a certain set of neighbors in this building have abused my (and everyone elses) laundry equipment downstairs. And where I live, the laundromats contain some of the skankiest people known to mankind. The little World Washer sold me on having a portable in the apartment.

Another WW did come up on Craigslist -- for $300. I figured I'd just bite the bullet and go a bit more for new, even though it didn't have the versatility of the WW.

I would guestimate this one one is about 6" taller than the WW. And 2.1ft is more than double the Haier's .91 capacity. Spin is important to me as well because of the chinsy dryer.

Which leads to another dilemna...

Now I need to paint the chinsy dryer. It's bad enough to be a mismatched set, but bright white washer near dingy white dryer. If it were Frigidaire, it'd be a total Filter-Flo Fashion Faux Pas! Especially being here on AW, where people have Westinghouse Laundromats in such top condition, you'd expect Betty Furness to tap you on the shoulder.

BTW, saw your YouTube video. I may need to rethink my position on safety latches...the rollover on your machine could be deadly! I wish I could have got a deal like you did, but ued stackables/portables are rare as hens teeth here. And the ones that do come in, I am told are suitable only for a landfill.

John
 
Kenmore to Brazil

If you're really determined, get in a pickup truck, drive to the closest place in Texas, buy the machine, then drive back. These guys went from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay Alaska in 56 days.

Joking aside, it could be done. However, you could probably buy a warehouse full of World Washers that are already there for what it would cost. UPS will send anything from anywhere to anywhere.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...394758374&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2
 

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