1998 Maytag suds-saver

[polkanut]

When my wife & I purchased our Maytag new in '98 the dealer had to special order our machine. At that time he told us that no other manufacturer's made them anymore. Can anyone enlighten me as to why. It saves on water, soap, and hot water. Isn't conservation what it is all about today? No problems with it as of yet! Just my viewpoint.

 

[goatfarmer]

With laundry rooms being downsized,and such,not many people have the room or inclination for washtubs.
My mom always had suds savers on her Maytags,still does.

kennyGF

 

[jamman_98]

No suds savers in the South

To the best of my knowledge, I've vever seen any washing machine in the past 35+ years down here with a sud saver option. Most of the time the wash water drained out onto the yard. I remember that distincly in the late 60's 70's at my grandmother's house.

 

[jetaction]

Suds Savers huge in Minnesota

For some reason, most of the machines I have found have suds savers on them, even the 66 Rollarmatic that was my Aunt's. I have a new Dependable Care Maytag set that have never been used with a suds saver on it. When I bought them, I was told that Maytag was the last and that they wouldn't be making this machine too much longer. So many people do their laundry in a closet where there is no tub to reserve the wash water is what I was told. For years I would have never considered it, but the way I wash now is different, and I will use that feature almost weekly.

 

[golittlesport]

The times have changed. Suds savers were a popular option when automatics first came out...women were used to reusing the wash water from using wringer washers, and many considered fresh water for every load a waste. And they were still in the habit of doing all their laundry in one day - load after load, so reusing the wash water while it was still warm was easy. But today, many laundry rooms are not in the basement where washtubs were and many people do not do all their wash at once like in days past. They do a load here and a load there, when convenient. Plus, with front loaders more prevalent, one can have clean water for every load and still use less water and energy than a top loader reusing wash water with a suds saver. People stop buying something, then the manufacturers stop building them.

 

[magic clean]

Kenmore offered a "70-series" Suds Saver model well into the late 1990's too. Few Sears stores displayed the machine, however, it could be special ordered. It was interesting in that there was a dial control that that permitted the user to save & reuse either a full or half tub of wash or rinse water.

For all the reasons mentioned by Goatfarmer & Golittlesport, the feature was discontinued. To Jetactions point, the midwest and the northeastern states were the suds-saver washers domain in its day.

Leslie

 

[gansky1]

I saw one of the DD Kenmore washers with a suds-saver, I think it was from around '89. It did have very interesting controls, that's only reason I looked twice at it and discovered it was a suds model.

 

[toggleswitch]

IMHO suds-savrs require thought, we wouldn't want that would we?

must be washed in loads of cleanest to dirtiest..

They make more sense when doing two or three loads in a row.

I have a feeling laundry is basically done in some homes as it accumulates..

 

[appnut]

Well, I still do my wash all in one day. It may be 5 and it may be 16 loads, but they're done!!

 

[westytoploader]

I haven't seen a single suds-saver here in Texas. Probably due to the lack of basements and the large amount of garage/back porch/closet laundry rooms; no room for dual storage tubs!

Regardless of the "new boring factor", if I found any model suds-saver I would definitely snap it up! Even if I had to get dual tubs as well!

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: Most of the time the wash water drained out onto the yard.

This happens here in outer suburbs/rural areas. I was amazed to see that detergent (and even bleach) do not appear to harm the grass..even hot water I think is OK..

For those that do pump T/L washer drain-water into the septic tank, I heard fabric softeners are a BIG no-no. That waxy coating that it leaves destroys the necessary bacteria's habitat.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re; Suds-Saver Washers:

Hey! Austin, you can actaully use a Single Laundry-Tub, as long as you get the Special Stand-Pipe, that is opened on both Top and Bottom, with a Plug-Like Stopper that goes into the Laundry-Tub Drain Opening. It has a couple/few slotted openings towards the top of the Pipe, to allow an "Air-Gap" and in case of an Overflow of Water in the Laundry-Tub, it will allow the excess Water to go down the Drain, instead of overflowing the Laundry-Tub. It allows the Wash Water to go into the Laundry-Tub and the Rinse Water goes down the Drain. The Normal Drain Hose of the Washer attaches to the Top of this Standpipe and the Suds "Longer-End" Hose goes over the Side of the Laundry-Tub, to Drain the Wash Water into the Tub. Then when you request Suds-Return, the Longer-End Hose in the Laundry-Tub will Return the Water, minus approx 1/4 inch of Water and the Washer will add that Fresh Water to the Washer, for the following Wash Loads.

Good Luck with your search. I'm not too sure where you might locate that type of Standpipe these days, but I would guess if anyplace might have them, it would be an older Hardware or Plumbing Supply Shop.

Peace, Happy Suds-Return Washing, in the Future, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[polkanut]

Re: Our suds-saver

When we remodeled our home 2 yrs. ago we converted an enclosed porch into a heated laundry room. We brought our suds tub up from the basement so that we could use our suds-saver. Our contractor built a standpipe into the wall, and he also put the water valves next to it. Underneath he put an access panel to the piping. We wanted to leave the old suds tub in the basement, but alas, we could not find any new sinks that were large enough to accommadate the amt. of water discharged. Our dryer is closest to the wall, the sink, then the washer. It is very snug, but everything is very handy, no wasted space.