2010 Admiral-pool washer and dryer

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kenmoreguy64

kenmoreguy64

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Charlotte, NC
I have been intrigued by inexpensive washers for quite some time. I remember in high school in the 80s when an appliance store in Denver would advertise in the Rocky Mountain News every couple days - they'd offer either an absolute BOL GE single cycle washer or a Frigidaire. Both were offered at $249.99 and were single knob models. I was fascinated by them. Kenmore and Whirlpool had them too, but they were more expensive.

Fast-forward to 2010 when I saw a thread on here about two months ago discussing the merits of an Admiral washer available at Home Depot. Not a BOL machine in the same sense as the one-cycle wonders I mentioned above, but the machines went on sale again for $259 ($239 for the electric dryer), so their prices anyway are reminscent of 28+ years ago. $498 for a decently featured washer/dryer pair in 2010 amazed me, so in a weak moment, I hit the 'buy' button online.

The machines arrived yesterday. Not sure what I'm going to ultimately do with a brand new washer and dryer when I'm accustomed to using machine 30 years old or older, but they should be fun.

For now they're staying in their boxes. Pics to follow....

Gordon
 
The Local ABC Warehouse still has one of these for sale at $197.

I've always had a special love for BOL appliances myself! This Roper has one water level and one temperature. There is no hot water inlet. :)

pulsator++4-19-2010-09-20-58.jpg
 
Bol is the way to go

Maybe the Roper is the way to go. You could use a "y" adapter and attach the cold inlet to hot and cold and use the knobs on the "y" to select your water temperature. No more automatic lowering of the hot water temp, if that's what you want.
 
I wanted one of those Roper machines, and the first time the Admirals were on sale I said "no", but the overall value just astounded me. There is a dealer in Charlotte which has offered the Ropers, but when I tried to buy one they wouldn't sell them. I found a store in Atlanta that had them, but they were $298.

I was amazed that is has only one inlet valve, and yes, as Martin says above, you have total control of temperatures that way. I'd still like one of these Ropers....
 
Jamie -

One of the cooler things about that Roper is they have a seldom seen agitator - it's shorter than the usual one-piece straight vane or surgilator, and has these massive fins on the top, just under the water surface.

Gordon
 
Nice machines, Gordon! They're definitely all Whirlpool under the hood and well equipped for the price. Anyone on a budget looking for a decent washer-dryer pair would be advised to take a close at these. I like the layout of the consoles. They're attractive, uncluttered, and easy to read. It appears the wash machine also has a two-speed motor, which accomodates most washing needs. Wow! I can't get over the value, either!
 
Kewl.. and a pretty good buy it would seem.

So Gordon, are these going to be "time capsules" staying packed away in the boxes, only to surface many, many years after the this type of water hording, agitator machine has been extinct???

Kevin
 
Rob - I thought of you and your Kenmore 500 fiasco when reading the owner's manual for this machine. It has the three 'every-day' cycles, but the Gentle cycle doesn't seem gentle to me. It runs with high-speed agitation apparently, and the only thing on the machine that uses the low-speed motor capability is the spin in the Perm Press cycle. I will yield to Whirlpool's near 30-years of history with these machines and figure they know what they're doing, but I don't know why you'd offer a machine with a Gentle cycle and it operate at warp-speed agitation. Seems to me that the Regular cycle should be termed "Heavy Duty" and the Gentle should wash on low-speed and be called Normal/Gentle depending on the time setting. This is how my 1993 Kenmore is set-up and that seems to make more sense. This may not have worked for Kenmore though (not sure how consumers reacted to that set-up), as using the low-speed Normal cycle on high water levels is very unremarkable. I learned to use Normal for medium loads, and Heavy Duty for full loads. Using a medium water level with high-speed agitation results in dizzying turn over.

The owner's manual for this washer is underhelming to say the least. Nothing in the manual applies to this machine, and all the comments are in generalities, including the explanation of cycles. It says that not all features are found on every model, so perhaps my actual results will be better or different! I am going to have a bit of separation anxiety from the Belt-Drives if I begin to use this machine on a regular basis.

Kevin -

I don't know about these babies. If they remain in my garage instead of going to storage, they'll likely be unboxed and used this summer. I think curiosity is eventually going to get the better of me. If I put them away, then yes, one day 10 years from now they could be making their debut.

What would be fun is to bring my 1993 DD out of hybernation again and compare it side by side to this washer in terms of noise, etc. People seem to be saying that DDs have become louder, and perhaps they have. A relatively unused 17-year old DD would be cool to compare to a 2010 DD.
 
Gordon that is a fun washer nice man...
On gentle cycle since it washes fast does it pause and agitate again ?
My friends have time share at the shore at the end of summer,
We have a Whirlpool BOL mode down there and on the short cycle it does the wash and pause feature.
Here is the machine.

aldspinboy++4-19-2010-19-28-39.jpg
 
Manuals/Tech Sheets

The owners manuals and tech sheets for the new machines are awful. Like you said everything is a general description. Maybe that is why they are paying us for Customer Instruct call now.
 
Gordon - We have started putting the similiar Roper model in our apartment units. Probably one model closer to BOL. They are little troopers - They seem to keep going through anything a tenant "throws" at them which is usually being heavily over-loaded.

I have run a couple upon delivery to make sure they work and because I love washers. Their agitation is incredibly fast. Seemingly faster than my orbital Maytags, but I don't really know for sure. I will be very interested to see a video when you decide to use it!
 
One certain improvement

They don't make them look cheap like they used to with BOL machines. That's an amazing bargain. If you want to see something bad, look at the old Galaxy machines that Sears used to sell for their cheapest one. White cabinet, brown plastic control panel, plain black knobs. I'm 100% sure that they made them look like that to make the first upsell easier.
 
Actually

I could be wrong, but I think that's supposed to be a blue control panel. It seems I remember seeing one (I can't remember where) and it was blue and it wasn't the plastic covering.
 
good washers but...

I think these Whirlpool-made washers are good, but I don't like the way they agitate. I like old-school, long style slower agitation strokes.
 
This is just plastic protective covering. There are date codes and other manufacturing script printed right through the middle of the film. It is not meant to be there long-term while the unit is in use, and when removed yields a white console.

Gordon
 
Nice Machines!

I have the same washer as my daily driver. I am very pleased with it, especially for the price. They're a screaming good deal and wash very well. I find that the fast agitation isn't terribly harsh as long as you don't overload the machine. I drop everything in loosely, and I haven't had a problem.

I too was put off initially by the Gentle Cycle, but the pause and then agitate hasn't hurt anything I've used it for in the last several months.

The only downside is Hot is now Warm, Warm is now Cool, Cool is Cold....and so on.
 
I agree - based on the videos I've seen with the water adjusting on and off repeatedly, it would annoy me. There may be a way to fool the thermostat in the mixing valve, but what a pain! To get hotter water, what would happen if you select hot and just turn off the cold supply?
 
"To get hotter water, what would happen if you select hot and just turn off the cold supply?"

The Environment Police would come and arrest you. You'd be stuffed in a dungeon with washer that only does cold water washes.

Seriously, I have heard of people doing this. I wouldn't be surprised if some modern washers wouldn't stop filling and wait for the "problem" to be corrected. But the Admiral might let you get away with it. Given its low price, I imagine the temperature limiting would be the cheapest/easiest approach. Plus,I don't see anything that looks like an error light or display on that machine.

Which raises one thought about another value of this machine--it appears that the timer is an mechanical one. If you are really lucky, there is no "control board" that costs more to replace than the machine sold for, and which will be impossible to even find in 3 years.
 

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