Bendix Duomatic....I just got a May 1960 Consumer Reports magazine testing w/d combos. Surprised to learn that W/P and Lady Kenmore combos were higher rated all around than Bendix, GE and Norge and Easy Combomatic. Maytag combo was rated good. Didn't they recall all the Maytag combos? Who Knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3/28 PIc of the day
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By 1960, I believe, the original design Bendix then Philco Bendix combo had been redesigned by Ford, owner of Philco, and downsized from 36 to 27 inches possibly in accord with the compact Falcon, breaking the hearts of many Bendix servicemen. While they kept the fast spin, many other things were changed. There were many models without the air circulation which enabled the original Duomatic to offer the speedy drying mentioned in the ad. I believe that the model tested for the report was the basic model with two big timer dials, one for the washer and one for the dryer and slider switches for wash water and the master control for on or off. Like all but the top of the line vented and condenser models, it had no blower for the dryer and no separate condenser chamber so in spite of the the high speed spin, the drying took as long as other combos with much poorer water extraction. You can see that in the times given in the ratings table. To get the full picture, read about the 36" model Duomatics in Consumer Reports and Consumers' Research Bulletin from the 50s where the drying times were around 45 minutes.
The LK and WP combos were highly rated because of their washing ability. Of course, their superior washing ability was due in large part to their having a thermal hold on the timer so that hot washes were guaranteed 140F water and that was very important in a machine with that much metal and a sump that only held 3 gallons of water beyond what it took to saturate the dry fabrics. Unless the water heater was next to the machine, that was often not enough capacity to clear the cold water from the lines The bean counters at CU could not relate the hotter water to cleaner washes. They just commented that having a water heating feature in the machine made it more expensive to operate and if you regularly ran out of hot water installing a larger water heater was a better idea.
Maytag did offer to replace combos with a matched pair of TOL models, but long after the article in 1960 ratings cited above and they were not forcibly taken from customers like the Hotpoint LY1. [this post was last edited: 3/28/2022-11:52]
The LK and WP combos were highly rated because of their washing ability. Of course, their superior washing ability was due in large part to their having a thermal hold on the timer so that hot washes were guaranteed 140F water and that was very important in a machine with that much metal and a sump that only held 3 gallons of water beyond what it took to saturate the dry fabrics. Unless the water heater was next to the machine, that was often not enough capacity to clear the cold water from the lines The bean counters at CU could not relate the hotter water to cleaner washes. They just commented that having a water heating feature in the machine made it more expensive to operate and if you regularly ran out of hot water installing a larger water heater was a better idea.
Maytag did offer to replace combos with a matched pair of TOL models, but long after the article in 1960 ratings cited above and they were not forcibly taken from customers like the Hotpoint LY1. [this post was last edited: 3/28/2022-11:52]
Picture of the day 1958 Duo-Matic
The only time consumer reports did an extensive testing on combos was the 1960 report, the gas whirlpools and the lady Kenmore that was hooked to 50 Amp line were top rated because they had the fastest total cycle time and did a great job overall.
I have a little doubt that the 58 DM picture of the day machine would have been top rated had it still been made.
In 1959 Philco Bendix downsized the machine greatly and the tub was too small to do a decent job It left the clothing to wrinkled they also made models that Tom mentioned that were slower at drying.
Overall the only really great combos made in the US were the original 36 inch Bendix machines and the 29 inch Kenmore and whirlpool machines built in 1961-1971.
Both Maytag and Westinghouse took back combos that caused owners problems and offered separate W&D pairs in exchange, neither company actually recalled the machines.
John L
The only time consumer reports did an extensive testing on combos was the 1960 report, the gas whirlpools and the lady Kenmore that was hooked to 50 Amp line were top rated because they had the fastest total cycle time and did a great job overall.
I have a little doubt that the 58 DM picture of the day machine would have been top rated had it still been made.
In 1959 Philco Bendix downsized the machine greatly and the tub was too small to do a decent job It left the clothing to wrinkled they also made models that Tom mentioned that were slower at drying.
Overall the only really great combos made in the US were the original 36 inch Bendix machines and the 29 inch Kenmore and whirlpool machines built in 1961-1971.
Both Maytag and Westinghouse took back combos that caused owners problems and offered separate W&D pairs in exchange, neither company actually recalled the machines.
John L
When Consumer Reports or Consumers' Research Bulletin did an extensive report on washers and dryers in the mid 50s, they did a separate report on the Duomatic or referenced an earlier test on the machine. They said that as a washer it would have ranked just below the Whirlpool top loader. I do not remember what they said about its rating as a dryer, but I imagine that it would have ranked with other condenser dryers like the Hotpoint and Maytag water dryers.
