70's GE Filter Flow

[Jcf]

Hi, I have a 70's GE filter flow. The problem I have is that when it goes out of balance, it doesn't buzz and stop. It will keep chugginfg until someone stops it. I don't want ole' Betsy to hurt herself when she does this. Can anyone tell me what to check for so I can remidy the problem.

Thanks in advance!!

JC

 

[fixerman]

It is important that the machine is level and solid on the floor. It is probably better to use it with full loads. Washing something like a single towel may cause the machine to go off balance. It is not good when the machine goes off balance, not just because it makes a racket but because the inner tub scrapes against the outer tub, eventually scraping a hole in it.

 

[Jcf]

It does seem to do better with a full load. However, isn't there some sort of mechanisum that detects an out of balance situation that would sound a buzzer and possible stop the machine when this happens?

Thanks

 

[appnut]

JCF, I hate to tell you, but GE Filter-Flo washer (I had a 1978 one) didn't have an off balance switch or buzzer. If ya hear it knocking during spin, better run and redistribute the load. The only time I ever had a problem with off balance was when I washed one big heavy rug. But then again, I never mixed towels and sheets, which do have a tendency to bunch up and go out of balance.

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Bob,

Did your Filter-Flo have the ramp or straight-vane Activator?

 

[Jcf]

It seems to like to go out of balance an smaller loads. When it does, it can be heard from the next town over. The 2 Kenmore's we had when I was growing up always had aan off balance buzzer. I would be surprised is GE didn't put one in this machine.

 

[Jcf]

It seems to like to go out of balance an smaller loads. When it does, it can be heard from the next town over. The 2 Kenmore's we had when I was growing up always had aan off balance buzzer. I would be surprised is GE didn't put one in this machine.

 

[gadgetgary]

GE

I have had several Filter Flo machines and none of them had a buzzer, like the Kenmore brand. They just made a racket going out of balance, and always tried to complete the cycle(with laundry still quite wet).

 

[appnut]

JCF, I'm sorry, but ya can't compare apples to oranges (Kenmore to GE). GE machines never had an out of balance switch. And that included the 1955/56 model washer my parents had.

With small loads, I suspect you may be using too high of a water level. It was very rare I had an off balance issue with small loads. Too much water is a problem with small loads and machines that spin while they drain.

Austin, mine had the straight vane activator. My mom bought one in 1979 and it too was straight vane.

 

[peterh770]

Nope, no OOB switch in GE's. They were designed to complete the cycle no matter what. An OOB load caused more belt slippage so the tub doesn't get up to speed. The suspension allows the inner tub to bang and rub against the outer tub. There really isn't much damage that this will cause. My coin-op GE's have some scraping around the outer tub, but it isn't going to cause the machine to fail. Since a home machine gets far less use than a laundromat machine, you have nothing to worry about.

 

[fixerman]

PeterH

Gotta disagree with you about damage to outer tub. I have seen many GE's with holes caused by scraping.

 

[Bryan71]

Seen them also

I have seen several Filter Flo's with damage to them. It can easily happen.

 

[gansky1]

The 74 GE Dispensall I found last spring had enough porcelain banged away from the spin basket hitting the outer tub that I "patched" it with JB Weld just to make sure the rust didn't go any further. That TOL machine had the cable and pulley system for OOB loads so the odds of it doing severe damage were probably pretty low, but it had done it enough over the years to show. As a kid, our 72 GE, near BOL had no OOB system and would walk across the floor if not stopped. It had to have scraped away some of the porcelain as often as we had to dash to the laundry room to re-distribute the load.