A GE wandered out of the pile today...

[redcarpetdrew]

This showed up in our haulaways. An older single speed GE washer.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Very basic on features and settings.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

The model tag. Do any of you GE guys have an idea on age?

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Money shot...

This has the ramped 'Activator' agitator. This is what I usually see as opposed to the straight vane like my green set has.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Here's what's different. This one actually still has the MiniBasket! Usually, this is left behind and lost somewhere in the garage.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

For those who have never had a chance to use a GE MiniBasket, I'll show it in use. On the mini basket water level setting, it only fills with just enough water to barely touch the bottom of the agitator.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

The basket sits down on top of the agitator. The filter flo disk would sit on top of it in operation. There are holes in the bottom and along the top of the basket for the water to drain out of during wash.

 

[alr2903]

Wow, that one is in good shape. You desert dwellers find some nice things and NO rust. best of luck alr2903

 

[redcarpetdrew]

I'll load it with a small amount of towels for the test run.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

When the washer starts to agitate, the water flow that shoots into the filter flo disc drops down and fills the basket.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

The water drains out of the basket slowly enough that it does fill up for that wash action. The water then drains out into the main tub so the pump can recirculate it back thru the filter flo disc and into the basket again.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

During spin out, the water exits the basket and away it goes. For those who'd like it in action, here's a little video. That's QSD-DAN's arm helping me shoot it as he was in town and wanted to see a mini basket in operation.

Mickeyd, the title is 'GE Washer Agitate & Spin With Minibasket'

 

[redcarpetdrew]

We also ran a regular load of towels with the Activator to watch the turnover. Pretty aggressive.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Well, the filter seems to work. There is also a little video of the Activator doing it's thing.

Title is 'GE Washer With Activator Agitate & Spin'

Interesting little machine. It's not often I get to play with a mini basket.

RCD

 

[bosch2460]

Mini basket.....

Damnit. That is a large capacity Mini-basket that I have been trying to get my paws on for months now. You are lucky that it was still with the machine!! Most just throw it out. My large capacity FF is from '79, older than yours and a MOL model, but the rampie and all are still the same. Nice find....AGAIN.

Joel

 

[bosch2460]

Hey RCD.....

I just watched your vids. I think the water level in your washer is lower than it should be. With the mini basket in use, the FF stream should be continuous. The pump should not struggle at all to keep the stream pumping. The large level looked more like a medium, too. It looks to me it might be off by 2 inches or so. Might need a bit of tweaking. I am no expert, just going by what I have been in my own, and other FF washers. Good luck.

 

[pulltostart]

Age

RCD - you asked about age. It's a late 80's model, sometime after 1985. I bought a FF pair in '85 and the consoles still had the fake woodgrain. The next year GE ditched the woodgrain for this 'satin and black' version and used it for 3 years or so.

L

 

[toggleswitch2]

Amazing to me that the mini-basket feature was both marketed for delicates and then as a "spot-scrubber".

The wash action is quit vigorous on the normal speed, yet due to the smaller diameter of the mini-basket, the extracting ability/results are rather dismal.

 

[gadgetgary]

Spotscrubber Cycle

The last GE FF that I had used a Spotscrubbler cycle. I believe there were no holes in the bottom of the mini-basket and when the Spotscrubber cycle was chosen, the mini-basket would fill with water(from the FF tube) and then STOP so that the water and detergent would be concentrated in the mini-basket and not go out into the main tub.

I gave up this wonderful set in 1997 for the matching Maytag Neptunes. The Neptunes are still going strong after a major wax motor repair(which was past the recall). Wish I had kept my GE TOL FF set. Who knew back then???

 

[tomturbomatic]

Nice find.

Thanks for the great pics.

Although GE said not to wash clothes in the outer tub with the Mini Basket, I found that by using the 1 to 6 pound water level on our V-12, it was possible to use the MB for delicate things whle washing regular stuff in the main tub. This was the first MB and was quite small. I think GE's instructions were not to use slow agitation with the MB. We used it to wash mom's nylons. The original MB had small holes at the bottom for sediment, I guess, so it completely drained during the pause between Activation and spin.

 

[mickeyd]

Thank you, Drew, thank you twice.

Away Fri. eve till this a.m., I missed this. What a treat. I have wondered about the spiral mini forever, and now that I've seen its brisk moves, more interesting than the straight vane, I'll sleep much better!

And thank you for the title. I've been using Robert's embedded Pink KA to use YouTube. Before that I was using Gansky's embedding of Jetcone's Norge. If only they knew how much they've helped the few. You video was compelling and revealing. Thanks again. If you need to unload the spiral basket, I'll pay well for it.

Hope you got a chance to see my flix. Thanks again. Waiting patiently till Friday for this week's coolest finds. How 'bout that Easy that shoots water up thru the cone. Egads!!!!

Rolling out the red carpet for you.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Joel, I wasn't sure about the water level since it's been forever since I got a chance to play with a MiniBasket. I thought it might have been sud/air in the pump.

Thanks for the kind words, Mickeyd and others. I'm finding myself being more selective in my pictures since finding out that so many take delight in the pictures of in action equipment. Some of my upcoming projects will include bringing to life some of the machines that the shop owns and have been dormant for 2+ decades on display. These include a PA900, a set of 49 Amps and a gasoline powered Grey Ghost. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store...

RCD