A story

[Compwhiz]

When i was little my mom did a load of laundry and added some soap. while it was running i dumped the rest of the soap in.

a few minutes later i cane over and i saw suds comming out of the lid opening i opened it up and noticed that it was over flowing with soap. I closed the lid and went somewhere else.

Later i came back and it was spinning and soap was flying out of the lid opening and i opened it and i got soap in my eyes and cried and mom came over worried and noticed her deturgent on the floor, soap everywhere and said, "what have i told you about playing with soap. I then realized it was funny becuase i dumped all the soap in the washer and she thought i was playing with it.

post your washer story.

 

[westytoploader]

Fun story, but PLEASE, PLEASE can you just take the time to use punctuation? People would take your postings more seriously if you did; believe me on this one.

--Austin

 

[shawn]

My grandmother lived on the second floor, with renter's living on the first floor. Her first automatic washer had arrived two week's earlier, and as there were no hook-up's in the house, the washer had to be connected to the sink. I had been fooling around with the drain hose as the washer drained when I dropped it on the floor. OH MY GOD what a mess, as water ran down to the first floor. Not one of my fond washer story's.

 

[spiralactivator]

Dishwasher

When I was four or so, my mom was using her Magic Chef portable dishwasher (which we gave to gregm over the summer). Unfortunately for Mom, she was out of Cascade. Even more unfortunately, she assumed sink liquid would be a suitable substitute. It wasn't long before the DW was foaming like a mad dog. Mom wasn't too happy, but I was quite entertained!

 

[agiflow-action]

Hurt by a washer

I had a bad accident with my mom's Kenmore when i was about 2 yrs. old. I remember getting up on a stool to watch the machine agitate.I remember looking down into the washer when the stool fell out from under me.
I banged my chin off the side of the machine and bit my tongue almost completely off.I thank God the hospital was only down the street from where we lived.
Time went on and i healed completely.It always seemed mom was scooping out suds with a small black frying pan with that machine.The black straight vane on that machine had huge fins from what i remember.The classic KM whine and the rythmic sloshing sounds from inside the tub is what initially did it for me.
Of all the washers over the years i have used,...I always liked the sounds from WP/KM washers the most.I know they may be dull to some, but for me it is what got me interested in these marvels of 20th century ingenuity.

Pat

 

[drmitch]

I thought I would die laughing at Spiralactivator`s story! I love all these stories and would like to here more like when you find a vintage washer. When my brother and I were 10 and 12 years old we loved to play in a creek in our back yard. A byproduct of doing so filled our pockets and socks with sand. Our mother informed us on numerous occasions that this sand was destructive to her new G.e filter flo, and as we did not take heed to her warnings we began to recieve spankings for this activity. ( actually I got most of them because I was always first and my brother would cry so bad she would`nt spank him.) However we soon found a way to work around this complication by hiding our wet and sandy clothes in the garbage can outside and washing them ourselves the next morning before school(and after our parents went to work)! I do`nt remember if we put detergent in or not.

 

[Compwhiz]

Another

It was the second day when we got our brand new whirlpool washer. I put a purple t-shitrt on the agitator and came back after it finished spinning it has on the agitator with part of it on the drum. then on the final spin i turned it off and but a pair of dads jeans a shirt and a rag on it and started it up. it went BANGA BANGA BANGA!!! i ran to my mom and screamed mom mom mom and she noticed it off balance and turned it off and spanked me...

Austin i have horrible punc on the www deal with it

 

[jaxsunst]

Kelvinator

My great-grandmother had an early 60's Kelvinator, it didn't have the clear lid. When I was little my mother let me watch her LadyK(alphbet panel, black roto-swirl, it breaks the heart, the owner manual for it is on this site), I even had a stool that lived in front of it. My great grandmother's machine was running and they wouldn't let me watch it and I didn't know why. I snuck in and found out with a face full of suds, I was about 4 and was convinced there was something alive in there.

That machine was still running in the late 70's when we cleaned the house out, it was stored in a barn that was distroyed in a tornado a few years ago.

 

[cleanteamofny]

I remember that I was the adventurous one who waited for mom and dad to go to the grocery store on Wednesdays so I can play with the washer. I've defeated the lid switch and watch the clothes spin and I used to throw in wet towels, T-Shirts and pants while spinning in the Normal cycle. When I threw mom's polyester pants in, it ended up getting ripped by the splash guard. She questioned me about the rips in her grey pants and I've lied to her, but it saved me from getting a beating!
Whew, it seems like yesterday when I did this......

Thanks for letting me share!

 

[mrb627]

Kenmore Mess

When I was 11 or 12, I disassembled our Kenmore washer down to the point where Dad couldn't put it back together. We had to buy a new one and I was banned from the utility room for 2 months.

MRB

 

[may63]

Gas Dryer

When I was 10 or so I wanted to clean out (i.e. mess with) our RCA Whirlpool gas dryer. No parents around watching me (ah small town summer life in the '70's)...

I pulled it from the wall, unplugged it, and turned my attention to disconnecting the gas line. I assumed the gas was turned off by tightening the gas nut-valve thingy down. After turning it with a wrench clockwise over 10 times around it didn't tighten down. So I called my Dad at work, told him what I was doing and asked him why the nut wouldn't tighten and shut off the gas. He yelled at me for playing with the gas nut-valve because he was afraid my 10 turns may have caused it to leak (it didn't). But then he explained to only turn it a quarter of a turn to shut it off.

In retropspect it's cool to think he yelled at me only because I may have damaged the valve, not because I was taking the dryer apart!

I've also ripped pants from dropping them into a dry spinning wash basket (Maytag) "just to see what would happen", and was also a "speed switch" abuser (GE and Maytag) which was discussed in applianceville many moons ago...God I don't know how those machines survived...

I now get paid to test and try to break computer programming...not as fun as taking apart an appliance but at least it puts my natural curiosity to snoop things out to good use!

Jim

 

[DADoES]

I used to lay towels atop the agitator of our 1962 Whirlpool to see how they'd fly during spin. Several times I almost lost one over the edge of the basket, so I quit doing it.

I used to purposely pile up clothes on one side to see how far I could get it off-balance without banging. The drain hose would bump against the back of the machine during an off-balance spin, so I'd sit on top and pull up on it (or hold it down) to steady it. One time I pushed down or pulled up too hard and the hose cracked at the bend. There wasn't a whole lot of water leak out during the spin/sprays, but the drain after deep rinse was a gusher. I don't recall if I got in trouble, probably made up a story about why it happened.

 

[laundromat]

laundromat

When I was a teenager,I would cop out of school and spend the day going to different laundromats to watch the washers.most were self-service and had no attendants.One day,I visited Sudsville where the had Launderama front loaders.Sometimes there,older folks would ask me to do their wash while they shopped.I would and they would be so surprised at how clean they would get that word would get around about me.That day there was a middle aged woman there who was real nasty and nosy asking me what I was doing there and "Shouldn't I be in school?"She filled 3 machines and added detergent(Trend)as well as bleach to her whites.She left to go to W.T.Grant to shop and warned me if she saw me there when she returned,she would call the truency officers to have me reported.As I watched her enter Grant's,I took her Clorox bleach and added it to all her colored clothes.She got her wish however,I did leave before she returned (In quite a hurry I must say)LOL

 

[jasonl]

Grandma's poor Kenmore 70, cool down and wet feet

My mom's Kenmore 800 was treated gently with utmost love and reverance. My grandma's machine was an older model Kenmore 70 (ovals). It had the lid switch on the top so it was easy to push. It didn't take long before I figured out that's what makes it spin. I used to sit on top of it and watch it wash, when it was spin time I would put all the clothes to one side so the washer could bang and dance. Sure enough, "mmmmgrind-click-clunk-zzzZzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!" I got a whipping but I did it again.

Speaking of mom's Kenmore 800, my mom was a Warm water/Normal cycle mom. She never used most of the other temps and cycles. FINALLY I persuaded my mom to try the permanent press cycle. So now I'm enjoying the PP cycle and it's cool features. The agitation stops and the washer drains. The motor stops. Hmmm. The washer begins to fill with cold water and just as my mom walks into the room, while the washer's filling it starts agitating at the same time. I don't know what scared me most, the washer filling and agitating or my mom screaming at me, "Look what you've done! Now we're gonna have to call the repairman! blah blah blah" I ran out of the room in a hurry.

I remember seeing my aunt's new Whirlpool Supreme 80 and seeing what a bottomless pit it was compared to her former Lady and my mom's Kenmore 800. Anyway, I would sit on the dryer and watch it agitate. One time my cousin was in the room and I went "Dana, watch this." and I stuck my foot in the washer. I pulled my foot out, now dripping with water and Dana was going "Ooh! Look! I'm telling mom. You got evidence all over the machine, all over the floor." He rats and here comes Aunt Lou. "Get off of there! You don't stick your foot in the washer!" "But Aunt Lou, I want to watch the agitator." "No Sir! Not anymore" And laundry room was off limits for me for that day.

 

[jasonl]

Nice portable

Cleanteam, nice portable, is that the straight vane or a roto-swirl?

 

[cleanteamofny]

Jason its a straight vane, but an Super-Roto-Swirl can fit in there also...

 

[agiflow-action]

Oh wow! Cleanteam...that portable has a standard capacity tub?
I thought the tub looked bigger than a typical portable.Cool

 

[agiflow-action]

It would have helped if i looked at your profile.LOL.

 

[i70sn80sguy]

such interesting stories

It's amazing how many stories involved spanking, "beatings", or some form of punishment. Although DrMitch I suspect you may enjoy S&M. And JasonL I am almost afraid to ask what you plan to do with my innocent "800".
Jaxsunst please learn punctuation and how to form a sentence.
Spiral.. in PA. oh my god I laughed! My mother did the same thing! LOLOLOL. I remember seeing her bent over the door of our portable 1969 avacodo Kenmore round rack DW and taking the bottle of ivory and spraying not a little but alot of soap at the detergent cup. LOLOL. And then the quick following panic. LOL. scooping suds out of the machine. Classic.
shawn, I know I did that kind of thing not once but several times. Such good memories.
agiflow-OUCH ! Yet you have remained a loyal washerist all this time. Something to be said for that.
CleanTeam is that actually portable or is it compact? Looks in fine condition. Belt drive?
MRB6... thats the way to get a new washer, just take it apart so no one else can put it together. I like that. That's good.
It's interesting how many thrill seeker there are: throughing items into running machines, getting them to actually run of balance. I'm surprised there weren't more injuries.
I remember once as a young child, at an aunts house she showed us a newspaper article with picture of child that had either crawled into an old abandoned washer tub or was "put" in it. Apparently they were "playing" I don't know. The child died though. it was one of those creepy 70s stories.
Ah good times.