An evening with the Hoovermatic Deluxe

[74simon]

I spent this evening working through a pile of laundry with my HMDL and its spanking new hoses to see how it performed. There is a very slight leak from under the machine, but it has improved since its inaugural run yesterday - I have been told that hot water helps the pump reseal if it has been dismantled, as mine was. To be honest, it isn't the best example of one of these, but it still seems reasonable, and is certainly usable - it's now done a dozen loads over the weekend, thanks to our automatic being sickly!

This first picture is of the tub being filled - this 3314L has a permanently attached fill hose, stored with the drain hose on the back of the machine.

 

[74simon]

The dials

In a different order to the USA Hoover twinnie, and with a heater to boot - these were popular with people who had babies, as you could boil their nappies (diapers) in it. A shame you can't rinse and operate the heater at the same time though.

 

[74simon]

Loaded...

Will it take a double duvet cover, double bedsheet and pillowcases? *holds breath*

 

[74simon]

It cetainly will!

Although I kept the lid down for the duration of the wash to save being splattered!

 

[74simon]

Soap cake!

Even though I used the correct amount of Fairy Snow detergent... ended up ladling it out with a jug.

 

[74simon]

Wash over

You may have heard that Hoovermatics tangle a little... Note that the pillowcase is about the same vintage as the machine!

 

[74simon]

And rinse!

Much easier that having to keep hosing the load down. Plus three rinses take about the same time as one four minute load, which keeps your momentum going.

 

[74simon]

Emptying

Only takes about a minute to empty the tub. Marvellous machine!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover Splashmatic!!

Hey Simon,

Glad you got it working, looks in fine condition, I love the Charcoal and blue styling of these machines, so simple and stylish....I see, like Hoover , you are not afraid of colour!!!

I`m curious as to how you loaded ??did you place on top of the water and then switch on?? or puch the clothes under??

I was always taught to switch on and then load items whilst it whipped them under the water, Jon from brum says always load under the water then switch on....have tried both and sometimes it still tangles....

AND, it wouldnt be a Hoover Wash without a Splash!!!

Cheers, Mike

 

[74simon]

Hi Mike,

until we moved house we had the curtains that matched that pillowcase in our bedroom... my choice, naturally.

When using the machine, I just put the sheets on top of the water, shut the lid and let the magic of the activator do the rest. I shall be experimenting though!

Had some problems with the anti-syphon valve, as our hot water is at a VERY low pressure, but have fitted a rubber nozley thing to the fill hose which works a lot better... shame though.

The 3314L is a beaut, especially with that blue spinner cover. I do like the look of later models, ie T5004/24, but can't be bothered fannying round with an interlock like I had to with our old Hotpoint Supermatic. I remember my auntie levering open the lid of her T5002 with a knife to defeat the interlock though!

Even my partner tried the HMDL tonight. He's impressed with the auto rinse and the fact that he'll be able to use soap flakes again, but less than impressed with the way it will only take two pairs of jeans at a time!

Si

 

[newwave1]

Hey simon!
Fantastic twinny! Looks alot of fun! Whats frontloader do you have and whats wrong with it? I remember my hotpoint twinny i had last year was rather splashy. Thank you for posting pics!

Darren

 

[74simon]

Hullo Darren,

It's a Servis M6011, which came with the flat. My partner thinks that the concrete weight has come loose. Wash is quiet enough, but the spin is very very loud, and the machine shakes so much the detergent drawer sometimes pops open! There's grey dust under it too. Must phone the landlord at some point...

I wish we'd kept our Indesit W123, had that for four years with no probs at all, but then my partner was always fastidious with it, using soda crystals in every wash, and stopping it if it was out of balance.

Si

 

[newwave1]

Crikey. What do you think to the servis?

Is your partner into machines too? Or just likes to take care of things?

Darren

 

[mickeyd]

Hello, Lads!

Such a beautiful machine and the chrome tub is so much nicer than the plastic American one I have. Isn't the spinning just insane? Don't know any toploader than spins faster?

My way is to fill it, start the agitation, then feed the load, piece by piece and watch the Hoover dog madly snatch it down. Woff ! Woff ! Lots o' fun.

 

[74simon]

Don't like the Servis

The controls aren't very intuitive, and I don't like the way the dial doesn't advance! I understand Servises (Servii?) aren't too reliable either - ours is less than two years old, and doesn't get a hammering.

My partner took care of the Indesit to make sure it lasted (which it did), but is more of a gadget freak than anything else - over the years we've had slo-cookers, popcorn makers, every conceivable type of coffee maker and even knitting machines and two rice cookers at once (different sizes, you see)!

I'm more of a Hoover collector - mostly vacuums, but got some obscure stuff too - toaster, shaver, hairdryer etc. Oh, and Russell Hobbs kettles too! And anything by HMV...

Si

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover Washdog

That was a great add & slogan, "The HooverWashdog" & the 4 minute wash!!!This is a vid of the later model the T5054 when Jetcone Jon came over, lids up to see the action!!!

You certainly have to hold onto your hoses with a Hoovermatic in your house...LOL

 

[74simon]

Hoover Washdog!

Kevin Cox sent me the ad below - I love the cozy way that they sell it as part of the family, rather than a flashy bit of technology.

I vaugely remember a similar TV campain, with a woman pulling one by a leash, although it must have been a later model, as I was only born in 74 - my October '73 washdog is three months older than I am!

Mickey - I love the wacky colours of the American plastic tub machines - and those cabinet finishes even more! The avocado and harvest gold ones are gorgeous!

I've linked to a short video of my autorinse kicking in - that spinner roar is quite something...

Si

 

[gansky1]

Great ad! I love that SS wash-tub too - much more sleek looking that the harvest gold one in my Hoover Deluxe.

 

[matchboxpaul]

Once the automatics are sorted, I might start work on hoover and hotpoint twin tubs. Never really had a thing for twinnies, but I sense that I am getting urges!
Another well preserved piece of early 70's appliance nostalgia. Love it

 

[mickeyd]

Gee I had no idea there were DOG ads--that's awesome

But if you love and have fed a lot of dogs, you can't help but think of one when you're feeding the clothes to the Hoover, the way it first grabs then quickly wolfs down the garment. You're makin' me fell tapped into the universe. Thanks.

 

[tlee618]

Thanks Si for the neat pictures. That is such a beautiful machine. I loved the Hoover-WashDog ad, so fun!! Thanks for sharing. Terry

 

[lederstiefel1]

My wash-dog

Hi - that are great pix!!!
My wash-dog did its last load last week - now it is on vacation.... in the cellar-beauty-farm! Going to get a new face!!! Therefor my new AEG Lavalux had it's re-birth this Sunday! I got two of these machines - both not ready to be used - and formed a new one out of both; the rest is going to the garbage, except some parts for spares. It had it's maiden-wash yesterday afternoon! Three small loads of Delicates with PERWOLL with low water level (20 liters filling) and three full loads of Dark Coloureds/Wash'n'Wear with ARIEL COLOR LIQUID at normal (high) water level (30 liters filling). I washed them all in luke-warm water and gave them at least three rinses with cold water each. Unfortunantely our camera is broken so I couldn't take some pix.......sniff...boohooo...
It really did a good job!
Still I'm waiting to get a new HOTPOINT SUPERMATIC DE LUXE T 9414 from the UK - can't await it. In the meantime I will try to finish the HOOVERMATIC 3301L. Has to be stripped and completely re-painted... KIRBY and DREMEL are waiting already to start with the beauty-cure in the cellar...

Ralf

 

[hoovermatic]

Its when I see piccys like that I realise I should have kept hold of my 3314L. I don't know what it is about that model but everything seemed perfect; the colours, the design, the features. Even today, it looks almost timeless. I love some of the older models particularly the 3301L but they didn't have the autorinse and the wash tubs weren't as shiny. Have loads of fun with it!!

 

[lederstiefel1]

hoovermatic

Hi, Hoovermatic!
(What's your real name, please! My twinnie Hoovermatic 3301L doesn't read this internet file....lol, just kidding!!)
OK....where were we? Ahh yes...
Well same mistake I did several years ago... I gave my Hoovermatic T5054 away b ecause my former girl-friend (how could I ever be so wrong to have a girl-friend....tz..tz..tz...!??), well, she insisted on selling it before I bought my HOTPOINT Supermatic de luxe 9414... I sold it to an English who was on exchange-work in Frankfurt...
Well, one cannot have everything...can we?
So, now I have my 3301L; saved it from the garbage.
The 3301L is older than the 3314L, and at that time stainless steel wasn't developped - or still to expensive - so they used somrthing different for that purpose. The 3301L has no Autorinse, yes but I have several machines to choose from, so I don't bother.

Cheers, Ralf

 

[rolls_rapide]

Hi everyone,

I just had to register, after seeing all the old machines.

Simon: that Hoovermatic DeLuxe machine is my mother's first washer to a tee! She was given it as a wedding present in 1969; and it did indeed wash nappies - mine, my sister's and brother's! lol.

Apparently twintubs washed cleaner than the automatics of the time. Mum never used the autorinse, as it never rinsed properly (apparently as a baby I had terrible skin problems), so she would rinse in the kitchen sink instead (double sink-unit).

Mum used "Ariel" in the machines (Dad came in with "Bold" once, and mum said it was rubbish. "Bold" had the porthole of frontloaders as the 'logo', if I remember correctly).

The machine lasted until 1980, when it started leaking. So my grandparents supplied a copy of Which? magazine, and the Hoover A3110 "Electronic 1100" received a good test result, so my parents purchased that.

My gran was impressed by the A3110, so she also got one in 1982, to add to her 1974 Hoovermatic twintub (orange controls) and 1960's Rolls Rapide model! Her's was more refined: the programmer gave extra clicks before the final spin!

Oh the things you remember! lol

 

[mayken4now]

LAWD, what fun.

Steve

 

[hoovermatic]

Ralf - my name is Paul - I always mean to sign off with my name and almost always forget!

I have vivid memories of the 3310L. As a child, our neighbours had one and I used to go in on Monday mornings during the school holidays as it was washday. She was about 65 years old in the early 1970's so Monday washday was a tradition for her. I remember everything always being the same each week. She had no hot water supply so used to heat up kettles and large saucepans to help fill the washtub and always brought the temp up to 85 degrees before starting with the whites. She was VERY fussy about her washing and always rinsed everything in the sink. Bizarrly, she used to add a tiny amount of Tide to the rinse water!!! What was that all about? It was the blue Tide that we used to get in the UK years ago and I imagine she believed the bluing effect was beneficial and that the fragrance was good. I guess softeners were a bit too modern for her at her age!! id you, my Mum took some persuading to start on Comfort in the mid 1970's!!

 

[lederstiefel1]

Hi Paul!

Same with me! I also have so many vivid memories of the (wash-)days during 1963-1972. To explain the matters: I was born 1961 and from 1972 on I went to school in an other town-part, so had no time to watch wash-days regularly and also at this time most people in Germany had already automatic FLs in their apartments.
But back to the time mentioned.
A bit further down in our street there lived an old lady who still did the washing in the laudry room in the basement and as the window of that "wash-kitchen" goes towards the pavement I could always watch her doing the washing. She still used a water-pressure driven woodden tub-washer (Miele or Holighaus, I guess) and I remember so well the clank-clank-clank-clank from the cylinder on top of the woodden lid, going back and forth, moving the woodden agitator underneath the woodden lid to stir the washing in the suds.
Our landlady did the same in our house until 1964 (she was one of the first who had an automatic MIELE FL in our street) and I watch frequently from the door-gap the wash-day in our basement taking place. The steaming copper-boiler, the MIELE woodden-tub wringer-washer with electric motor underneath, humming and moving the "wash-cross" (woodden agitator in cross form) back and forth in the steaming suds, not to forget the whirríng spinner with still copper spin-can! And all that splashy rinsing in the concrete basins afterwards...!! The used rinse-water flooded the floor when the basins' tube-plugs were lifted off the drain-holes and the water disappeared slowly through the drain in the floor while the women walked through it in rubber-boots...all gone...!!!
Other women had already twin-tubs or pulsator single-tubs with wringer so the copper boiler was not in use anymore in these households.
Concerning the adding of Tide to the rinsing: in Germany we had a rinsing agent called SIL (STTP and oxygen bleach which is nowadays available as a booster without STTP in stores) to break down the water-hardness in the first HOT rinse which was essential as in the old days washing-powders contained soap! (In the time "before" SIL appeared on the market, people used to add some washing-soda or bleaching-soda or used rain-water.) May-be that was the purpose?
My mom started on LENOR in the early sixties but stopped that again after about 10-15 years because of the disadvantages of this stuff. Neither my mom nor we use conditioners anymore at the moment and there is no need to when you wash in TUB-WASHERS as they do not harden the items as tumbling does.

Greetings from a rainy Germany - Ralf

 

[hoovermatic]

When I had my 3314L I rarely used softener as I was able to use proper soap flakes, which apart from being great at stain removal leave the clothes beautifully soft and they smell out of this world without the need for a cocktail of chemicals. I am definately going to get another twin tub at some stage. I have no room for one now but it looks like I will be moving to London within the next 12 months and am going to insist on a utility room that can house my 2 Hotpoint TL's (slimline and traditional) and a twinnie.

Paul

 

[jetcone]

Hey Mike

Nice Vid from our wash day in the garden!

Those are fun machines to play with. I like the washdog analogy. Thats just how Aloysius grabs clothes except I end up with teeth holes in them!

Did I read right that Jon's little plastic portable twinnie blew up??

Jon