Any positive comments for pre 1980 Norge/Wards dryers?

[repairguy]

Since I now have the vintage Norge set I’ve been looking through the archives for information. There is definitely more positive feedback when it comes to the washers but not so much for the dryers. Is there anyone using one of theses dryers regularly these days? How many members have them? Any pictures or good things to say about them?

I’ve always liked the pre early eighties Norge/Montgomery Wards machines but they weren’t popular in this area. The Wards models seemed to be the fancier more common models. I personally like them and can’t wait to go through mine and put them into service. I didn’t have a good picture of the whole dryer but here are some random ones.

Model: DEK 1818 A17
Serial 281259

 

[appnut]

Melvin, I would say just enjoy the dryer. My only negative about this particular model is it's timed dry only, no auto dry. I believe it moves a lot of air and can handle a large load.

 

[rp2813]

For me, the reverse is true

My mom's '67 Signature 18 far outlasted its companion washer. 

 

I have absolutely nothing good to say about Norge's despicable washers but my mom only had Norge dryers --  a '56 Timeline, the '67 Signature, and what I'm guessing was a late '80s Signature 2000 -- and the first two far outlasted their Norge washer counterparts.  By the time the third one showed up, a far more reliable, refined and infinitely quieter '74 Kenmore had long since replaced the Signature 18 washer from hell that tried to grind its way to China.

 

That's a nice dryer you have.  It will likely provide you with many years of service.

 

[aircub]

wards/norge

My grandmother had a signature dryer very good and durable just not quiet, my mother had a signature washer 18 it was tough as nails and washed tons of very dirty dairy farm clothes for a family, it was great and did this family well, I dream to find one again I loved it,

Darren

 

[repairguy]

Thanks for the replies. I do look forward to using it but before I do I want to take care of some maintenance issues mainly from the dryer sitting so long.

Ralph as you probably already know I have the washer too. So close your eyes when the posts pop up, lol! I did get a kick out of your comments in the archives on nearly every Norge/Wards washer thread.

 

[user 12105]

Had a 1973-74 Fedders Norge washer and dryer. Washer worked until 1983. Excellent cleaner but very loud. Never had the chance to use the dryer though.

 

[combo52]

Norge-Wards Dryers post 1967-8

Worked great but like the earlier Norge design leaked air everywhere and lint along with the air [ I would only use one on an outdoor porch ]

 

They were not real durable dryers like the models just before, main problem areas were broken drum belts, bad front slides, noisy blower bearings, and motors filled with lint that kept overheating.

 

John L.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

I know this may not sound relevant

But isn’t that the reason why a lot of dryers are using negative pressure based systems? As in heater drum lint catcher fan instead of fan heater drum lint catcher? So that way it doesn’t push went into the area surrounding the dryer?

 

[cfz2882]

under pressure.

i had a 1980 Wards,lasted 18 years until the motor seized and no replacement was avalible at the dump Had to clean lint out of the hard working 1/2 HP motor about every year or it would overheat and shut down mid cycle.Positive pressure Norge dryers lasted through about 1986,design modified about 1983 with slightly smaller radial fan(~15") behind drum and 1/3 hp motor.

 

[repairguy]

The last time I saw a set in operation in this area was the late nineties. It was a matched Wards signature set in white from around 1980. They were in great shape and I haven’t seen a Norge/Wards washer or a dryer in operation since.

 

[rp2813]

Would I be correct in assuming that all positive pressure Norge dryers had the lint screen on the bottom?  My mom's Signature 2000 still had the screen down there.

 

[combo52]

Norge Dryer Lint Screen Position

The Norge dryers with the lint screen down at floor level in the kick-plate area were the original design and were built like tanks, this design was changed about 1968 to the lint screen in a pocket below the door where you opened the loading door to pull it out to clean.

 

Hi Ralph, I am sure that the Signature 2000 dryers lint screen was in the door pocket as this original design was gone before 1970 even, people were not even thinking the world would still be here in 2000, LOL

 

When Norge made this change they went from having probably the most rugged durable dryer ever [ better than MT, WP, GE Etc Etc ] to one of the worst dryers on the market, Everything went wrong with the new design in 1/2 the time or much less.

 

Both of these style dryers were positive pressure designs that would flock your basement laundry room with lint.

 

I don't remember exactly what year that Norge ditched this 2nd design I thought it was early 80s it was before MT bought Norge-Magic Chef in the mid 80s that I am pretty sure some one can probably help me out with the exact years.

 

Norge-Fedders-Magic Chef came out an all new 27" negative pressure dryer design that was immediately a POS and continued to be a 2nd rate dryer till WP took control of MT and closed the old Norge factory.

 

The Maytag drying center was based on this crappy Norge dryer, I installed a NEW Maytag gas drying center in my newly remodeled laundry room a few months it works but after less than 30 loads it is already starting to squeak a little, and it is nowhere as fast as the 2 WP built 29" gas dryers I have in the laundry room or as nice to use LOL

 

John L.

 

[repairguy]

Here’s a little timeline from some searching that I’ve done. I too wanted to know when the positive airflow design was dropped but I haven’t found the exact date yet. I assume it happened during the Magic Chef years but that’s a guess. Here’s a timeline from thesouthern.com.

1946 - Borg Warner builds the Herrin plant

1963 - Norge is successful with a new automatic washer

1968 - Fedders purchases Norge from Borg Warner

1969 - Norge announces the acquisition of dryer production facilities

1979 - Magic Chef purchases Norge from Fedders

1986 - Magic Chef merges with Maytag

1989 - Norge in Herrin becomes Magic Chef Herrin

1993 - Magic Chef Herrin becomes Maytag Herrin Laundry Products

1996 - The Herrin plant celebrates 50 years and is 9 times the size of the original with 800 employees

1997 - Maytag’s new Performa line adds 112 jobs

1998 - Herrin expands its production lines

2000 - more than 1200 workers strike for a week, the last time for 6 weeks in 1981

2002 - Maytag increases the workforce at the Herrin plant to more than 1400

2003 - Maytag says plant employs 2000 people with 1600 in production, biggest employer in the region

2003 - Maytag begins production of the Neptune dryer

2003-04 - Herrin receives 1.2 million state grant and 1.65 million federal grant for plant improvements

2004 - (June) 41 employees lose jobs due to corporate downsizing at management level

2005 - (March) Maytag says they’ll cut costs by outsourcing more production to foreign countries not negatively affecting the Herrin plant

2005 - (May-June) Maytag receives buyout proposals from Ripplewood Holdings LLC and Bain Capital partners LLC, Blackstone Capital partners and Haier America Trading

2005 - (August) Maytag corp. directors sell the company to Whirlpool corp. for 1.7 billion

2006 - (January-February) more than 150 workers laid off

2006 - (May 10th) Whirlpool announces Herrin plant closing date

2006 - (November) city of Herrin brings in experts to aid workers with starting their own businesses

2006 - (December) Man-Tra-Con talks to employees about new opportunities

2006 - (December 21st) last day of work for Maytag employees

 

[DADoES]

 
Nice research.

 

[repairguy]

Thanks Glenn. I get a little carried away most of the time.

 

[rinso]

Our pre 1980's Signature (Norge) Dryer had positive air flow. It really dried very quickly, but the positive (how air is blown in, instead of being vacuumed out) seemed to result in "linty" loads, made worse by its aggressive matching washing machine. Also, lint tended to build up inside the dryer cabinet. Once a year, we would disassemble the dryer, and vacuum out all the lint. That said, the pair was great for my dirty work clothes.

 

[maytag85]

I don’t have experience with any Norge or Wards dryers but I’ve heard they tend to accumulate a lot of lint in little time and someone said theirs caught on a fire a few times as well in the archives. Only “positive” air flow dryer I have experience with it my 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial dryer with positive air flow at the lint screen and usually there’s lint and dust in the area where the lint screen is and on the top panel after I dry loads with lots of lint and dog hair but otherwise isn’t much lint if I use the regular speed since it reduces the air output and speed of the fan.

 

[rp2813]

I honestly can't remember for sure where the lint screen was on the Signature 2000 dryer.  I do remember that it had a plastic cap or nub of some kind down low in front and I think it was something found only on their gas models.

 

Interesting time line for Norge and Maytag, but the 2003 date for Neptune dryers makes me wonder about the Neptune set at a co-workers house where my group's 2001 holiday party was held.  Before 2003 was Maytag putting their badge on Neptune dryers that they didn't manufacture?

 

[gansky1]

 

 

The latest Wards catalog I have is Fall & Winter 1982 - still the Norge Flock-O-Matic design - but has lost the locking door latch.  

 

I would guess the vacuum drying system came about with Magic Chef a few years later by the (excellent!) timeline above.  

 

[repairguy]

Ralph I’m going to speculate that what they were referring to is the production of the Neptune drying center since it was Herrin built. The Neptune washer and dryer line which began in 1997 were Newton built.

Thanks for the scan of those awesome Wards machines. I really can’t wait to try the Norge Flock-O-Matic.

 

[washerlover]

Here are photos of my Wards Signature set. Not a true matching pair, but pretty close. The dryer had sat outside on a farm for a few years so the control panel is pretty hard to read, but the dryer works like a dream. Yes, as mentioned earlier, they tend to blow lint out into the room because of the fan (Norge once had a dryer line named “Fan Jet”) that blows outward. Despite the lint problem, the design results in really fluffy clothes. And with the amazing Wards/Norge automatic washer’s washing prowess, this is the perfect laundry pair!

Anyway, not sure of the exact vintage of these wonderful machines, but would guess mid-late 70s?

 

[repairguy]

Hi Todd! I’ve been waiting for you to comment as one of the proponents on this site of these machines. That’s a great set you have and I agree that they are mid to late seventies. Ive been doing some research on fedders date codes and if they were the same format as their ac units then the first 2 digits of the serial is the year and the letter that follows is the month. I can’t see the first numbers of the dryer serial but the washer would be a ‘77.

 

[qsd-dan]

Here's a circa early 60's Norge dryer I got to play with quite sometime ago. I have to say that I was extremely impressed with it. Fast even drying, fluffy clothes, and no, there wasn't a single spec of lint anywhere in the laundry room. One of the options that surprised me was the lever near the door opening that stopped the drum from turning and a provided rack to dry items like shoes. VERY forward thinking for that time period! The original owner never repaired it once in nearly 50 years of operation. He said an idler came off and he just reinstalled it. It sounded like the original belt had a worn/flat spot on it but I'd give that a pass for almost a half century of use. It took me longer than I want admit to locate the lint filter although it's pretty well disguised. About the only negative comment I think of is that it's timed dry only but other than that, a fantastic dryer.

 

[appnut]

Dan, that Signature dryer control panel style dated form mid to late 1963 through 1966. Our 1964 Norge dryer's rack is still to this day the best design I've ever come across and it's what I use as a benchmark against all others. The stop'n'dry allowed me to put my mom and sisters' lingere in the upper position and dry tennis shoes or galoshes on the lower position.

 

[qsd-dan]

Bob, thanks for nailing down the production dates, I've been curious about that for over 2 decades now. It really is an impressive dryer. I never thought about using the drying rack for multi tier use but that makes sense with the drum being stationary. The dryer only saw 2 person use from new until '99 when his wife passed, then through 2011 when he passed. Not a benchmark for reliability stats but it seemed rather sturdily built and a reliable design.

 

[appnut]

Dan, my mom wanted a new washer & dryer in fall 1978. the 1964 Norge dryer went to a coworker (along with the 1970 Kenmore 800) when he bought his first house. His comment about the dryer was that it was built like a tank.

 

[appnut]

I have to admit, I wish I could read the text for each of the cycles A-F. I could only figure out F, Air Fluff.

Norge only had two models in 1964 that offered Auto Dry, the rest were only timed. The models with the auto dry actually had 2 heat input on the auto dry cycle similar to the concept of Soft Heat on Lady Kenmore dryers in 1964 or 1965.

 

[repairguy]

Dan that is a beautiful dryer! Bob thanks for the additional information. I have a dryer from approximately the same age range but unfortunately it’s been sitting in a shed with no climate control for the last 20 years and is probably not worth saving anymore. It is a bottom of the line model with a timer only no other selectors. It does have the stop-n-dry feature though.

 

[washerlover]

And this was the Norge set I lost in the wildfire in 2015. The dryer had the “stop ‘n dry” feature but was missing the rack. It was an auto dry model and definitely was a tank!

 

[repairguy]

That’s a nice set Todd! I’m sorry that you lost them. Thanks for sharing the pictures.