Any positive comments for pre 1980 Norge/Wards dryers?

[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.

 

[maytag85]

Does anyone have photos of these Norge positive air flow dryers taken apart? Never seen one taken apart and looked through the archives to see photos of one completely taken apart and didn’t see any photos of one disassembled.

 

[neptunebob]

Remember a Norge when I was a kid, would it heat a room?

When I was young, this had to be around 1970 I was playing with a friend, Jimmy. We were doing something in the basement and it was cold and I remember Jimmy opening his mom's dryer, pulling out a lever called stop N Dry and turning the dryer on. I don't remember it being any warmer but what was going on there? Somehow the door switch was taped (?) or maybe it runs with the door open? What was Jimmy trying to do with this dryer? Could this be one of the dangerous childhood situations we survived, that is, could we have died of CO? I though it was strange as this is the only time I saw Stop N Dry.

 

[repairguy]

The lever lifted the drum to prevent it from turning while the big fan at the back of the drum blew heat out. If it was gas and the burner wasn’t adjusted right there could’ve been some CO entering the room.

 

[maytag85]

I don’t think it would have been admitting CO/carbon monoxide into the room since gas dryers don’t admit much if any carbon monoxide since the burner burns much more efficiently since there’s tons of air being pulled through the burner on a gas dryer compared to a gas stove or water heater burner since not much air gets pulled through on any of those burners.

 

[combo52]

Norge Dryers,

Original style approximately 1952-1967, 2nd style 1968-early 80s.

 

While both these Norge dryer designs were positive air pressure dryers with the fan behind the drum blowing heated air in from the back and out from the drum at the front they were completely different dryers.

 

The 1st style dryers had a lint filter in the toe-kick area that was about 20" square and only needed cleaning every week or so, the 2nd style had a filter in a plastic frame just  inside the door that was much smaller and needed cleaning every few loads.

 

The first style machines were built like tanks and usually outlasted several AWs the 2nd generation machines were a POS and usually could not outlast even the Norge washer that came with it, there was not one part that interchanged between the two different designs.

 

A lot of the early style machines suffered door switches that would get stuck closed and the dryer would run with the door open.

 

Gas dryers make a minuscule amount of CM, Norge even had a hair dryer attachment for the early style dryers that allowed the hot air from the dryer blow all around your hair to dry it.

 

John L.

 

[ozzie908]

Is it possible to seal the gaps around

the cabinet to help minimise dust and debris being expelled during the dry cycle.

We had positive pressure Hotpoint dryers and if you took it apart to repair it was a good idea to buy draught sealer the adhesive type and when replacing the panels etc you lined it with new seal and it would make a lot of difference to lint every where !!

I recall doing one that took ages to dry and afterwards was 2x as fast and the only air you find other than the hose was blown out the back of the timer dial.....

Austin

 

[washerlover]

Ozzie908, I did just that on an earlier iteration of a Wards Signature dryer that blew air/lint out the door. I added weatherstripping around the door seal and that helped. Sometimes the air flow would be too much and it would push the door open..!