Belt/direct drive Whirlpool question

[maytagbear]

We had a belt drive Whirlpool Imperial (not the XII), and it ran well for a decent span, 1964-1978.

My question is about the "D" shaped tub opening. It did not bother me, but it sure seemed to bug CR. Was there a functional reason for it, or was it just random?

Thank you (in advance)

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytag85]

The D shaped hole was for the fill flume/fill spout. The D shaped opening might make it a challenge to load items such as blankets but it’s something I can live with compared to the junk they are selling right now.

 

[rp2813]

I've noticed that even the earliest of Whirlpool automatics had this D shape. 

 

Good question, Lawrence.

 

[launderess]

@ Lawrence/Maytagbear

Was just thinking about you few days ago. Good to see you posting again.

Hope you are well!

L.

 

[DADoES]

 
Also provides surface area for the snubber function.

 

[combo52]

D Shaped Tub Openings Etc

WP did this so they could get a deeper control panel on their washers without having it hang over in the back.

 

It is interesting how a manufacturer can design and test a product with thousands of real life users giving feed back that it is a well designed product that people really like and then the male engineers at CRs who probably never used a washer come up with perceived design faults that real users never complained about.

 

Other examples of these silly testing comments by CRs were things like they often complained about GE FF washers because you had to remove the Lint Filter and find a place to set it before loading or unloading the washer, they even complained about the difficult to clean control panel on 06 center dial washers and dryers.

 

In all my years of working on and with owners of these appliances I never heard a single comment or complaint about these [ faults ] CRs should have been much concerned about the overall quality of the appliances they were testing, there were many times that they rated a POS product a good buy that soon had major problems that could have been easily predicted.

 

John L.

 

[bradfordwhite]

John

Like all other media sources, they need the drama.

 

[maytag85]

Never really understood consumer reports. They always seem to have a top rating for something that has inferior build quality and reliability, and in their washer buying guide they overload the ever living heck out of their Kenmore 80 and 90 series washers in their test lab and claim that agitators are rough on clothes according to their so called “tests” and claim the are “real world tests”