Bendix Duomatic - 465 pounds!!

[lowefficiency]

Today's Picture of the Day (6/16/2019) is the Bendix Duomatic combo washer-dryer.

I couldn't believe it when I read how much the unit weighs - 465 lbs for the gas machine, and a whopping 492 lbs when crated!!
Holy cow!
And the electric version isn't very far behind - 446 lbs for the machine, and 473 lbs in its crate.

How in the world did appliance dealers of the day manage these units??

Even if you assembled a team of strongmen to move them, you're going to be damaging wooden stair treads with the dollies going up or down. And I can only imagine the apprehension of inching down some rickety basement steps, wondering if they will hold up to a thousand pounds of man and machine.

The brochure talks about its installation location flexibility due to its compact size (relative to a separate washer/dryer pair), but I can imagine most folks (or installers) had to plan ahead and be more selective for these...

Anyone have any stories or insight?

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">How nice to discover that the Duomatic and I have something in common, weight.</span>

 

[gansky1]

When we moved my '55 Duo to the basement some 20 years ago, I removed the cabinet trim piece  from the front edge and we slid it down the (carpeted) steps on it's side and let gravity do the work.  Two of us stood under it to slow it's downward momentum.  Lucky we weren't both killed.  He still rants about how heavy it was.

 

[turquoisedude]

I had a beeyatch of a time getting my electric Duomatic down the stairs into the Ogden laundry...it took three of us to manage it!

Years ago when my father worked as a delivery person for the Eatons department store, he had a major hate-on for all things Moffatt because of their washer-dryer combinations (they were rebagded Bendix machines in his day).  People ordered them and more often than not refused delivery because the units either didn't fit or could not be transported up 3 flights of twisty, rickety stairs!!

 

[combo52]

Laundry Appliance Weights

They were heavy, however a new Speed Queen stack weighs nearly 400 pounds, a few more for gas.

Any decent staircase can easily support 1000+ pounds, in fact each step can easily support that much weight.

These early Duomatics were actually quite slim and would easily go through narrower doors than many new washers & dryers will today.

John L.

 

[neptunebob]

Kind of related...

I have been watching the show 600 Pound Life about a doctor who deals with people of extreme weight.  My sister who is a nurse works on a bariatric unit in our area and that their building dates from the 1960s.  She tells me that there are cracks in the floors, creaking when more than one person walks near each other and constant trouble with their elevators from all the heavy weight.  Perhaps appliances weigh less now, but it seems some people weigh more today than in the past.  When bariatric patients have to be moved, especially if they are bed bound, it can take 6 to 8 people to move them, maybe that many people had to move appliances in the past.

 

[bendixmark]

Duomatic

I have a 1957 duomatic and I got it from a member who couldn't fit it down his basement stairs.I have to tell you my god is that thing heavy I cant imagine moving that anywhere.It is in my garage and the washer room which is under construction is the next room. Paul the Turqoisedude dude moved his down a flight of stairs recently and I was like you guys are crazy! I would have paid some young and stupid kids to do that if I were him.I would not want my tombstone to say Crushed By A Bendix someday.I suppose under the circumstances I could have a tombstone Bendix tombstone.Wouldnt that be nice? [this post was last edited: 6/27/2019-12:01]

 

[turquoisedude]

Oh, I tried to find some young, strong fellas to help move that Duomatic... I walked into the local hardware store and grocery store and loudly announced "Who wants to get paid for getting hot and sweaty for a couple of hours" and whoosh! Everyone vanished!! Don't know why... LOL

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you actually examined the amount of steel and cast iron that is in an original Duomatic, you would not be amazed at the weight. The thickness of the porcelain is pretty amazing, too and that adds weight.