Conventional Washers

[rinso]

Does any company manufacture conventional washers anymore? I know Maytag made them for a while into the '70's. I used one for a short period of time when we spent a summer on a ranch some years ago. It was an old Easy machine with a spinner. I remember that it blew through a weeks worth of laundry in half the time my Hettie does, although it did require more of my involvement. The laundry was dried in a Whirlpool dryer. I was still finished in much less time than it takes now.

 

[tomturbomatic]

One of the nice things about having your own automatic washer and dryer is that you can wash and dry anytime so you don't have to save up a week's worth of laundry to do in one day. However, to answer your question, several years ago at least, there was a Speed Queen Conventional washer in a hardware store in Philadelphia that a lady in the District had to have to replace her old SQ wringer. It was not made in the US. That was the last "new" wringer washer I have heard about.

A spin drier washer is quite a bit different than a wringer and I have no idea when the last of the big Easy machines was available for sale. Even if you did not use the spinner basket for rinsing, the better extraction it gave would certainly cut down on the number of rinses a load would need in a sink and would produce dryer and lighter clothes for hanging on the line. I don't know if any spin drier washers the size of the US machines were made in other countries or if any were imported for sale here. Does anyone know of a case where someone who had used a spin drier washer went to a small machine like the Hoover or Maytag instead of an automatic when the old machine was replaced?

 

[jamiel]

I think both (wringers and Easy-type spinners) are available in Mexico.

 

[sillysuds]

Consumer Reports

I have the 2007 Buying Guide, and under the ratings, for washing machines, are no longer being sold is this true? they say that the traditional top load washer do not meet energy standards. did anybody see this?. Thank's Bob.

 

[frigilux]

I think CR was a bit premature in announcing the death of the conventional top-loading washer. The only manufacturer's website that has removed top-loaders is KitchenAid.

 

[agiflow]

I guess if CU says the traditional TLer is dead it will probably be so in very short time. After all if CU says it, it must be gospel.

 

[oxydolfan1]

No, what happened is, at the time they put the 2007 Buying Guide together, they hadn't reviewed the top loaders yet. But, shortly afterward, they published a more comprehensive test in the monthly magazine that included the toploaders! They also included a lot more frontloaders than the original test in the buying guide had.

I remember it because they gave the Admiral a high score for value, but seriously dissed the Kenmore and Frigidaire toploaders for washing performance, which confused me, because I would think Kenmore toploaders would perform about the same as Whirlpool.

 

[sillysuds]

You would think so, since Whirlpool Makes Sears Kenmore.

 

[maytagbear]

Lehmans Hardware

in Kidron, OH offers the "Home Queen" wringer washer, new, and sometimes has reconditioned Maytag wringer washers.

The Home Queen is expensive, though, 700 some in USD, plus shipping is extra. It appears to be an exact duplicate of the Speed Queen wringer.

As for me, I'll stick with automatics or twin tubs.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

oh, duh

Link to Lehmans' home page.

L/Mb

Lehman's - Products For Simple Living

Live simply with the Lehman's online store. We sell oil lamps, wood cook stoves & more. Non-electric tools & homesteading supplies since 1955.

lehmans.com

 

[bongobro]

conventional washers are all but wrung out!

Like Maytagbear pointed out, Lehman's sells a machine that's a reworked Speed Queen...and I think was originally intended for Latin American markets...

but Maytag officially stopped making wringer washers in 1983. In fact, I believe Maytag and Speed Queen were the last washer makers to make wringer machines on a regular basis in America.

I think most other wringer manufacturers ended production sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, since Philco-Ford was still making wringers as late as 1969 (before they sold the laundry line to, of all companies, Dexter!) and wringers pretty well disappeared after that.

Wringers, remember, weren't all that efficent compared to even the worst automatics when it came to doing a week's worth of laundry in one day. (Ironically, my mother used a late-40's twin-tub Dexter until she bought her first automatic (a "Magic Minute" Kelvinator) in 1963. I remember she used one tub for suds and the other for rinsing and it was actually pretty efficient!)

On the Consumer Reports article, not all the machines tested met the 2007 standards and some lines weren't available to test at the time of the report.

Charlie
bongobro