Curing a Lady of gas

[turquoisedude]

Well, perhaps it wasn't a cure so much as a conversion from gas to electricity...

Remember a while back, there was a turquoise Lady Kenmore dryer in Baltimore?

It was a match to the Lady Kenmore turquoise washer, but it was gas... But why should a little thing like that deter me??

Here's one of the threads about this dryer when it first came up for sale:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45609

 

[turquoisedude]

John very kindly picked the dryer up in Baltimore for me and had been storing it at the museum. But now it was time to get my sorry behind down to Beltsville to get this beauty ready to live a new life, electrically!

 

[turquoisedude]

The machine was not quite as wonderful as they said in the ad... But still pretty nice and, bonus, John had spare parts for this model!

 

[turquoisedude]

Cabinet was pretty good, overall. The top is kinda scratched, but I think this dryer has been a hard worker...

 

[turquoisedude]

The drum proves that!

 

[turquoisedude]

So, let's get to work on the conversion! Here's the back of the unit, with the original gas burner in place. Even I recognized that the electric element box was pretty much the same as the gas heater box - this was going to work!

 

[turquoisedude]

It's always a good idea to tear a vintage dryer apart and give it a good cleaning.

Here's further proof the Lady was a hard worker. Did you ever see a lint ball like this?? I thought it was a Christmas tree ornament... LOL

 

[turquoisedude]

But after vacuuming, rubbing, and scrubbing, the vent assembly looked like new again!

 

[turquoisedude]

Here's the relay that made the conversion possible installed on the nice, clean base.

The use of a relay allowed Jeff (who did the wiring work) to keep the original wiring from the dryer controls to the gas ignition system. These wires could not have coped with the high wattage of the dryer elements but they were fine to power the relay which now takes care of supplying the juice. I don't really understand everything about how to use a relay, but by golly, I think I'll be using this approach when I tear into the 66 Inglis dryer!

 

[turquoisedude]

Here's the replacement electric heater unit in place:

 

[turquoisedude]

This is the replacement console John had found for me. Notice the lack of cracks on this one!!

 

[turquoisedude]

Got the drum back in with no issues and a new belt was installed.

 

[turquoisedude]

The 'connection' to the sensors in the drum of this style of dryer is interesting. The original copper wire 'brush' had worn down, but we were able to replace this with some stranded heater wire.

 

[turquoisedude]

So, the converted lady is back togehter again... Looks good and I am clearly proud of her.

 

[turquoisedude]

But how does she run??

Pretty nicely I think!! John has a point, too, I will reluctantly admit... LOL

 

[turquoisedude]

And this Lady is still a capable and willing worker! On Saturday we ran a few loads of laundry and used the Lady K as a test. It is a great dryer!!

 

[turquoisedude]

She beat Phil's new Filtrator hands-down... That will be in another thread, I am sure. And to be fair, the drive belt for the blower in that dryer broke not once, but twice!

 

[turquoisedude]

So, on Sunday, we loaded the Lady into the truck and drove back to Ogden.

Unfortunately, I have to leave the dryer in the garage for a spell while I make room for it down in the Ogden Laundry. Stay tuned for that event!!

 

[goatfarmer]

Great job!

 

[yogitunes]

by the look of that drool on your lips......someone's a Happy Camper!

great job....looks beautiful!

 

[classiccaprice]

Congrats, Paul!  It's lovely.  Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you while you were in the mid-atlantic!

 

[philr]

She beat Phil's new Filtrator hands-down... That will be

Can't wait to see that thread you'll start!

 

;-)

 

[mickeyd]

PUHTHHHUUUUDDDD ~ OOPS! Please forgive me--I have terrible

Pretty machine, Paul, and in Turquoise--that's a new color for you, isn't it? Nice to step out of the box.

Did you cross the border at the Peace Bridge?

Are there any issues transporting an appliance, fees, cavity checks, and the like?

Let's have the skinny on all that, please. Thank You.

 

[jetcone]

Nice

<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>T-dude!!

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Are there any issues transporting an appliance

Michael, it is a LOT simpler than one might imagine. The general rule is that if the appliance was made in the US, Canada, or Mexico, there are no duties or fees, however, the appliance may be subject to Canadian GST. I say 'may' because it depends on the value of the appliance and how long one has been in the US. The new cross-border shopping rules permit a Canuck to bring back $50 worth of goodies each and every time they cross the border; so when I do a one-day run into upstate New England, I would have to pay GST on the value of the appliance(s) and that is based on the proof of purchase. I've had a few cases of buying things under the $50 value (the $9.99 1957 Mobile Maid I won off of FleaPay in October 2007 for example) so there has been no additional tax to pay.

Now, if one has been out of Canada for more than 48 hours, the exemption jumps to $250 and after at week or more, it's something like $800. This is why Hubby will never let me go to the US alone for any serious length of time... LOL

Getting from Ogden to Beltsville we just had to cross into VT, then we took I-91 to I-84, then I-95 all the way down. We're still pretty far east in Ogden so the Peace bridge would not have worked for us.

I only got the cavity check once in San Francisco, on my way back from New Zealand... But that story would not be appropriate for this forum... LOL [this post was last edited: 5/21/2013-14:06]

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks, Paul. SF cavity check,LOL.

Don't know how I got the idea stuck in my head that border crossing a washer/dryer/dishwasher was difficult. Concealing contraband, etc.

Glad to know it's not. So were you able to pay the low fee?

You could tell hubby that it's a futuristic clock with a giant blue battery that will last a lifetime, which of course the LK dryer will.

It's such a beautiful machine.

 

[jetcone]

The guy at the US Border patrol

in Buffalo was quite interested in my Charcoal Frigidaires, but I had a MI BOS so it was go however I think I caught him drooling longingly. 

 

I was worried they get impounded in Canada with no way home, Phyllis was worried we and the machines would get buttsearched!