Dog Fur, Meet Your Match

[pulltostart]

IMHO, the ONLY way to deal with dog fur.  Bought this one over the weekend and used it for the first time yesterday.  It went through all parts of the "Regular" cycle without problem, no leaks were observed.  It was not level, so it wasn't happy during the spin, but that can be corrected.  I have made a first pass at cleaning up the exterior; can pop the top Saturday and remove smeg from the innerds.  The Mini-Basket is missing, but that doesn't bother me since the intent is to wash dog sheets in this one.  It does need new bumpers on the lid if anyone has a lead on some, please speak up.

 

lawrence

 

[pulltostart]

Money Shot

 

lawrence

 

[DADoES]

 
Nice model.

 

[applianceguy47]

Almost TOL,  It's missing the Spotscrubber cycle.  Not  a biggee.

 

My parents had the TOL in 1985, with matching electric dryer in almond.

 

[tecnopolis]

I have a few extra of the special square lid bumpers that the Filter-Flo's use.
They were missing from my SpotScrubber when I received it.

 

[tecnopolis]

Check out my mega thread dedicated to the Flo, "Filter Flo Nation" for more info.

 

[pulltostart]

Thanks for the info, I'll check out your thread.  Actually, this woodgrain-slathered console is the predecesor to the black-and-chrome console and I believe the "Extra Cleaning Cycle" morphed into the "Spotscrubber Cycle".  This version is from about 1980 through 1985, in 1986 GE stripped off the woodgrain.  This is the first time I've had a programmed washer!

 

lawrence

 

[tecnopolis]

There are a few mini baskets available on ebay if you want one. They are fun to use and quite useful.

 

[pulltostart]

I can also check out the MB.  First up should be the lid bumpers.  BTW, my filter pan is white.

 

lawrence

 

[tecnopolis]

There are two sizes to the filter pans. IIRC one is 9+" and the other is approx 11+".
The fabric softener dispenser works with either pan.

You can see the dog hair start to accumulate in the filter pan almost immediately. Water is circulated at approximately 8 gallons a minute.

 

[applianceguy47]

Lawrence, you beat me to the punch.  When I saw Alex picture with the black console, vs yours with the woodgrain....

 

Have fun with your new toy.  If rubber bumpers on the lid are your only issue, you picked well.  

 

[pulltostart]

Nomenclature

One other difference in mine and Alex's; note the description in the upper left hand of the console.  Through the woodgrain years, GE built "Heavy Duty" washers (std capacity) and "Heavy Duty Large Capacity" washers (+/- 18 lb).  When they switched to the black-and-chrome look they re-vamped their terminology.  The tubs and capacities were unchanged but the names had been changed to protect the innocent.  They started calling the washers either "Heavy Duty Large Capacity" (std capacity) or "Heavy Duty Extra Large Capacity" washers (+/-18 lbs).

 

Mine has the larger, 11" filter pan.

 

lawrence

 

[applianceguy47]

Sears did a similar thing with re-naming the capacity, indicating that the

 

Standard, was so blah,

 

and anything less than <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Super</span> 'can-wash-a-jumbo-747-along-with-your-undies' <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Capacity,  </span> was just silly.

 

'Would you like to put that on your Sears Charge, Please, thank-you, Sir?'

 

 

As for the Mini-basket.  You'll need the W-I-D-E  mouth model, vs. the one with the edges that curved inward toward the agitator cap. 

 

 

 

 

 

[tecnopolis]

I retrofitted the smaller mini basket to my newer "large" capacity Filter-Flo since It didn't come with one. You'll also need the version with the curved vanes to fit your ramp style agitator.
In this photo you can also see the little lid bumpers. When you close the lid it feels like it landed on marshmallows.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Now that is a tub light!

Congratulations, Lawrence, on your new-to-you GE. As Ernestine told J. Edgar, "There's nothing like a Hoover when you're dealing with dirt" and there is nothing like that FilterFlo for catching dog hair and rolling it into a ball.

 

[yogitunes]

Very nice machine you got there.....we love bells and whistles, may not use them all, but nice to have just in case....when is comes to FilterFlos, you can never have too many, or too many spare accessories.....

 

[yogitunes]

while you have the top up to clean........

might as well alter the fill flume for better spray rinsing

 

[yogitunes]

and wrap a cable tie around the lid switch....

 

[pulltostart]

I'll keep my eyes out for a Mini-Basket. It will have to be one like the left two in Martin's post, not the right. I've always thought the turned-back flume resembled a dog's snout...

lawrence

 

[combo52]

FF Washers and Animal Hair

Nice Washer Larry

 

While the GE FFs will do a fairly good job and you at least will not clog the machine with pet hair, I have found that the older WP&KM BD washers with the back-flush SCLFs collect far more hair and discharge it from the washer than the GEs could ever hope to collect. I have tested this by holding a dryer lint filter under the drain hose as the machine drains and on the GE you add this lint from the drain hose to the little that the filter pan collects and then compare it to the discharged lint from the BD machine and the WP_KM will collect at least double the lint and fur through the full cycle.

 

But the best machines that I have ever used to get of lint are the old Combs with the huge drums and large holes to allow lint to be flushed and or be blown away. I had one customer who had a 29" KM combo in her kitchen that was not even vented, the dryers discharge just blew against the wall behind the machine. There was never any lint anywhere around or inside that machine because these machines were so effective at allowing the lint to just be rinsed away.