Dry Agitate With Basket Full of Clothes

[Chetlaham]

Whirlpool washers had a dry agitate test increment. I've never tried it while the washer was full of clothes. But it has gotten me thinking- what happens if you were to set a top load washer to agitate without water, while full of dry clothes? What would happen to the machine? I'm thinking of something like a Whirlpool direct drive with a dual action or straight vane, Maytag Dependable Care, ect. Has anyone tried it?

 

[appnut]

I could do it with our Norge15, the Kenmore 800, as well as the lady shredmore. It was in the segment of the timer where suds return would have been if we had a suds saver. But I wasn't stupid enough to ever consider agitating with a load of dry garments.

 

[Chetlaham]

What happened to the clothes and to the machine?

 

[phillymatt53]

My portable Kenmore DD by Whirlpool which has the dual action agitator can do that.
If I don't have water lines hooked up, and start the machine, the water valves buzz, but if it turn the timer almost to the end of wash, the agitator will start in a dry tub.

 

[combo52]

With a load of dry clothing, it wouldn’t really hurt anything if it was a quarter full of water it puts a little bit of strain on the clothing, it’s kind of a silly thing to worry about

John L

 

[Chetlaham]

That is good to know. I drew up a concept for a timed fill washer and wondered what would happen if the user set it right to agitate.

 

[Unimatic1140]

In the late 50s Consumer Reports mention this as a possible issue with clothing damage if user isn't careful to set the timer properly...

 

[Chetlaham]

Thats what I was looking for, thank you!

In that in the least it won't destroy the machine!

Robert, I think if I am not mistaken 90% of your washers will start agitating automatically if the timer is set to far out. Am I correct?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Robert, I think if I am not mistaken 90% of your washers will start agitating automatically if the timer is set to far out. Am I correct?

Yes that is absolutely true, although with the 1950-1958 Frigidaires they all have a variable wash time setting timer so they will fill for 4 minutes first no matter where you set the dial in that wash period portion of the dial. With the Philco, ABC, Kelvinator, Apex and early 1947-1949 Frigidaire models the action is gentle enough that I highly doubt any clothing damage would occur. The Philco has a metered fill detecting with water just starts to overflow into the outer tub.

The Apex, ABC-o-Matic and Kelvinator machines have a natural stop at full fill setting on the dial and the ABC goes one step further in that the first increment of the timer is a pause before the wash fill begins. This prevents a shortened fill increment just in case the user stops the machine early in the previous load before the dial has fully incremented to the next click stop.