Filtrating in Minneapolis

[combo52]

Filtrator Fun

Great progress Mark, you will enjoy this dryer even more during a cold Minnesota winter.

 

I can't tell how you wired the added relay, but you should let the full heater current continue to go through the heater safety thermostat, otherwise if you relay contacts stick you will have a real disaster on your hands and the world may lose another of these rare dryers. Also if you have the new 4 wire dryer cord plugged into a properly wired outlet you should connect the green wire from the cord to the cabinet of the dryer.

 

Keep us posted about further testing, Tom and I rebuilt and used several of these orignal Frigidaire Filtrator Dryers many years ago and we both still have one or more that we still use occasionally. In fact at one time we had one from every year that FD made these, all 7 different styles, we have since thinned the heard a little. All that is left is the TR-61 [ a factory 120 model that has just one 1800 watt element ] that I have connected in my basement, I also have a 1957 and a 1960 version and Tom has the 1956 and 1958 versions, all of ours are white.

 

[kenmore71]

John thanks for your comments about this.  Good point about the safety Thermostat.  

 

I included that in the control circuit and NOT in the actual heater circuit.  I get your point about that, though.  That will be a revision that I make the next time I need to remove the back.

 

The reason the white and green are together has to do with the wiring in the building which is a long and not terribly interesting story.  I know it's not kosher according to code but it really is safe for the way I am using it.

 

[mickeyd]

Gentlemen, I was really wondering

Do other condenser dryers give the same effect, or do you need the ozone lamp?

Or, in the end, will only a Frigidaire do, regardless?

 

[swestoyz]

I have bypassed the ozone bulb in a few Filtrators and the same 'smell' still emits. When I've used other Filtrators with the ozone bulb wired in I could not differentiate between the two.

Ben

 

[frigilux]

Wow, that is a real steamy photo! Have no experience with a Filtrator. Was surprised to see a "push to start/pull to stop" cycle dial on a dryer. What does the on/off toggleswitch do?

A beautiful dryer, inside and out. Congrats!

 

[launderess]

Have Always Wanted To Find A 120v Version

But alas it was not to be. *LOL*

Wonder how these GM dryers compare to modern condenser dryer offerings.

 

[tomturbomatic]

While the ozone contributes to the perfume, a great deal of the fragrance is due to the steaming of the cotton. If you will remember the scene of Christmas dinner from Dickens' Christmas Carol, when they go to get the pudding that has been steaming in the wash boiler there is this description, "Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry-cook's next door to each other with a laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding!"

Sometimes the fragrance of boiling hot cotton is achieved by ironing damp cotton with a hot iron.

The toggle switch is for the lights because there is no door switch in this model. The pull to stop timer dial is also because there is no door switch. If the door needs to be opened during the cycle, the machine can be stopped by pulling out on the timer dial instead of turning it to "OFF" which is less convenient.

 

[retromania]

Way to go Mark. Congratulations! I know the joy of finally getting an appliance that you have wanted for a long time. I am cooking on an O'Keefe that that I got from an AW member that got it from another AW member. Again, congratulations!!

 

[washerman]

How does this work?

Hi there,

I understand the steaming part, but how does this actually cool the stuff down so you can touch it? Does it vent out all of that steam or is there a condenser of some kind?

I would think that this would burn up any lightweight fabric...so how well does it work on things like shirts and anything less than heavyweight denim?

Drew

 

[kenmore71]

I figured this would come up at some point.  There are several excellent threads in the archives about Filtrator dryers but I don't have the time to find them right now.  To begin with, study this diagram:

 

[kenmore71]

This is a technical explanation taken from an early service manual:

 

[kenmore71]

Fabric damage in a filtrator is really not much of an issue if you know what you are doing and use some common sense.  

 

In normal operation things should never get hot enough to cause either degradation, melting or scorching of fabrics.  Fabrics such as polyester will start to signs of degradation at around 350 degrees but do not actually melt until about 500 degrees.  Nylon and Dacron are similar.  Dry cotton will begin to scorch at about 400 degrees.  The normal operating temperature on High for an early filtrator is 210 degrees at the thermostat bulb on high.  In practice this means that the temperature in the middle of a dry load can approach 240-250 degrees.  That's pretty hot, but not hot enough to cause damage first of all because, if timed correctly, things should never actually get so dry that they get that hot at the center.  Secondly, because there is so much steam present in the drum for most of the cycle it is hard to over dry things, again, as long as you keep the cycle times sensible.  Also, I don't know anyone who actually sets these early dryer on the HIGH setting.  I use the medium setting for cottons and LOW for blends and synthetics.

 

 

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

There is one problem with the temperatures in the Filtrator and that is that the drum surface can actually be hotter than the air temperature because of the radiant heat from the heaters. Great care must be exercised with heat sensitive fabrics because even if the air in the drum feels just warm, the cylinder can be hot enough for synthetic things to become damaged from the contact. You only have to have it happen once to becopme very, very careful. Generally, if things are wet enough and you are careful, there is no trouble, as Mark said.

 

[kenmore71]

Tom, I haven't had it happen to me yet, but I do know of people who have over dried nylon dress socks and found them fused to the drum!  This could actually also happen with the early Maytag dryers with the perforated drum.  

 

[launderess]

Cool Down

Speaking for myself (and I am unanimous) our AEG/Lavatherm does not "cool down" the way one is used to with American vented dryers.

Thus far loads emerge warm to even slightly hot to the touch upon coming out of the dryer. Indeed things are quite moist as well. All this changes as the load meets cool room air. Then whatever moisture remaining evaporates away and things cool down rapidly.

In our vented WP dryer once the heaters shut down for the "Cool Down" portion off cycles not only cool room air enters the chamber. However seeing how condenser dryers are sealed systems this is not possible I think. That is room air does not enter the chamber but is merely used to provide thermal difference for condensation to occur. Therefore it makes little difference to the load inside what the room temperature.

At the end of cycle AEG dryer is still quite warm both outside and inside, along with often moist as whatever water that was not evaporated remains.

 

[launderess]

Condenser Dryer "Scent" On Laundry

Yes, our AEG does this as well, even without an ozone lamp.

We put it down to the fact these condenser dryers are sealed systems thus no outside air reaches the laundry unless or until dryer door is opened.

 

[kenmore71]

The AEG dryer may well be a completely closed system.  

 

The first iteration filtrator (1952-1960) was not technically a totally closed system.  Frigidaire designed it such that there would be about 10 cfm of air change in the drum.  In their technical literature they stated that about 50% the moisture from the clothes would be condensed into the collection pan and that the remainder of the moisture would be dissipated into the room.  

 

The second generation of fitrator dryers (1961-1967) appears to be a completely closed system. 

 

[launderess]

50% Moisture Sent Into Room?

Well you'll won't be short for something to keep you warm this winter! *LOL*

 

[kenmore71]

Well, actually no.  It's more like 20 - 30% sent into the room.  Generally speaking you would never take the moisture content of a natural fiber below 20-30%.  So...50% condensed, 25% in the room, 25% left in the fabric.  

 

[launderess]

OIC

Carry on then.