Frigidaire Agi Tub Washer Laundry Center

[simpsomatic]

Thread #5

Beware Chet's link......"this connection is untrusted". Re the comment about could be used in full size machines AW.org picture of the day brochure has a Frigidaire model lineup from top of the line to economy washers, including the skiny minny combo. The lower end lists and shows a full size washer with the wire driven synchro mechanism as a stand alone machine.

 

[combo52]

GM Frigidaire agittub washer

These were interesting machines, they were engineered and built to be as cheap to build as possible, they were extremely trouble prone I remember Frigidaire dealer I knew here in Maryland. They sold 48 skinny minis the first year and ran 52 service calls under warranty to give you an idea of the horrible reliability of that machine. The dryer also had a lot of problems.

This machine did have a water level switch to protect against flooding, but it did not water level that the user could control.

The agitation was reasonably effective, if you loaded it lightly, or if the items weren’t very dirty, they would appear to have been freshened up when they came out.

We have a first year 1969 machine in the museum in avocado, through the help of other members I found an entire brand new washer mechanism that I installed in it because I did not wanna have to go through trying to repair or rebuild one of these washer mechanisms, Frigidaire used to sell the entire washer mechanism because they were so difficult to repair once water got into them.

John L

 

[Chetlaham]

Do you know if the water level switched opened under normal operation or just emergency conditions?

 

[coldspot66]

Water level switch kicked in if the outer tub was filled with water to prevent an overflow. Had one for awhile. I believe this was the first one piece stack unit.

 

[Chetlaham]

Neat, so it only opens if the outter tub gets to full and not normal operation. I take it the pump does not extract water out of the outter tub with the motor running in agitate mode? How does the over flow rinse work?

 

 

Reply 19- neat, so they did make a stand alone agi tub. Though, after what John said about their reliability I take back what I said. Perhaps these snycro drive washers are better off being left to history.

 

[golittlesport]

How does the over flow rinse work?

The outer tub is big enough to hold the overflow water during the short agitated rinse.

 

[Chetlaham]

And if the outter tub gets to full, the pressure switch kicks out. Neat and interesting.

 

 

Question- how does heavy/normal/light work on the knobs? Is the user supped to advance them there manually? It just feel confusing, someone could start the cycle at the point not realizing a fill period is necessary.

 

[qsd-dan]

"Wouldn't it be nice if everybody would just film their very rare washers from start to finish ? I mean now that we've had YouTube for the last 20 years it would be a great way for people to see machines they otherwise never saw or only heard about."

Youtube limited clips to 10 minutes until July 2010 when it was extended to 15 minutes. I think it was 2011 when they became unlimited by jumping through registration and security hoops.

 

[golittlesport]

Question- how does heavy/normal/light work on the knobs?

User would manually advance the timer knob after fill if a shorter wash is desired

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>Beware Chet's link......"this connection is untrusted".</blockquote> Reason being it's not SSL-encrypted for https, which isn't a large concern if it's not a shopping site, no credit card info involved or user log-in, etc.

 

[Chetlaham]

Rich, thanks!

 

Though I can see a user setting it straight to light/normal/heavy from the beginning as was typically done with most washers in the 70s/80s/90s. Fascinating to see how things have changed and evolved.   

 

 

The link is from a site with free service manuals in pdf form. Save and download, the washer is fascinating. 

 

[cfz2882]

Thanks for that link...

...now i see how the"sycro-swing" mechanism works-back in '83 only had about a 30 sec.look because there was a front-end loader busy pushing debris into the burial pit and this washer went in a couple min after i left it-this one had an unusual design Delco motor that (as i recall) had a deep drawn stator can with removable endbell on just one end and the plain steel motor was only varnished for a gold color appearance-supprized a GE motor was seen in the link photos-manual said that was a 1976 change.The pump impeller seen in the manual looks like a turbine style,but that might not be an accurate pic as housing looks typical centrifugal-straight blade will pump out overflow running in reverse,but turbine or slanted blade will not.

 

[Chetlaham]

Thank you for pointing out the pump. I also question the accuracy depicted, as IMO I would assume a washer like that would pump out water in either motor run direction. 

 

 

And thank you for reminding me about the motor you saw. I remember there were WCI washers with exactly the same round looking goldfish motor with a square molex connector. I honestly prefer the look and design over square motors. Round stators make for the best reversible PSC motors as is creates an even magnetic field for either winding that can take power directly for directional reversal. I kind of wish all washers and dishwashers had round motors. I thought the round motors on Maytag DC looked cool. Today PSC VMW washers have a round stator so that makes me happy. 

 

A pic taken from a thread linked below.

 

 

 

 

 

Reliability aside I really like the motor above. Hate how cheap WCI washers were built. I think with more effort these washers could've been descent.

POD 3/11: WCI Frigidaire Washer

Having confessed that I've developed a soft spot in my heart for these red-headed stepchildren early-'80s Frigidaires, it is galling to see even the top-of-the-line had only 2 speed combinations at this point, along with a Whirlpool-like wimpy spin speed of 515. Changes in water usage are...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[cfz2882]

cool.

-wish i could reach into that photo and grab that motor to stick in my '75 westinghouse that has bad motor-upper bushing shot.That pump started on the westy washers around 1973 or 4-before that pump was a dual section black bakelite turbine pump.In that white pump is impeller with 6 deeply curved blades-will not pump in reverse.IIRC,the photo washer was a 1980.

 

[Chetlaham]

It is a nice motor. How did it compare to square GE and Emerson?

 

[cfz2882]

the Westinghouse and GE motors could be varible on how well or long they ran-besides the bad motor(may have gotten it it;s upper bushing) in the '75 westy,have a '77 MT dryer with one and just motor from a 1980 3-belt: motor from that 3-belt runs really nice.Some square GEs run good,others do not-excess hum,run hot,high idle current.When original motor ground to a halt on my filter flow,grabbed another that appeared identical,almost same date code even,and it just did not run good-tried another spare of similar vintage and that one ran good and serving today.Don;t have much to say about the Emerson motors except they run good.I think the square epoxy glued motors came out around 1967 in certain applications

 

[Chetlaham]

I dislike the variants between motors, especially those that run hot. I think washer, dishwasher and dryer motors should be made more efficient and larger for their rated HP. Precision wound, balanced and with lots of safety factors built in too. 

 

[combo52]

70s washer, motors, etc.

The Westinghouse top load washer and reply number 31 is 1973 after WCI took over Westinghouse in 74 five there were no more Westinghouse motors. That was the best thing that happened to Westinghouse washers and dryers is the awful Westinghouse motors were gone.

The three belt front load Westinghouse washers all had GE motors by 75 never saw a motor problem after that they were round style Gray Motors GE still.

That 73 Westinghouse washer in reply 31 you can see the oil being slung out of the lower transmission seal on the cabinet. Those were absolutely awful washers. They took the pre-pump solenoid out. You can see where it could’ve been mounted after the first couple years so they no longer did a neutral drain. They would burn up belts all the time. We always used to say they’re only two parts worth changing on that washer the inlet valve or the belt. Anything else went wrong with it went right on the scrap pile. The parts were super expensive from Westinghouse in those days You couldn’t even afford to put a washer timer on them.

John L