Gas or Electric Halo-of-heat

[wmjpate]

You wrote that the Maytag burner output was throttled down?

You wrote: Now the gas version is sort of crazy complex compared to the electric version. In the gas version, the burner is crammed in perpendicular to the drum at the very front of the cabinet. The flame cone sits directly under the front of the drum just inches away from a 3" wide felt seal that circles the entire drum. Because of this situation, Maytag throttled the burner output back to only 18,000 BTUs (compared to the 22,000 to 25,000 BTUs of comparable dryers of the period). Also, the gas version of this dryer used a standing pilot light. Not only does this waste energy, but the by-products of the pilot light burning for years makes a heck of a mess out of the mechanical and electrical "guts" of the dryer. After the restoration, I only light the pilot light in mine minutes before I want to dry. I then turn the gas off immediately after I'm finished.

I get your concerns but could the burner be modified to output a 25,000 btu level? I would assume the tube could be insulated with asbestos or some other insulator. With that in mind do you know how Maytag modified the burner unit? Did they they just change the orifice? As for the standing pilot, I agree and turn mine off when not in use. During the summer .... clotheslines are much more efficient!! As to electronic start units, I have converted my residential boiler and am not happy with the electric start which has failed when I least want it to due to a poorly designed spark unit, ergo, standing pilot's are pretty darn dependable and not significantly less efficient in my mind. Just sayin'. Also, it depends on what state you are in when it comes to the earth friendly benefits of electric units. Coal states are just not there.

 

[maytag85]

If you upped the BTUs to 25,000, it would ruin the felt seal that helps direct air through the burner and would be a fire hazard since the burner is that close to the drum. Here’s a photo of how close the burner is to the outer felt seal and to the front of the cabinet. It’s a Rube Goldberg setup since it has a felt seal that helps direct the air through the burner and air mixer assembly and has standing pilot ignition and I usually light the pilot on mine every time I dry a load of laundry in mine and don’t feel like going through wiring each year and having to repaint the surfaces inside the cabinet and such. One nice thing about the gas HOH dryers is there isn’t a heating element to short out and if coins do fall into the heating shroud they’ll just sit there until you disassemble the dryer for a cleaning and servicing.

 

[wmjpate]

Insulating the burner tube and adjusting the btu safely?

I see your image but couldn't you use a product such as below to effectively insulate the tube?

JC Performance 100% Virgin Basalt "Titanium" Lava Wrap

Tested to withstand 1800°F of continuous exposure, UP TO 2500°F radiant heat

Wrap Dimensions: Length: 25 total feet, Width: 1 inch, Thickness: 1/16"

Our wraps are proudly made without Asbestos

Designed to provide maximum heat retention for the user with Premium Lock Weave Technology

 

[combo52]

HOH Maytag Gas Dryers

Many gas dryers only had 18,000 BTUs including Mts earlier design and I am sure that drilling the orifice to 25,000 BTUs would not create a problem as long as vent was clean etc.

 

Standing pilots were a huge waste of energy, In many cases the pilot burns up to 1/2 or more of the total gas a range or dryer will use in a year. Even though a standing pilot was a simple system the number of repairs we did on CP dryers were actually more than models with electric ignition.

 

Maytag was always conservative in their approach to appliance design, lower HP motors, shorter wash times and maximum dry times available, smaller capacities and generally more mediocre performance, but they also used a little less water and electricity etc.

 

John 

 

[maytag85]

One of these days I might look into converting my Maytag DG306 to electronic ignition but I’ll have to obtain all the parts to do the conversion. Since I haven’t been using my Maytag DG306 all that much ever since I acquired my Whirlpool Imperial Mark XII set, I might just leave everything alone for now plus I plan on putting my Whirlpools into service later this month to give my Maytags a break since there is some tweaking and adjustments I’ll need to make to them to keep them running in tip top shape.

 

[wmjpate]

They actually made an electronic starter for the DG606?

If they actually made an electronic starter for the DG606 I might change my tune regarding reliance on a standing pilot? As I will have the unit apart, I might consider it if there is a wiring diagram and the components aren't obscenely expensive and still available. Thanks for the input!

Bill

 

[maytag85]

No HOH that I am aware of ever came with electronic ignition when they were new and all came standard with standing pilot ignition. The electronic ignition conversions have been done by John/combo52 and AW user RickR along with a few others in the past 10 to 12 years.

 

[combo52]

MT Gas Dryers

Were all electric ignition till they brought out the HOH dryers around 1958. 

 

MT cut cost with the change to the HOH dryers in many ways, they also were going after gas company business for sales of dryers because gas sellers preferred selling dryers with CBPs so every additional dryer sold guaranteed them a certain amount of gas burned every year whether the owner ever started using the new dryer or not.

 

Around 1976 California banned CBPs so that was part of the reason MT gave up on the unpopular and poor selling  HOH  dryers.

 

John L.

 

[maytag85]

I don’t think it was necessarily standing pilots were banned here in California it’s just Maytag wanted to keep up with the times and probably got feedback from customers and repair techs and decided to switch to electronic ignition since you didn’t have to worry about a standing pilot going out or having to light the pilot every time you wanted to dry something.

 

[sprog]

Electric all the way

Rationale: natural gas (methane) combustion produces
methyl alcohol
formaldehyde
formic acid
carbon monoxide
carbon dioxide
water

Over time, some of these byproducts of combustion eat away at older appliances... my 2 cents.

 

[combo52]

Constant Burning Pilots In Califorina

Hi Sean Yes they were banned on dryers and gas ranges in the late 70s, unfortunately it took the US Government till the Obama administration to catch up with California and do the same thing nationwide.

 

John L.

 

[maytag85]

John I even remember you mentioning that Whirlpool had some standing pilots on their dryers back the 60’s and 70’s but those Whirlpool dryers that had standing pilots I imagine turned into major rust buckets even more so than the HOH gas dryers.

 

[wmjpate]

So when and if I get the HOH working correctly where do I ?

So when and if I get the HOH functionality working correctly, where do I then look for applicable electronic ignition parts (I'm betting on this site someone might be cannibalizing an old unit) and what mfg or models should I look into since I'm sure there is more than one way to skin a cat? I love the idea of updating these units. The concept of just throwing things away makes no sense to me. Plus I like the project. Way cool.

Bill

 

[combo52]

Converting A MT Gas HOH Dryer To Pilotless Ignition

Hi Bill, I did this once on 1959 HOH dryer by using the gas burner assembly from the next generation MT gas dryer, it is not that hard to do if you are pretty mechanical.

 

I still have the dryer, it is a pink machine from around 1959 ? And it needs a new home soon or I may just part it out.

 

We rebuilt it mechanically, new front felt seals belts etc, it might already be spoken for I will check, but it must go.

 

John L.

 

[wmjpate]

Converting A MT Gas HOH Dryer To Pilotless Ignition

Do the Ricardo Montalban "rich Corinthian leather car seat"s come as part of the parting out?

Bill

 

[combo52]

Opps, A picture of Jasons 1986 Fifth Avenue slipped in there.

 

John L.

 

[vacerator]

Re; Montalban

Did he also do the tv adds for that car? I don't remember. I was working so many hours from 1986 through 1990. I didn't watch much tv. My company was really "on the grow" then. We were opening new and remodeling existing locations every month.

 

[wmjpate]

Montalban

No, I kinda remember the adds running during "Love Boat". Yikes, does that date me or what? I think the adds were strictly for the 1977-78 Cordoba.

 

[circlew]

It was the mid 70's that he became spokesman for Chrysler, as I know I hadn't been out of high school long when those ads appeared on tv. It was about the same time as they were running the commercial for Plymouth Volare with Sergio Franchi. Seems like yesterday that these ads were running.