General Electric 1-18!

[bobbyderegis]

Happy New Year Everyone!
Last year I was perusing Craigslist and saw an ad for an "old General Electric washer, $40". It had a picture which was fuzzy, but it looked like a Frigidaire to me. I called, and a nice lady said she was sorry, it should have read General Motors! So off I went in the freezing cold to the next town. A lovely elderly couple were moving from their beautiful 1920's tudor home into an assisted living facility. The lady of the house's daughter brought me into the basement boiler room which was huge, with a massive boiler in the middle of the floor. In the back corner of the room was a double concrete laundry tub with a nice 1-18 next to it. The lady was so thrilled that someone wanted her washer, as she said it was best machine she could have bought about 30 years ago. She said it never gave her a bit of trouble. I told her my grandfather worked for GM (Fisher Body Div.) his whole life, and that clinched the deal.
Bobby in Boston

 

[bobbyderegis]

It was a bit dirty, and has a bit of rust on the side that was closest to the laundry tub. Otherwise it's in fine shape.

 

[bobbyderegis]

Fast forward to last week:
I fired her up, but as she was filling, I noticed a puddle forming fast around the back left corner. I put her into drain fast. I opened up the front panel (which was a project in itself: all the cabinet screw heads stripped at the first turn.) I noticed the water was coming from the drain sump/trap, and that it must have been leaking for a time in the lady's house.

 

[bobbyderegis]

There appears to be some fine black stuff underneath the mechanism. Is this normal, or is one of the bearings going? The spin was fairly quiet.

 

[bobbyderegis]

The mechanism does not show any signs of leakage.

 

[bobbyderegis]

Is a drain sump leak common? Could the O ring have failed? I need to get the cabinet off to really check it out. What about the black dust? Any expert advice will be greatly appreciated. I'm a fish out of water if it's not a Maytag!
Bobby in Boston

 

[joelippard]

That black dust is very normal especially if it's never been cleaned off before, which it looks like it hasn't. I'd be willing to bet you were the first one to crack open the front panel. That dust is a combination of dirt, clutch dust, and some of it comes from the belt over time. On mine it was easily wiped away with glass cleaner and rags.

The leaking sump however needs addressing. I would say you could probably remove the hoses, then the sump, clean up the mess, replace the rusty screws and cut a new gasket for it out of cork gasket material, then reassemble with gasket sealer and it should never leak again.

That's my 2 cents

 

[jons1077]

Beautiful machine!

Man that tub just gleams! congrats!

As for the black dust mine had a bit of that too. In fact every machine I own had at least some reasonable amount of black film around the bottom. I presume that is just normal usage doing that.

The mechanism looks spectacular so it wouldn't surprise me at all that it would function rather nicely. The spin on mine does have a mild roar to it but I'm told that relatively normal for these rollermatic style machines. I noticed when filling it with a full load the spin and a lot more quiet so I think a lot has to do with the noise of a partially empty tub.

The real challenge may very well be getting that cabinet apart. Mine had a couple of screws that just would not budge due to minor rust. It wasn't that necessary to take it completely off so I left it. One day I may have to just drill them out though.

I think you'll find your 1-18 to do very well. It can take a lot of clothes and do a nice job cleaning them. I know I stuffed mine full of jeans today and it did very well.

Enjoy and make videos!

Jon

 

[joelippard]

Cabinet

Come to think of it, unless you just want to there would be no real reason to take the cabinet off, It doesn't hurt the 1-18 to lay it on it's back, as long as you have the top part on the properly support the sides.

Jon, I can tell you from experience that the "roar" is from the lightly loaded tub, mine does the same way.

 

[swestoyz]

Very nice Bobby! The tub and pulsator look great. IIRC the sump is a PITA to get off when the screws are rusty, and it appears that the screws on this machine look pretty much done! Keep us posted on the progress.

I was loving having the 1-18 hooked up in December. Great washer!

Ben

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

Best Of Luck with it Bobby - It certainly is a keeper!
Peter

 

[tlee618]

Wow Bobby, what a great find. Greg has one like this in harvest gold. I had lots of fun using this machine last week. Keep us posted.

Terry

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice machine!
Yes, the black dust is normal, don't worry about it.

 

[jetcone]

Bobby

thats normal dust accumulation, the clutch, and as the belt loosens it flaps against the aluminum casting that holds the spin shaft assembly, you will want to adjust the tension when you are done, using a channel vise on the motor mount.

I have never seen a 1-18 leak at that point, I would guess there is rust in the outer tub around the area where the sump gasket sits between the sump and tub. Plumbers putty will set you right once you get into it.
I have the manuals here if you want to borrow or copy them.

Nice find that is one of my fave models! All the settings marked in BLUE were for energy saving washes after the gas crisis of the early 1970s!!

XOXOXOX
JET

 

[rollermatic]

the 1-18 i picked up in columbus

last summer had the same leak around the drain sump. and it leaked around the main water seal too so consider yourself lucky!

your's looks beautiful, makes me eager to get mine back together here one of these days! congrats on a great find!

 

[bobbyderegis]

As said,
I took the cabinet off the 1-18 this weekend. I had to slice every single screw (all 14) with a Dremel to free them. The bottom base plate looks very good, so does the mechanism. The trap on the other hand, does not look so good. It appears rust took over on the outer tub flange, and has distorted the black plastic sump between each of the three mounting screws. I haven't taken the sump off yet, as I have to cut through the bolts as well. I am afrain if the flange is rusted out the machine may be have to become a Toyota. I'll post pics soon.
Bobby in Boston

 

[jons1077]

Keep in mind...

There are many parts that some of us could use particularly made of plastics. Please consider some of the parts in the machine before making it into a Toyota!!!

Jon

 

[norfolksouthern]

Save the control panel and agitator at least!

There is a demand for some of these parts. Also, the plastic tub ring, pump, hoses, and others. I can definitely use the agitator and control panel for a possible rebuild project, in addition to the mechanism!

NorfolkSouthern

 

[rollermatic]

yes, by all means

don't scrap it! there are a lot of people here that can use the parts if you decide not to repair it! if you were closer i would buy it as is! but the last time i had something shipped from boston it cost quite a bit! but like norfolk said hang on to it please!