Gyrafoam's Experience with his Flaming Queen

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mayken4now

mayken4now

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2005
Messages
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Location
Pensacola, Florida
We know the story of Mark and Lady Kenmo's Speed Queen (with the Easy agitator),

NOW I dare any member to ask Steve (Gyrafoam) about his experience yesterday with his Flaming Queen............

Go For It.

Honey, we are glad you are OK

Steve
 
Convention SQ from Garage...

He called me right after the tragic end to the SQ motor. Luckily he still has the three speed motor that just needs some re-wiring to restore the washer to it's original (and very, very rare) three-speed glory.

Did you get those curtains washed and ironed yet Steve??
 
Do you know...

What exactly happened with the motor? Please don't discard it as I may be interested in the core.

Thanks, Joe
 
Oh wow---who knew-----

O.K. I was washing a medium sized load of towels and wash cloths in the S.Q. While that was going on I was in the next room at the computer, so I could hear the machine in operation, but was not real tuned in to it----but I knew which sequence it was in.

I remember it doing the overflow rinse, then the solonoid slamming as it shifted to spin. Next thing I knew it was all quiet---which did not immediately register as odd. Then I remember thinking how long the final spin is on that machine and I thought it can't be through already!
It was through all right!

At that moment I glanced towards the door to the kitchen and a CLOUD of white smoke was rolling into my bedroom! (And its been a while since my bedroom smoked!). Anyway, I quickly grabbed Killer and threw him out the back door as I tried to figure out how to best clear the kitchen of thick white acrid smoke. Grabbed a box fan and a fan on a tri-pod and managed to attain a front door to back door flow through the house. In the meantime I had glanced at the outlet the S.Q. was plugged in to-- as it has a surge protector on it and I could see it had done its job and tripped (the fuse had also fried), I just wanted to be sure no more power was flowing to the machine.

It took the better part of half an hour to exhaust all the smoke from the house----that was how bad it was. I had to launder the drapes and wash down the walls in the kitchen to get the burnt smell out---a mess. I then removed the "stanky" machine. (Back in the slot goes my good old Highlander!)The clothes in the machine were still plastered to the walls of the tub-----but could be wrung out as the machine had never reached full spin speed when the incident occured. I had to drop the drain hose and gravity drain the machine out the back porch door on the way to the workshop.

In retrospect I am grateful to have been home when this event occured. My first concern was my tiny dog---I will never know if he would have survived in an atmosphere that full of choking smoke but I think it would have been a closer call than I would EVER want. I am also glad I was able to reverse the course of all that smoke before it enveloped the whole house--got into all the drapes, rugs and upholstery,air conditioners, etc. As the ault folks would say "es geyt a reyekh" "it stinks"!

I am grateful to Greg for fussing at me a little for leaving the house with any of my old machine running unattended, as I used to do all the time----including with this S.Q. He is right---ALL these machines are very old, operating LONG after their planned services lives so ANYTHING can happen at any time!!!!

I think from here on out I will also unplug every machine at the conclusion of wash day. I hope everyone else will too. You just never know-----------
 
Hi Steve, sorry to hear about the motor fire, thank goodness the breaker tripped.

Yes I agree 100%, never leave the house with any appliance running, vintage or modern, its just asking for trouble at some point. Of course we have no choice with the refrigerator, but everything else is off.
 
Now Girlfriend!

As I've told you before, this is what happens when you terribly OVERLOAD a machine and put in WAAAAAAAAAAAAY toooooo much soap powders! Now you've gone and burnt yer moter. m m m. OK....I'm running like hell nowww............................................................................................................................................................
 
Yikes! I can imagine that was a heart-pounding experience. As bad as it was having to deal with the smoke, I'm certainly glad there was no fire. I hope your Highlander will be better behaved for you.
 
Jet-----

Honnnnnney-----Mark "ain't right" at all! He is just saying that because I fuss at HIM all the time for overloading and oversudsing! Girrrl can't help it! Gets all 'kuntry and 'evrythin(envision Sissy Spacek on the front porch of a cabin in the hills-----'younguns 'runnin around everywhere---Loretta ---thinks she needs a box of Breeze (per load) to get those clothes clean----poor old "burpalator"!

When you think about it, everything with a motor could burn up like that. I just don't know what triggered it. I have yet to pull the front panel off and take a look. Maybe today as I need to get in that workshop and get busy with that Kelvy!
 
I just wonder.....

.....How many of us, after working and working on those Kelvinator's, Frigidaires, Speed Queens, Philco's, Bendix's, etc......at the end of the day, put everything in a Maytag to actually get our laundry done? That's why I love them so! Mark
 
YIKES, glad everyone was OK and nothing was damaged! Now it's time to get that proper 3-speed motor in! :)

Hopefully I won't experience this in the future...I have been shocked before but have never had anything go up in smoke on me!
 
Hi Austin-----

I hope you are feeling MUCH better!!!!!

Now, you just need to hop on a plane and get out here and help me figure out which wires go where on this three-speed Flaming Queen!

I am going to call up to Milwaukee on Monday and see if I can find someone with a correct wiring schematic for this rare machine----and get them to copy/scan it for me.

In the meantime the Highlander is doing just fine thank you! One of these days she is going to tire of being shuttled back and forth in favour of machines of lesser rank and quality---and then I will really have a problem!
 
Post-mortem examination reveals------

IT WAS THE SOLENOID! Both Lightedcontrols and LadyKenmo' were right! That thang is fried black!

O.K.----so just exactly what does make a solenoid burn up like that? In this case the only real work it is doing is engaging the clutch for the fluid drive so it will spin-------well-----it also slams it into agitation so the solenoid had a dual purpose. Just trying to back-track and figure out what the root of the problem is.

Any opinions from the wise?
 
Wow, scary! The only thing I can think of is that if there's something blocking the plunger from pulling in, the solenoid might damage itself. Since you mentioned that it spun just fine until it started smoking, maybe it just burned up with age.

Lemme know whenever you're doin' a fix-in on that '58 Whirly...I'll be there!
 
sometimes....

...the insulative material in these solenoids will crystalize because of the heat they produce. You can hear them frying sometimes. They really will smoke your place up! The Maytag AMP solenoids were famous for smoking. I've seen LOTS of Maytags that people threw out because of the solenoid. People NEVER trusted the machine afer an incident, and had the false belief that the machine had actually caught on fire......LoRetta
 
"The Maytag AMP solenoids were famous for smoking"

That's nice to know...so I'll eventually end up being smoked after all!!! LOL
 
".....How many of us, after working and working on those Kelvinator's, Frigidaires, Speed Queens, Philco's, Bendix's, etc......at the end of the day, put everything in a Maytag to actually get our laundry done? That's why I love them so!"

You so funny Mark, I will admit - ALL THE TIME

Like Steve says "machines of lesser rank and quality"

Ok so now that it has been discovered, is there another solenoid that can be used? I will see if I can find any information out on the wiring configuration for the 3-speed motor as well. I aint all that when it comes to the wiring mess.

Killer, you ok honey? Tell daddy to stop with all those washers and crap all the time, we know he makes you nervous.

Steve
 

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