Have you heard the news thats going round? Seamus Seamus has gone and found...

[seamusuk]

Complicated!

.

 

[seamusuk]

Looking up

Showing slight oil leak from gearbox? also patched/repaired sump hose, these need thinking about!

 

[seamusuk]

Another

.

 

[seamusuk]

Finally

The pump

 

[JerseyMike]

Wow!

What an amazing story. It's hard to believe that it sat in the corner of a kitchen for the last 20 years.

It looks very complicated.

I hope that you find a proper boot and that it's up and running again without only some minor repairs.

Mike

 

[candyrijk]

Hi I have read your article about the hoover keymatic and I would like to ask if you can do a favour for a friend of mine, who has 3 hoover keymatic but none of them has the complete clutch system that put the pulsator into work.

What I need is to understand exactly the size of the spring and spring cup that is part of the clutching system.
You can see in the back of the machine where the drum drive pulleys are that there is a kind of an arm that engage a littel flap present on a teflon cup that covers a spring that drive the pulsator when the outer cup that covers it is kept steady.

Can you provide close pictures of the two components... the outer teflon cup and the inside spring along with the mesures... like size of the spring, outer and inner size of the cup, and so on?

I need this data to make new spares in order to make the keymatics pulsator into working order as it seems it is not possible to find original hoover spares for this components.
It seems that back in the 60s the pulsator clutching system was the main problem of the machine because it tend to stay engaged once it had been activated causing damage to the laundry when the pulsator keeps on spinning while there is no water in the wash tub... for this reason most of the machines had the spring and cup removed and were basically transformed into an ordinary tumble washer. No one seems to have never complained for the machine not using the pulsator and solve one of the main cause of fault in the keymatic.
At the end the spares were no more available and the Hoover Company decided not to include the pulsator in the keymatic deluxe that followed the early models.

I hope you can help me with this because i would really like to have our keymatic in full working order pulsator incuded.

Best Wishes
Ric and Seb

 

[brisnat81]

New Sump hose

Hi Guys and Congratulations Seamus,

For those who remember, I recently aquired a slightly later version of this machine, all in good working order, however with a brittle and badly cracked hose.

After some experiementation with some 45mm PVC pipe, a tub to pump hose of a Hoover 7xx, 8xx, 9xx series TL machine and a top radiator hose of a TD/TE Cortina, I now have a new sump assembley.

It all fits fine, I've just been waiting for the silicone to cure around the diversion pipe to the pressure switch. Now that's finally happened, I'll fit it on the weekend and hopefully experience my first Keymatic load.

The assembley sits a fair bit lower than the original, but as the only section that moves is the tub it shouldnt cause too many problems

Regards

Nathan

 

[chestermikeuk]

Keymatics

The model I found on ebay had been in the corner of the sellers dads kitchen WITH ANOTHER ONE NEXT TO IT!!!! 2 of them and they didnt use them he had a hoover twinny...lol, he was a repair man and could bear to throw them...

Nathan, OMG, what ingenuity, I knew you could do it, what a contraption...is it the angle of the photo or is that pressure hose bigger than what was on it???

Seamus interesting patches on the original hoses, I would use some of the PVC black plumbing mastic tape (the new latex stuff) to wrap around it all before you water test it, also please support the drum when tilting back !! it puts all the pressure on that thin support wire, thats when mine snapped!!!

Also, whats the serial number, cant quite read it!!, Heres a pic of all the hosework to the machine, they must have needed their own rubber works for this lot!!!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Pulsator Clutch Spring!!

Hi Ric & Seb, congratulations on your machines, fascinating to look at, needs lots of patience to work on, but very much rewarding I`m sure, here is an exploded diagram, is it spring 914 you need dimentions of??

 

[gyrafoam]

Kool looking machine. Congratulations on your find! Love the color of the tub!

I'm curious about that pulsator. Just how does the machine effectivly use the pulsator? If the axis of the tub never changes, it must get quite a full tub of water for the pulsator to be usable. Does the pulsator alternate direction of rotation? Does the tub also reverse-tumble?
It it a "tangler"?

 

[seamusuk]

Hoses

Nathan.....

Im impressed- do you do international sales

Mike

I was going to wrap it in the tape you use for repairing car radiator hoses. Did a search on the net and came up with this- looks ideal, what do you think???

Seamus

P.s Ive ordered a door gasket which I think looks kinda promising- will come tomorrow and will let you know how it goes

http://www.tapes-direct.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=153&products_id=939

 

[brisnat81]

Hi Mike,

The pressure hose has a larger external diameter, but fits tightly over the nub on the pressure dome.

I've assumed that the volume of the sump wont affect the pressure switches as the pressure seems to be actuated by the height of the water in the dome and tube 629299, I will shorten it more when its installed.

The hardest part was installing the nub to attach the pressure hose to. With some plumbers tape there was still a slight drip around the brass component, so in the end I've just resorted to silicone to seal it up.

Steve, the axis of the tub changes as it fills with water. The tub can actually drop at the rear by 3-4 inches when full.

Hopefully you'll find a new boot

 

[electron800]

Wow, what a great machine. I'd love to see the pulsator action working, I can't really imagine what it's like. Does the tub fill to the top during pulsator action or does it just fill up above the pulsator. If the latter is true the action must be very strange to see, the clothes wouldn't really go round properly I'd imagine

 

[gyrafoam]

So if the tub drops down four inches, it is nearly vertical. That explains how it works, then as I don't see any baffles attached to the tub---so I assumed it would not tumble the clothes in any event.

 

[brisnat81]

There are still Tub baffles

The machine tumbles and pulsates at the same time.

I'll try and make a movie once its up and running, however there is a mechanical brake in addition to the electric door switch, so I'll have some disabling to do before its possible to see inside.

 

[candyrijk]

Dear Mike and Dear All,

here attached you find a scheme about the spares we need. We cannot find any part in the repair centres anymore, and so we would try to make them new. For this reason we need your help to gain all the information to build them (or almost try to). I know that is not simple to measure all the data useful for us (e.g. the torsion of the spring, which is quite necessary), but almost try to give us the measures of single pieces (included the number of spires of the spring).
It’s a hard work for us, but on the other hand is also interesting and stimulating. Please anyone help us, if possible!

PS: we also would appreciate if someone posts a scanner image of page 3 and 4 of the repair manual, if possible; the ones concerning the control panel.

Thank you all in advance for the collaboration!
Bye
Ric and Seb.

 

[candyrijk]

if also this can help...

Thks!

 

[gyrafoam]

Tumbles and pulsates!
O.k. you've gotten my attention with that bit of information.

Now I can hardly wait to see a video of one of these in operation!

 

[chestermikeuk]

3226 Hoover Keymatic Control Panel

Nice one guys, got it now!!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Drum Baffles

The drum is angled as well!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Drum & Pulsator

Kewl Blue

 

[sheerlookhomes]

Congratulations!...that's a nice find.

I hope you get a suitable boot and good luck with the restoration...can't wait for the 'after' pics!

 

[gyrafoam]

O.k., thanks Mike, I now see baffles. Just how full of water does this tub get? Close to the top?

 

[seamusuk]

Door gasket

Hey guys

Im not having much luck as all the ones ive tried are way too big on the tub- im thinking along the lines of leaving the original ridged section on the tub and clamping a slightly trimmed new gasket under the clamp band(after cutting the bit that would normally attach to the tub off the new gasket- any thoughts??

Seamus

 

[electron1100]

Door Gasket

That sounds worth trying Seamus, christ if i ever get one of these i would be willing try anything to get it up and running, I like a challenge