help in age dating a Frigidaire 1-18

[bwoods]

Purchased this at a thrift store, last night.

Please see the attached string of pictures, that the store had posted on Craigslist. This is an unusual control panel I havae never seen on a Frigidaire. The model is WS. Anyone know approximately when it may have been manufactured? (It is actually white in color, but looks almond in the picture.)

Will attach more photos.

 

[peterh770]

1979

 

[turquoisedude]

Was that the last of the line?

 

[bwoods]

close up 1

combining the threads

the control panel

 

[bwoods]

anaother close up

control panel view 2

 

[bwoods]

close up 3

tub...

 

[bwoods]

and some help please

Since I just brought this home last night, I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet.

When I asked the owner of the thrift store to plug it in, it would not spin (but it tried). He reached in pulled the agitator up and twirled it. It did take off and spin then. I assume, however, that under a full load it may not spin. Any suggestions?

Do any of you have a model with this control panel configuration? I assume the rinse default mode is warm for all cycles, since there is a dedicated cold water control.

What about a hot wash. Would this occur on the regular "colorfast" setting?

Anyone have a clue what the "special" does?

(sorry for spreading this out over several threads previously)

Barry

 

[peterh770]

Yes, this was the last year. There is also a Custom Deluxe model that has the "squared" timer graphics.

 

[mixguy]

Check under the lid

Read the chart printed on the underside of the lid. The chart tells wash/rinse temperatures and agitation/spin speeds for each of the 6 fabric setting.

 

[bwoods]

thanks

Thanks, Russell. I haven't even had a chance to look under the lid yet.

 

[gansky1]

Very nice looking washer - that shiny basket looks mint!

You may have a problem with the clutch/spin roller assembly if it won't start spinning on its own. Start by cleaning the rollers with lighter fluid and see how it works then. There are adjustments that can be made to the clutch, it sounds more intimidating than it really is. There are repair manuals for the 1-18 machines periodically on ebay, might be a good idea to buy one to have.

Great thrifting find - congrats!

 

[pdub]

congratulations

I have this exact machine. The instructions and breakdown of speeds and water temps is printed on the inside of the lid.

Colorfast is HOT/WARM, regular agitate and fast spin.
Non-Colorfast is WARM/WARM, regular agitate and fast spin.
Special is WARM/WARM, slow agitate and fast spin.
Cold wash and rinses are chosen with the COLD WATER selector.

I'll let you read the rest from the lid. It's a great washer and I use it all the time. It should be a 1976 model.

If it has sat for a while that may be why it had trouble spinning. Try running it a few times and see if it goes back to normal. You can take the front panel off and clean the roller surfaces with butane lighter fluid and that may help too.

 

[bwoods]

Thanks for the tip

Thanks! Will try the lighter fluid first. Hope that does the trick.

 

[autowasherfreak]

I wish I could find something like that in one of my local thrift stores. I did find a nice GE Filter Flow the Salvation Army thrift store. Buy the time I found someone with a truck it was gone.

Look like a great machine, good luck with it!

 

[norfolksouthern]

You have to move very quickly on these thrift store finds. That's how I acquired my belt-drive Whirlpool portable. On the clutch adjustment, I'd really like to know how that's done, so I can see if tightening the one on Alice might help him get up to speed quicker. Otherwise, I cleaned his rollers with alcohol and it seems to have helped. I take him out for a run at least once per week to keep him exercised.

The Frigidaire 1-18 is my favorite machine. They make a sound like no other, and they are very effective. Some might say that the market is saturated, but I'm willing to bet otherwise. Who wouldn't want one of the best top loaders ever made, and the most fun to work with? At least a few parents must have purchased these to encourage their kids to do their own laundry!

NorfolkSouthern

 

[joelippard]

Spin problem

You may also try checking the belt, the tightening instructions are here on this website. It's supposed to have 1" deflection.

 

[gansky1]

This is a partial model listing from '79, they made the WS for a few years it looks like.

 

[everythingold]

I would also check the motor mounts. they can loosen and cause belt slippage. that was the problem with Thomas' famous Alice.

It also makes me curious about the 1-18 I got from my mentor in Cleveland. It has an odd faceplate. matt

 

[soberleaf]

75 bucks was a good price

i'll buy it for 300 if you want to sell

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice machine!

On that vintage Frigidaire, the first number in the serial number is the model year.

 

[swestoyz]

Love the options on these models. Very very fun washers - congrats!

Ben

 

[bwoods]

Thanks for the information

Thanks, all, for the helpful tips.

Oddly enough, when I ran a load through it last night, it agitated and spun perfectly. As Patrick said, apparently it had just sat idle too long. However, per your suggestions, I will go ahead and clean the rollers and check the belt tension as a precaution.

Barry

 

[pdub]

Barry,

Glad to hear all is well now. I had one that had sat unused for a year and when I first used it it wouldn't spin. Once I got it going it didn't have any more problems.

So what is the first number of your serial number on the data tag?

 

[bwoods]

serial number

Thanks, Patrick.

The serial# is 61EE 2077

Barry

 

[goatfarmer]

Interesting, guess my serial number source was wrong...

 

[pdub]

goatfarmer

Your serial number info is correct. His particular machine was made in 1976 even though there are identical looking models thet were made later. It looks from Gansky's manual that later years added a suffix after the WS.

 

[cornutt]

They actually made a model that was called the WCI? That's a little scary, considering.

 

[everythingold]

what year did the 1-18's roll off the line?

 

[pdub]

They were made from 1970 to 1979 and then WCI acquired Frigidaire and the rest is history.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

They were made from 1970 - 1980
GM shutdown Frigidaire on December 26th, 1980
The appliances were still being made by GM for awhile after WCI purchased Frigidaire. The origional intention was for wci to make everything, but it all backfired. WCI was a bunch of idiots. I also remember whenn it all actually happened it was just after John Lennon was killed. Even though so many companies have become very cheap and have made many bad business decisions nothing can ever compare or be as bad as to what happened to frigidaire.
I am attachiong a article I got that was in our archives about the demise of gm frigidaire:

Bob Connor from Pittsburgh, PA sez...
Destroying electric cars seems like an act only a stupid company would do but this is not the first time GM made a good product that they didn't want to public to keep. I know some people who have a hobby of collecting and restoring home appliances. I don't buy the argument from GM that nobody would make parts for the EV1s that people wanted to buy. Until 1980 GM had their home appliance division, Frigidaire. GM Frigidaire kitchen and laundry appliances were among the most innovative made at the time and usually of high quality, some are still going today. No, you cannot get parts for GM Frigidaire appliances now and today GM pretends that they never existed (Today's Frigidaire appliances are made by another company and are considered a "budget" brand). Oh, BTW, GM shut down Frigidaire on December 26, 1980 so the employees in Dayton got unemployment for Christmas. What I am saying is that this is a much bigger blunder than getting rid of Frigidaire and GM deserves to go bankrupt because of it. I cannot figure out who in their right mind would buy Anything from this company. The only reason I think they do well in the Pittsburgh area: We have a lot of seniors who have good memories of the Chevys and Buicks they drove in the 50s, and a lot of funeral homes that like Cadillac. GM also screwed up when they wanted people to get an expensive charger for the car. Why could an electric car not be recharged by a 220 volt electric dryer outlet found in most homes? That way you would recharge after doing the laundry! Even if you didn't have this outlet an electrician could add one for about 200 dollars. But please don't charge near that much for the DVD, charge less than most movies as the message is more important than the one about the "Lake House".