Hoover Electra 535 Dual Spin - Dream Machine

[mattywashboy]

Hi Guys,

I am so happy to be able to tell you that after years of searching I finally found my Australian 'dream machine'. It is the Hoover Electra 535 Dual Spin front load washer. I first encountered one of these at a family friends house and fell in love with it. The colour scheme attracts me, the fact it has an onboard heater and the way it was designed to match the top loader variants almost identically. Over the years I have found a couple and I was either unable to get them for whatever reason or the one I DID manage to get, the 540 was beyond repair and had to go.

Well anyway, I finally managed to find one and had the space the give it a home. A bit of cleaning up was needed but apart from that she was mechanically sound. Perfect.

These machines have a max spin RPM of 800 with a gentler 500rpm for the gentle fabrics side of the dial. The onboard heater when selected, boosted a Hot fill to 60 degrees C and boosted a Warm fill to 40 degrees C. They do 5 deep rinses on both Normal and Gentle cycles. Only one interim spin however just prior to the final rinse. They have good strong tumbles that combined with a deep water level will flush away pretty much all dirt and stains. They hold 4kg of laundry and were Made in Australia in Meadowbank NSW. These would have been on the market in around 1990-91 and would have been quite highly priced at almost $1000AUD. Non heater models were slightly cheaper at $800AUD approx.

I'll upload the photos below and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask away.

Matt.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover Aus...

Congratulations Matt, finally a dream machine without the need of complete renovation. Looks a smart washer, like the simplistic fascia and programmer, I see SHORT wash times are the norm ha ha...and the range of programme options are very useful.

Now get that worktop off and photos please, we never had Stainless outer tubs here, they where on a few limited models due to production runs when industrial strikes where taking place!!

And the backplate and motor should still resemble Hoover made here?

 

[candyd10_14x]

Hoover

Hi Matt!

Wow, what a beauty your 535 is, not seen many examples of these, shame I never did while I was out in Australia but my Uncle and Auntie had a Hoover Top Loader (not sure of model).

I do have 2 questions about this machine,
1. Does it have an Induction motor or brushed? They seem pretty quiet in operation.
2. Was this the replacement for the Hoover Zodiac range?

Thank you and enjoy your new Hoover Electra!

Brandon.

 

[ronhic]

Brandon

They're a brushed motor and yes, this was the model that replaced the Zodiac 12.

 

They were very solidly built and have proved robust in usage, with Matts machine being at least 24 years old. Mind, they were also expensive when compared to a locally made Hoover top loader at roughly 15-20% dearer and technically of smaller capacity.

 

 

[revvinkevin]

CONGRATS MATT!!!

Wow Matt, how awesome is that... and a dream machine to boot! Looks to be in excellent condition too!

Question: if you had to guess, do you think it's called a "dual spin" because it has has two different spin speeds, or because it spins (only) twice during the cycle?

Kevin

 

[mattywashboy]

Brandon - Thanks! I see Chris has already jumped in and answered your questions so I need say no more lol. It is very quite when operating, still audible around the house but a nice gentle 'hummm'

Kevin - Thanks The Dual Spin is referring to the two different spin cycles on the machine for Normal and Gentle, according to the manual anyway

I have made a video of this machine in action and will imbed it below.

Enjoy!

 

[washer111]

Matt, it looks like you got yourself an absolute steal! 

 

The timer dial looks hauntingly similar to the Hoover 'Heavy Duty' TL (6.5KG from 1993/94 IIRC) which we had until early 2009 and the arrival of the Simpson washer 'I love to hate.'* This was sidelined due to a major water leak within the washer managing to convince the machine it was out-of-balance. 

I presume it may have been repairable, but it had already taken a wash-basket repair about 9 years prior. 

 

I'm curious about the 'Colour-Guard' switch...

Was this a feature for washing in more tepid water or perhaps enabling a different spinning profile to prevent colours running?

 

*Thats one way of putting it.

 

[mattywashboy]

HI Washer111

The C/Guard actually stands for Crease Guard. Basically the Rinse Hold function prior to the final spin

Thanks!

Matt

 

[gizmo]

motors

Hi everyone

these have an induction motor.

The Hoover Zodiacs up to the 470 and 475 had a brush motor sourced from the UK.

From Zodiac 480 onwards they use an induction motor sourced from Italy. 480 and 490 series had simple induction motor which gives a miserably slow spin. Adding an electronic controller (possibly causing the name change from Zodiac to Electra) allowed a bigger pulley to be fittted to the motor, giving an 800 rpm spin.

So all Electras have the electronically controlled induction motor.

Congratulations on your new machine Matty.

Chris.

 

[washer111]

Leave it to me to make a mistake before its even late enough to blame fatigue! 

 

Thanks for the explanation, Matt. 

 

Personally, aside from perhaps leaving a 'moist' load of laundry to sit and stew overnight, I wonder just how effective this sort of feature really is in protecting colours? 

I have always found that letting stuff soak is the worst way to start getting colours out. 

 

I'm sure you're quite excited to go ahead and boil some sheets and towels (etc). 

A video of that might be testing one's cameraman skills, but certainly well worth the viewing time

 

[mattywashboy]

Lol if only it had a boil wash feature. The top temp is 60 degrees maximum. I guess it wasn't seen as necessary in Australia at the time.

I do wonder how many Heater models they sold at all what with Australia having quite the 'cold wash' culture. This machine was owned by a very posh British old lady who told me she used Hot and Warm with the Heater, never Cold as she said that would never get anything clean.

 

[twinniefan]

Well done

Well done Matty,
A great pickup, I am sure it will be a great little machine for you, and what a lucky machine it is too, in your very capable hands.
I like the tumbling action it does seem to have a bit more oomph to it than other f.l.'s I have seen.
Well done again.
Steve.