Hoover Keymatic Model 3226

[brisnat81]

Hi Guys,

I've had an ad in the Melbourne Age looking for a Malleys Automatic 12 washer.

About a month ago, a lady rang me up, with a Hoover frontloader that had belonged to her great aunt, who had now passed away.

She said that she'd email me pictures and I thought nothing more of it, until they arrived.

 

[brisnat81]

So the machine has finally arrived today. I found the service manual 6 months ago, but never imagined that I'd find one in person.

 

[brisnat81]

The machine goes through all of its functions without a problem, IE it attempts to fill, does distribution tumbles, goes into spin, but unfortunately the trip seems to have torn the sump hose.

Where my finger is, is the sump connector, the little hose in the background goes to the pressure chamber. The hose opening on the right, connects to the pump, and were the hose trails off into the distance, is the fill flume.

Has anyone managed to find any of these, or figured out how to remanufacture one?

 

[brisnat81]

Interior is perfect

With no rust or blemishes. There are some rust stains in the boot, but nothing major.

 

[brisnat81]

The key reader and out of balance switch

The controls are broken into two parts, on the right hand side is the key reader, and on the left is the timer.

The OOB switch is in the middle and snaps the master switch from on to off

 

[brisnat81]

Timer and Timer dial

The timer has a pretty clear side, so you can see whats happening.

The timer dial is gear driven by the little brown metal cable you can see.

 

[laundromat]

Great pictures!"There's nothing like a Hoover when you're dealing with dirt!"

 

[brisnat81]

Left hand side

This side, shows the element and one end of the motor.

This machine uses a cable brake with a little shoe that presses against the hub at the back

 

[brisnat81]

Rear

This photo shows the spin and tumble pulleys. The clutch at the back, engages and disengages the pulsator drive.

To spin, the motor reverses direction, apparently having two sets of start windings, so it can be running forwards at the same time it starts running backwards.

It spins at around 700rpm, (Same speed as the pulsator) Condidering the diameter of the tub, this is pretty fast for the early 60's

 

[brisnat81]

This side shows the fill flume (Blue tube) and the pump.

The machine fills directly into the sump, so its probably the biggest air break I've ever seen.

 

[mayfan69]

Looks Immaculate Nathan!

Wow...looks immaculate Nathan
Congrats!
I have a brochure for it actually....
I also suspect my Wilkins Servis 406 is on the same truck.

Leon

 

[brisnat81]

It is Leon

Thankyou for the wishes

They are going to deliver if not today, tomorrow.

And finally, what would a Keymatic be, without a keyplate
1 - Heavily Soiled Whites
2 - White Special
3 - Whites and Coloureds
4 - Minimum Iron

 

[brisnat81]

Keyplate reverse side

Cycle
5 - Delicates and Blankets
6 - Woollens
7 - Pre-wash or Rinse
8 - Spin Dry

Is it the Black or Red keyplates that are hot fill?

 

[brisnat81]

So if anyone has a sump hose, or ideas on how to fabricate one, please let me know.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover...The Product of Experience...!!!

Nice one Nathan, that keymatic looks one fine machine, and its in great condition, very interesting to see the differences between the first model the 3224, ....can you believe the amount of hoses in these machines!!!AND, there is even less in your machine than the first one.

I would think you are going to have to get creative with the sump hose, as you know the problem is its all linked into the fill & pressure system, I would start with trying to trim the ripped bit before the T end and try to fit a car type sump hose to it, there are some great PVC/rubber tapes for sealing pipes now, failing that to re-construct the whole T section and then fit the other pipes to it will need patience, but could be done starting with a simple t-shaped PVC piping.

Also , as your machine has travelled long distance without the shipping brackets, please check the thin drum support wire, thats the one that snapped on mine and dropped the whole unit, luckily it still has the large top springs on it!!!

Finally, if you ever find a place that has drum/ door boots let us know, there are 5 of us hear who need them badly!!!!

Enjoy, Mike

 

[electron1100]

Keymatic Hose

Hello Nathan

What a beauty!......the thought and work that went into designing and making those machines!!!

I repaired a hose on my Hoover twin tub (3334) that was perished with tyre bead sealant and fine bandages.

The tyre bead sealeant is a very thin liquid rubber, i painted it on and wrapped some bandage around it and the painted more sealeant on, i di this a few times and left it for a day to set, and it has worked

I know superglue works well on rubber so maybe superglue the split first and then try the sealant and bandages.

just a possible solution

Good luck, this machine deserves to be restored

Gary

 

[brisnat81]

Thanks for the advice

Michael had a thought on our way to dinner tonight, My brother is a welder/machinist. I might talk to him and see whether he can make up the straight parts with copper, and that way I could just join it where necessary. The rubber is starting to crack everywhere on the sump so nything that I do, will only be a temporary fix. Its crossed my mind to join it at the split and then cover the rest of the hose in a rubber sealant to try and hold it all together, but I think its only a matter of time before it all fails.

Is the Airdome on the 3224 made out of rubber or plastic. From the diagram in the service manual, I assumed that the pressure dome was going to be a big rubber bladder. I was suprised when I found its a tiny plastic box about one cubic inch.

I'm going to have a look at the boot on my Hoover Zodiac when we're up the coast this weekend. It is similiar but I dont know that it will stretch far enough.

Have you found a replacement for the fibre spin belt?

I love the noise that the drain pump fan makes, its a real whoosh.

 

[gizmo]

Hi Nat

Congratulations!!

I have a sump hose for my machine which I got about 10 years ago. They all fail in that same spot. I reckon you could improvise as follows:
Method 1: Cut off the damaged part of the hose, leave about 30 mm of the concertina section attached to the tee. Find a piece of PVC drain pipe (plumbing pipe)that fits firmly inside the concertina, I would guess at 40mm. Cut a length about 50mm, fit it into the concertina section attached to the tee so that half protrudes. Use a radiator hose clamp to secure. Use a Hoover Zodiac sump hose to go from the sump to the PVC joiner you have made and secure with hose clamps. You might have to cut the Zodiac hose to length. If the diameter of the Zodiac hose is wrong (I haven't checked) then source a hose for another machine.
Method 2: Cut off the t-piece and the concertina part of the original hose. Replace it with a 40mm or 50mm PVC drain t-piece,(which ever size fits) as you would use for a kitchen sink pipe. Place a PVC blank in one side of the tee, connect the other side of the tee to the curved rubber hose of the original, and use the rubber sump hose off a Hoover Zodiac to connect from the sump to the centre of the PVC tee. Your only hope of finding a new original hose is to chance upon a shop with old stock. I have had the PVC improvisation in the back of my mind for ages as I doubt I will ever find a new replacement.

The curved section of hose is very soft and floppy, that is normal. It does NOT mean it is rotting out. It is probably fine.
Don't bother trying the Zodiac door seal, they are totally different. The Keymatic seal has a very soft thin lip around the door opening, the Zodiac is thick and bulky.

I just might have a good used door seal if you need one. I want to keep one for myself but I think I might have two??

If anyone needs a "rubberised rope loop" spin belt, the original type, I have two or three in stock, in good used condition.

The motor has one start winding but it has a capacitor assisted start which gives it strong torque. When I had several of these machines and was chasing parts, I found a small repair shop, Sears Morton in Blackburn, who still used one for washing rags in the workshop. They had several dead machines for spares at the time. The owner was a real enthusiast for these machines, and explained that the motor had to accelerate from full speed in one direction to full speed in the other direction in 0.7 seconds. It had to be so fast so that the distributed clothes stayed against the drum and didn't drop into a ball when it started to spin.

I have just looked up Sears Morton in the Melbourne White Pages and there is no entry. I have been meaning for years to go there and see if they still have any parts, but they are probably no longer there. Sorry!

The only Keymatic I now have is missing its motor, unfortunately.

Chris.

 

[foraloysius]

Wow!!!

Welcome to the Keymatic club! Yours is exactly the same model as mine.

I hope that you will be able to use the good advices given here and get the machine to work.

Louis