Hoover Keymatic!!

[Frigidaire Deluxe]

I can’t believe this but I am now the owner of a Hoover 3224 Keymatic. I never thought I’d see one of these let alone own one.

It’s in fantastic shape for its age aside from wear and tear and a destroyed door seal. Sadly the drum is seized and a couple parts need replacing. But overall I am really happy with it.

It came from a house that was built in the 60s and all of the appliances in it were from that era.

If anyone knows where I can get spare parts please let me know. Here are some pictures.

 

[gizmo]

People all over the world are looking for a door seal. Good luck. I sent a door seal that had minor damage to someone in the UK to be used as a mould for a reproduction to be created, I don't remember how that worked out, but I think it proved too expensive.

Are you sure the drum is seized? The drum has a brake, cable operated so that when the door is open, the drum is braked. The brake mechanism is shown in your last photo, 2959. Also the drum only turns one way, that is normal.

Having said that, the drum on mine is sort of seized - it is stiff to turn even with the brake off. Mine is missing the main motor, it was gone when I found the machine.

I did fully restore one of these many years ago, I replaced the drum bearings but they are a weird bearing, thinner than usual and I couldn't find a match anywhere, tried many bearing specialists. I eventually used other bearings of the correct inner and outer diameters but a whisker thicker, I got it to work but it made reassembly really difficult. (I think I had to leave out a spacer or circlip from distant memory...) So if you can make the existing bearings work, try to do that. Of course it would be easier to find a match for the bearings today, my restoration was pre-internet.
Mine was the later one with the round dial, 3226. I also had a 3224 that I got later, actually got a good door boot and the drum assembly was good. That has its own story...
Sad story... I got rid of all my Keymatics when we moved from Melbourne to here, would have been late 1990s. I had the fully restored one, the working one I had converted its mechanicals and electrics to work from 12 Volts DC (we had a very basic solar power system, couldn't run a 240V version) and a few salvaged ones for spare parts. I gave the restored one to the Salvation Army store in Abbotsford to use as a window display, at the time they used to sell some donated washing machines.
The 12V one was a bit nuts, it used a car wiper motor for the tumble action and a golf buggy motor for the spin motor, a car heater fan motor to drive the pump, 12 volt solenoids to operate the water valves and two clockwork timers for the wash and spin timers, it was only semi automatic, not full auto. It did not use the keyplate mechanism or electric timer at all. No heater of course. It was rough as guts to look at but worked well for a couple of years. I tired of it, we had upgraded the solar power system so scrapped that machine and the spare parts machines. Soon after I discovered this website, and learned what a crime I had committed in scrapping them... One day they were unwanted, common enough, regularly found on hard rubbish collections, suddenly they were rare and appreciated...

After a few years of being Keymatic-less, I found one in hard rubbish. It had already had its motor taken, the wires cut. Other than that, it was in OK condition. That is the one I still have. I have never found a motor for it. I do have a good door seal but I'm keeping that.

 

[gizmo]

BTW sorry I forgot to say the obvious... Congratulations on your Keymatic. It looks great.

 

[vacerator]

I met a British family in Fort Lauderdale Florida in 1989. The dad worked for Hoover in Myrther Tydfil Wales. He won one of the free vacations they raffled.

 

[Frigidaire Deluxe]

Thanks for your reply Gizmo!

The sore seal is a bit of an issue. Surprisingly the half of it is still in good shape, just the part that was in contact with water got brittle and started cracking. I might try and flip it around and build up a my own section of rubber using old bike tubes and some rubber glue. Won’t look pretty but it’ll be on the top and will actually be functional!

Yes, sadly the drum is fully seized. Will not turn when powered on and with forcing it to turn with the brake disengaged. Have started a teardown on it which I’m super thankful that “The Laundry Centre” has a video of an explosion diagram of the 3226 (not the same but close enough). The pulsator spring was rusted and bent out of shape so it snapped and pulsator retainer block set screw had to be drilled out. Not sure how I’d find another set screw and spring! Probably have to make them. It’s a shame that I had to do this, but it is what it is!

That setup seems really cool! I would’ve loved to have seen that, must’ve been a lot of work to get it working.
Throwing them out was something no one would’ve thought about! Everyone threw everything out at a certain point. It is what it is. No one should really be getting upset by it. It’s just unfortunate that you don’t have a working one!

 

[gizmo]

I wonder if a car inner tube of the right diameter could be adapted to repair your door boot?
You'd have to slit it around the inner diameter and try to marry it in with glue or silicone.
The Keymatic boot is so different to other washing machine boots, it's more like an inner tube than another brand of washing machine boot.
It could be one of those "ugly but it works" solutions.

Pulsator spring - that is common, they all do it eventually. I spoke to a couple of Hoover specialist mechanics back in the day, they said they often just disconnected the pulsator and told the owner to wash on a non-pulsator cycle (Delicates? Permanent press?) to get the longer 8 minute wash. They would remove the spring and pulsator solenoid, so the pulsator is never driven, just spinning free all the time.
There is a chance I have a spare spring, but don't hold your breath.
The spring binds around two "hubs" (I have no idea of the correct term) to clutch them together or allow them to spin free - with wear in the pulsator bearings and in the hubs, the hubs can move apart, leaving a gap between... the spring gets into the gap and that is what destroys the spring.

If you want to go on a wild goose chase for parts, find a list of the old Hoover repairers, and see if any of them are still in business, even if doing other things.
Sears Morton in Blackburn were the most helpful to me in the 1990s, they really liked the machines and still used one for washing cleaning cloths. Last time I checked they no longer fix washing machines but do home security or similar. You would ask if they have any Keymatic parts, new or used, stashed out the back somewhere?
ART services in Camberwell were big in the day too, do they still exist?
I might have one of the old dealer lists, I will have a look in the next few days.