Hotpoint 9605 toploader

[lavamat_jon]

This thread welcomes a new addition to my collection, and indeed our kitchen.

 

Chris in Southampton (aquarius8000) had to let go of his 9605 due to space constraints, and whilst I need a new washing machine like a hole in the head I decided to give it a home in our new kitchen.  Seeming as we've moved in and don't have a water meter, what more reason is there for having a Hotpoint toploader?  Now some may remember I acquired a 9604 just before Christmas, however it has suffered from brittle control panel syndrome (further enhanced from when I had to perform an emergency stop in the car when I was transporting it to my mum's garage), and also had a slight leak.  Meanwhile, this 9605 is an excellent example of a later Hotpoint top loader - it runs smoothly, is in good condition and runs like a champ.  It also has the Economy wash button which the 9604 doesn't, allowing me to bypass the heater and just use hot water if time/economy reasons desire.

 

I intend to use this machine for washing "sturdier" loads - e.g. towels, jeans whilst leaving darks, bedding etc for the front loader.  I need to sort out hot water plumbing at some point (at the moment to hot fill I have to fill it with the mop bucket - I could let it cold fill but I dread to think how long it would take to heat) - but otherwise it fits the space nicely.

 

Whilst at Chris' we had a nice chat about machines, swapped stories about machines and ran a load through the Servis - I have to say his enthusiasm as well as his dad's support for the hobby is second to none.  I certainly wish I had the mechanical skill at that age, and the ability to have a vintage machine in my teenage years!

 

Anyway, enough of my rambling, here is a picture of the 9605 in it's new home:

 

[lavamat_jon]

With the other machines in the line up

 

[lavamat_jon]

Control panel (sorry for the poor picture quality, only managed to take photos on my phone so far)

 

[lavamat_jon]

Washing a load of towels on programme 2

 

[lavamat_jon]

Filter Flo and Spiralator action.

 

[sesteve]

Fantastic

Hi Jon

That is a great looking example you've got there. As you know i am a great fan of Hotpoint top loaders and I had 2 9605's until recently - the one on the right was sold off and is now washing horse blankets poor thing! Mind you I really would like a 1504 with its 4 pole motor and stainless steel facia. I can but dream. I seem to have a strange habit of getting 2 of everything as I will reveal soon!!

You are right to get the hot water sorted out though as they take longer to heat than the time to wash without a good supply.

Looks like you could do with one of Al's drainage contraptions with all those machines )

S

 

[superelectronic]

Time to heat?

In theory (as ever on this subject, much to my chagrin), it would take somewhere between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half to get to 60C.

This is based on the stated energy label consumption of 3.84kwh for the cottons 60 cycle: knock off about 0.3 kwh for the motor's consumption and you get 3.5kwh, divide this by the rating of the heating element (either 2.5kw or 2.75kw - not wholly sure) and multiply by 60 to get the amount of time the heater needs to be on to use that much energy.

Anyway, congratulations on the acquisition. Each preserved example warms my heart!

 

[aquarius8000]

Hotpoint Top Loaders

Hi all. Yes, this is my top loader, I'm on a stupid water meter and it uses a good two and a half buckets per fill, and ill pay through the nose if I used it week in week out. Its gone to a good home with good owners and I was pleased that someone can use it, not how I used it - standing in the garage collecting dust. Hope Jon and people who see it at wash-ins enjoy it better than I did.

Will post some more stuff on my pc tomorrow, using my faithful phone.

Chris.

 

[foraloysius]

Nice addition Jon! How many more washers can you squeeze in there? lol

 

[supersuds]

How expensive is water in England, anyway?

We've always had water meters over here, as far as I know, but water bills are not a real big item for most people, even with top loaders.

I pay less than $30 a month unless it's dry and have to water the garden a lot.

 

[hoover1100]

Water rates

It depends what part of the country you live in as to which 'water board' you fall under, some are cheaper than others.

Having a water meter is normally cheaper than being on a flat rate, even if your water consumption is high. It's just when people are paying for what they use rather than a fixed amount no matter their consumption they tend to become more aware of it.

When I lived in Plymouth I belive we paid approximately £40 a month on a meter for 2 people in a 1 bed apartment under South West Water. Not sure what we pay up here but we don't have a water meter and I know Northumbrian water is considerably cheaper than South West was.

Nice toploader, can't beat an old hotpoint spiraclean!

Matt

 

[lavamat_jon]

Steve - nice picture of the 9605s together.  I always liked the ones with the aqua graphics better.  I used to always think these were the later models, but in the 1999 brochure I have (the last year the 9605 was produced) it still has red graphics in the picture.

 

Louis - I've worked out that I could also stack a vintage set in the kitchen (I have a Hoovermatic in one corner that could easily be rolled to another part of the house, after all I did use it as a sideboard when it wasn't being used when I lived in Nottingham!) however getting it past my beloved is another task altogether lol!

 

In terms of water use...

 

Having to hot fill with a mop bucket really highlights how much water these beauties use -  it takes approx 8.5 mop buckets (which holds 10l) to fill... so that's 85l per fill, so for a wash and 2 rinses that's  255l!  Compare that to the 42l for the Miele with the same size load, really does make it a machine for use without a water meter!  Does that change how I feel about the machine?  Nope - I bloody love it :-D.  

 

Jon

 

[lavamat_jon]

Hotpoint 9604

Here's a picture of my other Hotpoint toploader (the 9604), just for illustration purposes.  Note the lack of the Economy Wash button on this model.  These photos were taken before the effects of brittle-control panel syndrome kicked in!  Nothing a free afternoon and some careful supergluing won't fix - but certainly two lessons learnt in transporting old Hotpoints - firstly, to pack in the car a lot more tightly, and secondly - to not brake so harshly!  Saying that, you can see that the machine had suffered some cracking before - the corner of the fascia had been glued back on when I bought it, and there was a small piece of plastic missing off the top right corner, but at least this was only a machine I paid 99p for .

 

Jon

 

[whirlykenmore78]

I take it by the Economy button

That this machine can fill with hot water rather that heating it's own like a US top loader. Is that Correct? Also what is the capacity like compared to say a US Whirlpool/Kenmore which rate at 9kg? I am interested to know more about this washer.
WK78