I have an "OVER FLOWING " question :-) about Speed Queen washers.

[paulwash]

In my early teens 1989 I remember adding detergent for wash and fabric softener for rinse at home when my parents owned a late 1970's Speed queen washer that my dad found at the side of the curb and I begged him to take it home. He had the belt replaced for my payment from me from my paper route money. Next he pushed a side the RCA whirlpool washer to the side and hooked up the speed queen!! which only gave us one good year of service for a family of four I used it the most. My mom worked a lot so I had it covered LOL. That washer washed great and spin loud!! lots of clanking and clunking. Small capacity though. OK now my question is did detergent performance get watered down during the overflow at the start of the wash? And in the rinse did all of my final touch , lavender sachet, downy or snuggle go down the drain in the start of the overflow rinse? Well the clothes looked mighty clean on the line and especially my brothers football jacket too. Well after a year I washed a load of towels with all liquid, clorox, and lavender sachet to only find that there was water all over the floor. Something went wrong. So my big strong dad unhooked the speed queen and slid over the RCA whirlpool and I was back in business wooo wooo sound too! only one water level though... but that washer was the most dependable and only for $25 from a moving sale my mother got 10 years out of it and gave it away when we got a 1969 filter flo given to her. And many trips to the laundromat with the old speed queens I remember my father dropping me off at the laundromat with a big box of tide and lots of clothes for the speed queens I noticed the soap overflowing at the start of the wash? Help a guy from Niagara Falls, New York who loves laundry figure this out.

 

[cycla-fabric]

I can remember the Speed Wash laundromat had Speed Queen washers in my town, and the soap and or fabric softener didn't go down the drain at the beginning of the cycle, it remained in the tub to do it's job of cleaning and softening the wash. The overflow operation was to remove lint and soap scum and light soil before the spin period of the cycle as the machine had a solid tub. Fabric softener was diluted in the rinse water and started to soften the laundry as the agitation started before any water started to overflow out of the machine. Hope this explains the issue.

Doug

 

[akronman]

Overflowing

They wash well and loudly, they rinse well, damn good washers.

But, it's old technology and the timed fill level varied due to each home having different pressure, did someone flush the toilet during fill, was someone washing dishes, etc. The directions said to put detergent in the bottom before clothes, that helped almost all of it stay in the wash. As for the rinse aids, yes they get added in as the tubs fills and goes into overflow rinsing, then again at the end of rinse there's more overflow, so not a lot of fabric softener stayed in the clothes. It likely did its job and removed detergent and added a bit of scent, then got mostly overflowed out.

But it's an effective way to wash clothes, Speed Queen solid tubs were built for the soap era as opposed to detergent era, but the end results were great. You just have to understand that timed fill is different than pressure filled, far less exact, and overflow rinsing does a GREAT job but also uses extra water. Oh well, fine and fun machines!

Thanks
MArk

 

[yogitunes]

well you do have a few variables over a home/residential machine and a commercial one on a cycle......

lets go with the commercial one first.....during the first wash fill, there usually is a 30 second extra fill after agitation starts to make sure the machine is filled and the clothes are saturated with water, detergent best added after this filling stops.....over flow starts again for the last minute of wash....the first spin is usually only 1 minute, the rinse is two minutes once agitation begins, over flow is constant the whole time, and then right into spin.....can't say there is a best time to add softener as the water is always flowing.....the cycle times are shortened as a nature of the business for a quick wash...

residential machines.....time filled for that exact amount of time, and then agitation begins, again, this would be the best time to add detergent once it starts, at least a gallon or two of water is thrown overtop from the agitation motion......overflow during the last minute....spin is usually 2 minutes, and one minute of slow down before the rinse fill starts......rinse fill is timed, and continues for one minute once agitation starts, once flow stops, this would be the best time to add softener, there are two minutes of agitation without overflow, then over flow starts again for one last minute before spin begins....final spin was a lot longer as well...

it may look like a lot of water is used, but in reality, its not a big tub, and your only filling that exact tub, there is no outter tub holding water as in a perforated tub machine....but if you had to fill the inner and outter tub, that would be a lot of water....

small differences for a banging solenoid versus reversing motor machines...

these were good machines for demonstrating 'Rain Barrel' softener during the 70's....it was added at the beginning of wash, along with detergent....the overflow during rinse assured all suds and chemicals were removed....softness with out a lot of scent left behind...

most people looked for using these machines in Laundromats for the great rinsing...

 

[yogitunes]

commercial machine......

note the water continue to flow for about 30 seconds more.....residential machines don't do this...

once this stops, that's the best time to add detergent....