If you have never seen one, this is my Staber washer.....

[mihi]

I've had this Staber washer about 4 or 5 years. As far as reliability, its been great. Very strongly made, simple, and washes really well. And designed from the get-go to be owner repairable. Here are some photos.

 

[mihi]

Here is the main control dial. Simple mechanical design, for long-life and easy repair.

 

[mihi]

And the other dials, all simple mechanical designs.

 

[mihi]

open the lid, and this is what you see. Two doors that open to put cloths in, and close to enclose the basket for washing.

 

[mihi]

Then open the two doors and cloths can go in. Also you can see the dispensers where you add detergent, both for the pre-wash if you choose it, and the regular wash. Also a fabric softerner and (I think) one for bleach.

 

[mihi]

The good old money shot. I wish I'd put something in the basket to give some idea of the size. This washer will wash a full load of cloths, as much as the normal top-loader that out there unless you're willing to overload the top-loader.
In a Staber, you fill the cloths to about 3 inches or so from the top of the basket. When they get wet they take up about 60% of the basket. It does a load fast, spins it out between 700 and 800 RPM, and we found that it washer well and is gentle with the cloths.

 

[mihi]

And here is a shot from the Staber website showing the front off of the machine for repairs. Everything is accessible from the front, the motor, belt, pump, etc. There is a controller board, its located in the top where the dials are located. The dials come out by removing 4 screws in each corner and just pull the panel forward, everything is easily accessible.

 

[Brent-Aucoin]

Cool Pictures!
I have always liked these machines! I have used one once.
I think that the secret to it's cleaning is the shape of the drum.
I posted a link to the demo video's on Staber's website. It would be cool to have this clear demo washer!
Brent

http://www.staber.com/stabervideos

 

[mielabor]

Interesting, a HA toploader in American disguise. Here in Europe, HA toploaders are marketed as space saving machines with a footprint of 40 x 60 cm or 50 x 60 cm while most frontloaders have a footprint of 60 x 60 cm. The Staber doesn't seem to be smaller than ordinary American toploaders.

Some details, especially the construction of the drum, suggest that the machine has been manufactured in a local small scale factory. I like that out-of-the-ordinary look. How long is the duration of a normal wash cycle?

 

[toggleswitch2]

inches x 2.54 = cm

ooooh I always wanted one.

IIRC the footprint is 27" x 27"
How big is the opening on top?

Beware of the Staber dryer though. It is a rebadged Whirlpool at an outrageous price

http://www.staber.com/category/2616

 

[mihi]

here is some more info. on cycle times and water usage.....

2) The controls are simple. There aren’t a lot of fancy wash cycles and all that
stuff on this machine, just the basic things that you need.

Water levels: There are two, small load and normal load. The normal load uses
16.5 gallons of water for a complete wash cycle, the small load uses 12 gallons.

Water temperatures: You can wash your cloths in cold, warm or hot water. It only
rinses in cold water. It does two rinses for each wash cycle.

Wash cycles: You have a selection of Normal, Permanent Press, or Delicate. For
each of these you can select the washing time by selecting Heavy, Medium, or Light.

Prewash: For really dirty stuff you can do a Prewash, which uses an extra 5.5 gallons of water, for a 22 gallon total for the complete wash cycle. Its just an extra wash cycle in front of the normal wash cycle.

Cycle time: Normal wash cycle time is 10 minutes, the 2 rinse cycles are 5 minutes each, and the spin cycle is 5 minutes. Add to this the tub water fill time, but this is pretty quick as not much water is being used when the tub is filled. A wash cycle is definitely quicker than the Maytag Atlantis. We are doing 8 to 10 loads of laundry a week so this is going to be good.

3) Here is dispenser and spin speed information:

Liquid dispensers: You have a separate dispenser each for Prewash Detergent, the normal Detergent, Fabric Softener, and Bleach.

Spin speed: The spin speed is up to 750 RPM for a Normal load, and 400 for Delicate
and Permanent Press.

4) Detergents: Use no more than 1 oz. of a low-sudsing detergent (no top-loader ultra
detergents). Basically, use a front-loader detergent and you’ll be OK. We are going to save some serious money on detergent I think.

 

[mihi]

and oh yes, it is a full size washer, its not smaller than the standard American top-loader.

 

[mielabor]

Even more interesting, a HA toploader with VA toploader wash cycles: laundry done in 25 minutes. And washes really well.

Why don't we have it here?

 

[pulsator]

Fantastic, now I'm itching for one of these machines!!! Is there any way to keep the lid open during the wash cycle? I know a piece of plexi-glass would be required for the spin cycle, bet that's a fun machine!!!

 

[mihi]

Since the basket is all closed up, you couldn't see the cloths even if the lid was open. But the Staber company has one with glass in the front panel and glass (or clear plastic actually) in the fron of the outer tub so that you can see the water action when the basket rotates. Its an action that forces the wash and rinse water to squirt thru the basket holes into the cloths due to the outer tub and basket having a different number of sides. There is an earlier link that shows this too, really neat.

 

[mihi]

I will alert you though, don't use liquid detergents or liquid softerners in this machine. Only use powder HE detergent. And do a monthly maintenance wash to reduce any chance of mold stinking-up your cloths, and issue that I previously had.

 

[sudsmaster]

Thanks for posting the photos, Mihi.

As I recall from researching the Staber about seven years ago, it's been popular with people who live "off the grid" since it can be run directly off solar DC power, with no losses from conversion to AC. The machine also looks better in your photos than I recall from the Staber web site.

 

[toggleswitch2]

gallons x 3.78 = litres [figure 4.0L per G)

5.5 gallons is nearly 6 gallons. A standard bucket is approximatley 2 gallons. So one has an idea of how much (little) water is being used; about three bucket-fulls.

I bitch royally (that is what royal bitches do! *LOL*) about my Frigidaire front-loader taking 45 to 50 minutes, but then it does rinse four times versus the two offered by the Staber. The higher spin speed cuts the dryer down to 45 minutes from 60. I wonder is Staber will ever increase the spin speed, or if their drum is larger making for a higher G-force than a flont-loading horizontal-axis machine.

Without a service newtwork or authorized repair personnel, it is interesting that they have to push it as "user-servicable".

I do like that the tub and cylinder are supported on both sides and all stainless-steel. I kinda like the model that is all SS inside and out!

http://www.staber.com/product/810034

 

[funguy10]

Why shouldn't you use liquid fabric softener? Is it a scrud problem?

 

[mihi]

Fabric softeners, as well as liquid detergents, have "stuff" in them that is more prone for build-up at the water line and on the one rubber part which is a boot at the top of the tub and under the lid, which keeps the water inside the tub when things are sloshing. Build-up at these places can grow scrud, and it can get moldy. and the moldy smell can get in your cloths.

When this happened to mine I took it out of service for a year, it sat, then when I put it back in service in my daughter's house and did a strong maintenance wash it seemed to rid the machine of the mold. I now do a maintenance wash on this machine every month with Afresh. So far so good. We also only use powder detergent in this machine, either TideHE or Charlie's Soap.

 

[pulsator]

I think... I think I might have to buy one of these machines! It's just so interesting! Plus, since my regular frontloaders are very very hard to work on and they aren't built to the highest quality, (Miele aside,) this might be a nice workhorse machine! My best friend has a 30 year old Maytag Suds Saver and they use the suds saving feature ALLL the time for their 150 year old plumbing. It seems like the perfect replacement for the Maytag suds saver machine as it has been breaking down once a week for the past 2 months! It might be time!

 

[sudsman]

Mike glad to hear you are haveing better luck with your Stab

How ofter is is used.. The 2 I had did not last even a year

 

[mihi]

I think Staber puts their money into the actual hardware of the machine. Stainless wash-basket and outer-tub. One model has a stainless frame on it, though mine is the one with the regular steel frame. On each end of the wash-basket is an axle with 2 bearing on each end, a total of 4 bearings holding the wash-basket, and they are designed to be greased. You'll read of people happy with them and people not happy with them. On our part, other than the initial mold problem which I think is solved now, its been a good washer.

 

[toggleswitch2]

How big is the opening on top?

(didn't see a response....)

 

[mihi]

hey guys.....

The Staber the two years it was in my house ran 8 to 9 loads per week. In my daughters house (2 adults and a baby) it's probably running only 5 loads per week. So far I'd say we've run it about 1,000 loads, so far. Never a problem (knock on wood and hope this continues). I didn't Know you had them at one time too Sudsman. Sorry to hear of your experiences with them. I've heard some people with bad luck with them, then people with very good luck. I spoke with a guy here locally that had one for 4 years prior to me buying mine and he'd never had a problem.
The opening to the wash-basket is approx. 12 x 8 inches I would guess. The photos show it pretty good.

 

[toggleswitch2]

TYVM