Indesit? Hotpoint? Candy? I got it, but what is it?

[norfolksouthern]

Thanks for clearing this up, favorit. I ran another load of whites through it, and the water got extremely hot this time! Although it did take quite a bit of time to do so. I used regular Tide, and it sudsed very little. In fact, the four rinses flushed everything out thoroughly and the machine did not bog down one bit. One of these days I'd like to get my hands on a real European laundry detergent to see what it does!

NorfolkSouthern

 

[ronhic]

NorfolkSouthern

...would you like me to send you a small box of Australian OMOMATIC (now called 'Omo for frontloaders') it comes in a variety of sizes including a small 500gm/1 lb box which is ideal to post.

Omo is a Levers brand and would rank with Persil or other premium Euro brands from a performance perspective.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

What type of motor does this machine use? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it has an induction motor. That motor does look big, and if you look closely there is a fan blade on the shaft inside the motor. So, it probably has a slow speed and a fast speed.

Norfolksouthern does this machine reverse direction during the wash cycle? Also do you see any capacitors hidden anywhere on the machine?

 

[norfolksouthern]

Yes, supremewhirlpool, the machine does reverse direction. I didn't see any capacitors hidden anyplace that I know of, and I've been through it fairly thoroughly. I'll remove the back cover again, just to be sure. I don't know much about electric motors, so whether it's an induction or not, I can't really say.

ronhic: Sure! I sent you an email.

NorfolkSouthern

 

[ronhic]

Email sent

 

[favorit]

reverse tumbling action in front loaders

I have never seen any european FL without reverse tumbling.
Guess only vintage non-automatic and non-spinning front loaders (and vintage french H ax toploaders) didn't reverse.

Reverse action is fundamental for spinning frontloaders (aka washers-extractors). It avoids tangling and helps distribution before spinning.
My parent's vintage Candy SA5 had a "bug" : while draining before spinning it tumbled only in one way to start distribution, but instead of distributing the load, it wrapped everything up into a big ball ... and started a jump-spin )

NorfolkSouthern, guess your Zerowatt works fine at washing terry towelling, bath gowns and bulky items as (single bed) duvets and feather sky jackets. To avoid oversudsing pour half dose of fabric softener in the wash bath when the detergent is already dissolved.

2 of my gran's sisters ever had Zerowatts, all these machines washed with plenty of water, just like vintage Ariston Margherita. Gran and the 4th sister had crap-Candy that "wetcleaned" towels load .....

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Favorit... Do your gran's sisters still have the zerowatt machines? If they don't Why did they stop working? Was it bearings, timer, motor? I'm trying to find out what typically fails in both the vintage and newer EU machines.

 

[favorit]

No, one replaced it with an Ariston Margherita il late eighties, the other with a Candy rebadged as Zerowatt

You can't find a typical common fault for all the brands. Even the same brand had different faults in different periods

E.g. Candy weak point in the sixties was zinc coated steel outertub prone to leaks and kangaroo-suspensions (this is a Superautomatic 75, as my gran's one)

 

[favorit]

in the next decade (strikes age) Candy made cylinders without baffles (like cars without wheels). Missing screws weren't a rarity ... you can see those true POS on youtube Bimatic's channel ( Candy C133 C137). I had a C134 (y.1973), replaced in 1986 by an Alisè 16 WD .

The Candy Alisè is a water condenser combo, but takes millenniums to dry because of the 570 rpm. Far better than the seventeen garbage, but not comparable to a Zanussi machine. Rusting cabinets were the main problem of these machines, that's one of the (several) reasons my sister in 1998 replaced it with a Miele W844 ( that doesn't know the meaning of "rust")

 

[supremewhirlpol]

A cylinder without baffles? I would think that the clothes would not tumble very well. Both of those Candy machines look nice. How do the Alise condenser machines work?

 

[favorit]

Baffleless cylinder

You're right. Expecially on half loads and delicate programs. In a frontloader delicates normally are submerged in deep water and "float" without tumbling, as maximum allowed load for them is 1/3 of the cylinder. They rotate without being lifted. Well, in this very crap they literally floated without rotating. So the upper part of the load sometimes didn't even get in touch with water, e.g. this happened with mesh curtains.

Candy Alisè drying sys

Behind the outer tub there's a plastic chamber with a nozzle that sprays tap cold water. At the top of this chamber (over the tub) there are a blower and a coil.
This chamber is connected with the tub in the top and in the middle. the lowest part is connected with the drain pump.

Wet air is aspired by the blower through the chamber. The cold water spray condensates moisture that is pumped away with cool down water. Dry air now is heated by the coil and enter the tub in the highest part.

So while drying the machine is on continuos fill mode and the pump is always on (= always annoying).
The odd thing : to dry laundry one wastes a lot of water....

Only Miele combos spare lot of water while drying ... but having a shocking price it's cheaper (and more pratical- combos dry half loads only) buying a separate miele pair W+D

 

[favorit]

Alisè ctrl panel

The biggest dial is the timer. It has 3 basic cycles cottons (1 to 10), perma press (11 to 14), delicates & woolens (15 to 18)

Dark grey are prewashes (1---> and 11---->)
Light grey are main washes (4----> , 12 ----> , 15 --->)
Yellow are rinses ( 8----> , colour change, colour change)
Brown are spins (between rinses from 8 to 10, final spins 10, 14, 18)
Red are drying

Then there are temp dial, door opening, on/off, half load buttons and drying time dial ( 1,2,3 are X*10 minutes ... they were proud to save some "0" ...)

If the drying time was selected before starting the wash, the machine automatically washed and dried.

BUT perma press stops without draining in the 3rd rinse (anticrease rinse hold) so one has anyway to click the dial on the 14 (spin) ... couldn't they put another button to engage/ disengage the anticrease as every other decent washer ?!? it's another Candy pearl ;-) they hat to put at least a bug in a pretty decent washer ...

 

[supremewhirlpol]

OK, now I'm beginning to understand the number system better and how a condenser dryer works. The machines in the US don't use this protocol, and I have only used US machines. I would so love to get a machine that was used in the UK.

 

[favorit]

condenser combos and dryers - odd and clear dials

Supremewhirlpool,
the last condenser dryers that use water to condensate moisture were on the market in early eighties.

Now condenser dryers use room air to cool down / condensate into a heat exchanger and are plug'n'play (no more water connections)

Latest energy efficent condenser dryers have a heat pump. Basically it's a dryer with a fridge (call it even A/C unit) inside. The cold side is used to condensate moisture, the hot part of the fridge heats the air for the blower. Usually blower and cylinder have separate motors, so these dryers can manage even very delicate items that couldn't be tumbledried, using special tumbling patterns

Odd dials with numbers, letters, icons have always been a speciality of italian appliance production. Sometimes it was hard to use a machine without reading its booklet. This rarely happens with German made machines, where plain words say everything (see pic ... sorry it's written in italian)

As you can see in this pic (mid eighties mieles fascias) timers work more or less in the same way all over the world.
Here you've 3 main cycles (cotttons/permapress/delicates).
One can run the whole cycle, omit the prew., run a shorter wash, rinse only or spin only, depending on needs

 

[favorit]

sorry i forgot to say

.... that only combos still use water to condensate moisture

 

[supremewhirlpol]

OK, I see. You mentioned that condenser dryers have a heat pump. Do they have a compressor style heat pump or do they use something more solid state like a Peltier Junction?

Thanks for the info.

 

[alr2903]

I would agree with Foraloysius, it looks like that 1980's machine Sears sold. It's been a long time, but resembles what i remember. alr2903

 

[favorit]

Compressor style heat pumps

Maybe I'm wrong, but Peltier Junctions now on the market haven't enough power for this purpose. But who knows, within the next ten years ..

Heat pump dryers have compressors. Those compressors have a somewhat 1000 W power so the whole dryer is about 1200/1500 W vs the 2200 to 3300 W of air cooled condenser dryers and of traditional vented dryers

http://www.miele.co.uk/Products/heat-pump-tumble-dryer.aspx

 

[rosmebraad]

Indeed similar insides to ITT

When I grew up, we had a machine with very simlilar innards and drum to this one: The control (only one dial) and frond were different, but the insides very much like this one.

The brand was ITT, but I have a hard time finding anything about it online!

If anyone has pictures or tips, please include them!

 

[docker]

Candy without baffles

Candy machines sold in SA (as Westpoint Candy) in the 70's were advertised as having an oval drum. This may have been the drum without baffles.