If you're seeing poor turnover in a 1960s/1970s Maytag it's because it's overloaded. No, they don't hold as much as other machines, but then again they don't use as much water as many others either. Another problem was that since they didn't run with the lid open, the owners couldn't learn how to properly load them. I've had GE Filter flows, belt-drive Whirlpool/Kenmores, and a Frigidare 1-18, and nothing gets my filthy clothes as clean as my current washer, a Maytag A606. It certainly doesn't have the most effective lint filter, but it does filter hair well, and I like the fact that the filter doesn't self clean itself, putting all that lint down my drain. The dryer catches the lint the washer misses anyway.
Oh yes, this is about what do I dislike, well, at the risk of upsetting people here, I was never a fan of the belt drive Whirlpool. The mechanism seems Rube Goldbergish, the neutral drain makes for a poor spray rinse with the clothes laying in the bottom of the tub, and the 550rpm spin just doesn't quite cut the mustard.
I like the action of the GE filter flow, but they often seemed to eat transmissions, they were noisy, GE parts prices are often a rip-off, and they're water pigs.
The Frigidare 1-18s just didn't seem to hold up as well as other washers did, and then there's the tangled sheets.
Now don't get me wrong, any of the above machines are superior to the trash they build today, and any one of them will wash well when used by someone who knows their machine and I enjoy seeing all the old machines here at automaticwasher.org. As the French say; "vive la différence"
Ken D.[this post was last edited: 6/12/2011-17:08]
