Just How Big/Bulky Are Wringer Washers Anyway?

[chestermikeuk]

Wringer Washers

That was the beauty of our style of cabinet wringer washers, tall and square could be wheeled into a corner space and had all the functionality of the squatter wider machines.
This was one of our most popular, the Servis Compact seen her with the Frigidaire DrySpin spinner, quite a combination for a manual washday!!

 

[bobbi]

Chestermikeuk - That's a great setup!

 

[alr2903]

Long ago when we lived in NOLA. The lady at a Real Maytag appliance center told me MT wringers were the machine of choice for tugboats that push barges up and down the Mississippi River. She had 3 of them in the show room. She also stated she sold a surprising amount of them. My GM had one they wash up a storm.

Useless trivia, I spotted a Maytag appliance store in a old news program about the late "Matthew Shepherd". The store was next door to the Bar where he came in contact with his murderers.

 

[launderess]

Well looks like the Whirlpool is O-W-T - Out

Spied this picture from the archives...

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?20606

As you can see that WP wringer ain't exactly tiny! *LOL*

[this post was last edited: 2/6/2016-21:11]

 

[launderess]

@chestermikeuk

Just adore that setup!

 

[launderess]

Thanks for all the help guys.

Am going to see what comes around, no huge rush or anything.

Interesting that in terms of overall sales from say the 1940s onwards the big three for wringer washers were Maytag, Kenmore and Speed Queen. Maytag was always the market leader at number one. This closely resembles what you see today; that is there are vastly more used Maytag, Kenmore and Speed Queen wringers laying about than any other.

Maytag benefitted from having a nationwide sales network almost from the start which helped get machines in homes. Kenmore of course was Sears and we can leave things at that. Oddly Whirlpool wringer washers do not seem very highly rated nor widely distributed even though that company made Kenmore wringers.

Really like those huge old Speed Queen wringers with their SS bowl/tub. You probably can do four or five large bed sheets at once in one of those machines.

 

[earthling177]

Please pardon me my ignorance, but how large a load can one actually do in one of those wringer washers?

My impression from looking at them (but I have never personally done laundry in one) is that smallish wringer washers fit 6-7 pound loads, the mid-sized ones fit maybe 8-10 pounds and I'm not sure if the ones that looked huge just looked big and impressive or if any of them ever got to the 12-14 pound loads, did they?

Also, for people used to the twin-tub machines, particularly the ones that are supposed to wash 10 lbs loads, can a queen-size sheet set (two sheets, two pillow cases) be washed at once (and spun/rinsed in two loads) or does one have to wash one sheet and one pillow case at a time?

Thanks in advance,
-- Paulo.

 

[launderess]

Am sure others who know far more on the subject

Will chime in....

However from reading sales, marketing and advertising about wringers and such for weeks now am here to say you must read capacity claims carefully.

For instance Easy claimed its spin-drier twin tubs could do 20lbs of wash in "X" amount of time. However upon closer reading that broke down to 10lbs in the wash tub with another ten pounds spin drying.

Far as one has seen most wringer washers were rated in terms of gallon capacity for the tub. Those big ole SQ washers held twenty gallons of water!

 

[yogitunes]

Speed Queen had somewhat the advantage of their bowl in bowl design as it was for both better turnover, as well as an insulating factor for keeping the water hot...
my mother loved hers.....

most Maytag dealers, as well as Sears/Kenmore offered in store financing/credit for many homes....

some machines are larger in size than others.....a few held quite a lot....

one aunt had a Dexter dual tub, teamed with a double laundry tub, you could crank out some serious laundry in no time....

 

[bobbi]

I have a full size Whirlpool wringer washer. It is bulky, but not bad. In my laundry area, there is only room for a washer and dryer. I don't own a dryer. The space is adequate for my automatic and wringer. My wringer has long levers that stick out on each side. I believe the more modern ones had controls/dials placed on the front of the machine. Those levers sticking out make it a bit tricky to navigate from the laundry space to the kitchen sink.

As for how much you can load in one, I have a family of 3, but did have 4. All of our light clothing fit in one load, but I do have to break down my darks into two loads. So anyhow, that's what you do when a whole load won't fit - you just break it into two. Ten minutes on the timer, and you are ready to throw in the next load. I have no problem washing sheets and blankets together in mine, but it is a full size machine.

 

[dermacie]

Wringer Washer

I chose to buy one last year and I got the Maytag j model porcelain tub model. It's still smaller than any modern machine. It fits in a closet and in my case my laundry room which is tiny. I have a speed queen top load and dryer in there also.

 

[jkbff]

Not that I am trying to mix modern with vintage... but.....

What about this cute little guy? One could wash sheets in it, then use one of the euro's to spin them out?

Danby DWM17WDB.

Don't punish me for putting this here, it is only a suggestion. The reason for the suggestion:

Product Width 54.5 cm (21 7/16 ")
Product Depth 55 cm (21 10/16 ")
Product Height 86 cm (33 14/16 ")
$449.00

And manual water level selection.

 

[launderess]

Thank you, but no.

Had a compact top loader previously and while fine for clothing bedding/linens were another matter. Tubs are just too small with even less room due to the central beater. At least wringer washers offer the promise of a full or even larger capacity.

 

[jkbff]

In my mind, im thinking one item at a time, maybe several pillow cases at once though.

I've been thinking of something to compliment my miele, but more for entertainment more than anything else.

Anyways, was just a thought because of the agitator.

 

[launderess]

No worries, and again, Thank You!

Can do pillow slips, napkins and other small items in the Hoover TT. Or in a pinch in a tub using one of my mangles. It is the larger items that get one down; table cloths, bed sheets, those sort of things. Also bulky things like bedspreads, quilts and blankets.

Can do heavy things in the OKO-AEG Lavamat which does a better job of balancing to prevent knocking about during spins. But want to preserve that unit for long as possible, so am babying....

If one could find a Monex extractor
would even be temped to make more use of my wash tubs!