London Wash-In

[vacbear58]

This last weekend was a holiday weekend here in the UK which is always a good excuse to have a get-together and do some laundry. Unfortunately circumstances contrived that a few old faces were not able to make it, but the compensation was that we had some new ones instead. The oldest face of all (mine) stayed behind the camera!

(Lavamat)Jon and his partner Jack arrived on Friday with a HUGE stash of detergent and plenty of laundry but we contained ourselves until Saturday when we had some Keymatic and Servis Supertwin action. Unfortunately I did not get a snap of the Supertwin but here is Jon loading up the wide body Keymatic. This was one of the machines which was adopted from Gary last autumn and in spite of it being around 45 years old it still washes like a champ.

This machine is on wheels and is designed to be moveable although it is pretty heavy. But all of this is solid metal as the whole drum is mounted on springs without a bit of concrete in sight. You and see one of the hand pulls on the side of the machine and the whole top, including the control panel, is hinged at the rear

 

[vacbear58]

The first new face

arrived on Saturday afternoon - Pete(London) and his partner Damien. Pete has posted over in the Super forum about Moffat cookers and needless to say he arrived with ..... a Moffat cooker in the back of his Volvo. Unfortunately I really only got a glimpse of the Moffat as I was being too focussed on being the hostess - he bought it as a donor for parts for the Flair style Moffat he recently bought although it looks like it would be pretty good under the grime.

Believe it or not I snapped up a Moffat instruction book on spec from ebay a couple of weeks ago, well it so happened that this was the book for the model he had just bought! How weird is that?

Something tells me this might end up a keeper.

It was a real pleasure to meet them both - I just wish I had got a picture[this post was last edited: 5/9/2013-08:01]

 

[vacbear58]

Lint testing

Which brings us to Sunday

You may recall there was a discussion a few weeks ago about a Hoovermatic with a recirculating water system and lint filter, which was a big surprise to those of us who had never heard of such a system in a Hoover twin tub.

The thread is here:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45491

 

[vacbear58]

Single tub

I was not about to take a chain saw to my Hoovermatic but it was quite easy to check out with a Hoover single tub which always retained a constantly running pump driven off the main motor. I just pulled off the hose from its stopper and let it drain through a sieve like so:

 

[vacbear58]

And the results

were a bit inconclusive. I had a good load of clothes in the machine but perhaps as they were all reasonably old there was not actually a lot of lint to be seen. I tried again with a dark blue towel which produced some, but not a lot, of lint. If I am honest as lot of what you see in this picture is scale from the heater. Still it was fun to try out

 

[vacbear58]

Supermatic

Sunday's twinnie action was courtesy of a Hotpoint Supermatic. Although a very common machine in the UK it was a surprise to find out a few weeks ago that it was sold as a McClary in Canada about 3/4 the way down the linked thread.

From the outset this machine used a Filter-Flow style recirculating system.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45476

 

[vacbear58]

And without the filter

 

[vacbear58]

And after the wash

into the spinner - apologies, this was a screen grab of a video

 

[vacbear58]

And rinsing

We are probably familiar with the Hoover and Servis (Speed Queen/Simplicity) rinsing mechanisms which come from a single point. The Hotpoint uses a multipoint system

 

[vacbear58]

Lunch time

Nothing like a morning's laundry to build up an appetite so it was time for lunch - oh, and some more new faces

From the left Colin (vacuum collector), Keith(Keymatic), Steve(SESteve), (Lavamat)Jon and (VintageHoover)Jack.

 

[vacbear58]

And dessert

Steve said he had to go to another appointment in the afternoon, but I think he was just watching his figure LOLOL

 

[vacbear58]

Bob Load

And the Miele was once more pressed into service

 

[vacbear58]

Bobload 2

 

[vacbear58]

Bob load 3

And it did its usual good job. I really wondered how it would do with that white dish, but it was spotless

 

[vacbear58]

as was the glassware

 

[vacbear58]

Conservatoire launderette

After lunch it was back to the machines:

From the left: Philips Variotronic, Keymatic 3062 (I think!) and Keymatic 3203.

In front is my "drainage device" which is an easy, and portable way to allow the machines to drain without having to hump the machines around. It is simply a large bin on wheels which drains by gravity to a drain outside. It occurred to be during the weekend that an old single tub washer with a shot motor might be a good alternative as long as it was water tight

 

[vacbear58]

Close up Philips

This machine is special to me as this model was the first washing machine I ever owned. This is the machine which ramps up into its spin cycle when full of rinse water

 

[vacbear58]

Keymatic 3062

This is the other washer adopted from Gary last year. The programme progress indicator is s series of lights under "Keymatic 1100". And yes, it DOES need a clean!

 

[vacbear58]

Keymatic 3203

And old faithful. This has done 5 loads over the last seven days and apart from some alarming noise when it ramps up into spin works quietly and well - I am rather fond of it

 

[vacbear58]

And finally ...

The Philips tumble drier which compliments the washer. Again I bought this model along with my first washer, but this was the first time I had actually used the drier - I had forgotten how quiet it was and, although it does not reverse, the clothes did not seem to be that tangled

 

[vacbear58]

In conclusion

As ever, the whole weekend seemed to flash by in an instant - the weather was bright and sunny and it was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones

There was some vacuum action too, which can be seen over in vacuumland, just click the link.

Thanks again to all who came along

Al[this post was last edited: 5/9/2013-07:53]

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?20715_11~1

 

[gansky1]

You boys did have some washing (and vacuuming) fun, thanks for sharing the pictures! It's always good to see some new faces and new machines in the shots!

 

[aquacycle]

Looks like a great weekend was had by all . Thanks for sharing the pics, Al. As always, the hostess with the mostest...(and lord only knows what's been done over THAT hostess trolley with a womans weekly!)

Best wishes,
Chris

 

[aquacycle]

Also, that Philips set are just gorgeous! I always loved these machines. The lady that lived behind us when I was a kid had a later style one and we had the D162 dryer. They really are great machines!

 

[mickeyd]

The brass knobbed Phillips in # 19 ~ WOW !

Loved the draining device--great for suds-saving in garages, etc.

Loved the cake--you guys always have such fabulous desserts.

Loved the friendly faces. There's Jack, again. Hello!

But the real kicker for me is the spin rinse on the Hotpoint. How could ya' not love that. Great shot.

Thanks Vacbear for the hard work it takes to do this.

 

[electron1100]

oh BUM!

Aww I am pissed about not being able to go plus every other meet, I just cannot drive that far (unless its an ambulance)............and me old machines...sob sob............slap slap

Well it looks like you all a good time judging by the smiling faces around the table, Al I bet you are glad it ended up being "just one or two popping in"

I agree with you on liking the older Keymatic for me it is because it is so mechanical, no electronic circuitry anywhere just good old engineering, clunk click every trip, but having said that the 3062 was a smooth operating machine in a more sophisticated way arghh I dunno I liked them all

So now I know what Keith Steve and Colin look like always good to put a face with a name, hello Jack and John

Maybe one day ill be able to trek up to mats he is on about me going up, praps he wants to bestow the lovely 3243 back on me.

Lovely shots Al and of course your excellent food.

That 3062 is a bit dirty was it like that in the garage?

Gary

 

[Shirley]

Some really nice looking machines you have. Looks like you had some fun. Wish I had the space. Saving up for a garage to add to my collection. I just started a refurb on a hoovermatic 1966 3301L twin tub.

 

[vacbear58]

Speaking of draining

Here is a picture I forgot to post, the Hotpoint Supermatic draining the tub, such a simple way of doing it

 

[sesteve]

Bugger!!

Well I do have to watch my figure at my age but I would have definitelty stayed to help demolish that delicious looking cake especially if I'd known how crap my friends play was going to be but you live and learn apparently....

Thanks again Al for hosting. It was great to meet you and the others and to look at your wonderful machines working as well as a delicious lunch - minus the cake for me ( !

Whilst I have always had a soft spot for Hoovermatic twin tubs, I have been inspired by your Supermatic so much that I have just bought two from the same guy I got my T5024. Goodness knows where I'm going to put them but one has the auto rinse which I thought was great to witness and I can't wait to play with.

I really think you should produce and market your drainage device - sheer genius as it lets you watch the discharge without being near a sink. I'd buy one. Now how easy is it to build an extension.........

 

[Shirley]

Hopefully my next project will be a hotpoint central paddle twin tub, so I'm on the look out for a local fixer upper.