Looking for childhood washer

[doug]

I am looking for a ge filter flo that my mom had when i was a kid. It is almost the same model that i have now but there is a few differences. The regular and mini cycle writing are suppose to be white and the knits cycle writing is in red and the perm. press cycle writing is orange.Everything else is the same as my ge filter flo i have now. It is prob. early 80's model. I have been searching at used appliance stores and thrift stores for as long as i can remember. I hope someone can help me end this long search. I have pics here they r.

 

[doug]

This is my filter flo

U can see the difference.

 

[d-jones]

My parents have the very machine you're looking for sitting on their back porch right now. The Maytag HA806 I got for them is intended to replace it.

 

[vintagekitchen]

My mother had the identical machine as well until about 10 years ago. Great machine, did a super job, but hard water combined with cheap powder detergent is not very friendly to a filter-flo pan, and I was the only one willing to spend the time cleaning out all the little holes when they would clog with deposits... So as much as I missed it when it was replaced, I most definitely did not miss cleaning out those thousands of tiny holes with a toothpick, lol... Frustrating thing is, I know now that lime away or CLR would have done all the work for me...

 

[appnut]

I bought almost that exact same machine in April, 1978.  Mine had a bit of woodgrain look behind the General Electric brand name (instead of the black background) and it had the 3-speed combination selector.  Everything else was identical, including the color arrangements on the dial. 

 

[doug]

Ge filter flo

D-Jones since u r from california, and thats prob. where the machine is, is there any way u could take some pics of the cycles like the knobs and switches r and the inside of the machine. Wish i could buy it from or work some kind of deal out with u, but im clear acrost the U.S. in West Virginia.

 

[d-jones]

No problem Doug. I'll be over at my folks house tomorrow anyways. I can tell you now that the washer has some issues. It's seen heavy use over the years, what with my five sisters and two brothers, and it's been in regular service since around 1980 when it replaced the old frigidaire. The outer tub has a patched hole in it where the spinning inner tub rubbed the porcelain away and rust ate at the metal. And on occasion when it's running it starts making a noise that causes people to stop and stare. That being said, in the hands of a competent mechanic with the right parts anything can be fixed. Then again, if the two machines are almost the same and yours is in better shape, would it be possible to swap control panels and be done with it? The control panel by itself is small enough to ship UPS. Just a thought. If it can't be done someone on this blog will you know. Check back tomorrow for the pics.

 

[doug]

Thanks

Thats awesome thanks alot, and u know thats a possibility taking off the control pannels and swapping them, the only thing that would needed swapped is the thin peace of metal that the cycle writing is on, never thought of that. Its still the thought u know that its not the actual machine but it might take my mind off trying to find this machine and thinking and thinking if i will ever find one lol.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

DaveAMKrayoGuy's Childhood Washing Machine:

The best washer I've seen in my childhood was my grandmother's GE w/ a left-opening lid...

It was a reg. cap. machine w/ two speeds, (Normal/Gentle, for both wash & rinse) three water levels (Large, Med. & Small) & the following water temp. options: Hot Wash/Warm Rinse, Warm Wash/Cold Rinse, and Cold Wash/Cold Rinse... All w/ yellow rotary knobs...

Speckled Tub, Blue Agitator, with a Blue Filter-Flo pan...

I remember me, my sister & grandmother in the kitchen above the basement laundry room & hearing a banging noise which was coming from the washer & grandma running down to it because it had an unbalanced load; she lifted the lid shifting everything around & restarted the machine...

The washer lasted about 14-years & got replaced because of a bad pump which had gone bad before...

Wish GE had made every washer like that one & that the new ones could be made like that today!

-- Dave

 

[doug]

Vintage washers

I hear ya on that 1 dave. If all washers were made like the old ones we wouldnt have to buy new ones ever 5 years. Some new washers wash good and last longer than most new ones!

 

[d-jones]

Sorry Doug

When I went to my parents place to take the pictures I immediately noticed a couple of differences between their machine and the one you're looking for. It has the wood grain mentioned by appnut and does not have the automatic extra rinse selector that yours has. I hadn't seen it in so long that I guess I'd forgotten some of its details. For what it's worth, here are some photo's of it.

 

[d-jones]

Lint filter in place

 

[d-jones]

And removed so you can see the tub. Again, my apologies. I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[doug]

Yea there r some differences, thats ok thanks for even checking and taking the pics!