Maytag 12 Series Info Sought

[danemodsandy]

I tried asking a question about Maytag 12 Series machines in another thread, where it got roundly ignored and buried, so I thought I'd try in a thread of its own.

Did the TOL 10 Series washing machine, the A810, survive into the 12 Series? In other words, was there an A812?

And if there was, does anyone have a photo of one? Or brochure/ad material?

I'd be grateful!

 

[swestoyz]

There was not an A812. By '84 the the TOL model was the A712.

Ben

 

[kenmore71]

Ben is spot on (as always).  

 

Console glamour shot:

 

[danemodsandy]

Am I Right?

The main difference between the TOL A810 and the TOL A712 was the lack of a choice between automatic and manual advance from the soak cycle into the wash cycle? The A810 had this feature, but the two buttons for it to the left of the infinite fill slider on the 810's panel are not present on the 712.

Is that pretty much it? Thanks!

 

[kenmore71]

Not quite.  

 

The 810 had a genuine soak cycle that you filled with warm or cold water.  It then alternated long periods of soak with brief periods of agitation.  At the end it spun the water out and then either stopped or moved into the main wash cycle depending on the position of the "soak cycle" switch.  If you wanted it to move into the main wash automatically you had to put some sort of liquid detergent in the agitator dispenser so that it would be deposited into the main wash cycle.

 

The 712 soak cycle filled with wash water and then alternated brief periods of agitation with longer periods of soak.  When it reached the end of the 15 minute "soak" portion, it DID NOT spin out and refill, it simply began 12 minutes of constant agitation and completed the cycle.

 

Here's the timer diagram for the A810.  Note that cam 3 in the timer is what will energize the timer motor through the first increment of the "Off" period between the soak and regular wash when the "Soak and Wash" button is depressed.  Then, during the second increment of the "Off" period cam 6 would energize the fill valve circuitry.  Once the machine was filled it would engage the timer motor and the machine would pause for a timer increment before agitation began.

 

[kenmore71]

Here is the cycle diagram for the A712.  You will notice that there is no spin out between the "soak" portion of the regular wash cycle and the main portion.  While it says "fill and wash" above the main wash portion, it will only add water here if for some reason the fill level switch detects that the tub water level is not at the level that was originally selected (this is because the wash fill cams 2 & 4 are energized throughout the soak & wash period).

 

[danemodsandy]

Interesting!

What I've never quite figured out about the A810's "automatic" full soak cycle was what the supposed advantage was to the automatic advance.

If one has pre-soaked with a product (say, Biz), and then wants to wash the clothes, one has to come back to the machine to put in that detergent, plus any additives (bleach, softener) one wishes to use. In fact, if you don't catch the machine during its "rest" between soak and wash, it will go into wash without detergent or additives being present, since it has spun out. Maytag's dispenser systems are not of a type that could be set up to "hold" until the actual wash begins.

Sounds a little strange to me....[this post was last edited: 8/31/2013-13:51]

 

[kenmore71]

Sandy, it WAS strange.  The only thing that could be added automatically between the soak and main wash was whatever liquid detergent would fit in the fabric softener dispenser which was 1/2 cup.  

 

When you think back to the early 80's, if you were using Wisk or Era I think the recommended amounts of liquid detergent were about a cup for standard machines and 1-1/2 cups for large machines!  If there was a super-concentrated liquid detergent on the market in the early 1980s it never made its  way into our house.

 

While I appreciate the mechanical simplicity of the Maytag, there is something truly marvelous about the Kenmore Lady Ks and model 800s from that same time period where you could but your enzyme product in the tub, your powdered detergent in the solenoid activated dispenser (dispensed right at the beginning of the main wash), the liquid chlorine bleach in the solenoid operated dispenser (dispensed at the 4 minutes to go mark in the main wash) AND your April Fresh Downer or Sta-Puf in the solenoid operated dispenser (dispensed at the beginning of the final rinse) and then WALK AWAY and come back about 75 minutes later to completely AUTOMATICALLY washed clothes! 

 

[danemodsandy]

Mark:

You're absolutely right about the convenience (I once had a 1966 Lady K, and it was Washday Nirvana), but when those babies go wrong, it's quite a project fixing certain issues. It was bad enough back in the day, when parts were more available, but it's really not for the faint of heart today.

One of the reasons I've stuck to Maytags as my collecting interest is that parts are so available. Even now that Whirlpool is cutting stuff out, there's still an impressive amount of used and aftermarket parts around.

Maytags are not perfect. I hate the Maytag Reacharound that comes from having the dryer door hinged on the "wrong" side for most washer/dryer hookups. Having a console light that works only when the machine is on doesn't help visibility when you're sorting or folding. Turnover isn't as great as with some other machines.

But they're the Energizer Bunny of laundry appliances - long after other brands have so many repair and parts issues that only guys like you and Ben can bring them back to life, dolts like me can keep a Maytag. That goes a long way with me.

 

[mrb627]

Turnover?

How about this?



Malcolm

 

[nmassman44]

That video is just too kewl!