Maytag 30 Second Spray Rinse

[Chetlaham]

Why did BOL Maytags from the 60/70s only have a 30 second spray rinse and a shorter final spin? And the next models up had 45 second spray rinses vs the more common 1 minute spray rinses at the time?  But had a 14 minute wash time vs the more common 10 minute wash time? Why these subtle differences?

 

[qsd-dan]

No Maytag built between 1969-1979 had a 30 second spray rinse, they were all 1 minute.

 

The early models from 1949-1965 had a 30 second spray rinse because of the smaller tubs. It's pretty adequate for those tub sizes. The only washer from that era that had a 45 second spray rinse that I know of was the 702.

 

Some of early models from 1966-1968 used a 30 second or 45 second spray rinse as they were carried over from the previous timer designs. By '68/'69, Maytag probably figured out that the 1 minute spray rinse is superior and all of the later timer motors ran at 1 minute increments.

 

For some odd reason (probably water savings), by the early 1980's, Maytag started building some of their 10 series machines with 45 second increment timer motors again. Then they abandon it with 1 minute timer motors with the 11 and 12 series machines into the first gen LAT's.

 

[Chetlaham]

This is the reply I was looking for!

 

 

The models with the 30 second spray rinses are listed as A106, A106S, A206, A206S; 45 seconds for A406, A406S, A606, A606S, A806, and A806S as listed in the service manual. All of these models do not have a Permanent Press Cycle. I guess these were all made before 1969.

 

You mention in the 80s on some models they went back to 45 second spray rinses. Is it possible that 30, 45 and 1 minute are all arbitrary times simply selected to fit which ever timer increment duration worked best for the timer as a whole? I tend to notice washers with fewer cycles on the dial having shorter time increments while washer with many cycles having longer times ie 3 minutes per increment.

 

Not doubting you, I'm just wondering what drove the spray rinse times in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

 

As time went on of course the spray rinses among all brands started to become shorter and shorter via SIS contacts.

 

It would be nice of modern machines did a 1 minute spray rinse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[qsd-dan]

I guess these were all made before 1969.

 

Correct, these were the first generation '06's. The Permanent Press cycle was added to all '06 models in February, 1969 so I'm guessing this is where the 1 minute timer motors came into play, thus providing 1 minute spray rinses. 106 and 206 models were still using the old 54 OPM gear set carried over from the previous generation until November, 1967.

 

 Not doubting you, I'm just wondering what drove the spray rinse times in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

 

<strong>Time motor speeds. The 30 second/45 second/1 minute spray rinse models ran at different speeds.</strong>

 

It would be nice of modern machines did a 1 minute spray rinse.

 

<strong><strong><strong>Certainly agree with that! Perhaps you missed my "Kingston Timer Motor Adventures" post a while back? I used a 10 series timer motor to slow down the timer increments giving me a 1.5 minute spray rinse and 3 minute deep rinse in my 806....plus longer wash and spin times.</strong></strong></strong>

 

Kingston Timer Motor Adventures

So I was rummaging around my spare parts stash trying to organize it better into categories and ran across a couple of bags of NOS timer motors. I was thinking back to a thread on 2/22/2021 that Doug posted trying to find a Kingston timer motor for his Frigidaire 1-18 and found similarities on...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

 

 

 

 

[Chetlaham]

Ah, ok, that makes perfect sense now.

 

I'm reading that thread right now, its right up my area of interest. You even listed the model numbers and timers that go along with them, I can't thank you enough!

 

[washerlover]

Hope I don’t get into trouble going slightly off (brand) topic, but of the 4-5 Wards and Norge washers I had, the spin sprays varied in different models from a one-minute mid-spin spray, a four-increment mid-spin spray, and the spray beginning before the machine kicked into spin. Again, wonder the reasoning behind the variation from machine to machine?

 

[Chetlaham]

Very Much On Topic

Glad you brought up Norge. I've wondered the same, the spray rinses vary so much from machine to machine for any given brand. I've asked appliance techs but never received an answer beyond 'the engineers have their reasons I guess, dunno'

 

 

FWIW I have found that when I've drawn up cycle times, that most incremental advance timers tend to be built around 52-72 increments. A one cycle knob would need 30 second increments for a 35 minute cycle while a 3 cycle would need 2 minute increments. To avoid using SISs, at least complex ones, I find myself placing any one function on a single increment which sometimes leads to longer component run times than I desire.

 

[qsd-dan]

Norge was all over the map with their spray rinses, especially in the early days. They settled on a spray rinse at the beginning of the spin cycle right after a partial neutral drain for quite some years.

 

 

 

[washerlover]

And of course the Norge/Wards solid tub machines also had a spin spray during the final spin after the overflow rinse. That was the end of our ‘62 Wards Signature when we moved to an area in Northern California that had rusty water. The final spin spray and solid tub combined with rusty water meant lighter fabrics came out looking like brown tie dye! My Mom said the machine had to go and we got a new Wards washer with perf tub in 1975 and no rusty tie dye problems again!