Maytag DE713 Restoration

[maranoman]

Probably one of the more elusive Maytag dryers is the D713 model. It was introduced as the new top of the line dryer in mid-1989 and replaced the D712. A year later, Maytag released their new 1990 laundry line featuring their new charcoal black control panels which brought to an end the decade-long brown control panels of the 10- and 12-series laundry lines. So effectively, the D713 dryer was a one year (mid-1989 through mid-1990) TOL model.

I had spotted a DE713 up in Wisconsin this past summer but that was a bit of a drive for me from central Iowa so I kept looking. Then early in October I found a DE713 in Nevada, Iowa (pronounced Neh-VAY-da) on Facebook Marketplace. Nevada is about a 45-minute drive from Des Moines and the machine was advertised as free! I responded right away but then learned that it was already pending pickup...

I had already resolved to keep looking when a couple of days later the seller of the Nevada machine messaged me that the original buyer never showed up and the machine was mine if I wanted it! I picked it up the next night.

The seller told me that he had bought a used Maytag pair for his daughter but she only really needed the washer. He said the dryer worked when they tried it, but it had been sitting for six months unused. It looked decent in the one picture he had posted but after bringing it home, I could tell that this machine had a rough life and had not run in quite some time. There were significant scratches and paint oxidation on both sides of the cabinet. The front panel had a significant scratch across the entire length about 6 inches up from the floor. The base, heater and inlet duct were all rusty. At some point the heater coil had broken and welded itself to the heater shell. But the porcelain top, tumbler support assemblies and drum were all in very good condition. Even the plastic light lens cover was intact. Still, if I was going to restore a DE713, I wanted it to look perfect when it was finished, and this one would need a significant amount of work. But who can complain when the price is free?

Here are some pics of the machine once I brought it home. As seen in the serial number photo, the dryer was assembled in December 1989.


[this post was last edited: 11/4/2019-12:10]

 

[maranoman]

Maytag Documentation on D713 Series

Below are snips from the Maytag "Let's Talk Service" May 1989 edition where the D713 was introduced. You can see what some of the differences are from the D712 - they are pretty significant. Thanks to Ben (swestoyz) for sharing this with me.[this post was last edited: 11/4/2019-12:21]

 

[maranoman]

Getting Started...

I completely disassembled the DE713 and decided that the following would be replaced:

1) Rear roller drum supports
2) Front bearing drum supports
3) Idler pully bracket
4) Front and rear felt
5) Thermostat and thermal cutoff
6) Belt
7) Heater coil

In addition, I would need to address the rust on the base, blower housing cover, heater enclosure and inlet duct. I would also need to address the paint issues on the cabinet and front panel.

Here are some pics of the disassembled dryer.

 

[maranoman]

Donor machine to the rescue!

With the amount of effort needed to address the rust and paint issues with my DE713, I decided to see if I could find a donor machine. It helps to live in central Iowa, the land of milk and honey when it comes to used and cheap Maytags.

I found a $50 DE308 up in Zearing Iowa that seemed to be a great fit. The cabinet and side panels were perfect. The base, inlet duct and heater were near perfect as well. So I would just need to address the rust issues on the blower housing front cover of the DE713.

The only difference that would be noticeable to the trained eye would be the lack of ribbing on the sides of the cabinet. No big deal to me.

Here are some pics of the donor DE308.[this post was last edited: 11/4/2019-12:13]

 

[maranoman]

Mashing up the DE308 and DE713 parts

To keep the original white/beige interior of the DE713, I had to replace the gray inner door of the DE308 front panel. I also took the time to transfer the DE713 serial badge on to the DE308 front panel. Because the DE713 has a drum light, I also swapped out the door switch.

The only issue with the DE308 was a broken belt and worn support bearings. The heater assembly looked and worked fine. The inlet duct had much less rust near the bottom and it cleaned up nicely.

I kept the original blower housing and motor assembly that came with the DE713. I addressed the rust on the blower housing front panel with a 3 stage marine paint treatment system.

By this time, my new felt had arrived and it was a breeze to install it in the metal-tabbed drum supports when compared to the old glue system used in earlier Maytags.

I replaced the support rollers and bearings with NOS parts from eBay. A new thermostat and thermal cutoff were installed (the old ones were badly rusted).

The idler pulley bracket on the DE713 had worn the pivot hole into a pivot oval, but the bracket from the DE308 was an exact match and fit perfectly.

The top cover, control panel and wiring harness were transferred over to the DE308 cabinet and fit perfectly. Nice that Maytag kept their cabinet design pretty much the same (other than the side ribbing) over the ten years between the production of the donor and recipient machines.)

The rest was just cleaning out the lint and putting on a new belt and power cable.

I really hated parting out such a nice DE308, but it was just a timed-heat machine and the DE713 is well, so much more. I can still find a second donor body for the DE308 top cover/control panel/wiring harness in the future if I choose to bring it back to life.

Here are some pics of the assembly of the DE713.

 

[maranoman]

Restoration Complete

With cleaning and reassembly complete, it was time to move the DE713 up into the laundry room where it replaces my LDE808 (for now) as my daily driver.

It fired right up and after a few test loads, appears to be fully functional. It is very quiet which can be expected with new support rollers, bearings and felt.

I do miss the lighted control panel and the chime at the end of the cycle from my LDE808, but will have to admit that I can hear the buzzer from most rooms in my house!

It was a fun and rewarding project. Sometimes the washers here get all the glory, but I really enjoy restoring dryers as well and find them to be sometimes more challenging.

I was a design engineer in the dryer group at Maytag for a brief period of time (hired in January 1990) so I knew and worked with the guys who designed and tested this DE713. They were a great bunch to work with and all extremely bright. I dedicate this machine to Don S., Dan W., Chris M., Mike L. and Dean K. of the Maytag R & D dryer group from the 1980's - 1990's!

Thanks also to Ben (swestoyz) for all his help and advice on this project!

- Jeff

 

[swestoyz]

One of the first times we chatted you had brought up that you knew these dryers inside and out, and it certainly shows. Well done! And don't feel bad taking the 308 and combining parts to make a really nice dryer.

I bet your old dryer group would be proud - their efforts paid off with a fully featured machine. Have you had a chance yet to run through enough loads to get a feel for the different levels of less dry/normal dry/more dry?

Ben

 

[maranoman]

Testing

Thanks, Ben! Still haven't run more than a couple of loads through but the next one will be with the less dry option selected.

I kept all the good parts from the DE308 that weren't used so I would still like to put it together again once I find a good cabinet and base. I really like the style and simplicity of the DE308.

- Jeff

 

[lowefficiency]

Never would I have known that the D713 existed... or was so rare! If those two models were in front of me, I probably would have naively done the opposite swap and kept the DE308 control panel!

Good on you, Jeff, for saving all of the leftover parts. Even if the DE308 was a lesser model, those parts are only getting harder and harder to find. Hopefully they go to a good home, and help keep another old machine running.

 

[appnut]

Jeff, what a terrific, amazing story.  As far as I am concerned, you are a celebrity in these parts since you got to work for Maytag briefly.  I actually got to see this dryer in person.  Friends from church had this dryer.  They moved here in like 1986 or 1987.  They were originally from Iowa.  They had a A407DE806 pair at the time.  The dryer had to be replaced in like 1990 or 1991 and was replaced with this model.  And it was replaced with a Whirlpool Maytag in 2008 or 2009.  First thing I noticed was the new medium heat setting.  Always was mad at Maytag because they didn't offer a medium heat. 

 

The first time I went to visit my friends was on a Saturday morning not too soon after I'd met them.  I walked in the front door and about 20 seconds later, the washer started a spin.  I loudly proclaimed "You have a Maytag".  The wife just kind of looked at me strangely and asked, how did you know?  They found out soon about my appliance obsession.  

 

I have a LDE9824 that will be 25 years old December 7th.  

 

Ben, thank you for being such a tremendous help and mentor.

 

Also Jeff, you've amassed quite a collection in a short period of time.  

 

Bob

 

 

[potatochips]

Great job, Jeff! I have the LDE712, and when I discovered there was a 713 I was very interested. There is only a few posts on it with little detail on this forum but now thanks to yours there is lots of info on this super rare find. Thanks, Jeff!

 

[combo52]

Great Restoration Of a Slightly Rare Maytag Dryer

What a fun and satisfying machine to restore since you actually worked at Maytag when this dryer was built.

 

I have probably seen less than a dozen of this model in homes since it was built, Ironically my last customer last evening on Capital Hill had this exact dryer in gas, along with the matching MT washer. I replaced the WV in the washer a supplied a good used lint filter for the dryer.

 

About 4 years ago I did the usual blower replacement, belt and cleaning and lubrication to the dryer, She is trying to hold on to them for a few more years till her daughter takes over the house. The automatic dryness control no longer works properly but they just keep and eye on it.

 

This dryers control system was about the last remake of Mts original electronic control combined once again with a mechanical timer, it had reliability issues like the first MT electorally that used a timer with the EC, I always though it a shame that MT did not continue to use a timer along with the electronic sensor [ and perfect it a little better ] so customers would have had more control over dryness and also had a descent timed dry cycle.

 

 I hope you enjoy your very cool rare dryer Jeff I always like having the the rare and complicated machines.

 

John L. 

 

[de409]

Hey man, if you are ever in need, I still have every piece of the one I sold you the controls for, including the base.

 

[electronicontrl]

Beautiful dryer!

I love it!!

 

[gansky1]

Very nicely featured dryer, and a superb restoration job.  I've never seen one of this model in the wild around here, usually Maytags of this era were MOL or lower auto-dry only.  

 

[maranoman]

Thanks for all the positive comments!

So far everything on the DE713 seems to be working as it should! It's always a crap shoot when buying a used electronic control dryer as to whether the controls will work as they should - but I have been lucky so far. Ben alerted me to the electronic control assembly for a DG713 on eBay and I bought it as a spare. The only difference between the control assemblies for the DG713 and the DE713 seems to be the relay.

I have done a variety of different loads from towels to delicates and tried the various temperature and dryness settings - all seem to work as intended. The only complaint I have is that the buzzer duration isn't long enough. There is a slider control to adjust the loudness of the buzzer, and I can make it loud enough for me to hear from our living space, but it only buzzes for about a second. Of course, the chime on my DE808 (and DE712) are short and sweet, but it was distinct enough that we never missed it. Despite that, the ability to have more options for temperature and dryness on the DE713 make it a more versatile machine.

 

[appnut]

Jeff, a suggestion to try

As far as feature set goes, my LDE9824 is essentially the same as your.  The only difference is I have a no heat temp button allowing for over 60 minutes of air fluff on timed dry.  Otherwise, electronic dry control for both regular and perm press cycles with varying degree of less dry to more dry on both cycles. I pretty much use the regular cycle only for sheets, towels, underwear because it has such a shortened cooldown of only 5 minutes vs 12 minutes on Perm Press.  And if I dried casual cottons on regular, they'd still be too warm at the end of 5 minutes and gets terribly wrinkled sitting in the quite warm dryer after only a 5 minute cooldown.  If I'm not in a hurry, sometimes I'll even use Perm Press for towels because the cool down is 12 minutes and it continues to use all of that residual heat to make sure all little nooks and crannies of big towels are dry.  My PP cycle buzzes 2 to 3 times during the cool down and it's like 5-10 seconds each buzz.  Do you know if yours does?  If it doesn't, then try the Perm Press with Press Care.  I bet it does have longer buzz sounds.  Mine does.  

 

[maranoman]

I will try that!

I should have mentioned that all of the test loads I have made so far have been on the regular cycle. I will try the PP and PPWPC cycles next to see how often and how long the buzzer goes off. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[qsd-dan]

I had a DG713 dryer for five and a half years until a couple of weeks ago (slimming the collection down a bit).

I found myself using the Permanent Press cycle 99% of the time and it worked fantastic. It's basically the "Regular" cycle but with a 10-ish minute cool down period that fluffs and de-wrinkles clothing. It'll produce 2 long buzzes about 7-8 minutes apart. The second buzz triggered me to remove, hang, and fold the laundry. I probably shouldn't admit it on this site, but I never did try the "Permanent Press With Care" cycle the entire time I had the machine.

Most of the time I used the "Regular" heat and "Normal" dry settings which produced the exact results I was seeking. I'd occasionally use the "More Dry" option for larger comforters during the winter months and it did a great job getting the balled up center area moisture free without the need of turning it inside-out from my end.

All in all, it was a fabulous dryer that never once gave me a single problem. Not bad for a 30 year old appliance.