would the turquoise powerfin be more aggressive if the bottom fins were attached to the base like the black bakelite?....instead of flexing?....just seemed like the black one washed better...maybe its me?
Maytag Powerfin Question
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strongenough78
Well-known member
From what I understand, the fins on the powerfin didn't flex that much if at all. I've seen a few people on here talk about that. They weren't as thin as the fins are on many new top loading washers now. These new ones are like paper thin compared to even the powerfin fins.
Yogi, my mother's old Maytag had the bakelite agitator, but its been gone over 35 years. My A201 has the turquoise agitator like yours. I do know that the debate over effectiveness, and gentleness went on for years after the change. Previous owners were distrustful of the slots at the bottom of the agitator and claimed they snagged clothing, Consumer **ports, weighed in on the debate. IIRC, they found no evidence of a snagging problem. I would tend to side with homemakers that had previous Maytags and NOTICED a differenece in the action and gentleness. Off topic I have a dear Aunt in her 90's that had many Tags over the years just this past holiday she said she always uses her double rinse,"The old Maytags sprayed lots of water" her "new" Tag is really the Amana built creature with the plastic tub.
Many of us have said poor Maytag, but they truly alienated their older and loyal customers. alr2903
Many of us have said poor Maytag, but they truly alienated their older and loyal customers. alr2903
The purpsose of the slots or skirt spaces is to reduce drag on the transmission and motor.
If you have both agitator, swish them by hand in a full tub of water and notice the difference is drag.
If you have both agitator, swish them by hand in a full tub of water and notice the difference is drag.
alr2903
aldspinboy
Well-known member
Martin i like the powerfins but like the bakelite much better it gives more water power to me.
Darren k.
Darren k.
This just proves the theory by so many Maytag Repairmen....
the machine was designed to "give way" to a load to sacrifice the motor and trans....rather than truly perform it's function...that's why they lasted so long...and another reason you could not watch it with the lid open...then you would realize that certain loads like jeans were slowing it down rather than make the clothes move around like in a GE filter flo or a Speed Queen....He also stated why most blue collar guys and farmers never bought Maytags...they wanted a truly Heavy Duty machine that could handle the load...that's just the way it is....all machines have pros and cons....and good salesmen will match the machine to the user for the majority of the type of laundry they are washing...
some repairmen are full of information....same when buying a machine or a car...talk to the mechanic...not the salesman!
the machine was designed to "give way" to a load to sacrifice the motor and trans....rather than truly perform it's function...that's why they lasted so long...and another reason you could not watch it with the lid open...then you would realize that certain loads like jeans were slowing it down rather than make the clothes move around like in a GE filter flo or a Speed Queen....He also stated why most blue collar guys and farmers never bought Maytags...they wanted a truly Heavy Duty machine that could handle the load...that's just the way it is....all machines have pros and cons....and good salesmen will match the machine to the user for the majority of the type of laundry they are washing...
some repairmen are full of information....same when buying a machine or a car...talk to the mechanic...not the salesman!
Cleanteamofny, Togs ain't gonna let your post, just lay
I'm startled....., He should had said something by now since I've used slot, skirt and drag in the same sentence.
LOL
I'm startled....., He should had said something by now since I've used slot, skirt and drag in the same sentence.
LOL
Farmers Ranchers and Field Workers
I grew up the dirty, dusty Yakima Valley. Maytags did a splendid job after the advent of Helical drive and a peforated tub. The agitator plowed the clothes as well as any other brand at that time in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't until volume sizes began to change in the machines that a notable difference could be seen between Maytag and other leading brands.
I grew up the dirty, dusty Yakima Valley. Maytags did a splendid job after the advent of Helical drive and a peforated tub. The agitator plowed the clothes as well as any other brand at that time in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't until volume sizes began to change in the machines that a notable difference could be seen between Maytag and other leading brands.
My A300 has the old black Bakelite agitator and is VERY aggressive. It has a slower stroke than the machines introduced with a Powerfin.
I Think the Powerfin really comes into it's own with the Extra Capacity tub. It really does do a great job with the large loads.
I Think the Powerfin really comes into it's own with the Extra Capacity tub. It really does do a great job with the large loads.
mrb627
Well-known member
Smaller Loads
I was always told that smaller loads will clean better. When I worked in the home improvement business, I never went larger than the medium load size to get my work clothes their cleanest.
Even today, I find myself a wicked underloader when it comes to clothes washing...
Malcolm
I was always told that smaller loads will clean better. When I worked in the home improvement business, I never went larger than the medium load size to get my work clothes their cleanest.
Even today, I find myself a wicked underloader when it comes to clothes washing...
Malcolm
MAYTAG WASHER CLEANING ABILTY
Any washer ever made will do a good job cleaning if you work with it. That said MTs have always been sub-par in over all cleaning performance. They didn't get it right until they came up with the load sensor agitator and moved the belt tension springs to the same side of the motor carriage to reduce the constant belt slippage during agitation with heavy loads. When I was selling appliances at a MT red carpet service store in the 1970s if a had a dollar for every customer who told us that thier new MT didn't clean as well as thier old WP SQ GE KM NOGRE MW etc a would have several hundred dollars. MT was always passing out free stain removal cards and telling people to use more chorine bleach. I re member one women from an Italian neborhood who bought a new MT from us and was so disappointed with its cleaning performance that I took it back and sold her aWP LAA5500 washer which she liked so well she kept sending all her friends in to get one also.It was a neborhood full of blue collar tile setters and masons etc.llllllllllllllllll
Any washer ever made will do a good job cleaning if you work with it. That said MTs have always been sub-par in over all cleaning performance. They didn't get it right until they came up with the load sensor agitator and moved the belt tension springs to the same side of the motor carriage to reduce the constant belt slippage during agitation with heavy loads. When I was selling appliances at a MT red carpet service store in the 1970s if a had a dollar for every customer who told us that thier new MT didn't clean as well as thier old WP SQ GE KM NOGRE MW etc a would have several hundred dollars. MT was always passing out free stain removal cards and telling people to use more chorine bleach. I re member one women from an Italian neborhood who bought a new MT from us and was so disappointed with its cleaning performance that I took it back and sold her aWP LAA5500 washer which she liked so well she kept sending all her friends in to get one also.It was a neborhood full of blue collar tile setters and masons etc.llllllllllllllllll
Sub par? Them's fightin' words
My clothes have never been cleaner since I got my Maytag A606. Sure, it doesn't hold as much as some other washers, but at 40 gallons for a large load, it doesn't use as much water either.
Having the belt slip when it's overloaded protects the machine. Somone that overloads the washer doesn't deserve to get their clothes clean anyway.
Ken D.
My clothes have never been cleaner since I got my Maytag A606. Sure, it doesn't hold as much as some other washers, but at 40 gallons for a large load, it doesn't use as much water either.
Having the belt slip when it's overloaded protects the machine. Somone that overloads the washer doesn't deserve to get their clothes clean anyway.
Ken D.
It has been my observation that the PF aided turnover. The high fin Gyrator design did great in the wide tub of the Maytag conventional washers, but in the narrow tub of the automatic, I just don't think they turned over large loads as well. Having the higher side of the fin against the agitator column as in the PF agitator seems to work to pull items down against the agitator if the load is not too large. With the high fin Gyrator design, the outside edge of the fin is as high as the side next to the agitator column and, in the narrow tub of the automatic almost fought to keep items from being pulled down beside the agitator column. I know I did too much watching of Maytag's agitator action as a child and saw what no one is supposed to see, but that's my impression. Increasing the agitation by a few opm in the PF machines helped also, but if you put a high fin Bakelite agitator in a machine with the faster agitation speed, it really messes up the turnover and contributes to the load becoming unevenly distributed and unbalanced for the spin.
One thing I have been meaning to share is something I recently saw in an early 60s Consumer Reports article on washers after the capacity wars started. They tested each machine with an 8, 10 and 12 pound load. When I got to the paragraphs about each individual machine, (remember when they had writers instead of just people who could make dots in columns?) they said that the 16 gallon tub Maytag with the Bakelite lint filter agitator had no problem at all with a 12 pound load, then said a little further down that the Kenmore was over-crowded with the 12 pound load. After close to 50 years the reek of mendacity from those pages liked to make me pass out and drop the volume, something a librarian would almost never do. Hell, I've seen enough overloaded Maytags in John's shop to know that they were lying about that one. They had a bias for Maytags for a long time. I'm not saying that Maytags were not dependable and generally long lasting, but they were not great washers, nor were they easy on fabrics.
When John worked at the Maytag dealership, he always washed his workshirts in his LK combo while the owners' wives washed their workshirts in their TOL Maytags. They all remarked that John's shirts lasted longer. Part of the reason might have been the gentler washing action of the tumbler, but he did not have to bleach them as much to get them clean. Also, the Maytag added the bleach gradually as soon as it began agitating, but the combo had a timed bleach dispenser that added bleach to the last 4 minutes of the wash.
One thing I have been meaning to share is something I recently saw in an early 60s Consumer Reports article on washers after the capacity wars started. They tested each machine with an 8, 10 and 12 pound load. When I got to the paragraphs about each individual machine, (remember when they had writers instead of just people who could make dots in columns?) they said that the 16 gallon tub Maytag with the Bakelite lint filter agitator had no problem at all with a 12 pound load, then said a little further down that the Kenmore was over-crowded with the 12 pound load. After close to 50 years the reek of mendacity from those pages liked to make me pass out and drop the volume, something a librarian would almost never do. Hell, I've seen enough overloaded Maytags in John's shop to know that they were lying about that one. They had a bias for Maytags for a long time. I'm not saying that Maytags were not dependable and generally long lasting, but they were not great washers, nor were they easy on fabrics.
When John worked at the Maytag dealership, he always washed his workshirts in his LK combo while the owners' wives washed their workshirts in their TOL Maytags. They all remarked that John's shirts lasted longer. Part of the reason might have been the gentler washing action of the tumbler, but he did not have to bleach them as much to get them clean. Also, the Maytag added the bleach gradually as soon as it began agitating, but the combo had a timed bleach dispenser that added bleach to the last 4 minutes of the wash.
Agitator
Is the base of the agitator bigger in my 108 than in my 806?
I know the agitator for the 806 is taller, but is the base wider in the small capacity tub?
Is the base of the agitator bigger in my 108 than in my 806?
I know the agitator for the 806 is taller, but is the base wider in the small capacity tub?
bobbyderegis
Well-known member
Some of us old timers may remember the very first large tub Tags had a turquoise polypropylene agitator modeled after the old Bakelite ones. There was no gap under the fins, and the fins did not taper down. My aunt's old 806 (pre-perm press models) had this agitator. It also had the stainless steel filter with the white screen that turned up at the base, not down like the later ones. I don't know if it cleaned better, and I don't know why they changed styles except to get rid of the shroud and make the agitator all one piece. Does anyone have an original turquoise Big Tub agitator laying around?
Bobby in Boston
Bobby in Boston
I used my '64 A300 as a daily driver for years. It has the old Bakelite agitator in it. I never once had any issue with clothes turnover. That machine cleaned everything very well with or without bleach. I used to put my filthy denims in it after a day of working in my gardens and flower beds.I'm talking ground-in red Georgia clay. That machine got my clothes clean EVERY time, and I NEVER had to go back and check on it. Four pair of jeans in that machine would create enough splashing so you had to keep the lid closed to keep from getting wet. VERY aggressive agitation.
People who came over to my house for my little impromptu wash-ins were always amazed to see that all the rumors abot a Highlander being unable to properly wash a load of jeans or a large load, were unfounded.
The bottom line is, when you put your dirty laundry into a vintage Maytag-------- When you return and the machine has completed the cycle-----your clothes WILL be clean. Period.
When all my other machines are unable to do the job-----it is my old A300 with the old black Bakelite agitator that does.
People who came over to my house for my little impromptu wash-ins were always amazed to see that all the rumors abot a Highlander being unable to properly wash a load of jeans or a large load, were unfounded.
The bottom line is, when you put your dirty laundry into a vintage Maytag-------- When you return and the machine has completed the cycle-----your clothes WILL be clean. Period.
When all my other machines are unable to do the job-----it is my old A300 with the old black Bakelite agitator that does.
This is the Aussie version of the 8 vane
Bobby
This is the Aussie Wilkins Servis version of the 8 vane power fin Maytag agitator.
Fist pic is the agitator in blue.
Wilkins Servis used these agitators from 1973 till the company's demise in 1978.
Bobby
This is the Aussie Wilkins Servis version of the 8 vane power fin Maytag agitator.
Fist pic is the agitator in blue.
Wilkins Servis used these agitators from 1973 till the company's demise in 1978.
