My First Vintage Find :-D

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lavamat_jon

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Well, where do I start! A few people knew that I had found a mystery new machine, and others already knew (I can't keep my mouth shut when I'm excited), and I'm happy to say that I have my first vintage washer up and running. It dates from 1983/4, has a square door, a full height door panel, brown controls, a programme selector and a temperature dial, as well as buttons for programme selection, and various other wash options.

Yes, it's an AEG Lavamat 660. Beautiful machine it is too. Picked it up from Leicester today (big city, about 40 miles south-west of Lincoln), thanks to my very kind mother who drove me down there. Brought it home, and Darren came round and helped me clean it up because it had become a bit grotty as it had been sitting in a garage for a while. Anyway, after a huge effort in getting it upstairs after it was cleaned, got it installed & at the moment it's currently washing it's maiden load - a load of white towels on Cottons 60*C. Has been on about 20 minutes right now and has more or less got the water up to 60*C! In fact, it has just clunked on right now to the wash portion.

One strange thing I have noticed though is that it only seems to tumble one way - not sure if this was a fault or just a normal thing earlier AEGs did! It will tumble clockwise, stop, and then tumble clockwise again. Any ideas - Chester Mike in particular?

Basic rundown of the machine's features anyway - it has an 1100rpm spin speed (very fast for the early 80s), 4 wash programmes, buttons for power, electroni door release, easy cares, delicates, woollens, 1/2 load, economy, rinse hold cancel, and quick wash, as well as spin speed reduction buttons for 950, 850, and 650rpm as well as an automatic conditioner feed cancel. Yes that's right - it has a huge tank which can hold 4.5l or so of fabric softener and automatically doses it for you in the final rinse. Don't think I'll use it though in all honesty - I chop and change fabric softener brands so often! Plus Darren and I will be working on it int he future as the bearings are sounding a bit old, so don't want to move the tank around a bit.

Anyway, babbling aside, now comes time for the pictures! Enjoy!!

Jon

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Congratulations Jon! That's a fabulous machine. That must have been a very expensive model at the time. I never saw one of those AEG's at work, so I don't know exactly how it should tumble, but tumbling only one way doesn't sound right to me.

Question: If you select the rinse hold cancel button on a regular cycle, does it do an intermittent spin then? Later models did, but I'm not sure about this model.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks guys for the comments. Will post some pictures in here when I get chance to resize them, and will also take more pictures tomorrow when the daylight is better.

Louis - yes, if you press rinse hold cancel it will do 3 or 4 bursts on the first few increments of the spin. If not, it will just click straight past into the final spin, and go up to 850rpm for about 8 minutes, going to 1100rpm for 2 minutes after that. A very effective spin it is too - it feels better in all honesty than anything I would spin at 1400 in my Bosch downstairs. The interim spins are great too - seem to be very effective even with Bold, which is a bitch to rinse out here. Also very dramatic interim spins with water pouring down the window. Plus there is none of this pre-balancing rubbish, the tub will start rotating on a normal tumble and 2 seconds later "whee" into a spin it goes! And even with quite an unbalanced load the machine didn't even vibrate one iota!

Toggle - thanks for the kind words. But aha - I thought somebody would catch that out. You see there is actually a standard glass door inside the decor door. You can close the decor door when it is operating, or when it is not operating and it looks neat, and if you fancy watching the washday action then you can open the door and enjoy!

Jon
 
Congrats

Well done Jon

Looks a fine machine, love the colour combination, never understood why they went back to all white. If I remeber rightly, does the timer sound like a rachet little incremental clicks etc??

I`m positive this should tumble both ways, most unusual not to,let us know what the noise level is like, I sold my cousin
a matching set in the eighties but with the normal door, they have only just changed it after bringing up to kids, these machines are just real workhorses.

Enjoy, Mike
 
AWESOME machine Jon!!! Congratulations...looks great in your room, and I like how high the "low" water level is!! How splashy is it?

Looking forward to more pics as well! :)
 
Hi Mike,

The timer does sound like a ratchet, although it is very smooth & pleasing to turn, you don't have to put a lot of effort into turning it unlike the Hotpoint Aquarius-style machines that I grew up with. I'm kinda concerned about the tumbling though - do you have much experience with these machines at all? The bearings need changing out anyway, not sure if you could perhaps give me any advice before I resort to calling Service Force?

It indeed is a very robust machine, and apparently it's only been used by an old lady once a week, so has still got a lot of life left in it knock on wood. Am still surprised at how stable it is too even with unbalanced loads - even more stable than my 2004 AEG ever was especially when spinning at equivalent speeds. But then I guess the load size difference is smaller too and might affect vibration, but I wouldn't think it would affect it too much. I was definitely expecting it to jump out Hotpoint-style!

The door I think makes a nice finishing touch to it - looks really sleek when not in use. They should bring back decor doors, or at least Miele should start doing them with portholes underneath :-P.

Noise level is loud - but I think it could be to do with the bearings. However I must say it is actually a lot quieter than my nana's new Aristonified Hotpoint, even on the wash phase and especially during the fast spin!

Austin - thanks for the comment! It is indeed very splashy - in fact when we were washing towels on the cottons cycle earlier during most revolutions of the drum the towels plopped into the water and suds hit the top of the glass and ran down! It also pours suds down the window during the spin - another feature which I absolutely love about older machines!

This is definitely a keeper :-)

Jon
 
Can we hear a YAY!! and a WOO HOO! for Jon. What an exciting looking piece of laudnry maniac heaven. Personally, I think dacor dooors should be outlawed--I wanna always know I am looking at a washer or dryer. What's the kg size load it takes? Actually with the decor door closed, I could sweat it was a dishwasher. And I agree Mike, I really dislike the "all-white" panels when I see a fine example of this. That's all I've known in modern front loaders (or simply a monochromatic colour). Only the spacemates from the80s & early 90s had a bit of non-white on the front--but then, that was basically the only front loadr for us back then lol. Jon, I"m really poppin my buttons for ya. :-)
 
Outlaw Deco Doors?

Dem's fightin words!

Had to admit one took some time to get used to not being able to peer inside my Miele w1070 as it goes about it's business, but have rather grown to like the clean smooth lines and flat surfaces.

Back on topic:

What a lovely machine, congrats!!!!!!!

Am rather jealous as your washer as several final spin speeds, my Miele has only the two (950 and 1100 rpms). Still due to the graduated spin and short 30 sec spin for some cycles really have not yet reall missed lower spin speeds. Usually spin my woolens at 1,000 or in the Hoover TT spinner anyway as wool is very elastic and quickly returns to shape if properly laundered in the first place.

Think our machines are alike for their day as I too have yet to have an unbalanced load. No pfaffing around for spins either, yet the machine goes on to spin even a heavy towel load like it was a sack of feathers.

Very best of British luck with your new baby! Oh yes, what a lovely mother you have to drive you that long way to fetch your new machine. Surely flowers or something won't go amiss. *LOL*

Launderess
 
Congratulations Jon! I am very happy for you. How nice of your mother to be so supportive that she would drive you to pick up the washer. The ads for the Bendix in the 40s and very early 50s quite often showed the suds running down over the window. Of course, in that machine, the door closed against the tank with no rubber boot since there was no suspension and having water running down the door was just the way it looked . I hope you can find an older AEG technician who can answer the non-reversing situation. Sounds like something is not sending power to the motor windings for the other direction. Have fun and stay warm.
 
elloha jon!
well i got to jons at about 2.30pm then we lifted it out the car. DAMN THT WAS HEAVY! lol n did a quick clean up n i wasnt strong enough to hulk it upstairs. but then i had to disapeer out & came back. Then we got the show on the road. Very much worth the wait it was too. few reminisant features of my logic. Extremely sturdy, similar door. High water levels:p but i think my logics fills higher:p Very fun to watch. Right now im gettin ready & takin a few loads round for a test drive:p lol

Congrats again jon x

D x
 
Jon,
Enjoy your new toy.

Does this FL has a door boot like ordinary FL or door gasket like Asko?

Tumble only in one direction does not seem to be reasonable. Would speculate that the directional change-over relay is faulty and it is stuck in one position. This should be a simple fix.
 
Hi Jon..

Nice find, I remember we had one of those in our domestic science room at school, along with a Supertwin 108..They are ment to alternate rotation.

Keep up the good work.

Keith
 
Hi guys, think it is a problem with the motor going in the reverse direction. Can hear the timer clicking as if it should be reversing, and it gives time to reverse as the clockwise tumbles only occur every 20 or 30 seconds. Was thinking maybe it could be carbon brushes wearing short? I'm not a technical expert when it comes to washers so as I said before any help should be appreciated... just hope it's not something like a new motor, I've heard AEG motors can be very expensive! Perhaps a fix-in is in order for some UK members here? (Calling Mike, Darren & Keith :-D).

The suspension is also sounding a bit creaky too, although it did get transported 40 miles without transit bolts laid on its back so I think this could attribute to that. I'm just hoping parts are still available for these models - and seeming as they are essentially the same inside as the later counterparts from up until the late 1990s I guess they would be? Also needs some new bearings, the drum is sounding quite growly when you turn it and I have tried the bearing test by pushing the drum upwards by hand & checking for play. Other than that, I have still done all of this week's bedlinen in it and I am rather surprised that although it only turned one way, it hardly tangled at all and was rather surprising at balancing, even in the way how it jumps straight to a spin!

BTW - another little niggle I have is that the Short Wash 60*C cycle is actually (or at least seems) longer than the standard cottons 60*C cycle! I was guessing it might have been because I was using a high temperature? But anyway for 20 or 22 years old (I think this model was out around 1983-1984) the machine isn't in a bad condition at all!

Bob - colours are still available here in the UK, although not by any brands I like (harumph). Hotpoint are the only UK brand to offer a colour choice on all but the bottom of teh line models (you can choose from Sandstone, Graphite, Aluminium or Polar White). Other brands do include a model or two that is available in Silver, but to me Silver is just boring unless it is the genuine Stainless Steel! I like the decor door - as Launderess said it looks nice and sleek when not in use, and when you are using it just simply keep it open and watch the action through the inner door :-). This is truly a proper German frontloader - as much as I love my Miele, I think the AEG wins all awards for cleaning, rinsing & spin drying. The 1100rpm spin dries surprisingly well, although I would expect so seeming as the actual spinning portion of the cycle lasts about 8 or 10 minutes! That's without silly bursting sequences too :-).

Launderess - yes, I am very lucky indeed to have a mother like that. I was actually really surprised at how she right out offered me to take me down to Leicester. Will buy her a bouquet tomorrow I think, the flowers I bought her last weekend are just about dying off :-). Does your Miele do the graduated spin on the cottons cycle? My AEG doesn't unless you press the Rinse Hold cancel button, otherwise on the cottons cycle it will drain at the beginning of the spin cycle, then advance the timer on to halfway through the spin cycle, and then start tumbling then "whoo" up to spin :-). I'm actually surprised at how stable it is too - although it weighs the same as my old AEG (85 kilos for both machines), the spins are actually a lot more stable on this even though balancing isn't a word in the Lavamat 660 dictionary! Even the slower speed spins don't vibrate at all, unlike how they did on my old 2004 AEG. Perhaps we oughta compare notes in future on our Early-Eighties Deutsch Machines :-). (Or shall we call that EEDMs for short?).

Tom - thanks for your kind words. Being my first vintage machine I have been very excited and it has brought back a lot of childhood memories (my Auntie May used to have a Lavamat 560, which was a simpler version of this machine with only an 850rpm spin, no decor door, a door handle, and 2 cycles on the dial rather than just the one with an "easy cares" button that turned the cottons cycle into an easy cares/permanent press cycle).

Mike - believe it or not I was actually considering that Lavamat 2080 washer dryer, but then the Lavamat 660 up and I thought I had to grab this one. I don't have room for the washers I have as it is (my bedroom currently looks more like the warehouse for Comet or Currys!), so I doubt I could have got a 2nd one! LOL.

Darren the dudette - yes yes yes, I guess that means I have to thank you for your help? LOL. Thanks anyway for all your help this weekend, wouldn't have been able to have done it without you plus it was nice to share the excitement of my first vintage machine with somebody else! I actually think the AEG fills about the same cos the drum is quite deep inside - not sure if your Logic is like that at all?

Seven - this washer has a standard door with a rubber boot, not like the Asko where the door is mounted directly to the drum. Although I must say I doubt an Asko could be any more stable, as I've mentioned a few times before even though the washer goes right to a spin without any form of a distribution cycle it hardly vibrates at all, nowhere near as much as my old AEG. Amazing especially seeming as it is on an upstairs floor!

Keith - it seems a lot of schools seem to have AEG models, a couple of people I talk to online said that their schools had AEG washers too. My school on the other hand had a mid-90s Zanussi Nexus in the large food room, and an early 90s Zanussi washer dryer with a grey control panel in the small food room, as well as a Hoover New Wave 1300 in the PE Department. Thanks anyway for your post - hopefully this is the first of many restorations!

Take care all,

Jon

P.S. Photos & videos to follow... currently videoing this load of bedlinen! Cottons 60*C wash with 80ml of Persil biological and a full cap of Comfort blue :-).
 
Graduated Spin

My Miele 1070 does a graduated spin on all cotton cycles. For Permanent Press it will also do a graduated spin but advances the timer so there is only 30 seconds of final spinning. This last bit only happens if one presses the "rinse hold/short spin" button either before starting the PP cycle or after the cycle has completed. Otherwise at the end of the PP cycle machine just stops with laundry suspended in the final rinse water. Theory behind this option is PP and delicate articles should be removed from the washer soon as the cycle is completed. If one cannot do this, better to leave items in water and complete the cycle when one has the time.

For "Delicates" and "Curtians" the same option exists. One either sets the machine to "drain" (drains water from machine while the wash drum remains stationary), or to "graduated spin" where it will go into final spin. The "rinse hold/short" spin button is only activated on (near as one can tell so far) the PP and Delicate cycles. That means if one has chosen "cottons" and presses the button, machine still will do a normal spin. As one is just learning about all this machine can do, could be wrong. One good thing is since the machine is timer controlled it is very easy to make custom cycles by fiddling with the knobs.

L.
 
Hi Launderess,

Yes, my AEG will automatically rinse hold too if you select Delicates, Easy Cares or Woollens, and the rinse hold cancel button allows the machine to continue past the rinse hold & will do a gentle Variomatic spin. However, if you press Rinse Hold cancel on cottons programmes, rather than advancing straight to the final spin it will also carry out a Variomatic phase with bursts & tumbling, in a similar way that my 2004 AEG did, although Variomatic was a programmable function on my 2004 AEG, and only applied to the cottons programme - the Delicates, Woollens, Easy Iron, and Fashion programmes finished automatically with a Variomatic spin unless one selected Rinse Hold via the spin speed button, like most if not all modern machines.

Also find the mechanical controls a change - and as well as being able to mod your own cycle it is also oh so satisfying to hear the machine clunking away! It also entails a bit of logic as you said your Miele W1070 does - for example if you try to start a woollens programme on Prewash it will simply advance to the mainwash and start from there, & also doesn't let you fry your delicates at 95*C, or spin out your delicates on the fast spin - providing you have the delicates button pressed of course! Mine also seems to have a portion on the dial for an additional rinse - I remember that these AEGs were able to be programmed to have an extra rinse however you had to call out a service engineer for that. (Any resident experts know how to get the "hidden" additional rinse?). Oh and another nice feature I found out earlier on is that it lets you spin your woollens at 1100rpm on the standard cottons final spin (although I *think* it is one timer increment shorter than the Cottons spin, it seemed to advance on one step further to start the spin than the Cottons cycle does) - so I no longer have to re-run woollen jumpers and blankets through on a separate fast spin cycle!

I've taken more pictures & have also produced a few movies - will upload the movies and post them on here tomorrow, but for now here are some more pics!

Jon

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Wow Jon that is just wonderful! Congrats on your vintage find, I know how much fun it is and how exciting it is to do your first wash load in a new vintage machine!
 

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