Nasty coin-op; the fix may be in, stay tuned

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arbilab

arbilab

Well-known member
Joined
May 1, 2011
Messages
5,253
Location
Ft Worth TX (Ridglea)
After just over a year without my own laundry machinery, the fix 'may be' in. I have to say it that way because it's Chinese so results are yet to be demonstrated. I'll tell, even if it turns out I stuck my bewitched york in the dirt to the tune of $250.

Sleeping on it another night or 2, looking at a Panda twintub from an Ebay retailer. It's the 45, next size up from 36, close to the size of my '73 Panasonic except the spinner is shallower and the wash disc is more centered in the tub than the proven offset nobody in 40 years has managed to catch onto.

Just gimme CONTROL! Over times, temps, speeds, rinses. Hope it works as research suggests. Panda TTs have consistent reviews of 4.5 and few complaints that can't be attributed to customer stupidity. Like the "spin dryer" doesn't "dry". Or if filled past the fill mark the wash tub piddles on the floor. (Duh.) The seller is rated 99.6.

I'm a lot more comfortable with brick/mortar retailing, where if I get shatnered upon there's a face for me to jump into who probably speaks English. But B&Ms don't sell midprice niche items. Not enough markup, not enough traffic to justify floor space.

Meanwhile if you want to see the machine google panda xpb45 and pick an ebay response. Wait a tick, a lot of responses fall back on xpb36. Lemme go find and link it. There. Need that link myself, took a few tries to find.

 
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Rick this one looks like a nice one.  Nothing like having your own washer to use,  I know you will enjoy it greatly.
 
Thanks Westie, looking forward. Not a whole lot to do in the old folks home besides laundry. Washers are outlawed; some of the fossils here literally can't be trusted with a sink stopper and the building structure can barely be trusted with the weight of some of these fossils. Seller says the box is not labeled 'washer' as these sell heavily in substandard housing, so it should slip by the front office.

Riffing off Brad Pitt in Ocean's Twelve, it's not my nature to skulk about my own residence but I can't talk about it and I can't talk about why. (The other thing to do in the OFH is memorize lines from movies. I've got entire scenes from Three Amigos and True Lies.)
 
Trigger is pulled

After a 24hr lockout because I corrected my paypal shipping address, shipment is underway with delivery forecast a week from today (Tue). Most $ I've ever spent online, hope it goes well. I'll report.
 
Good on you! 

 

Lets hope management doesn't spoil your fun, and you get plenty of enjoyment doing laundry entirely YOUR way.

 

Maybe time for a wash-in at yours too - Pardon the joviality there... 
 
XPB45 can't arrive until at least Monday but I've been googling it. Not certain of the Chinese appliance hierarchy but research suggests Panda is near the top and XPB45 appears under a number of brand names--including Haier--with slightly different aesthetics but identical specs.

Here's the snigger: These machines wholesale for $~50US in lots of ~300 and retail for 5x that. So if you've got $15,000 to spend upfront and wait for 300 of them to sell, you can quintuple your money. Sure the hell can't do that with a Whirltag/Maypool.
 
The Panda arrived undamaged and fully operational. Removed access cover for inspection, not quite as well engineered as the 73 Panasonic but every bit as usable. The first exercise was washing queen bedding which had gone a long time without attention in anticipation.

The machine might do top and bottom sheets at once but not with this soil level. Prewashed each piece fresh fill at 105F, tablespoon each of Tide, Persil, STPP. Spun and plopped in the sink for the next step. 120F, same chemistry, half-fresh fills.

The plate action is vigorous, use it intermittently with long soaks between. Rinse spin this time, then plop in sink for agitate rinse. Success, rinse water was clear. 2 minute 1300 spin gets VERY dry.

The motors hum some and the spinner can vibrate some (despite large rubber mounts) so I set the machine on a fluff bathmat and patio carpet, not to bother downstairs neighbor. Contrary to instructions the wash tub does not need to be drained to operate the spinner, the spin switch powers the pump independently of the drain switch. So it can suds save on light/normal soil. Only had to rebalance spinner once. Characteristic of plate washers, does tangle some but could untangle during transfer to spinner.

Capable little machine, will keep me productively occupied several hours a week once I get caught up. The queen set took 4 hours but I had let it go WAY too long. The individual fresh fill prewashes should not be needed routinely.
 
So how did all the laundry washing do?  I know you are happy not having to used the old cruddy machines.  Now to save money get a jar and for every load you do put in a quarter or even a dime and then you can use that for something you want next.

 
 
Joy to have control back as well as not lugging all the chemistry downstairs. The coinops are $1.50 a load so if I live long enough the TT can pay for itself.

Most strikingly, the kitchen towel which had reached a jolly shade of beige came out very-near-white. With their tight weave, sheets left go too long are harder but with regular care should come back the color of the tucked-in parts.

Lawdy, you shoulda seen the discarded prewash water. El grunge-o. But nowhere near the scale of say, the Mississippi river. More like maybe showering with a construction worker. Doesn't sound so bad that way, does it?
 
The Panda works like a charm. Does take a while but that's patience for the long-set stains. But can you dry 5 t-shirts in 20 minutes? Out of this spinner you can.

Some reviews mentioned lint, as in it was chewing clothes. Not so's I can see. I ultrawashed the t-shirts and they made so little lint in the dryer screen it took fingernails to remove. My oldest towel is losing its nap but even so it came completely clean and didn't lint any more than it did in my FL.

Some reviews mentioned puddles under the machine. This might be where the infamous 'Chinese quality' begins to show up. My Panasonic TT never leaked a drop in 3 years. This one is leaking after three USES.

Well, long as it stays around a half cup I'll tolerate that for the otherwise splendid performance and utility of doing my own laundry the way it needs to be done.
 
The minor leak (~1/2c) might have been my fault. This machine is specified with a temp limit of 113F and I ran it at 120F. Ran tonight closer to spec and not a drop came out.

Never had a washer with a published temp limit before. Or a washer that was 100% ABS plastic except for motors, switches and wires. Or a washer made in China.

What it DID do tonight was spin jeans so dry they dried completely in the coin-op Maytag in 20min.

I like it. If it still works this well a year from now I will LOVE it.
 
Congrats on your new baby!

If you have any misgivings at all, it may be worth it to get the Square Trade warranty. They're pretty much no nonsense when it comes to claims. I can get you a 30% off code for the cost of the warranty as well (as others can probably do as well). I've had two things that experienced problems while under their warranty. They took care of both, no nonsense and no real questions asked! I say "real" because when their local repair facility reported to them on my Viao laptop that was send to them, they said the screen was cracked. I told the ST rep that that had to have happened in shipping or at the facility because the screen was not damaged when I packed it. He sent me the pix by email immediately while on the phone. I guess he sensed the shock in my voice when I saw the damage and told me he agreed with me that it must have happened after it left my hands. He closed the warranty immediately and sent me the money by Paypal minutes later (could have had a check if I wanted).

Good luck,
Chuck
 
Oh mercy, I already own a perfectly fine 120V Lady Kenmore dryer from 1984. But personal laundry machinery is forbidden in this lowlife government building and while I can hide the washer, hanging the exhaust duct out the window would be a dead giveaway. The coinop dryers work fine. The washers, not so specially. For example I only own one jean and there is no way to balance that in either the TL or the FL. Then some of my stuff needs a soak and coinops won't do that.

Chuck, I'm thrilled with it. Very nearly replaces my long-lost 1973 Panasonic TT. What would be the premium on a $250 washer? I'm concerned that there may be no parts for these and no local repair services, the only option being full replacement. The thing looks like it doesn't really come apart. It's all one big chunk of ABS plastic, or 3 chunks RF welded together. (I've been taking things apart over 60 years.) Though I happened to find out, the actual factory price for these is $50US in lots of about 300.
 

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