Older WP Dryer
- Thread starter goatfarmer
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looks
like my gas 1959 model
like my gas 1959 model
Inefficient perforated drum back so good to use on cheaper Pacific Northwest Power. It would be fun to use that control panel on a modern 29 inch machine.
Inefficient perforated drum back?!?! Since I have a 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial dryer with the perforated drum back, never had issues with slow drying times plus the glass window on the door gets HOT to the touch when on high heat setting. I can see them being slower if it were to be heavily loaded but those dryers were only meant to be paired up with the smaller capacity belt drive washers.
Inefficient Perforated Drum Back WP Dryers
Hi Sean, Yes I have to tell that these WP 29" dryers were not great performers in terms of speed or energy efficiency. { and most of you know I love older Whirlpool Appliances ]
They were never rated highly for performance by groups like CRs, the only ones that were rated well for performance were the 9000 watt 50 amp models and the gas 37,000 BTU machines.
WP 29" dryers before 1966 wasted about 25% of the heat whether you are drying a big load or small, probably the reason you are so impressed with your WP Imperials performance is you are comparing it to normally slow MT HOH dryers. Your WP has a 5600 watt element compared to MTs 4800 watt element.
These early WP dryers were sturdy machines that could last a long time and were easy to repair, they were not as quiet as reliable as the 1966 and on dryers however.
About the only better about these early WP dryers was because they wasted so much heat the exhaust temperature was hotter from the beginning of drying cycles so you did not get the condensation and lint build-up in the exhaust duct-work.
John L.
Hi Sean, Yes I have to tell that these WP 29" dryers were not great performers in terms of speed or energy efficiency. { and most of you know I love older Whirlpool Appliances ]
They were never rated highly for performance by groups like CRs, the only ones that were rated well for performance were the 9000 watt 50 amp models and the gas 37,000 BTU machines.
WP 29" dryers before 1966 wasted about 25% of the heat whether you are drying a big load or small, probably the reason you are so impressed with your WP Imperials performance is you are comparing it to normally slow MT HOH dryers. Your WP has a 5600 watt element compared to MTs 4800 watt element.
These early WP dryers were sturdy machines that could last a long time and were easy to repair, they were not as quiet as reliable as the 1966 and on dryers however.
About the only better about these early WP dryers was because they wasted so much heat the exhaust temperature was hotter from the beginning of drying cycles so you did not get the condensation and lint build-up in the exhaust duct-work.
John L.
One thing I will say about my 1963 RCA Whirlpool Imperial dryer is there’s hardly any lint on the lint screen when it’s done drying and that could be because it has the speed bump style of baffles instead like the ones that screw onto the drum like most dryers these days.
I can see some of the incoming air bypassing the drum but the glass window on my 1963 Whirlpool Imperial dryer gets quite hot to the touch, and when I tried it out for the first time back in August the surface of the drum was quite hot and yes the lint screen was clean and wasn’t hooked up to a vent at all when I was testing it out for the first time.
I suspect mine performs better since it has the older style of heating element plenum since the ones in 1964 and 1965 have the circular heating element plenum like the one on my friend Richard’s dryer from 1964 compared to my ‘63 Whirlpool, and the air flow is probably different with the older style of heating element plenum.
I can see some of the incoming air bypassing the drum but the glass window on my 1963 Whirlpool Imperial dryer gets quite hot to the touch, and when I tried it out for the first time back in August the surface of the drum was quite hot and yes the lint screen was clean and wasn’t hooked up to a vent at all when I was testing it out for the first time.
I suspect mine performs better since it has the older style of heating element plenum since the ones in 1964 and 1965 have the circular heating element plenum like the one on my friend Richard’s dryer from 1964 compared to my ‘63 Whirlpool, and the air flow is probably different with the older style of heating element plenum.
1963 WP Imperial Electric Dryer
Hi Sean, the reason you get less lint in the filter is the filter screen has bigger holes and is course metal than the MT HOH filter.
The heater box design made no difference in drying speed, the round heater box did minimize hot spots and the elements did last much longer.
John L.
Hi Sean, the reason you get less lint in the filter is the filter screen has bigger holes and is course metal than the MT HOH filter.
The heater box design made no difference in drying speed, the round heater box did minimize hot spots and the elements did last much longer.
John L.
When Consumer Reports tested dryers in the early 50s, the frog eye electric Kenmore was rated acceptable only if connected to a 50 amp circuit because the one hour timer could not be set for sufficient time to dry loads of heavy fabrics with the 60 minute maximum time setting on the 30 amp circuit. The gas model came equipped with the 37,000 btu burner to make it compatible in drying speed to other gas dryers with lower BTU input burners. Friends of John and Jeff had a Frigidaire Unimatic washer and one of the 37K Kenmore dryers. They said it took 7 minutes to dry a load of sheets. If you go through the owner's manuals for Kenmore dryers with the old perforated back drums, the time tables for drying showed a great difference between the gas and electric models. It is a wonder WP/Sears were allowed to market such a poor dryer for so many years; attributable only to the fact that no one was looking. Some very early electric Kenmore dryers even had a fan mounted in front of the heater stack to boost air flow in hope of improving drying performance so it was something of which WP/Sears were very well aware for a very long time.
Did the older style of Maytag dryers that have a lint screen that slides out like a drawer have issues with the air bypassing the drum? I heard some people say the incoming air on those dryers bypasses the drum and some say they work just fine.
The original Maytag dryers were built more on the style of the Hamilton dryers where the air flow pattern was different in volume and direction than in the HOH dryers and in the Hi Speed dryers like GE introduced in the 1957 machines where the airflow was front to back instead of more top to bottom. The older dryers built along the lines of the Hamilton dryers used two air streams, one of which passed over the heating element and into the drum and the other passed around the drum to carry away the hot moist air. Coincidentally, the Maytag dryers with the huge perforated drums, the 4400 watt heating elements and the drawer-type lint tray were the only Maytag dryers to earn a check rating from Consumer Reports. They were not fast dryers. They vented through a 3 inch pipe, but they performed well.
