Philco dryer

[countryford]

Back this past fall I found a Facebook marketplace ad for a vintage dryer. I drove over 3 hours to get it. It had belonged to the guy's grandmother. When she died in 2004, his dad didn't want to do anything with the house and it's contents. He passed away several years back and now the grandson is clearing the house out.
He did say it worked, when his grandmother was alive, but hadn't been used since. He said, although the house had no one living there him, his dad or his brother would go over occasionally to clean and the left the utilities on.

 

[countryford]

As of right now, the dryer is still in my garage. I have not had a chance to even test it.

 

[gyrafoam]

These were not amongst the fastest dryers of that era, however it looks cool, especially when lit-up. Nice window-door as well.
I wish you well. It may clean-up nicely.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Neat find

Consumer Reports used to complain about the small diameter drum opening and the hard to access lint filter behind the lower access panel. I had the combo with the same door and never found the opening too small. Have fun.

 

[DADoES]

 
It has reverse tumble, an option on the Speed Selector (Low Air, Reverse Tumble, High Air).

 

[combo52]

Philco Ford dryer

These were always such neat looking dryers, but I can guarantee this won’t become your favorite daily dryer.

I think this was the first US built dryer that had the reverse tumble option, probably why nobody else ever did it because it proves that reverse tumbling in a dryer is basically useless in a properly designed dryer.

I remember the time my brother Jeff saw one of these on the curb and when he came home that night we drove all the way back into Northwest Washington thinking he had found a Philco combination washer dryer When we finally found the Machine it was still sitting on the curb And we were so disappointed that it was just a dryer that we left it there, lol

 

[tomturbomatic]

The air flow was reduced when it was in reverse direction and if it was a gas dryer, the drying time was increased because of the burner having to be lighted each time it went back into tumbling in the right direction. I don't think the burner was lighted when it was in the reversed low air flow mode. They should have had a separate blower motor like the KitchenAid dryer made by the American Dryer Corporation.

 

[swestoyz]

1967-1969 DG or DE-6G8 Philco Dryer!

Yay, glad someone here save this one, Justin! When the seller mentioned someone had already claimed it, I was hoping it was someone close. Is it gas or electric?

Tom - I did a quick glance through the gas service manual, and it didn't make mention of NOT firing off the burner during reverse tumble, or what they liked to call "low air flow". It's possible their thinking was that using a pilot burner allowed a quicker response to the extra cycling during normal use?

Ben

 

[tomturbomatic]

Ben, thanks. I wonder what kind of centrifugal switch it uses that it works in both directions to allow the burner to ignite in the reversed direction. I know nothing about them.