POD 05/02/2018 - RCA Whirlpool EA-16 top-loader

[wft2800]

I'm guessing late 50s/early 60s here? 29" wide, only 25.5" deep - what's all that width doing, then?!

Looks like a bottom-of-the-line machine, single-speed, no controls whatsoever other than the timer. Yet it mentions that the washer will fill with water (at the) temperature selected, but I can't see a temperature selector!

"The gold-trimmed, white opaque plastic timer knob with its red pointer is in the center of the panel" - err, it looks to be offset significantly to the right to me...

Cycle time - washing time selected plus 18 minutes. Is that for the rinse and spin, or does it pause the timer for additional washing?

Seven rinses - I'm guessing wash, drain, spray, spin, spray, deep rinse, spray, spin, spray, second deep rinse, spray, final spin?

"Safe" spin speed of 500rpm - in other words, we can't work out how GM make their Frigidaires spin at 1140rpm without knackering the bearings and transmission, so we're going to imply that such high spin speeds are dangerous...

I presume that "Free-Flow draining" means a spin-drain? Was this perforated-tub machine derived from a solid-tub one, or was a spin-drain just preferred? The marketing is evidently attacking neutral-drain machines, whether front or top-loading.

 

[speedqueen]

Answers

Yes, the 18 minutes is for the first spin, rinse and final spin. For example if one selected a 12 minute wash the full cycle would be 30 minutes, about the average cycle time for a traditional top-load automatic here in the US.

The seven rinses that are mentioned as far as I know are just one deep rinse and 6 short spray rinses.

Safe probably meant more to that it was safe for fabrics than that it was an unsafe appliance. You're probably right with regard to the fact that they couldn't emulate Frigidaire's (or even Maytag's for that matter) higher spin speed thus they had to find fault with it.

Free floating drain, all Whirlpools ever made with the exception of a very few early direct drives in the 1980s use a neutral drain.

 

[DADoES]

 
Seven rinses = four sprays in the first spin, deep/agitated rinse, two sprays at beginning of the final spin.

 

[golittlesport]

very basic BOL model

Water temp selected at the tap, no mixing valve; and only one water level.

Saw a similar bare-bones machine once out in a wash shed of a cabin my family rented one summer. The owner had posted instructions and painted the water spigots (one blue for cold and one red for hot) to help folks determine the water temp setting.

 

[wft2800]

I stand corrected! So just what did they mean by Free-Flow draining, if not a spin drain, given they boast it doesn't drain through the clothes? And just what the heck is a mineral-filled agitator when it's at home?!

 

[DADoES]

 
Whirlpool's take on "Free-Flow" draining is that lint floating atop and in the water passed through and out the basket perforations as the water drops while the clothes are suspended in it.  I suppose, technically, water drains from the outer tub (where the outlet is located at the bottom) slightly faster than from the interior of the basket so there's a slight "pull" of water out of the basket through the perforations at the water line.  Interestingly, I have observed that happening by watching little bits of suds/bubbles near the perforations seemingly pulled through as the water drops down.

Mineral-filled refers to the material composition of Bakelite.

http://https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite

 

[gyrafoam]

IMO the early 1950's Whirlpool red marbleized Bakelite agitators were very nice. I have a minty basic straight vane one on display with the matching mouse-ear cap. I always felt like Whirlpool should have made that a trademark color for all of their belt-drives. A red marbleized straight vane Surgilator with a chrome cap is beautiful.