POD 1/16/2017

[brucelucenta]

Not that it matters, but I never liked Westinghouse front loaders. I thought them to be big, ugly, cumbersome machines that did a poor job of washing and spinning. They were even bigger than Kenmore machines which were one of the widest. They would tangle stuff up and tie it in big knotted ropes though, sorta like Frigidaire. But they did dispose of sand quite well.
[this post was last edited: 1/16/2017-14:26]

 

[frigilux]

My first front loader was a mid-1980's Frigidaire-branded WCI. Like the earlier Westys it started tumbling in one direction the moment you started it and did not stop until the end of the cycle. No wonder it could produce some wicked tangles. The first thing I did was lower the water level quite a bit. That actually improved both cleaning and the tangling issue.

You're absolutely right in noting the slow spin speed. It was slow even by the standards of the day. I loved that washer, though. The loud SNAP of the solenoid when it kicked into spin woke up the house and scared the cat, LOL. There was no futzing with a balancing protocol, either. I saw the machine levitate on a couple of occasions when the tub really hit the cabinet hard.

 

[ea56]

I had a White-Westinghouse FL that I bought new in 1987. As I recall the tumbling reversed direction during the wash cycle and I don't remember having any problems with tangling. It also had the weigh to save door and a load size selector. I thought that the spin cycle was effective. And like Eugene said when that solenoid snapped that mother went into a spin, no ifs and or buts about it! I seldom recall any really bad unbalanced problems, but the few times I had to deal with an unbalanced problem it was easily resolved by just opening the door and redistributing the load and the spin would resume just like that. There was no hunting around endlessly for a sweet spot to go in to a spin. I really don't know why the new FL's can't use this kind of low tech programming for their spin cycles. Like maybe start out with a slow spin to get the load evenly distributed and gradually increase the spin speed to max. This would sure save alot of time and make a lot of people happier with their FL's.
Eddie

 

[brucelucenta]

ea56

Hate to contradict you, but if you had one of the early Westinghouse tumblers they NEVER reversed direction. That was one of the biggest reasons they weren't that terrific at washing. The tub rotated the entire time they were operating. The tangling kind of depended on what you were washing and it wasn't nearly as bad as it was in those first Westinghouse tumble machines with the side tilted tub that were 31" wide. Wasn't till well after White Westinghouse acquired Frigidaire that they started making a front loader that reversed tumble direction and those did not have the solenoid for pumping or spin. The solenoid kicking in kind of reminded me of the old Speed Queen washers that used them for wash and spin. They had no real balance control and I have seen one become so off balanced that the snubber pads actually came off the metal plates they ride on. Amazing the strides that have been made since then. Makes these look very antiquated. I also find it kind of amazing that there are no more Westinghouse front load washers being produced, at least that I know of. They were the ones who stuck with front loading machines for so long until the 60's. Seems odd.

 

[ea56]

Bruce,
You may have misunderstood me, but the White-Westinghouse FL I owned was a 1987 model. And it did reverse direction while tumbling, as did the matching gas dryer, this was one of their selling points, and it may have been the first year for this feature. Somewhere, buried under several saved boxes (I never throw anything away) I have the original sales brochure. Anyway, I don't doubt that tangling was an issue with the earlier Westy FL's. And my Westy did have a solenoid, I can distinctly remember the sound of it when it opened up. You are right though about unbalanced issues. If I wasn't nearby when it did unbalance it could be pretty violent, but easily corrected. I used this machine for 7 years, longer than I ever have used any washer before or since and I never had one major problem, zero service calls and we sold it with the condo and the new owner continued to use the machine for quite a while longer. I liked this FL because of its simplicity and the fact that it always did just what it was supposed to do.
Eddie