POD 10/22/2022 GE Versatronic Washer

[appnut]

OK, I"m stumped. Trying to figure out The 3rd toggle swith, what would that be fore? the control panel. I'm assuming the toggle switches are wash & rinse water temps. What's the 3rd toggle swith for? Then the little knobs to the right are for the variable wash & spin speeds? Is the little knob to the right of that the variable water level or extra rinse?

 

[appnut]

Well I answered my own question, found an old thread with close-ups of the panel of a pair.

 

[bajaespuma]

Here's a Member's beautiful machine:

Hotpoint introduced this feature before the parent company in 1967, but sales must have been so meager that it only lasted for a year.

 

On this '69 model, it would have had a solid porcelain green (Heavy Duty 16 {same size as the V-12's})tub.On the '70 models, they introduced the "Heavy Duty 18" tub (3" deeper) which was light blue. I don't know if anyone has done a posting on these governor -controlled variable speed models, but I can't believe that the differences were more significant than the 2 or 3 speed options. This model was discontinued by 1973.

 

I'd still take one of these over all the trashy top loaders sold today.

 

[combo52]

Variable speed top load automatic washers

We’re a complete bust in sales because they did nothing that three speed machines didn’t already do, it was totally unnecessary to have speeds in between to have the type of clothing care desired

And the variable spin speed was even more worthless.

Hi Ken yes it would be cool to see you one of the verastronic washers it actually worked, however I doubt even if you found a brand new one it would work for long those machines barely made it out of warranty before they were converted to one or two speed mechanical clutches.

Far less durable than any cheap Toploader washer built today, the clutch system at GE in Frigidaire used was ridiculous Lee complex and prone to early failure. I never saw one of either brand that actually worked, saw quite a few on the scrapheap when they were not very old.

Funny that the other five brands of
variable speed Toploader washer all had GE variable speed motors in them which gave much less trouble.

 

[circlew]

My former neighbor Thelma had hers until the mid 80's, when they got Kenmores in the Toast color. The set lasted from '68 until around '85, so that was about 17 years. I will have to say they always took exceptional care of anything they had.

 

[tomturbomatic]

We had a Frigidaire loaner with infinite speeds from the Roller Matic mechanism from the store that took our machine to fix. It had a magnetic clutch that heated up on the first load and would not spin fast enough to even get the tub completely emptied of water for the next load.[this post was last edited: 10/24/2022-21:47]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I think that infinite speed is a very novel feature--too bad it could not be had in much more machines, and maybe in today's...

--- Dave

 

[pulltostart]

Doesn't our webmaster have a 1958 General Electric Versatronic washer?

 

lawrence