OK, Those of you who have experience with this dryer and might be able to compare it to the earlier 50s WH dryers with the dry setting that shut off just below the ignition point cotton with no cool down, how does this dryer differ? The ad mentions lower temperatures. Does that apply to the auto dry? Thank you.
POD 10-7-17 1958 Westinghouse DRY Button Dryer
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Tom, I was wondering the very same thing when I read the same text. My only experience was with the earlier WH dryers with the exact same criticisms. and those were impressions from when I was 11 to 13 they have obviously stayed with me all this time.
My similar 1960 dryer shuts the heat off near the end of the Auto-Dry cycle, of which there is a cycle choice of low heat Auto-Dry and regular heat Auto-Dry. If you open the door before the cool down starts, you can almost see the load burst into flames its so hot in there! A theory bandied about here is the drying temp had to be so hot because their washers had poor water extraction. If I take a load out of my 1961 Laundromat and put it in the DD Kenmore on spin, there is a lot more water that still comes out of that load.
mayken4now
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Gotta love saving "current"
brucelucenta
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I think it just another advertising gimmick to make it sound as though Westinghouse was doing something profound to try and make their antiquated big clunky tank of a washer and dryer look good. Small wonder they finally designed a top load machine that was at least adequate in comparison to other machines.
Other than a limited lifespan, the front loading Westinghouse washers cleaned well with warm and hot water and a good low sudsing detergent and the spin speed of 500rpm was not terribly much slower than than many other machines. It was a bonus, as one ad for them said, that you save so much in water and detergent that you can buy a new one every 5 years, which came close to the washer's lifespan with moderately heavy use. It's funny that after decades of the testing magazines putting tumbler washers down, they are now the sane high efficiency choice in this country, following most of the rest of the world which was trying to save scarce resources long before we were concerned with the issue. Once Westinghouse got rid of the tilted tub and the tangling it caused, the machines were pretty satisfactory as most of us who have had them have found. I knew a family with 3 little boys who had to get one of the original sets of Space Mates because that was all they had room for and the mother loved the performance so much that when they wore out, she got a pair of the early 60s slant fronts. It would be a few years after these 1958 models that the design would change to the two baffle, non-tilted tub, but that started the grudging average rating in washing ability that the testing magazines had to award them. As for water extraction, our GE dryer did not have to run super hot to dry loads in regular times. If it were not for the apartment and condo designers needing a stack washer and dryer measuring 27" wide, and the replacement market that created, and the power companies that sold them, these machines would probably have died out. It's funny how like with other things, once models from Europe were introduced in the high end markets, the Askos and Mieles, other consumers started exploring the idea of these tumbler machines and found them satisfactory, too.
brucelucenta
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I think there were many of the early machines that suffered a short life span. Norge is another. The Norge dryers would out last all the washers they matched. The life span on many of the washers from the 50's was 5-7 years. I also think that by the time Westinghouse came out with a top load machine to compete it was too late. The automatic washer race had slowed down by then and Westinghouse had a bad rep already. Sort of like Frigidaire when they came out with the jet cone agitator.
arbilab
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Westinghouse family, Dad's entire career. Apparatus and nuclear, but we got appliances wholesale. IINM, W never designed a TL. The first ones with the badge were Easys and the next ones were Whites. Don't remember tangling being a huge issue with the slants. Course when you're 8-18 you're not 'collecting issues' like adults do. Got a square front; besides breaking down a lot mom didn't like it so we got a Weasyhouse TL. She kept it in the divorce and some time after.
arbilab
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Westinghouse family, Dad's entire career. Apparatus and nuclear, but we got appliances wholesale.
IINM, W never designed a TL. The first ones with the badge were Easys and the next ones were Whites.
Don't remember tangling being a huge issue with the slants. Course when you're 8-18 you're not 'collecting issues' like adults do.
Got a square front; besides breaking down a lot mom didn't like it so we got a Weasyhouse TL. She kept it in the divorce and some time after.
She didn't keep the dryer. It lived through 3 FLs and a TL (with a little help from my own pubescent self). Bit of a maintenance liability but nothing I couldn't handle with dad's primitive tools. Yes it got crazy hot. Unloading while still hot was painful.
IINM, W never designed a TL. The first ones with the badge were Easys and the next ones were Whites.
Don't remember tangling being a huge issue with the slants. Course when you're 8-18 you're not 'collecting issues' like adults do.
Got a square front; besides breaking down a lot mom didn't like it so we got a Weasyhouse TL. She kept it in the divorce and some time after.
She didn't keep the dryer. It lived through 3 FLs and a TL (with a little help from my own pubescent self). Bit of a maintenance liability but nothing I couldn't handle with dad's primitive tools. Yes it got crazy hot. Unloading while still hot was painful.
toploader55
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But for the most part...
Don't dryers outlast the washers ?
Don't dryers outlast the washers ?
jeb
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Westinghouse top loaders
Yes early Westinghouse top loaders were Easy purchased from Easy, (Westinghouse badge on them)but Westinghouse did design their own top loader and it was in production may years. C.P.A. (center post agitator)was the abbreviation the factory used for the line.
Yes early Westinghouse top loaders were Easy purchased from Easy, (Westinghouse badge on them)but Westinghouse did design their own top loader and it was in production may years. C.P.A. (center post agitator)was the abbreviation the factory used for the line.
As opposed to the revolving agitator in their early automatics. In those days, they used to really slam center post agitators that tugged and pulled, but then, the people who made center post agitator machines used to slam revolving agitators until they started selling tumbler washers.
arbilab
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It must have been a honey Jeb, with Hupp and then White making them and they still held up.
Index tub if I remember. I wasn't living at home at the time.
Guess dad was saving up to put 4 kids in college. We went straight from the chevron door (I rebuilt more than once) to the square front. Don't recall ever seeing those pictured above in real life; maybe in commercials is all.
Index tub if I remember. I wasn't living at home at the time.
Guess dad was saving up to put 4 kids in college. We went straight from the chevron door (I rebuilt more than once) to the square front. Don't recall ever seeing those pictured above in real life; maybe in commercials is all.
lotsosudz
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Westinghouse Dryers
They were always hot, and their thermostats were the weak link. I can remember pulling sheets out, and burning my hands. My Father was always having to replace thermostats. I think if you paired it with an early slant front machine, you might have needed the extra heat. My mother used the low heat setting a lot.
Hugs,
David
They were always hot, and their thermostats were the weak link. I can remember pulling sheets out, and burning my hands. My Father was always having to replace thermostats. I think if you paired it with an early slant front machine, you might have needed the extra heat. My mother used the low heat setting a lot.
Hugs,
David
norgeway
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We used a slant front dryer for ever
It was wonderful.
It was wonderful.
norgeway
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I dont remember anything
Being too hot, I believe it was identical to the one Robert had in his kitchen, My Aunt got the washer first then the dryer a few years later, when they got a new Maytag set in 67 we got the dryer, I think it was used on low to med heat most of the time, it lasted into the 80s , wish I still had it.
Being too hot, I believe it was identical to the one Robert had in his kitchen, My Aunt got the washer first then the dryer a few years later, when they got a new Maytag set in 67 we got the dryer, I think it was used on low to med heat most of the time, it lasted into the 80s , wish I still had it.
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