POD 4/8/2019
- Thread starter delturner
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I don't remember seeing this ad before.
Todays Picture Of The Day, Last SQ Solid Tub Washers
It wasn't much of a hurrah.
These machines had so many serious mechanical problems that very few even made it close to ten years old before they hit the crusher.
Its funny how many people complain about appliances that don't last today and have forgotten about all the poorly designed machines of the past.
John
It wasn't much of a hurrah.
These machines had so many serious mechanical problems that very few even made it close to ten years old before they hit the crusher.
Its funny how many people complain about appliances that don't last today and have forgotten about all the poorly designed machines of the past.
John
There were some problems machines had back in the day, but a Maytag from that era would have gone for many years, and the only thing that would have needed to be replaced on a Maytag was the belts and a couple of other things, and that would be it. I’ve seen about a dozen or more Maytags from the 60’s and 70’s pop up on Craigslist in the Southern California area
we have gone over this way more times than one can count....
when people bought an automatic Maytag, they thought they were getting the same gyrofoam scrubbing of the wringers....not so...and why do you think the machine only operated with the lid closed?...so people would not notice they were not the same...
gaining the reputation of dependable...yes...for handling, cleaning, scrubbing the same load as a SQ, GE, Whirly/Kenmore....not hardly...
Maytags have to be slightly underloaded to perform well......anything more, and the machine was designed to give-in to the load....the machine came first, not clean clothes...
if you were out to purchase a new machine, the salesman would ask what type of work you did, or types of clothing to be laundered.....if you were more of a white collared worker, Maytag fit the bill.....but if you were a farmer or mechanic, you wanted something heavy duty like a Speed Queen, GE or Whirlpool....
the only reason my 806 outperforms most others is that I have the 50hz pulley, giving the machine the extra kick it always needed...
when people bought an automatic Maytag, they thought they were getting the same gyrofoam scrubbing of the wringers....not so...and why do you think the machine only operated with the lid closed?...so people would not notice they were not the same...
gaining the reputation of dependable...yes...for handling, cleaning, scrubbing the same load as a SQ, GE, Whirly/Kenmore....not hardly...
Maytags have to be slightly underloaded to perform well......anything more, and the machine was designed to give-in to the load....the machine came first, not clean clothes...
if you were out to purchase a new machine, the salesman would ask what type of work you did, or types of clothing to be laundered.....if you were more of a white collared worker, Maytag fit the bill.....but if you were a farmer or mechanic, you wanted something heavy duty like a Speed Queen, GE or Whirlpool....
the only reason my 806 outperforms most others is that I have the 50hz pulley, giving the machine the extra kick it always needed...
Absolutely true and not stated often enough, Martin. The Power Fin agitator was also a big improvement. If you really want to see turnover, put a Power Fin agitator in the old tub with the large solid panel between the perforations on the side and the perforations on the bottom. That really sent the water currents up. While turnover is not everything, there has to be better turnover of the load than there was in the Gyrator agitator automatics. Maytag used to preach for years that it was more important for the agitator to force water through the fabrics that to move the fabrics through the water, but that was to cover up for their poor agitation should anyone figure out how to look in during agitation like I did at a young age. I spotted that lid switch and held it in to watch what was going on. Between the thrashing that fabrics took from those high fins in the narrow tub and the amount of bleach that had to be used to get good cleaning out of those machines, fabrics aged rapidly in Maytags.
When WP came out with the first large capacity machines, they put a big Surgilator with high fins in them. John had a customer with one and when her son or grandson came home to wash clothes, the large load of jeans broke the transmission. WP rapidly redesigned the Surgliator for those machines. A Maytag would have backed off on the motor carriage rollers and have suffered no harm, but it would not have done much washing either. An old repairman/rebuilder that we used to see picking up washers from dealers told us that a Maytag was not going to do anything to hurt itself and he was right. It took a few decades for Maytag's laziness in designing washers, preying on the lack of inquisitiveness of women using them, poor management and riding on the reputation of their wringer washers to catch up to it, but we see the denouement, or comeuppance if you will, in that the company was finally sold off.
When WP came out with the first large capacity machines, they put a big Surgilator with high fins in them. John had a customer with one and when her son or grandson came home to wash clothes, the large load of jeans broke the transmission. WP rapidly redesigned the Surgliator for those machines. A Maytag would have backed off on the motor carriage rollers and have suffered no harm, but it would not have done much washing either. An old repairman/rebuilder that we used to see picking up washers from dealers told us that a Maytag was not going to do anything to hurt itself and he was right. It took a few decades for Maytag's laziness in designing washers, preying on the lack of inquisitiveness of women using them, poor management and riding on the reputation of their wringer washers to catch up to it, but we see the denouement, or comeuppance if you will, in that the company was finally sold off.
The sad thing about it, is that if speed queen had kept the solenoids that operated the wash and spin in the commercial machines that they kept until 1979 instead of changing to a reversing motor for home units they could have remained one of the best heavy duty machines ever made. I think that was their downfall.
a lot of people followed CR like it was the Bible...in their reports, and even today, they rate efficiency, not effectiveness of cleaning from machines...
people who owned SQ ST machines, for the most part wanted the same thing again, of course by this time Raytheon took over, and the consumer was sadly disappointed in what they got.....a reputation ruined too far until Alliance took over...
there wasn't much difference from a commercial machine versus a home machine....yeah, banging solenoids...the reversing motor only added a pause between wash and spin.....same fluid drive, transmission, pump, basically the same internals...energy savings came more from a motor that didn't run the entire time the machine was on...
I always say don't knock a machine until you actually use one, or work on one...there are pros and cons to everything....
best test always for a clutch/slip design is reach in and grab the agitator while its in motion....notice you can stop it...
your not going to stop machines like a 1-18, FilterFlo, Whirlpool/Kenmore, SQ ST...they will power through that load....
people who owned SQ ST machines, for the most part wanted the same thing again, of course by this time Raytheon took over, and the consumer was sadly disappointed in what they got.....a reputation ruined too far until Alliance took over...
there wasn't much difference from a commercial machine versus a home machine....yeah, banging solenoids...the reversing motor only added a pause between wash and spin.....same fluid drive, transmission, pump, basically the same internals...energy savings came more from a motor that didn't run the entire time the machine was on...
I always say don't knock a machine until you actually use one, or work on one...there are pros and cons to everything....
best test always for a clutch/slip design is reach in and grab the agitator while its in motion....notice you can stop it...
your not going to stop machines like a 1-18, FilterFlo, Whirlpool/Kenmore, SQ ST...they will power through that load....
If the old 2-belt Maytag automatic has one major fault, it's that the user can't learn to load properly it if it won't do a damn thing with the lid up. I wouldn't say it needs to be "under loaded", I'd say that it needs to be properly loaded, and a nice full machine gets the clothes cleaner than one that's under loaded.
That said, I work in a filthy warehouse, and sometimes work on our filthy diesel trucks. My 1972 Maytag A606 gets my work clothes as clean or cleaner than any washer I've ever had, and I've had GE Filter Flo washers, belt-drive Whirlpools, direct-drive Whirlpools, and even a Frigidaire 1-18.
There's no such thing as a perfect washing machine, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. I've never had a Speed Queen, but from what I read on this forum, I don't think I'm missing much.
That said, I work in a filthy warehouse, and sometimes work on our filthy diesel trucks. My 1972 Maytag A606 gets my work clothes as clean or cleaner than any washer I've ever had, and I've had GE Filter Flo washers, belt-drive Whirlpools, direct-drive Whirlpools, and even a Frigidaire 1-18.
There's no such thing as a perfect washing machine, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. I've never had a Speed Queen, but from what I read on this forum, I don't think I'm missing much.
Aunt Rita's 1969 SQ was replaced with a WP belt-drive probably sometime between 1982 and 1984.
Perfect Washing Machine..?
I just love these friendly conversations about what cleans/performs better than others...Speed Queen really wasn’t bad, but let’s face it, Norge/Wards outdoes all the others!
I just love these friendly conversations about what cleans/performs better than others...Speed Queen really wasn’t bad, but let’s face it, Norge/Wards outdoes all the others!
