POD October 19, 2020 Frigidaire Deluxe automatic washer

[turquoisedude]

Quelle coincidence! I _finally_ got my 55 Frigidaire Pulsamatic (aka Deluxe) washer back into service this weekend.  I spent over 6 months without a single Frigidaire washer or dryer in the Ogden Laundry... I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms!

The 55 is a machine with lots of Automaticwasher club history.  Jetcone Jon saved it from the Chatham dump and it has been fostered by several others over the years.  It came to me from Ben in Iowa back in 2017.  I had a little trouble getting it to spin - Ben suspected the starting switch in the motor was the cause.  It only took me until early this year to investigate...LOL   I cleaned the switch but still had spin troubles - turned out the timer was to blame.  A wash load on Saturday ran through a full cycle perfectly and the Frigidaire pulsator tangled the clothes nicely...LOL 

 

Maybe now I'll figure out why my 51 Unimatic likes to blow fuses when spinning...

 

[turquoisedude]

Video proof!

Here are a couple of short videos, taken on my phone, of the maiden wash!  I need to do a better video of this unique washer...  

 



 



 

 

[qsd-dan]

Interesting..

My initial assumption was that the shorter stroke would have contributed to less tangling. I guess that's just the nature of pre Rollermatic agitators. Fascinating mechanism and worth the hassle though. Thanks for the vids.

 

[hippiedoll]

VERY COOL...

Can't wait for the "better video" you mention to record!

 

[appnut]

Paul, would this happen to be the very same washer that our revered webmaster had at his house during the Minneapolis wash-n August 2001?

 

[turquoisedude]

Bob, it is possible... I am pretty sure that this washer was in Robert's collection at some point! 

 

[vacbear58]

“No lazy lift and dip wash action”

I wonder if they were taking a pop at Westinghouse or Bendix here, or maybe both. It reminds me very much of the Hoovermaic ads of only a couple of years later where they described what was clearly an agitator as a “lazy, wishy washy action” - well in both cases they certainly moved the laundry through the water, even if it was with very different wash actions. And of course they both had a reputation for tangling