Portable Top Load washers

[thomasortega]

this portable is actually a "consul" washer from Brazil, and it's nothing more than an old "Brastemp Clean" that came right after the world washer.

Until today Whirlpool uses the World Washer platform for all Brastemp and Consul models in Brazil and some other brands in south america. (Whirlpool, eslabón de lujo, etc)

It's reliable up to a certain point, specially after they started to make the washers bigger and bigger but kept the same size for the parts.

If i'm not mistaken, this Whirlpool/Kenmore washer is actually made in Brazil.

 

[Chetlaham]

How close is the drive mechanism to the old world washer design?

 

[harpon]

There are some nice various models of smaller portables listed on Amazon. Some are obviously the same manufacturer and listed under different names: Midea, Curtis RCA.

As someone who lives alone- I love the- they are very lightweight and portable. I have a Haier hooked to a laundry faucet I put in in place of an old double sink counter in the bathroom, and that lets me drain it right there too. A semi-permanent set-up and the laundry faucet controls the temp easily. (See my Haier thread below)http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?66272_2

The portables come basically from les than a cubic feet up to 2.5 or 3 feet and then they start approaching more typical top loads in design.

I thought there may be more use ones appearing for sale, but they are still not that plentiful several years later. I still see some whirlpools and small Kenmore units too. There seem to be more listed in Gainesville here all the time, so I guess they are popular with mobile students.

I've had the 1.5 Haier unit two years now and it works wonderfully, and just picked up another newer model used for a song.

 

[launderess]

IIRC

Like dishwashers the market for portable/compact washing machines was never that large. This is why really only a handful of appliance makers historically produced all units either under their own name or rebadged.

Portable dishwashers and washing machines probably had greater demand back in the day when many homes of any size lacked permanent connections.

Built in dishwashers have long since gone from a comfort to something most looking at a new home demand. Washing machines and dryers even for that last holdout (apartments) is fast becoming the same, even here in NYC.

When you think about it a "compact" (but standard size elsewhere in the world) front loader can handle more laundry than a traditional portable top loader with a central beater. Only problem is it isn't portable, but you can built it in or whatever often even where space is tight.

The design that won't die; impeller washers having been around for ages does make sense perhaps for those small apartment/compact top loaders. Removing the central beater does free up room to increase capacity. Making the design adaptable to not just the USA but the world increases the market for what could be an otherwise limited demand.

 

[Chetlaham]

Makes perfect sense. But to be honest its more out of missing what I had. Those world washers were better than DDs in almost all respects. They were gentler, cleaned better, rinsed really well and never suds locked, no matter how hard you tried. I remember using one to avoid the dreaded GE top loader I had in my apartment a decade back, and while I thought at first I made a mistake buying it (I was really skeptical and was convinced it would be only a hair better) it actually turned out far better than I expected it to be. To be honest I ended up liking that little washer more than my previous DD. It was a Kenmore which even came with a Hand-wash cycle. Only down fall was the machine would do a 180 after every spin cycle came to an end, but latter models took care of that by running the pump (and in turn splutch break solenoid) after the drive motor shut off letting the tub coast to a stop. I miss the little critter. A seal leak did it in (it was used) and the latter version I ended up giving away when I moved and acquired a full size belt drive Kenmore.