Resurrection of the Whirlpools

[maytag85]

After 2 years of being out of commission, managed to bring this machine back to life albeit altered a bit. Got these consoles from scatpear in Colorado who parted out a 1977 Whirlpool Imperial Mark 18 set, along with the wiring harnesses and other odds and ends that were pulled off from them.

Got the console mounted a couple weeks ago, transferred the water level selector over, made a few other tweaks while I was at it. So far, everything works as it should. Just need to run it through a few more cycle with laundry in it to see how it’ll perform along with seeing if there’s any issues that may surface along with making necessary adjustments.

Still need to get the dryer going (need to double check the wiring etc) but here’s a couple photos of the washer for the time being.

 

[maytag85]

A compilation of various clips as it was being ran through the various cycles. There it appears to be water leaking in one of the videos clips, but realized it was water splashing from out of the tub on the hand washables setting on the regular agitation speed. That went away in time after cranked the water level up and ran it through a few more cycles.

 

[toploadloyalist]

Speed Switches

On a side question, when did those manual speed switch models go down from three to two agitation speeds?

 

[maytag85]

I think it was in the early 70’s sometime. The late 60’s Mark XII’s had 3 speeds, this one only has 2 speeds on it. Will definitely put the gentle washer with fast spin to use once I put this into service sometime this upcoming summer, possibly sometime this fall.

 

[combo52]

Three Speed motors

Went away in 1974 in the lady Kenmore, the imperial Mark, 12 and Frigidaire one to 18 washers.

We were in tough economic times because of the Nixon recession all kinds of things were being cut. A lot of porcelain tops went away around this time too.

Three Speed motors did get a revival in the 90s mostly in whirlpool built direct drive machines, but there were a few others as well. I think there was at least one WCI washer That had a three speed motor for a while.

John L

 

[DADoES]

 
Whirlpool LAA9800 (1974-75) had three speeds, and three tumble speeds on the dryer.

LDA9800 (1976-77) dropped back to two speeds.

 

[Chetlaham]

I LOVE, love push button washers.

 

 

 

 

This is how I imagine the 2025 version of this machine beautiful machine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congrats on this find and thank you for restoring it!

 

[d-todd]

How does a dryer achieve a different tumble speed?

 

[DADoES]

 
WP did it by shifting the belt position on a tapered motor pulley.

 

[maytag85]

Reply #6

No, no, no, no, no. That’s way too restrictive for my tastes. I should be able to select whatever options I want along with cycle times. I almost always do a gentle wash with a fast spin (unless I’m washing permanent press items) when items aren’t particularly heavily soiled. No need to have it constantly operate at 90 mph which not only puts more wear and tear on clothing, but the machine itself. Uses a little more electricity having it operate at full speed all the time as well, might as well only reserve the regular agitation speed for heavily soiled items.

 

[Chetlaham]

Yes for me, I like super duper simple. Press, Press, push, turn, pull, done. Far less that can go wrong.

 

I think exactly like Kirk Rivas here at 1:00 -

 

 



 

 

 

I like any washer modeled after the GE WWC6700PA shown above.

 

 

The two and three speed versions would offer slow/fast with the casuals button depressed. Time, duration and temperature pre-programmed through the fabric switch. No guess work for me. 

 

 

But I understand you- there are many who would want granular control with separate selection combinations. Though that introduces added complexity which I am not a fan of- ie those timers that have 5 or more separate stand alone cycles built into them. Lots of switching going in a few short degrees that must happen in the correct order.   

 

 

 

 

[maytag85]

Reply #10

I prefer TOL with options, flexibility. My Maytag 806 is 46 years old, still working and that’s a TOL machine.

My Whirlpool is a hodgepodge of sorts, it too will be working for quite awhile.

Personally, I think some BOL machines are more harsh since you can’t select the agitate or spin speed. According to a thread qsd-dan commented on many years ago, his grandparents’ had a TOL Maytag 806 from the late 60’s that was in service until the 2000’s, his grandfather (according to qsd-dan) was still wearing clothes from the 60’s/70’s era that were only washed in that particular machine. There’s even towels and sheets (according to qsd-dan) that too were only washed in that particular machine. If those particular items were only washed in a 1 speed BOL machine, would have been discarded a long, long time ago.

Just because something is BOL and basic does not guarantee that items and clothing will last as long.

 

[Chetlaham]

I have to agree with you here, one speed machines that do a great job of cleaning heavily soiled work clothes, rags and towels are often to rough on causal items, blouses, nit sweaters, and fine delicates. You could of course make the agitation more gentle by changing the design of the agitator or its OPMs, but then you would have a difficult time getting good results with heavy fabrics or packed loads for any comparable period of wash time. 

 

 

Personally I think the best machine for complete clothing care were Kitchen-Aid and Kenmore machines that offered 4 motor poles for heavy duty, 6 motor poles for normal, 8 motor poles for hand-wash (what I'd consider actually delicate on a DD), and 8 pole intermittent agitation for fine hand-washables. 

 

Nobody will say it, but I do believe a class of garment care called Heavy Duty exists and needs to be officially acknowledged. The 4 main ones of Normal, Permanent Press, Delicate and Hand-wash are not enough. 

 

 

Some items do best in the fast 180 SPM action of a DD, others do best on 120 SPM slow speed, others are ideal for extra slow 90 SPM, and handwashables are ideal on a speed below 90 spm like 50 SPM. I don't think a motor that could produce less than 800 rpm was ever offered by Whirlpool, but it would have been ideal. 

 

Kenmore was the one that just "got it"         

 

 

 

 

I'd change the handwash plus fine delicate spin speed to extra slow, but Whirlpool or Kenmore might have known something saying otherwise.

 

These Kenmores were nice in that the timer was typically 48 or 52 increments with only two major cycles simplifying and eliminating the failure risks associated with more complex timers.

 

 

 

[agiflow]

Subject drift

I want to know what the purpose of having a stepped spin in the KitchenAid washers was about.The washer drains at high speed then switches to the low speed spin and then steps it up to high.

 

[rinso]

My ex-wife and her husband still have, and use, the 806 pair she and I bought in the 70's. Over all the years, they just kept having them repaired when needed. It's still been cheaper than purchasing a new set, even when they had to replace. He is tech savvy and has replaced the motor and serviced the transmission. When we had the set, I always threatened to roast wieners through the dryer's pilot light access door which exposes the entire gas heating assembly.

 

[DADoES]

 
Stepped-spin is for less wrinkling.

 

[Chetlaham]

I'd think keeping ultra low spin on fine hand-washables would be better for the fabric?

I know Whirlpool does the stepped spin on the PP cycle on some models.

 

[combo52]

Spin speeds and delicate fabrics

You can spin paper towels at 1600 RPMs without damage, it’s all how the machine handles it when speeding up slowly and tumbling, and then going back to a faster spin. The spin speed is immaterial on delicates. The only thing you have to worry about is wrinkles.

John L

 

[circlew]

My 2004 Whirlpool Calypso has a "Heavy Duty" cycle, as one of its many.