Resurrection of the Whirlpools

[pstehle]

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.

I could never understand the idea behind using a two speed clutch rather than a two speed motor. It seems like it would have been much more expensive to build... and I have no clue how the 3 speed versions worked -actually I never bothered to even try to get how the 2 speed clutches worked. Putting the clutch and motor under the sure-to-leak-eventually pump was a stroke of planned obsolescence genius, though!

 

[DADoES]

I could never understand the idea behind using a two speed clutch rather than a two speed motor. It seems like it would have been much more expensive to build... and I have no clue how the 3 speed versions worked -actually I never bothered to even try to get how the 2 speed clutches worked. Putting the clutch and motor under the sure-to-leak-eventually pump was a stroke of planned obsolescence genius, though!

GE also had a 4-speed model. Several brands, including GE via a clutch IIRC, had variable-speed washers for a short time in the 1960s.

 

[Chetlaham]

I could never understand the idea behind using a two speed clutch rather than a two speed motor. It seems like it would have been much more expensive to build... and I have no clue how the 3 speed versions worked -actually I never bothered to even try to get how the 2 speed clutches worked. Putting the clutch and motor under the sure-to-leak-eventually pump was a stroke of planned obsolescence genius, though!

To be honest, neither have I. I am guessing it was so the re-circulation and mini basket could work on all Speeds. Robert might know given his knowledge of the Filter Flo's history and the fact he has two of the first GE automatics ever built.

Personally, and this is just me only talking from my own luddite mentality I would never have produced a two, three or variable speed filter flo. I'd have kept all the models single speed and used removable agitators, soaks and shortened wash periods for delicate fabrics instead of multiple speeds. In the real world it was not uncommon for the machine to quickly lose its slow speed and people would not notice for the remaining decades of use. I think if GE had simply used the speed switch to shift the motor's run winding between one set of timer contacts which ran the motor continuously during the wash period and another set of contacts which ran the motor 2 minutes on, 3 minutes off, two minutes on and repeat it would have been a win-win for everyone.

Maytag had great success with their wash 1 minute, soak 4 minutes, wash 1 minute delicate cycle which would have been a breeze on GE's multi cycle timers.

 

[DADoES]

To be honest, neither have I. I am guessing it was so the re-circulation and mini basket could work on all Speeds. Robert might know given his knowledge of the Filter Flo's history and the fact he has two of the first GE automatics ever built.

That is correct. GE in some instances touted that filtering and drain was always at full motor speed regardless of the agitation and spin speed selection.

JCPenney (rebadged GE) also touted it. This in reference to a rim-flo model: Clutch system works in combination with the constant-speed motor. Changes agitation and spin speed without slowing filtering action or pump-out speeds.