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roto204

roto204

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Our beloved Montgomery Ward topload impeller dishwasher pooped the bed last week (the GSD1250 is now in its place, so that's okay). Tonight, our equally beloved Wards top-loader finished the cycle at 10:00 PM with a full load of clothes and hot water in it. Mysteriously, the timer had advanced to the end of the cycle, but it was apparent that the clothes had not.

A bad week for Electric Avenue, to be sure.

Doinking around didn't yield anything; the timer motor ran, but that was it. I thought that if the motor had died, surely if in the agitate portion of the cycle, it'd fill if you held the infinite water level control to "Reset" like it will do normally.

Nope.

Okayyyy. I called in a lifeline to help brainstorm this one. While on the phone, the machine grudgingly agitated-kinda, but would spin, so I took advantage of the opportunity to eject the water.

What could it be--bad capacitor? Motor? Timer contacts? Lid switch? Luck?

After unloading the clothes, I discovered--oop! Couldn't unload the clothes. One of the percale sheets had lodged itself under the agitator between the skirt and bearing, and jammed the transmission so solidly that the motor couldn't do much more with it.

A quick dismount of the agitator and extraction of the now lovely and crepe-paper-textured sheet resolved the issue, and all's well again with the world.

I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever had this happen to me. Kudos to WCI for their thermal motor cutoff; it works.

Has this ever happened to any of you? After seemingly endless minutes of wire-poking and vicarious consultation of doctrine, I felt like a yutz.
 
Yutzos unite....

I have a similarly tragically embarrassing story myself. If I made those details public up here I'd be run outta this place on a rail. Maybe I'll tell ya 'bout it sometime "off-site" :p
 
awwww man!!!

that was a pretty suspenseful story, but i am soooo glad to read that everything was alright with your washer!!!

i haven't had a that happen to me & i hope it doesn't cuz i'll probably be freaking out until i see what the problem is. and i have to laugh (in relief) too!!!
hm hm hm....

hey roto204, thank you for sharing that story. now if anything similar should happen to me, i'll remember to check for any clothes lodged up under the agitator and around the agitator post.

;o)
 
Only thing comparable was my first washer "repair" when I was about 9. Baby sock escaped the drum of our slant Westy and lodged in the pump, dead stalling it.

What I DON'T remember is how I got the cover off and the sock out without 8 gallons of water piddling on the floor. Maybe it did. I'd mopped before, like the time I put laundry soap in the dishwasher.

Didn't 'know' laundry could glom a whole agitator. But I've been known to chant "ANYthing is possible" so there you are.
 
Nate-- Your WCI reference leads me to believe the washer has an indexing tub. If so, I recall sheets getting twisted into unbelievably horrid knots/ropes in my 2005 Frigidaire top-loader. Don't remember anything going under the skirt, though...

Wild! Just when you think you've seen everything, right?

How the cowboys do it:
 
Clothes Caught Under An Agitator

As A service tech I we have seen this more times than I can remember, it is certainly MUCH more likely with a washer with an indexing tub.

DC is full of condos that have a Frigidaire built GE branded 27" top load stack washer-dryer that reads [ A Quality Product Of The General Electric Co. ] LOL. It is funny how GE puts this phrase on some of the junky appliances that they source.

Anyway we are often pulling stuck clothing out from agitators in these machines, and if the washer does not destroy the clothing the dryer will. After as few as 6-10 years of use the front dryer bearing glides are so worn that clothing starts to get stuck in the gap at the bottom of the dryer drum and this leaves nasty rusty brown streaks on clothing. The other big problem with these washers are cracked agitators and agitator drive blocks when folks overload a little too much, overall these aren't great washers but they often do last a good while if the usage is light and they get reasonable care.
 
Thanks, everyone!

I feel better now :-) I hadn't contemplated the indexing-tub angle--that would account for a lot of it, I'd bet. *shakes fist at sky* Dang you, Westinghouse!

"So what happened to the top load impeller dishwasher"

I need to flip it over and see. I started a cycle, and it filled, washed, drained, all normally--then went to fill for the second wash. The filling part went okay, but I noticed a distinct lack of impeller action. Sure enough, again, the timer motor was running, but no other love. (Maybe this is a Wards exclusive.)

In this case, I could get the machine to fill on other segments, as well as run the remote drain pump. So, I drained it, finished the dishes by hand (horrors! :-) ), and inspected everything; it looks fine, and I tried connecting a test cable to the impeller motor terminals, and no love, so I suspect the little Westinghouse nonserviceable motor underneath has developed an open winding or some such. I'm going to borrow a continuity tester to verify. The rest of the machine (exterior paint flaking notwithstanding) is in perfect shape, so it merits investigation.

"if the washer does not destroy the clothing the dryer will"

LOL That's great to know, John--and I love the part about GE-sourced machines. Maybe there are quotation marks around "Quality"? :-)

Happily, we have a '78 Kenmore gas dryer paired with this, that's getting its rebuild next week. It's far more forgiving (and durable) than what would be the twin to this. :-) Roger has some great stories about what happens to these when people run them to death, resulting in the bearing failing and dumping the drum into the heating element.

We'll be sure to go easy on it in the future. I'm also gearing up to start the rebuild of the '63 slant-front to give it a breather.
 
I unfortunately have to put up with one of those Frigidaire stack units since that is what is provided by the mgmt. co. that runs the apartment complex I live in. Surprisingly is doesn't do a bad job as far as cleaning goes but I certainly do miss true temp. washing. This machine dumbs them down.
The comedy ensues though every time I wash a load of sheets in the machine. No matter how you put them in the machine it is always a game of tug of war with it to get them back out because of the twisted up mass of ropes that are there when you open the lid when it finishes the cycle. I've never had anything snag under the agitator but thanks to the indexing tub it sure likes to twist sheets into a rope. I just wish there was someway that you could disable the indexing without affecting it any other way.
 
Wards

Here in Tucson, we had the main anchor at the El Con Mall, which opened in '61 and ultimately wore its early-seventies blue-bar logo to the end. I can't find any pictures of it, which either means that it wasn't spectacular enough to photograph, or that shoppers took their cameras, fresh from Wards, outside--only to find they didn't work.

Given my above experience, I have my suspicions.

It's now a Target, like so many Wards buildings became, including the Target I worked at in Kansas City, which still has the Wards storeroom underneath, even though the building at ground level was razed.

I like Wards merchandise because it's not Sears. I swam in Sears throughout my childhood, and familiarity breeds contempt, even if it's higher-quality contempt. :-)

roto204++7-9-2014-16-20-57.jpg
 
I thought Wards washers were made by Norge. At least I remember a Consumer Reports washer test from the Eighties that said they were Magic Chef built versions or the old Norge design...or is it a faulty memory?
 
"I swam in Sears throughout my childhood..."

 

Same here! I had a severe case of Frigidaire envy for 15 years.  While in junior high I swore I'd never have anything with a Kenmore, Silvertone, or Craftsman label in my home.  My parents bought everything at  Sears.

 

My contempt has evolved a bit; I have a Kenmore microwave and a Kenmore vacuum cleaner.  But that's it!
 
Wards Impeller dishwasher motor stall

This may be a long shot, but my 62 Monkey Wards impeller dishwasher suddenly stopped working after the first tests I did with it.  After I did my fist-shaking at the sky, I fooled around with the overload protector at the rear of the machine - the 'reset' button had gone out of alignment and tripped the motor off.  I shook out some loose bits out of the casing and the motor restarted again.   Ya never know... 
 
Malcolm--  I don't grill steaks often, but have had great luck with rib eyes from Sam's Club.  Sounds like Costco has a good meat counter, too.

 

Sandy-- You are so right about the meat counter at Fareway Foods.  There's one in Worthington, MN, which isn't far from me and the quality of the meat is great.  Unfortunately,  Fareways aren't open on Sunday, which is often when I'm in Worthington.
 
I recently had a look at a Kenmore (Whirlpool DD) washer that had apparently made a noise similar to an explosion, some smoke and didn't spin after that. When I tested it, I manually advanced the timer to spin and it did spin slowly. Then I saw some smoke coming out of the capacitor.  It was just a few years old and I noticed some of the windings on the motor had darkened but a replacement capacitor was cheap and I thought it might be OK if I'd just replace it.

So after I replaced the capacitor, I started the washer, let it agitate and when it started to spin, there was another loud bang and smoke from the new capacitor! Then I noticed the timer knob had not advanced from the position I left it in when it was filling for the wash. I didn't understand how the timer knob stayed stuck in "wash" and the washer had started to spin but I figured it had to be related to the problem!  The owner didn't want to spend more than 10 bucks on that washer so I didn't investigate further!
 
You are not hallucinating

"I thought Wards washers were made by Norge"

Wards sold Westinghouse and Norge concurrently for a long time; the Signature 15 was the Westinghouse design and the Signature 18/20 was the Norge. Here's a pic that shows both on the same sales floor, from the excellent Pleasant Family Shopping blog. You can see the Westies hanging off in the far background; I think the foreground is Norge-o-rama, and of course, the Her Royal Pain set are elevated on the platform. :-)

"I had a severe case of Frigidaire envy for 15 years."

Me too, Eugene! I've only had the Envy for 9 years, though, because my first pulsator Frigidaire encountered was on the homepage of this site. :-) I never knew such a thing existed.

"I fooled around with the overload protector at the rear of the machine"

You know, Paul, that's a danged good idea. I had checked to be sure it had not popped, but maybe it has something to do with it? Then again, I tried a test cord on the motor, and nothing. I'll come back to it with a fresh view and see.

"Maybe there's a sheet stuck in the dishwasher too..."

Would it be a whole lot different than the action on those Hitachi GE portables? ;-) Just think, with the dual-fill dispensers, you've got room for detergent and softener. It's almost a Dispensomat!

"There are some nice DD Kenmores on Craigslist. :-) "

LOL!!! So true, and that might be the footnote of it all someday...

"smoke coming out of the capacitor"

Phil, that is odd. Kind of the "fool me twice" phenomenon. I wonder what the deal with that was? Sounds like an electrical issue elsewhere. I first thought about the capacitor on this machine, but was intrigued that it was able to spin with no issue. Now we know why, I guess...

roto204-2014071017271404091_1.jpg
 
And we were a Montgomery Ward family: Coldspot refrigerator, Signature washer & dryer, Airline television set, PowrKraft (?) tools. Loved how Wards copied Sears "Sears Best" with "Wards Finest' on certain appliances. BTW, I have the exact same model washer that's featured in the front of the photo above.
 
Ward's Refrigerators

You'd think I'd be an authority on all things Ward, but we only owned one of their refrigerators briefly and my mom bought it used from a co-worker (at the time they both worked at Ward's, of course).  It was a noisy '65 frost free, top freezer, single control Frigidaire re-badge that offered two scenarios:  Optimum fresh food temperature and soft ice cream, or firm ice cream and firm fresh food.  As with virtually any contraption Ward's sold, it was an epic FAIL.

 

I think the refrigerators may have been Signature, but the freezers were Tru-Cold.   It's possible both were badged Tru-Cold, either part of the time or until, mercifully, Ward's folded.
 

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