Something "new" to play with (#2)

[revvinkevin]

(Before I forget, the "Something "new" to play with #1" is in the Imperial forum)

Last Thursday I called a friend to ask about picking up some tennis balls from him for my friends dog. During the conversation he asked "How's your back, do you have a strong back? Can you help me move something?"

Well it turns out he just bought a new TOL Kenmore Elite He5T steam washer on closeout (60% off!) and wanted me to help him move it in the house.... so I did. I helped level it, connect it and test it (of course!).

So... this washer, the one he replaced, was sitting in his driveway and was going to be put out on the curb. Of course I said "I'll take it!" The best part is we loaded it into his van and he brought it to my house too!

Yes folks, it's a first gen, Whirlpool Calapso... er.. Calypso. OK, Yes I know a LOT of you out there poo-poo this machine, but hell, I've never played with one, so I gotta at least PLAY with it, right? RIGHT!!

 

[revvinkevin]

The control panel.

He explained it has had a couple of "issues" over the years... but ONLY problems with the electronics... or more correctly, the membrane control panel. He repaired it himself... hence the tape holding it in place.

 

[revvinkevin]

So far I've run 4 loads through it in addition to this load when I was first testing it. I through in EVERYTHING I had in the garage (aside from furniture blankets). This load had 7 T-shirts, 6 bath towels, 3 hand towels, 3 wash cloths, 2 pairs of jeans and a 1 pillow case! That was was enough to choke most any other residential machine (I think)!

Once the load was finished I put everything in the LG (still wet) for a higher speed spin and all this filled the drum 3/4 of the way! Wow! Plus all this was too much for one dryer so I split it and used 2 dryers.

So far I really like the "Bulky Items" cycle. I washed two pillows from the couch in one load, another I washed a thick queen sides comforter. Sure I probably could have done those in the LG, but I think... scratch that.. I KNOW the Calypso did a much better job of saturating the items, due to the recirculating water flow.

 

[revvinkevin]

At full spin rpm......

Interesting! A camera with flash will normally "freeze" the motion... I find it interesting there is a "blur" in the photo.

Does anyone know the spin speed RPM on these machines? It seems to be much faster then any other top loader I have.

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[strongenough78]

Kevin

From what I've read the spin speed is either 800 or 850 rpm.

 

[foraloysius]

Great find, I love the wash drama of these machines. I think the early models had a spin speed of 800rpm, not sure about later models. You filled up that machine good, most videos and pictures I saw with this machine there was less laundry in it. Have fun with it!!

Louis

 

[DADoES]

EEEEK!! Everybody knows those things are awful with a capital A and horrible with a capital H and junk with a capital J. Run, run far away! ;-)

All Calypsos spin max 800 RPM, unless Kenmore had theirs programmed faster so it could legitimately be touted as better than Whirlpool's.

If you're not aware, pressing Extend Spin with the power off and then Start selects an 8-min Spin-Only at full speed.

You can see all the spin and nutate speeds via diagnostic mode. With the machine off, press Soak - Cycle Signal - Soak - Cycle Signal. Then press Water Temp once. Rinse-Spin cycle button toggles between nutate (light off) and spin (light on). Cycle selections progress through the motor speeds lower to higher, left to right. Press Start to run the motor. IIRC, max spin speed is reached at Wool, Hand Wash doesn't go any higher. The Wash light flashes while the motor is accelerating or decelerating to the target speed. It stops flashing when the target speed is reached, and then the Rinse light also comes on. Not necessary to stop before switching between nutate and spin, the motor control board will stop the motor automatically before reversing. The lid switch must be triggered for the motor to run. Extra Rinse toggles the pump on/off in drain direction. Extend Spin (I think) runs the pump in recirculate direction. Selecting a water temp will run the hot/cold valves accordingly. Soil Level toggles the water flow between the four sources (detergent, softener, bleach, fresh spray). It won't fill any further after the pressure switch triggers. Diagnostic will auto shut off after 3 mins. There are at least two other diagnostic modes, one runs a "quick" test cycle, the other tests the keypads.

 

[askomiele]

Wow

that seems to be the biggest load in a calypso I've ever seen! It seems to do the job very well!

 

[frigilux]

Despite their issues, these 1st generation machines will be great collector's items. They'll be seen as the industry's first attempts to move away from traditional-agitator top-loaders.

I have yet to be converted to wash plate/impeller machines, but I appreciate the industry's efforts to try new washing formats to improve energy/water usage (and, dare I say it, even cleaning ability) in top-loaders.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool front-loading advocate, but I do admit that I sometimes think it would be fun to pick up a Bravos or Cabrio pair and use them for a year or two to get some first-hand experience with an impeller machine. So far, given the cost involved, it's been a very fleeting notion, LOL.

Have fun with it!

 

[toggleswitch2]

Free-licious is delicious! Cant beat that price with a stick!

Congrats!

Great collectible!

 

[danmantn]

I always like the blue fabric softener area...kinda like a visual cue for where to put the Downey.

 

[yogitunes]

Those dispensers are self cleaning....no build up there...the first gen fabric softner dispenser was flat on the bottom and sometimes water would lay in the bottom...the newest ones have a concave funnel near the center to pull all the water out......

DaDoEs beat me to all the functions, and we love him for his knowledge, but if you get lost on these, open the front panel and take out the tech sheets, all the info is there.....and if needed I have a repair manual for these....had to have it, couldn't live another day without it!

but again, that waterfall brings back memories of a GE filter flo....finally, some DRAMA in action....Cabrio/Oasis would be more exciting if they had a waterfall like this, constantly flooding the clothes with a sudsy lather.......

 

[askomiele]

Yogi...

I agree with you! I think people would accept the oasis, cabrio things much more if they had a constant waterfall showering the clothing! They would still be waterefficiant but also brillant cleaners! I thought whrilpool had an automatic 'fluff' filter on the recerculationcircuit, but apparantly not. I saw once a rubber bag with nippels on the inside is it that kind of thing I mean...

Still Calypso wash the first American toploader I was fond off... maybe they have to work out the bugs and relance it...

 

[yogitunes]

Whirlpool claims that the Calypso has a FLUSH FILTER, self cleaning type....but ask any repairman and no such thing exist...not even shown on the diagram schematics...and Whirlpool customer service will investigate and call me back with an answer, been waiting 4 years for that answer...

but even when they had the Self Cleaning filter on the direct drive units, its just a comb ring attached to the perforated tub, I'm not convinced that this actually functions....

in the belt drive units you either had a waterfall type filter which you cleaned manually or with a few hoses and valves a "TRUE" filter unit that trapped lint, and reversed when draining to clean itself...but all in all...I have taken out the self cleaning modules on many machines and never noticed it was ever gone....

 

[combo52]

CALYPSO FILTER

The calypso has a self cleaning sediment filter its the molded box on the bottom rear of the outer tub. When water is being recirulted the water flows over two baffles in the filter box, when the drain pump revises to drain the two check balls change positions and flush the heavy soil down the drain. The Cabrio and the Oasis both have two water pumps one is used to recirulate water over the clothes during wash and rinse. The calypso has far better agitation than the Cabrio and Oasis but is far more complex and expensive to build and unfortunately less reliable.

 

[revvinkevin]

Thank you Vern, Louis, Dadoes and Yogitunes for all the information, that is a great help! I will have to try running through all those "test modes". I did know about the "spin only" option because of my KM Elite Catalyst washer. It too has electronic touch controls and has similar features and options, though it has the regular "Triple-Action" agitator.

So far I actually like this machine, especially for bulky items! It's interesting how the "Bulky Items" cycle works. It starts out like all cycles with a very slow spin and the recirculation on, then it does the "wash plate wobble" w/recirc for a few minutes, then back to the slow spin/recirc, back to spin/recirc and finally back to wash/recirc.

The one thing I'm not fond of is… each time the recirculation starts after the main wash (for the rinses) it flows sudsy soapyness out of the recirc flume for 10 to 20 seconds, like the GE filter flo, but more.

Yes I know the Calypso's had problems and a class action lawsuit because of it (the previous owner of this one missed the lawsuit, unfortunately), but so far I really like the machine and the way it works. Granted it's not "gremlin free", I have to unplug it when not in use and sometimes while in use it will beep as if I'm pressing buttons on the control panel. Overall I can't complain because I have $0.00 into it and it was delivered to my door for free to boot!