Sunday is Washday!

[macboy91si]

Yay, so I have not been feeling very well lately due to a recently discovered illness so today I was up and about around the house. I drug the Hoover out and fired up the GE for a round of laundry. 3 baskets to be exact and what a blast. 2 dryers and 2 washers going in the kitchen at once! It made me feel a lot better to be doing something as opposed to sleeping all day like I have been

First up:
The GE "set it and forget it" automatic. Loaded this with work pants and let it work it's magic while I get the manual interaction going with the Hoover going

Filling for the wash. GE's are water hogs no doubt:


A dash of Sears Ultra Plus w/Fabric Softener. I like this stuff, just the right amount of FS in it.


GE Ramped Activator taking care of the heavy work. FF hat removed for clarity. Love that sound


More to follow...

-Tim

 

[macboy91si]

Into the Hoover 0519

Since I have the dryer stand for the little Hoover dryer, it's easier to keep them in the kitchen and use them. I washed my work shirts in the duo as well as the socks, underwear and wash cloths afterwards. Oh the sound!

First thing's first! A little scoop Sears Ultra Plus goes a long way. This as used in the GE today has FS in it. This works out great in the twin tub machines as it allows one to use FS without the spotting that can happen with trying to use liquid with the spray rinsing. It's also low sudsing, which is great for spray rinsing.



Going full swing. I love these things, as you can see the Sears detergent doesn't froth up uncontrollably which is really nice. Just turned on the tap for rinsing while the washer is washing. Very efficient!



Automatic Rinse as well! This model has the auto-rinse feature which is nice. You turn on the water tap, set the switch and let the machine do the rest. It fills to a set point and starts the spinner while the water is running until empty and then turns off the spinner. When the water is not soapy, cut the water and flip the switch to spin to get things nice and dry.



The water says it all. With this detergent, one sometimes only needs one cycle of the rinse sequence to get clear water. This is after only one go in the spinner for a load of polo work shirts. Not too bad.



-Tim

 

[andy]

Nice equipment there, Tim! Loved the Filter-Flo GE's! They were awesome machines, and I would love to see them revive this design again.

 

[cfz2882]

i ran my filter flo today too!

 

[macboy91si]

And to Finish Things Off..

The Hoover 0910 dryer steps up to the plate. The matching model to the 0519 washer (and others), it only seemed fitting to use it for finish off the work shirts and add a little humidity to the dry house.

Harvest Gold 0910. I have the matching Gold washer, but I like my Avocado machine much better. Would love to find a green dryer to match. Seen here on the optional RARE dryer stand.



110v and a control dial that would confuse anyone. For the longest time I wrote this dryer off as being beyond useless until I realized I was using it incorrectly! The cycle is determined by which direction you rotate the timer. CLOCKWISE, which is how I'm used to setting a dryer dial starts this dryer in the Permanent Press (low heat & cooldown) cycle, causing ridiculous dry times. You have to turn the dial COUNTER-CLOCKWISE for full heat (Regular Cycle).



Tumbling away. The key to good drying in this dryer is to mix large and smaller items. Small items tend to just stick to the drum, so a larger garment thrown in helps keep everything tumbling. This design is VERY similar to the Maytag DE-50 HOH dryer with a "halo" element up front and blower in the rear. The lint filter and setup are also similar. The only REAL difference is the blower setup. The Hoover uses a motor driven direct blower and the Maytag has a belt-driven unit. You can check out my profile avatar to see the drum a little better.



Laundry day was fun. Anyone have washday photos to post as well?

Thanks for looking!

-Tim

 

[kic]

Awesome combo

Hoovermatic washer and dryer... what more does one need!

 

[mickeyd]

very low sudsing soap

Thanks for the tip on best rinsing in the Hoover TT. Will try your protocol soon. Is anything more fun than washing in the kitchen?

 

[kic]

Hoovermatic/Hoover Twin tub

What are the differences between the two?

 

[macboy91si]

Kitchen Wash

Mickey:
No, I don't believe there is anything more fun than washing in the kitchen. I need more excuses to have portable appliances around the house. Mostly I need more room.

Louis:
I'm really quite find of the set, in a pinch I could easily get by with only these. I wish there was more of a selection of twin tub machines over here, but alas. I loved your Hitachi's by the way.

-Tim

 

[kic]

all the twin tubs I've ever owned

Will try to remember them all...

Giant 6 KG
Supreme 7 KG
Daewoo 7 KG
National (touch control, awesome machine)
National X5 (same as above, but with control knobs)
Hitachi X10 ( various models small and big, old and new)
Philips X5
KIC
Hoovermatics X8
Toshiba X3
LG X2
Defy X6
there were plenty others too like Aim, Mercury, Goldstar, Easy and Westpoint too...

My point is, If I were allowed only one it would be Hoover without any doubt I would choose a Hoovermatic, it all began with a Hoover twin tub!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Tim, how well does the Plus with FS powder clean compared to the normal Plus powder? It that your TOL GE FF?

 

[yogitunes]

I would kill to have my machines in the kitchen again....or at least nearby, like a pantry or mud room.....

nice pics Tim....thanks for the effort

can we see a pic of the GE's control panel

also, did you flip back the fill flume, this will allow the water to spray directly on the clothes, nice waterfall effect also......you know me, I like visual effects....lol

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoovermatics

Glad you indulged yourself Tim, nothing like wheeling those twinnys to the sink, connecting up the hoses and letting the water flow!!, the best powder to us in any twinny is "Automatic" "HE" or "Low Foam" the vigerous wash action means if you use soap powder or high foam you end up "Rinsing for England" as we say over here!!!

I do like the Hoovermatics, but my love is the Servis Supertwins!! just because I grew up with them I suppose!!

The Hoovermatic is called that either because of the linked Heater / Wash Timer or the Automatic Rinsing etc, i.e. "Matics" short for Automatics...heres one of the last Hoover Twinnys made with Jon Jetcone from Boston taking it literally for a spin...watch how fast it shoots the spin water out, and thats in a deep utility sink!!!

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoovermatic..

"Splashmatic"

 

[kic]

thanks chestermikeuk

Can't help wondering why they made these with plastic tubs and not stainless steel like the UK

They really look so good, one would think they were suppose to be like that and hardly look mismatched in colour. BTW, why do you prefer using this washer to the other?

 

[macboy91si]

A Response for Everyone

Louis:
The Hoovers started it all for me as well, I had an old white Hoover when I was a boy and another when I turned 18, I've put many miles on them with no regrets. You've had a lot, are the twin tub washers more of a common item there. Just curious, they were very niche market here and completely disappeared for the most part in the early 80's with Hoover being I believe the last US make to offer one.

Melvin:
For what I have used it for, I can see no difference in cleaning. It seems to be slightly less sudsing and adds only a hint of FS to the final product. It is less grainy than the standard (like flour) and has a slightly different scent. I like it, but still use the orange box for the nasty stuff as it works very well.

The GE in the photo is the new TOL Spotscrubber that I built later last year. 1986 1st year model, originally a Hotpoint washer, I took the guts out of a rusted SS machine. This machine however is pretty worn, it always spins out of balance and bangs in spin. I'm looking for a new transplant patient.

Martin:
I love having laundry in the kitchen. In my old house, I had a big basement but getting down there from the main house was awful especially if you were carrying a laundry basket. I kept the Lady Kenmore portable set upstairs in the kitchen and then the Hoovers and Maytag. I know exactly what you're saying.

I will see if I can upload a pic of the control panel later tonight for you. Here is a quick video I made after I put it together demonstrating the Spotscrubber feature.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

-Tim

 

[macboy91si]

Chatty Cathy

Mike:
The Servis is a grand machine. Here in the US we had the Speed Queen / Simplicity SuperTwin based off the mk70 like you have. No heater of coarse due to the 110v operation, but a very solid machine. There is also something very nice about having an agitator in a twin tub. I have one of these in pieces that I'd love to get running, but I have no source for parts really and the wash tub sump is badly rusted.

Louis:
The US Hoover versions prior to 1971 also had stainless steel tubs, but no heater ever. The choice of plastic facilitated 2 things at the time. One was color, with the early 70's brought tyhe demand for more colorful appliances. the polypropylene tubs could be molded in any choice of colors. The other factor was cost. There was really no need to have the stainless steel tubs in a machine with no heater. The Hoover manuals for the "poly" tub machines rates the tub at 140 degrees F for hot water washes while the stainless models listed 160 as the maximum. I like them both, but the color is nice. I have both of the older models with the metal tubs, the 0510 and the 0512.

I have more Hoovers than I care to admit.

An interesting note, only the original Hoover twin-tub was actually called the "Hoovermatic" in the US. It was in 1957 and it was imported from Great Britain.

-Tim

 

[mickeyd]

"Hoovermatic" in the US. It was in 1957 and it was i

I wonder if it heated? Wouldn't that be a great find.

Mike's silver Hoove'matic is for me the Holy Grail, the one I'd cross the ocean to find, and WILL when the Concorde flies again.I love that sucker.

Wondering if Louis's South African Easy is like ours, or in fact exactly ours, exported.

 

[macboy91si]

Hoover Heat

Nope, unfortunately no US model of the Hoover had a heater. The things have 2 motors and can draw quite a load capacity on their own. I don't think heated 110v washers even appeared at all until much later on and probably in front loaders only. I venture to say that no twin tub washer sold in the US had one?

-Tim