The Need for Speed -Whirlpool

[delaneymeegan]

So, you know how I frequently complain about how much work it is to manually return the sudsy water to my washer. It's just back breaking. [heavy sigh]

A picture of me about 10 years ago.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Look what I got !

My heavy, work-a-day laundry blues have finally come to an end.

 

[delaneymeegan]

When I saw the words "water saver" I thought, no, It couldn't be.

I checked around the back and OMG, this puppy is for real. Every gay boys dream come true, an authentic sudsaver washer !
I was so happy, I almost piddled.

The most disturbing thing: the drain hose. Look at.... What the ? It's almost like the person who had this before was dumbfounded by the fact that it had 2,
yes TWO, drain lines.
"whateva, we only gots the one drain so we'll do some rerouting..."

Now, I think its pertinent to mention that the person who sold this to me (this was a mom & pop type appliance store that's been in business for 35+ years, though under different managers in the past) ..... was the same age as the machine. He is of a 2nd generation Cuban/Mexican decent and he was apparently the manager of the place. Seemed nice enough.

He was going on, reciting his canned schpeel, about how they only fix Whirlpool made washers and dryers, and warranty, and blah, blah. I asked him if they get a lot of suds machines in. "No, not really. I mean if we do, they usually got pump problems, stuff in there."
Then he's like "yeah, Whirlpool did this "thing" with the two funky drain lines." Like he has NO idea, what a sudsaver is. LOL.

With the hose assembly clearly installed on the machine (I removed it), they weren't intending to sell this to someone specifically looking for a machine with a sudsaver. There was no sign on the machine calling peoples attention to it, either.
hmm. Imagine that.

 

[extmaxspin]

Any idea how old this is? You don't have a money shot posted to be certain, but I'm sure that's got to be of the direct drive era.

I had no idea Whirlpool even made Suds Savers, under ANY brand, once they ended the old belt drive platform. I've got to think you've found a very unique machine, which when new was probably a special order only item.

Enjoy your treasure!!

 

[washdaddy]

Mark- That is a direct drive machine.

Delaney as for the age- this is a ballpark guess but I think it's around the early to mid 80's which would be 30-35 yrs old. That machine is definitely a treasure to be found. You were lucky on finding it.

If you post the serial# and model# of the machine someone here will be able to give you a more detailed answer regarding it's age.

Hope everything works on your new found treasure without any problems. It should last you for some time.

 

[delaneymeegan]

In terms of age, this is about 1995. I have a friend who bought a similar generation new (non-suds) washer and dryer in 1997, that had the same graphics.

I have only seen one other Whirlpool made subsaver washer in person. That was in about 1998 and it was at Sears. It was a Kenmore with a black control panel. That I think was the last year Sears did the boxy control panel which had a defined hood, the likes of which they had been doing since the beginning of the direct drives in 1986. On the KM, there was actually a knob for controlling the suds valve, similar to a FF GE. I don't think there have been any more suds models, by any manufacturer, since the year 2000.

I think Whirlpool did offer a DD suds model in the 80s, with a tub mounted valve system. Not sure exactly how that worked. Would be interesting to learn more on that. I remember seeing it in the brochures, though back then I resisted sudsavers like they were a plague. lol.

I finally got it hooked up today.
Last night I cleaned the water solenoid as it was brown with rust residue, and the screens really needed cleaning. Whoever had these, must have had very rusty pipes, or iron in their water. After cleaning as much as would come off, I sprayed the valve with vinegar and put baking soda in there, to soak over night. I also soaked the screens in the same overnight. I washed them this morning and put it back together.

Installed the hoses as shown and did a trial run to make sure all was working, and clean out the rust residue AND the ubiquitous gunk that accumulates in hoses and comes out on the first run through of a used machine. It ran perfect. That valve really makes a 'clamp' noise when its activated.

I need to treat the base of the tub with a rust remover, perhaps CLR, something that won't damage it. ....And wouldn't you know, no mention on the underlid instructions on how to properly use my Sudsaver. :-( I just have no idea. lol.

I was shopping CL last night and was amazed at how many same generation (non-suds) Whirlpools I saw. Starting with the 7th pic. is some I found.

Enjoy.

 

[washdaddy]

Looking at the dial of the machine you will see that some of the cycles have suds store on the them at the end of the wash cycle.

The longer drain hose is your suds hose. water will come out of that hose when the marked "suds store" hits. when you want to return the water to the machine to use again- set the machine for suds return. It will suck the water out of the sink you stored the water in except for the last inch perhaps which is where any sediment in the water has settled. Once the machine has finished returning the water back to the washer, set the dial to the cycle you want and it will add any additional water needed to reach whatever level you have the machine set for.

The shorter drain hose is for when the machine is emptying any water that isn't being saved (rinse water, spinning, and the perm press wash water)

So needless to say you need two options for draining-
1-long hose- either sink or perhaps tub or can for saving wash water water and returning it to the machine. (Note whatever you decide you don't want the hose to reach the very bottom of the container. it should be about an inch short.)
2-short hose- either another sink or standpipe for the to use for all other drain purposes.

Hopefully this answers your questions on suds saving.

 

[lordkenmore]

I can't say how WP does it, but on Grandma's BD Kenmore, it automatically drained into the storage tub at the end of the Normal Cycle. If you want to save the water, you have a stopper in the tub drain. If you don't want to save the water, you have the drain open. And if you only have a storage tub of some sort that doesn't have a drain connection, you have the supreme joy of figuring out some way of draining the water from that tub. Or else use a cycle that doesn't save the water. It seems to me some suds saver systems used a system where you could defeat the suds saving by a control panel switch, but don't quote me on that.

To get the suds back, you set the timer dial to Suds Return.

Note: some cycles don't do suds saving. Permanent Press, for example. I seem to me I read in a manual the suggestion that the way PP works dilutes the water too much, defeating the purpose of saving water.

They probably don't have instructions on the lid because they probably use the same lids with instructions on as many machines as possible. I think my current Shredmore may even mention "Features not available on all models" or something like that. Plus by the time that machine shipped, the only people buying them were probably women like my grandmother who had a suds saver on a 60s Kenmore, and needed a new washer, and got suds saver because that's what they'd always had.

 

[lordkenmore]

Another point that should be clarified: does the tub have to be empty of clothes when doing suds return? For some reason, I'm thinking that's the case with some washers that might have agitator movement during the suds return or something.

I honestly can't remember how my grandmother's washer worked, but hers was BD, and one assumes that it would have been in "neutral drain" mode (except running backwards).

 

[lordkenmore]

And one last thing, what an amazing find this washer was! Suds Saver is one of my dreams, and finding a rare version is really neat. I can't imagine very many machines had this feature by the time this washer was made.

I'm not the #1 fan of WP DD. I recently called the one I use a "Whirlpoo", and have thought I might not ever have DD again if I can help it. But if one with Suds Saver came along...

 

[DADoES]

 
Belt-drive KM/WH of years past agitated during suds returning.  Direct-drive reasonably does as well, the motor must run in the agitate direction for the pump to push water into the tub.

 

[fester]

Nice score !

I'm still trying to find a suds saver glass back Maytag. My local used appliance guy thought I was friggin nuts when I posted a reward for old machines. The list was Hobart kitchen aid DWs, frigidaire thumpers of any era, washer dryer duos, glass back tags, wringers and anything fifties - sixties looking. That stuff is rare down here. If it's not kept in climate control, the humidity rusts it to pieces.