The Very Best Combo Ever In History!!

[combo52]

1957 HOTPOINT COMBO

WOW it would be fascinating to know the whole story of what happened to this promising looking combo. It does seem to make sence that HP got threatened with a massive law suite from Bendix for them to give up on and recall a machine that they spent millions designing and building. Jon you say the patent may have expired around 1960, that may explain why SQ introduced a machine that was the same design[ but down sized to 25 1/2" wide ] in 1961 as the 1957 HP combo. It is also interesting that WH slant front washers all used two shocks from 1959-1963 and interestingly they were Bendix shocks. 

 

It would be so cool to know how some of these things came to be, there may even people still living that know some of these answers.

 

[spin-it]

This is fascinating information especially to a newbie. Was it just Avco's stronghold on the combo patents or FL's in general.? Nowadays you can barely tell the difference between a WP, Maytag, LG, Smsung FL? Have patent laws relaxed over the years? I now understand the scarcity of these machines. Are any of these combos still out there? I would think the GE or LKM would be the most available. Thanks for the photo spread on the HP. Would still love to find info drawings on the drive systems of the combos.

 

[combo52]

US BUILT COMBOS

Kevin the worlds largest collection is right here in Beltsville Md. get in touch and come visit.

 

[laundromat]

To this day, I have no clue why the companies making full size combos (LG,Daewoo,and Samsung) aren't making them available here in 220 volt version as well as 110 volt gas.Now that front loaders are popular as well as upstairs laundry rooms, why these have yet to come around is beyond my comprehention.The full size LGs I sold worked great and their owners love them. the trick to speeding them up is to wait until the end of the final spin and remove half the load.This enables the smaller load to dry faster and then you reset the dry program to dry the rest.If they were able to increase the wattage and/or make the heater a gas one,the cycle time would be minimized.In as much as people do laundry in their own sort of way where they wait sometimes days to remove it from the washer to move the now smelly wash into their dryer,if they had a combo,they'd be set.The time between the final spin and the actual transfer from the washer to the dryer varies from 5 minutes to 24 hours.With all the millions LG has profitted,you'd think they'd have at least on trial model out.Especially now that they're on the top line with Sears Holdings.

 

[easyspindry]

The combos of the early 1950's . . .

. . . were popular for a while for those who could afford to buy one and then afford to operate one. But housewives didn't seem to get away from the idea that Monday was washday for a whole week for the family, and it would take the entire day to wash and dry a family's laundry in a combo.

And most families around where I lived were still on edge due to the great depression and did not want to let go of their money.

I can tell you that I have a 1959 Philco/Bendix Duomatic machine that works great. It amazes me that an American built machine is still working over 50 years from when it was manufactured.

Of course, equally amazing is the 1945 Bendix machine sitting beside the Duomatic that still does its thing with no problem.

The combos are very interesting.

Jerry Gay

 

[combo52]

NEW LG COMBOS

These are a great disappointment not only as Chuck stated that they are only 120 volts but they are only made in a water condensing dryer that wastes another 1/2 dozen gallons of water per hour and even the little 1/2 sized load still easily takes an hour and 1/2 or more to dry.

 

We in the appliance service industry still see no evidence that LG and for that matter Samsung and a few other imported brands get the message that when an appliance breaks the vast majority of Americans want it fixed. These companies do not see the need to sell parts and provide service information through established channels or to have any parts at all stocked locally so repairs can be completed quickly.

 

At this time we still do not recommend most imported appliances unless they are branded with a name that sells parts and stocks them at brick & mortar outlets near us. Our major parts distributor is less than two miles from our shop, I stop by almost every day this allows us to complete 80% of our service calls on the first try. We are seeing a large number of LG and Samung appliances in the scrap areas of the several distributors we use most often waiting to be crushed and recycled.

 

[foraloysius]

With the plastic outer drums that are used nowadays it's not an option to manufacture gas combos. Besides that, you would need a vent for the gas fumes and I think a burner under a drum doesn't make it very efficient, like gas cooking a lot of the energy is wasted.

I guess a 220V combo would be a better option, but I'm not sure that I would want an appliance with a plastic drum with a large heater that isn't submerged in water when it's performing a drying cycle.

 

[spin-it]

combo52

John, I do know about your collection and would love to visit you in Beltsville, not really a bad ride from NJ. I need a way to contact do not yet have an upgraded membership but seriously thinking about it. Anyway to do so in the meantime? Thanks, Kevin

 

[tomturbomatic]

Kevin, you can click on his member name and get his regular email address. You don't have to use the AW email, although we can't guarantee your results will be as bright, soft and fresh-smelling as with AW email.

 

[jetcone]

Heads up 220V combo hits market

I really like my FAGOR cookware, it is well built so I would bet this might be as well built. Anyone seen one yet?? 9# wash AND dry is what the Bendix Combo does, ventless installation too. 13# wash cycle, choice of spin speeds and no spin too.

 

 

OOOooooo I"m jones-ing!

http://www.fagoramerica.com/appliances/laundry/washer_dryer_combination/washer_dryer_silver

 

[tlee618]

Well it's about time!! That is so interesting Jon, thanks for sharing it. It would be great to see one in person. So since it is ventless that must mean it's a condensing dryer???

Terry

 

[spin-it]

John

Finally upgraded membership...Yeah! I used AW mail, if I did it correctly there should be a message waiting. Thanks, Kevin

 

[tomturbomatic]

Fagor Combo

I looked at the specs and at 230 volts, it only draws 10 amps. Don't look for this to be a fast dryer. It has a single inlet velve so it has to heat its wash water and, unless you have a nice tempering valve on your cold water supply, the rinses are all cold which means added drying time. On the other hand, you want the water as cold as possible for condensing steam during the dry cycle so you would not be able to use the valve with this machine without some valves to switch it from tempered to tap cold at the start of dry which would not make the progression from wash to dry something that could be done without attention from the user. While the more deluxe combos in the late 50s and early 60s could be set for cold rinsing, that was for lightweight wash 'n wear fabrics where you did not want those slow spins, except on the Philco & Bendix machines, to set wrinkles--big laugh. Getting the temperature of the load up was so critical to drying time reduction that some combos began preheating during the final spin when set for regular drying, but not on the wash 'n wear cycle. GE took it a step further. Not only did the machine begin heating during the final, well, truth be known, the only spin, but if you selected a hot wash, the rinse temperatures were as follows, 1st, cold; 2nd, warm; 3rd, hot. A warm wash gave all warm rinses. Not only did the heating help speed the drying, it also helped the water extraction a bit since warmer fabrics are more relaxed and will compress easier than cold ones so if the fabrics could be made to pack a bit tigher so more water could be squeezed out at the low spin speeds, it was done. How much this helped is open to investigation, but enough manufacturers mentioned it in their technical literature that they either found that it worked or used it as a way to explain why the were heating the load during the spin phase. Bendix, of course, did not need to do this.

Now granted the Fagor is not going to have trouble spinning water out of clothes, but, having the load at 40 to 50 degrees (like in the winter) when it goes into dry means it is going to take longer because of the initial heat up. At the same time, having to heat cold wash water is going to increase the wash time and make for extra electricity costs if you heat water with gas.

The Fagor has been out for a while, too. I ran across it a year or two ago when searching laundry appliances. I was looking at the offerings from Sears and somehow clicked away from that and found the Fagor stuff. Fagor is the leading manufacturer of induction cooktops in Europe, I read somewhere and are gaining market share here. [this post was last edited: 5/21/2011-12:10]

 

[tomturbomatic]

Fagor combo user's manual

On page 15, cycle times are given and normal dry for 9 pounds had a time of 160 minutes (2 hrs, 40 min); for 7 lbs, 100 minutes; for delicate dry, 95 minutes. Maybe those are maximum times. Let's hope. And think about it, these long drying times are for wash that can be spun out at 1200 rpm. No information is given about spins between washing and rinsing phases.

I found when I had a Kenmore combo that I could speed up the drying of multiple loads by washing everything first then drying one load after another and once the machine was hot, drying was faster. This was not necessary with the Bendix or the Philco. I would hope that would help the drying times with this machine also.

Something else I found that seemed weird. While the Fagor washer would pump out to a height of 70" above the floor, the combo has a maximum drain height of 28" above the floor. (I guess if you had it on a pedestal it would be 28" above the height of the pedestal.) That's on page 7. I wonder if that is because it is harder for the pump to push out the small amounts of water during the dry phase without having full head pressure over the pump and causing cavitation? I wonder if they cycle the pump off and on like some of the other small combos do? I have read about that in users' opinions of other brands in the Laundry Room forum. They are almost universally disliked, especially when they are used as portables and connected to a sink for hours. With a maximum drain height of 28" this could not be drained into a sink. [this post was last edited: 5/21/2011-12:12]

 

[combo52]

FAGOR COMBO

Another pint sized 24" combo with very weak drying ability. Lets hope that it is actually rated to run on a strong 240 volt line as we have here in the US. I see many European cooking and laundry appliances that are sold here that have 200- 220 volt elements in them which is what they have in much of Europe. Well needless to say they often don't last too long on 240 volts and often fail in a rather spectacular array of sparks and flame when they short out. It also stresses the wiring and all the switches and controls in the machine. Lots of burned wire connections and components are the result.