Finished uploading the pictures I took to my album, which I posted in Imperial. I still can't believe how fast this weekend flew by.
Ross's Thor was a very interesting machine. Due to the clothes-guard bars at the top, the tub was quite small, but still held a decent amount. The agitator stroke was more of a "dragging" type (a few believed it wasn't going as fast as it should), but it had good action. When it goes into spin, stand back! Water flies EVERYWHERE, and will soak whoever is standing in front of it! The same goes with a spray rinse while the cover is off!
The bolt-down Kenmore is another great one. Since it's early, the agitator stroke is considerably faster than the later models, and it is quite splashy! Of course the wash action is very effective as well. No 'drip-coffee' neutral drain either like the others...the strong pump makes short work of the water!
Of course the Blackstone is always fun. The agitator is very deceiving as the vanes appear small...but the action is great! When loaded with non-bulky items, it has great turnover. One thing I did not realize was that the Autotrol CAN be advanced manually through each step of the cycle like any other machine...neutral drain, spin, agitation, you name it! And if the water pressure drops, all you have to do is unplug it during fill until the desired level is reached! Another one on my "dream list".
The Bendix PowerSurge is TRES awesome, as well as watching Greg and Robert work on it. Very fascinating...of course last year I looked at it but we never took it apart! What an interesting design, and it worked after the cord was changed, on both nutation and spin! Unfortunately due to a problem with one of the boots (and further disassembly to adapt a different sized part), it wasn't able to be used, but at least we were able to see it run!
After the PowerSurge was reassembled and moved out, the beautiful 1955 Frigidaire WV-65 Unimatic that Steven (Wigwag) had was brought out front and center. It ran beautifully, but had a fan rattle and a small water leak. Robert determined that it was coming from the top seal, which was promptly replaced. At first, it was filling rather erratically, spraying into the tub rather than the cascade that these early Frigidaires are known for. Taking off the back panel, it was discovered that the fill hose was shoved down into the flume, presumably due to excess splashing. Robert corrected that problem and it was filling beautifully again. A good-sized load of towels was done to show how much the tub could really hold, and it still turned over constantly!
The avocado Kenmore 900 was definitely a favorite on many levels. The flow-thru detergent dispenser, Vari-Flex agitator, and selective dialing were fun, but it was also THE quietest Kenmore I have ever heard. During agitation, it was nearly silent, and more than once I asked "Is it running?"
The 80's Hoover Deluxe twin-tub was brought out early on, and we saw the adjustable fill flume as well as the interesting plastic spin basket. The impeller was turned on with a low water level and did a little splash dance for us. After the wash tub was filled up, towels were added. 2 bath towels turned over fine, but 3 brought it almost to a standstill. The auto-rinse was very interesting. I then grabbed the dolly and headed to the carport for the Bradford twinnie, made by Panasonic. While it doesn't auto rinse, it is much different (and better in some ways) than the Hoover. The small appearance is quite deceiving! The reversing impeller is on the bottom of the tub, but set at a slight angle, which provides better action. It can wash 3 bath towels with ease. What's most interesting about it, though, is the snorkel tube in the washtub, hidden behind a filter, for overflow rinse capabilities. When the diverter valve is set to "rinse", the drain pump comes on (it has 3 motors!) and pumps the water out through the tube. You can overflow for as long as you want, and do either a static Kelvinator-style overflow or overflow and impellerate at the same time! Very flexible. Since it has a separate drain pump, the spinner was much quieter than the Hoover, although I didn't get to see how it compared to extraction. It appeared to be the same speed, though.
After a delicious meal of many varieties of pasta, the dinner dishes were run in Nate's GE vertical spin-tube dishwasher. What a cool machine that was, and effective too. All that was left after 1 cycle and no pre-rinsing were a few tiny specks on one plate.
Sunday, we had a great breakfast of waffles, bacon, eggs, and sausage. A load of jeans was ran in the '63 potato-pulley Laundromat, and the White-Westy TL was brought outside as well to play with. The machine I really enjoyed this time, though, was the Norge. I had only had limited experience with one before then, and I have to say, it is one hell of a machine...loud, aggressive, splashy, and VERY fun to watch. I stuck my hand down at the bottom of the tub to feel the action of the TurboSweep agitator on high speed, and the currents were so strong it felt very much like a Frigidaire by the vanes. With a medium-sized load, the turnover was impressive, and the burpalator filter added more drama. Now I want one!
To all of the gracious hosts and people who attended, thank you for a FUN, exciting weekend. I'm ready to go back!
Austin
We'll coordinate so I can get it back to you.
