TV Show - General Hospital -1986 - Front Load Washer?

[mark_wpduet]

I was watching a playlist on youtube of retro general hospital from 1986. I wanted to watch it because I vaguely remembered this murder mystery storyline and when I saw this @ 3:10 on this video, it's a front load washer and it's IN THE KITCHEN, it's stackable and it's 1986...Does anyone know what type of FL washer this is? I dunno, maybe it's just a prop. I know FL washers were pretty rare in the US especially then (for homes) to my knowledge, so I was kind of surprised to see this, and in the kitchen at that.....

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbBmtsZndxU&index=56&list=PLWWf2GEcRLocI555SWsZzx-u7W45pb49E

 

[toploader55]

Looks like a WCI Westinghouse Stack to me.

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Westinghouse sounds right. I recently posted one I found on Craigslist, see reply #28 linked below.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?61867_28~1#bott

 

[ea56]

We had a White-Westinghouse set just like this that we bought new in 1987, they were Almond. This washer was the best washer that I ever owned and I was sorry to sell it with the house after 7 yrs.of use without one problem. The new owners got several more yrs of trouble free service as well.

 

[washerlover]

Definitely White-Westinghouse. And you gotta love the makeup, hair and outfits those people were sporting!

 

[mark_wpduet]

Thanks -

I thought 2 things were weird about this:

A) that it was in the kitchen
B) that it was FL instead of TL (for that time in the USA)

and I wasn't aware of any FL washers or at least I never knew anyone who had one in the 80s, other than laundromats.

Thanks

 

[toploader55]

Hi Mark.

We replaced our V-12 GE in 1971 with a True Westinghouse Front Load like the one in the video. WCI had not bought Westinghouse yet.  Our Dryer died and my Mom bought the dryer first. The idea was we were going to stack them and move them upstairs out of the basement.

 

It was a great washer even though it tumbled in one direction. The rinses (3) were great. The first one sprayed water on the clothes with the pump running while they tumbled. then there were 2 deep or full rinses.

 

Most common problem was if you didn't check your pockets for change, pennies and dimes got caught in the pump and would rattle around during pump downs.  After watching the repairman take the pump apart twice, I took over when there were foreign objects in the pump.

 

[combo52]

Westinghouse-WCI Front Load Washers

These were very popular in condos, better apartments and town homes, we worked on thousands of them. They were great money makers for us service companies, the WH-WCI FL washers were easily the least reliable AW washers in the US from the 60s on.

 

They were pretty good performers however and we had many customers that even then would not have a TL washer because they liked the way these worked.

 

[frigidaireguy]

Westinghouse Stack

Thanks to John LeFever I have this exactly machine in almond. It is a great washer & dryer. I use it weekly - the spin is slower but I just transfer and spin in another machine that spins faster.
Bob

 

[toploader55]

Other than change getting into the pump, we ran ours for 6 years without an issue.

 

My Dad left it when he sold the house.

 

[neptunebob]

What part of the Westinghouse caused the unreliability? I know rust and leaks were a problem but was there anything else that would cause a break down? There's no transmission but I suppose overloading might burn out the motor?

 

[cfz2882]

3-belt reliability

~1978,a Laundromat my parents went to had mid-60s era WP BDs and a pair of quite old FL westys-westys often had an out of order sign on them,And I often observed the spin solenoid being replaced-usually as an assembly including the little bakelite roller.The roller type one-way clutch(in the spin pulley hub?-don't recall exactly)looks like it could be trouble if lube gets dry...IIRC,tub bearings are fairly small 6205 size,but don't seem to be a trouble area.No aluminum spider to corrode. Motors can be GE or Westinghouse.When a new Laundromat opened in 1982 at a local strip mall,it was all Westinghouse:top loads and 2 sizes of front loads-none of the 3-belt variety though-probably knew those would be trouble in commercial use... Though single direction tumble,the eccentric "potato pulley"creates a "lope"in tub rotation for more irregular tumbling action.