UK market front & top loaders 195? to 1990 - theories, queries & rarities

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Rex / Zanussi P5

A great selection of videos Louis, Thanks for sharing, Sebastian Candybimatic has a lovely collection. I love this style of wshing machine having grown up with wringers and twintubs i was blown away when I saw my school friends mum who had returned from living in Germany using a H-axis single tub manual washing machine, not even semi automatic, just the simple drum with one fill / empty pipe.!!
 
Jetamatic

interesting to read on page 4 of Mike's great brochure:

"Unique Simplicity.

Frigidaire's patented Roller-matic mechanism is exclusive to Frigidaire. It needs an absolute minimum of maintenance because there is so little to go wrong... etc."

 

So it looks like Rollermatic not Unimatic.

Are there any still around? I'm fascinated.
 
Rollermatic / Jetamatic / Unimatic

Cheers Chris glad youre hawkeye, lol, have ammended,

So the spin speed is saying pulling 191 G`s am assuming this is less than the Unimatic at 1140rpm ?

Non around that we know of alas...only ever saw the turquoise Frigidaires in the Launderettes..

Youll have to post new videos of your round Frigidaire with pipe stopper !!

chestermikeuk-2020110507535802287_1.jpg
 
Heating the water in the Jetamatic

I'm curious to know how the water was heated in the Jetamatic, it mentions 'overflow rinse' so I assume that it's a solid wash tub? In that case did it heat it's water in the base of the machine and then pump it to the tub later?
 
Frigidaire Jetamatic

Hi Alan, It was a static fill & Heat , then when at righ temp you selected washtime ?

I think the overflow was only for the rinse..

Programmes are if my eyes are right:

RHS Control, Fill & Heat, Empty, Spin, Fill 1, Rinse, Off then Fill & Heat, Spin, Fill 1, Rinse, Spin Dry

LHS Programme & Temp dial - Whites Wash + PreWash, Whites Wash, Colours, Man Made Drip Dry, Blankets, Woollens, Soak[this post was last edited: 11/6/2020-05:31]

chestermikeuk-2020110604564708126_1.jpg

chestermikeuk-2020110604564708126_2.jpg
 
fascinating Mike, so likelihood is then it filled the outer tub, heated the water and then pumped this into the tub for the wash action to start. I guess a bit like the Parnell I assume?
 
Frigidaire UK

I wouldnt think so Alan, the Parnall has a massive outer tub to hold an inner tub full of water ?

Question for the MultiMatic gang, Does the Multimatic have a solid tub and outer tub liner ? or inner tub with holes ?

Judging by You Tube they all look solid, which does beg the question Alan if heated in the outer tub how big would it have to be to then fill the inner tub and how is it pumped ?
 
the Jetamatic

was a hot and cold fill machine .It had a heater in the outer tub rather like the Hotpoint top loader
 
the Jetamatic

As far as i can remember [It is some 45 years ago]there was no recirculating water .Once full if the water was not hot enough the heater came on .once at the right temp the jet action starts .Once the washing is finished the machine spins then fills with cold water the jet action starts the machine fill right up tp the overflow then the pump starts then another spin .more fresh water [cant remember how many rinses ]then the final spin .The machine did use loads of water and as i have said before if overloaded the wash was poor. The pump was large and quite powerful resulting in a larger than average drain hose .I only ever saw these machines in well to do homes doctors .vicarages .dentists ect where there was usually a wash house for the machine to live in .I suspect it was far too big to have in the average UK kitchen .The jetamatic was larger than the Hotpoint and in my opinion not as efficient. Would love to get my hands on one now just for old times sake .I still have a scar on my little finger where i i got my hand caught up in the jetamatics inner workings
 
Jetamatic...

I think it had a heating element in the outer tub like the Hotpoint, it mentions nothing like the Parnall set up in the brochure or installation instructions.
Cheers
Keith
 
Jetamatic

Thanks for the clarification Anthoney, yes would be great to find one for old times sake.

Question the Hotpoint has holes in the inner drum so when filled the water and heat energy gets into the washtub from the heater in the outer tub base. Do we know if the Jetamatic had a tub like the frigidaire spinner with holes etc, because if its solid it must dual fill both tubs inner and outer then heat and the energy transferred (quite innificiently would have thought ) to water at top of inner tub ?

Mind a hot fill would help immensely with heating etc. Heres the Which 1969 report for comparison with the leading brands Hoover and English Electric.

chestermikeuk-2020110706220209397_1.jpg
 
the jetamatic

i am sure the inner tub had holes in it [an awful lot of water for that heater to heat up especially if its starting from cold].I have been racking my brains trying to remember how the rollermatic drive worked [am getting nowhere ] All i can remember is that the front of the machine came off making it easy to see what was going on while the machine was in action. What i can remember is that the machine had a clutch meck for use when spinning it used large cork like rings about the size of a CD as clutch plates .the motor would start up for a spin and the tub would gradually some up to speed rather like the Hotpoint TT .The jetaction was caused by a steel arm riding over nylon rollers but just how it worked i cant remember .Its only 2 or 3 years ago when i threw out folders full of diagrams /price lists exploded and parts lists for all the machines .If only i had kept them .I have just made contact with a guy who was my manager way back then [He is 93]I will talk to him .maybe he can shed some light
 
yes

Wow .i haven't seen that for a very long time .[you can see how easy it would be to damage ones fingers]Yes that's exactly what i remember .All done with rollers and you can just see the top of the large pump on the motor shaft .Also the arm going up and down .that pump can really move water. The jetamatic has its own distinct sound as it does its thing .While the actual motor is very quiet the mechanism makes a sort of chuka chuka sound as the agitator [if you can call it that]goes up and down .great to see all that stuff again .
 
practically

all the jetamatics I saw were in well off large homes with good central heating systems supplying plenty of hot water. at this time the hot water in our house was supplied by an immersion heater with the only other heating in the coming from the gas fire in the living room although we did have one of those electric geyser things [made by Creda]for small amounts of hot water in the kitchen. I once went to a large house in Middlesbrough where the occupants had moved over from the states bringing their Frigidaire washer and dryer with them .They were both installed in the large wash house of a rambling vicarage .the machines had big transformers allowing them to run on 240 volts .Both machines were in a canary yellow colour with chrome control panels mounted on fake wood consoles. I never touched the dryer m but the washer was basically a jetamatic in a fancy cabinet. Getting back to the Jetamatic i am sure there is a ring of holes under the bottom vane of the agitator and slits around the rim of the tub
 
@mike,

I will try and take a pic of the leaflet later, it isn't a very informative pamphlet though. It is a 3 page fold out item.

You can't see if the tub has holes as its speckled grey and is the same pic as in thread 96. It does show a pic of the wash mechanism.

Cheers
K
 
Brilliant!

Thanks for this..it has brought back many memories of past machines...
Back in 1977, I got a magazine from WH Smiths called which washing machine?..it had a drawn picture of a front loader with water three quarters up the glass.All I remember it was a mine of information, listing all makes and models and photos...a real gem!
How I wish I still had it...does anyone else remember it?
 
Zanussi P33 P5

Found these videos of another version of the Zanussi P33 also known as P5. The machine in the videos are called Tatramat Mini 246 but its the very same drum in it as it is with Zanussi p5 + P33.





 
Philips 303

Found some videos of a Philips 303 from the 70´s. It was one of the more cheapest models and had no spin-drain and spin speed was about 500 rpm.



 

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