Vintage Maytag at the Laundromat

[dylanmitchell]

Took some big bulky items to a laundry mat and they had four vintage TL Maytags. One I photographed was out of service others were in use most of the time I was there. The rest of the machines were modern Dexter the biggest the 1200. Nice laundromat with all Dexters except the vintage Maytags. Really liked the T300's and T400 and they may even be a better FL than the SQ commercial.

 

[speedqueen]

Not vintage...

I'm sorry to give you the bad news but what you have found is actually a commercial Whirltag(or Maypool, if you prefer) based on the WP DD platform. While the control panel looks almost unchanged from the old 1980s helical drive electronically controlled commercial models, it still is, sadly, a Whirltag made in the mid to late 2000s.

I took some pictures a while back, of a laundromat that was outfitted with entirely vintage Maytag equipment save for a few alliance manufactured modern FL machines.

"Uptown Maytag Coin Laundry," Mt. Clemens Michigan

As promised in the Norge Laundromat thread, here are some(many) pictures of such establishment. Most(almost all) of the machines are over 20-30 years old and thus this qualifies to be in "Imperial." Here is the exterior.

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[dylanmitchell]

Thanks for the heads up and link. Apologies for putting in the wrong forum.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Not to worry too much.  You were hoping the machine was old even if it was not.

 

[supersurgilator]

Dexter does make nice washers, and those look very nice! I did find it ironic on the Maytag, that it said For best washing results, don't open lid once started. LOL.

 

[laundromat]

The Dexter have been around since the early twentieth century. Back in the seventies or early eighties, they got the commercial line of Philco Bendix and changed the design of their own making them more like the Bendix then their older cheap looking Dexter. They are a great maker of commercial laundry equipment. There is a local commercial laundry (Laundry Express) where they have from the double load to the quintuple load. They briefly had ten DO Whirlpools but the lasted two years before they died and got replaced with ten double loaders.

http:// The Dexters are twelve now and few repairs mostly belts and hoses. They stay open twenty four hours and use the cards instead of cash

 

[pippen1985]

New FL Maytag's

There is a laundromat right down the road from my house and it has the 100 pound FL Maytag's, I am not a huge fan of them. One it costs $15.00 to wash with it, even though you can fit 4 king size comforters in it, it just doesn't seem to really get a lot of water into the machine for something that size. Across town, they have the speed queen FL in the same size, and that thing puts the water to them and everything comes out extra clean.

 

[dylanmitchell]

Sounds like the Maytag is a step down from a Speed Queen or Dexter. That 80 pound Dexter 1200 at the laundromat was $7.00 plus and a quarter more for hot or warm water so $15 sounds like a lot for a 100 pounds. Dexter, Speed Queen, and other Alliance brands seem to do well with Continental and Maytag a step-down. Could argue all day about brands but Dexter and the Alliance Brands seem to perform the best.
Laundromat thanks for sharing the Philco Bendix part of the Dexter story I wasn't aware of that.
I'd love to add find a used 20 or so pound commercial FL like a Dexter T-300 or Unimac UFNE5BJP or equivalent SQ someday but don't mind going to a Laundromat once in a while and getting to see all the machines while I'm waiting on a load. Don't mind seeing the single ladies either.