Went to San Francisc-Flo Today

[washerlover]

and picked up this little GEm...found on San Francisco craigslist.

 

[washerlover]

And it still has the mini-basket! Sorry about the sideways photo of the bakelite agitator.

 

[appnut]

Looks well cared for or low use.  Drool!!!

 

[rp2813]

Looks like the same vintage as the white pair our neighbors had for many years.

 

Nice find!

 

[pulltostart]

Very Nice!

Love the control panel, and the control offered to the user.

 

lawrence

 

[jetcone]

Ooo goody goody

A fun machine to play with!

 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

Excellent find!!  Nice that the mini-basket is still with it, too.  Congratulations!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations! Do you think it will cause a surcharge to be added to your water bill?

 

[washerlover]

No doubt a surcharge to be added since we're moving into year four of a drought! Too bad it doesn't have a suds-saver feature. Did GE ever have any machines that had that option?

 

[appnut]

Suds Saver

Yes, I know the first generation of F-Flos had suds saver model(s) mentioned in ad copy. 

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Congrats on another fun find!

 

Kevin

 

[a440]

Very nice find!  And complete!

So clean!

Will be a fun machine to play with!

B

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you have a second top loader, you can reuse the water by just adding a bit more detergent and wash two loads with the one tub of water. That would be even better than having a sudsaver since the water would not have a chance to cool while the machine completed its rinse and spin portion of the cycle AND a second washer is far more exciting than a laundry tub.

 

[hippiedoll]

OH WOW!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
on such a cool find. it looks to be in very good condition. i'm here sharing in your excitement & enthusiasm.

keep us posted & of course, more pictures!!!

)

 

[washerlover]

Thank you all for the kudos. Great machine -- plugged it in and ran on spin cycle -- extremely quiet and even the brake is quieter than my newer GE. Can't wait to get water to it and take for a test drive. Will keep you posted! Gotta love the bakelite agitator!

 

[rocky2]

Congratulations on a Great Find!

I have a 1964 model with Suds Saver.

 

[pulltostart]

Reply #15

What a beautiful machine!

 

lawrence

 

[tomturbomatic]

Rocky2,
Thanks for the shot of the suds saver control panel on your GE. I've never seen one on that model before. Pretty neat.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

For those of us ...

... who don't understand the mechanics of a suds saver, I found this link:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?5396

I believe my grandmother's old wringer had a suds saver. She kept it in the basement and I only remember her using it once or twice. It was on wheels and she rolled it over to a twin soapstone sink to use it.

Upstairs in a hallway off the kitchen was a niche with 'regular' laundry hook-ups. G'ma did 99% of her laundry in an automatic there. I can't remember the name, but I'd recognise the control panel if I saw it. The name was written in a slanted print font with the letters connected at the bottom. She never did get a dryer, lol.

Jim

 

[tomturbomatic]

A wringer would not need a suds saver since you removed each load from the wash water and rinsed in separate tubs or sinks while washing successive loads in the same water with additional detergent or soap thrown in to keep the dirt in suspension. Suds saver features sought to emulate the hot water savings of wringer machines because at the time automatics were introduced, many homes did not have huge supplies of domestic hot water for top loaders especially with a warm rinse. Consumer Reports like to have had a bird over the amount of hot water the Bendix Home Laundry used when they first tested it. They weren't sure that every home would have enough hot water to meet its requirements and the narrative went steadily downhill from there.

"Like to have had" is Southern for almost had. A variation is "I thought so-and-so was gonna have a bird" to indicate extreme excitement, pleasure, shock, anger etc.

 

[washerlover]

Rocky2, thanks for posting the pics of your beautiful suds-saving machine! Never knew GE had that option.

 

[revvinkevin]

Suds Saver demo

 

 

Nelson that GE is really neat!   I too didn't know this vintage had a suds return option. Thanks for posting the pix!

 

 

While it's not a GE.... this does show how the "suds return" works in a Maytag 806.

 

Enjoy!

Kevin

 

[xraytech]

Great find, nothing as enjoyable as a Filter-Flo

And, yes they did have suds-savers. I grew up with my grandmother having a 1966 Filter-Flo(same model as my profile pic)that was a suds-saver. She used that feature on most every load she did, unless it was a mini-wash