Westinghouse FL lover saying "hello"...

[austinado16]

Hi Gang,
Todd here (austinado16) from years ago on this forum. Sure is great to find this site so well developed and everyone's collections getting so big.

I still have and use my slant front, 1953 LB-6 Westinghouse Laundromat and matching D-6 Dryer as our only laundry machines. That's 13 years of use since the mechanical restoration of both.

I've added a Kenmore "Mangle" iron to the 50's kitchen . Thought it was a must-have, since it's in pretty good company.

Sadly, the rubber boot on the washer, which I adapted from a 60's era Westy FL-er during the 1996 restoration, has started to fail. Thought I'd ask the membership here if anyone's found a boot that will fit and work, has an original boot for sale, OR....if there's any interest in doing a group buy to have the boots remade. I have one original boot, still in it's box, but it's 50+ years old. It's condition is probably good enough to use, but it won't last long, and I thought it better to keep as a pattern for molding new ones.

The micro-fische shows this boot, #Q4688, fits several of the front loaders, including the LB-8's.

Any help greatly appreciated since no boot is the death of these machines, as far as using them goes.

 

[turquoisedude]

Ah, the saga of the Westy door boot...

Welcome back, Todd!! The original Westinghouse part #Q4688 is probably no longer available anywhere, alas!! In my recent restoration of an L5 Laundromat, I used a Q4699 boot but it is not an exact fit. You would have to add some gasketing to the inner door to make it water-tight. Your original replacement boot should last if you treat it with glycerine after use.
I would be interested in pursuing the moulding of new ones - I have a Canadian Westy (model CL8) sitting waiting for me in the garage...
Also, I believe a couple of our members have used 1980's or 1990's White-Westinghouse front loader door boots in their Laundromats, so there are always alternatives!

 

[austinado16]

Hi Turquoisedude,
Thanks for the info about the Q4699 and the possibility of 80's or 90's boots fitting. I sure wish I'd kept a record of the boot I used originally because it's worked great for a long time, and fit the door good too. It's a smooth grey rubber material if that sounds familiar to anyone. A bit fatter where it meets the door, making the door just a bit harder to close, but it still closes and seals just fine. On the drum side, this grey boot had to be folded backward over the inner lip of the drum, and then I used bulk banding clamp material (looks like automotive radiator hose clamp material) that was sold off a roll at the GM dealership I worked at, at the time. That secured the boot to the drum nicely and didn't interfer with the spinning wash tub. The inner portion of the boot sort of makes a 5 sided polygon shape because it doesn't fold/fit quite right, but again, works fine.

I'm gluing the tears in the current boot, one last time, and I'll take a photo of it and post here, incase it helps others.

 

[austinado16]

So no one wants to share info on the Westing house door boots, eh?

 

[austinado16]

Westinghouse door boots found

Found 3 NOS Q4688 door boots and they arrived today.

 

[revvinkevin]

WOW!

Wow Todd, where did you find those???

 

[westingman123]

Second that!!

Where, oh where and were there anymore? (salivating)

 

[rp2813]

Maybe . . .

. . . he found them locally. Take it from a Cal Poly alumunus, they don't call it SLO-town for nothing.

 

[austinado16]

It's alive!

Finally got some time this week to replace the boot and the LB-6 is on it's 3rd load of laundry, with the dryer humming along next to it.

A few more loads with the lower panel off, so I can check for leaks, and it'll be time to button her back up and slide the "Bianca" double boomerang counter-top back into place.

 

[austinado16]

Video

Here's a minute and twelve worth of washing and drying video.

 

[appnut]

Cool. Glad to see up and runnning agtain. but you now me, I gotta ask. Wasn't that load too big for just a medium size water level?

 

[austinado16]

The original water level sensor failed about 10 years ago and I've replaced it with a different version, which is not only clocked diferently, but rotates the opposite direction. So it was washing with "large" amount of water, and that load was actually small. It was just that goretex jacket that full of air and all puffed out.

One day, I hope to find a correct water level sensor.

 

[mrb627]

Awesome!

Does the timer on that washer move slowly around the dial or does it advance with a click?

Malcolm

 

[randycmaynard]

That's it...... will start the goodwill center searching

Love the 53 westys - getting a later model set at some point this next week or so if we can get out of the freezer down here..... might have to wait til spring. Anyways, I'm going to start checking the goodwill and thrift stores around the area and see what I might come up with and being in a part-time sales job that requires travel around my region, there will be lots of goodwill and thrift stores to visit for treasure hunting of the laundry kind. Beautiful machines those 50s westys were!

 

[randycmaynard]

That's it...... will start the goodwill center searching

Love the 53 westys - getting a later model set at some point this next week or so if we can get out of the freezer down here..... might have to wait til spring. Anyways, I'm going to start checking the goodwill and thrift stores around the area and see what I might come up with and being in a part-time sales job that requires travel around my region, there will be lots of goodwill and thrift stores to visit for treasure hunting of the laundry kind. Beautiful machines those 50s westys were!

 

[andrewinorlando]

Does anyone know what the capcity of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Westinghouse FL were? Were the older machines smaller than the later models? It's very hard to tell from the shapes of their drums. Were the later models a 2.5 or 3 cu. ft size?

 

[randycmaynard]

Tend to think smaller......

Seems the later 70s-80s were the 2.5-3 range... don't think even the older ones were any bigger. My grandmother had a mid 50s westy deluxe slant front and I don't remember it being that big. A couple sets of bedding (top/bottom sheets/p-cases) or so was a full load in her westy and you couldn't do something like a large comforter in it. Biggest thing I remember is the sheets coming out tied in knots from time to time - that seemed it's only drawback. All this is just what I remember.... sorry for lack of specifics.

 

[austinado16]

The timer does both, big click advances, and rotating like a clock. I'll get more video posted once I've cleaned up the machines better, put the lower front panel back on the washer, replaced the counter-top and the columns in the wall surrounding the machines. I literally built the house around these 2 gems.....that's how much I love them.

While they were out and being worked on, my wife repainted their alcove in a strong 50's pink (at my suggestion). So they're looking pretty dynamic in their new background.

True about the load capacity, especially with something that's big or gets heavy when wet. Big bath towels, or bedding is a real caution because as it's washing, stuff is tumbling on just one side of the drum, just like you see in the photos. As it gets ready to spin, and drains away the water, the clothing can remain in just one location. If it begins to spin with the cloths like that, it will literally grenade the machine. There is a safety cut-off lever, but it's at about 3 o'clock.....and the machine wants to bounce the wash tube at a diagonal, missing the off lever. I've had it start to beat so hard (and not shut off) that it's knocked the lid off the machine, and busted the fill hose open.....and there's no way you can get to the machine fast enough. Once you hear it make that first bang, and you start running, it's all over with but the crying.

This go-round, we're going to be a lot more careful about it's use. It's our only laundry machine, so it and the dryer get used "for real." I feel lucky to have been able to save both machines the first time around, and even luckier this time. There may not be a third.

 

[austinado16]

Sharing company

Here's a shot of the side of the kitchen that the Laundry Twins share with the '52 Philco and it's radio, the '49 Vent-A-Hood 42" range hood, and the early 50's 42" Wedgewood. The alcove in the right rear of the photo is where the twins live. Counter tops are from an original sheet of "Bianca" double boomerang (white with pink, gold and brown boomerangs) that I scored. The curvature in the front counter replicates the curvature of the fridge door. The aluminum trim replicates the trim on the Virtue Bros. green crushed ice table just to the left of the photo. The cabinet door replicate the original Eastlake doors in the rest of the house.