What on earth is THIS?

[combo52]

Cool Dominion Washer

Wow Paul you have come up with a washer I have never seen, worked on, or have any parts for, LOL. And other than a few common parts like the inlet valve it does appear to be a unique machine that was not made by one of the big manufactures that most of us are already familiar with.

 

That mechanical thing in the corner would be an unbalance mechanism, as Jon already pointed out. I would diffidently get the belt turning freely before you continue to try to make the motor run, if you think the capacitor is bad just jump it by connecting the leads together and see if the motor runs, then you know that it is bad.

 

I would guess that this washer was made from about 1958-1963, you can probably find a date on the inlet valve.

 

[turquoisedude]

Saturday's explorations

Needless to say, I had to do some further investigation as to why the 'new' Dominion washer wouldn't run.

OH! And John was right, I found a date on the water valve that might be helpful in dating the washer - the date stamp was 7-58. This may well be a 1958 or 1959 model! I am going to try and do some more digging into this, too. I will be contacting that Museum in Welland County, Ontario that has GSW/Beatty Brothers archives!

So, I wanted to get a good look under the skirt of the machine, so I flipped her on her back.

It's a very simple mechanism - no levers, solenoids, or clutch pins that I could see... I did spot an oil drain port - I wonder if I may need to do an oil change at some point?

 

[turquoisedude]

The tub seems to sit on this ball-joint like device. I haven't seen anything like that before.

 

[turquoisedude]

The tub seems to sit on this ball-joint like device. I haven't seen anything like that before.

 

[turquoisedude]

First thing I attacked was the pump. I will swear on a stack of service manuals that a jammed water pump killed my Inglis twice...

There was some crud in the pump body, but not that much. Once removed, I was able to turn the impeller by hand easily.

 

[turquoisedude]

I tried to turn the entire motor-belt-pulleys setup by hand - no luck.

However, when I unhooked the belt from the motor, the transmission and pump pulleys turned. The belt runs around a pulley in the middle of the machine, out to the transmission pulley, then back to the pump and motor. Surprisingly simple set-up!

When I spun the transmission pulley, Hubby observed the tub start to turn; when I turned it the other direction, he said the agitator started to turn. WooHoo! The tranny seems good!

So that leaves one last suspect - the motor. And needless to say, I could not turn the motor shaft by hand at all.

 

[turquoisedude]

I opened it up to look for anything obvious, but I did not see anything. I am not very good with motors either, so I am not sure what to look for either!

I'll more than likely take this to the local motor shop in Magog. After they stop laughing at me, I will remind them that they fixed the motors for both the Westy Laundromat and dryer... LOL

Oh, and the motor, not surprisingly is a Canadian General Electric Home Laundry Motor. Not sure of the HP rating, but it's a 1725 rpm model, which I beleive is fairly common and it seems to be a reversible type. The original Inglis motor was a two-speed version of this motor, but not reversible.

Sooo close!!

 

[gansky1]

Oh, Paul, that is just too cool! What a great find!

 

[Unimatic1140]

Absolutely beautiful Paul, and the transmission is like nothing we've seen before. The pump and agitator drive block look "Beam-esc", but the rest in for sure unique.

It is a wonderful save! Congratulations. The motor bearings are probably frozen and need replacing if they are ball bearings, or cleaning and greasing if they are sleeve bearings.

Keep us posted!

 

[rpms]

Very nice.
Your washer still looks like a giant toy. I was expecting to see four giant D size batteries underneath.
The agitator in your automatic is the same as the ones used in the Beatty wringer washers. Here is a picture of the factory your washer came out of. If you hurry, you could maybe get a tour before it closes?

 

[turquoisedude]

Brian, I was thinking the same thing - I'll be pretty darn close on May 1st so it would almost be a shame not to!

In other news, I found out something about the motor when it took it in to the repair in Magog today. Ready for it??

It's fixed!!

The bearings were gummed up so badly that that they had turned to goo - a good cleaning was all that was needed and the motor is humming again!

Guess who will be re-installing it in the Dominion 'toy' washer this weekend??
I will post pictures and hopefully a video as I make progress.

HEEEHEEE!!

Oh, and in other other news, Hubby will be arriving in Ogden tonight to learn that the 57 GE washer has been mated with a 57 GE dryer. He didn't know that yet 'cause I'd been hiding the dryer in my neighbour's garage - This will be a whole other thread however!

 

[westingman123]

*cough*

And what goodies are you preparing to smooth over this news, pray tell?

How cool is that motor fix? Tell the truth, you just had them put new batteries in, didn't you?

 

[MIPS]

Like I said, Beatty put a lot of engineering into their appliances and they last FOREVER.

 

[badgerdx]

Can't wait

Can't wait to see the video. This is such an interesting machine. The control board looks so toy like... the font so 50's Canadian... rubbing hands gleefully. IT'S SO PANK!!!!!

 

[turquoisedude]

Needless to say, I made working on the washer a priority this morning.

Here's the motor, re-installed and tested to ensure there were no wiring or timer issues. I let the washer time run through a cycle to ensure the motor kicked in at the right time and was running in the right direction. The way I understand it, the motor will run clockwise to wash and counter-clockwise to spin.

The tests were successful, but I did notice the timer dial pointer was not indicating the right phase of the cycle - this should be an easy adjustment, though.

 

[turquoisedude]

Taa-daa!!

I hooked the belt back up to the washer (putting a new one on this machine looks like it will be a bigger pain than any Whirlpool!!)

Here's the Dominion washer agitating, then pausing before a drain and spin!

 

[turquoisedude]

For my next trick...

Let's make it spin!!

WHEEE!!!

 

[turquoisedude]

Still some work to be done...

This afternoon's activity will be testing the water valve to make sure it is working correctly. My track record with them was not good last year so I'd like to avoid the 'put it back together then find another **expletive** leak'... LOL

Also, I will try and get a water test this weekend. I have high hopes that there will only be a few issues with leakage, but we shall see!

 

[westingman123]

Curious!

I love that tub! It does seem that I hear something rubbing in the spin, though? Do you hear it?

I was fully prepared for a "stink-eye" picture! I suppose he's resigned himself, finally? Great, now's the time to fill up that mud room with a cute matched set!

Ain't I a stinker?

 

[philr]

I think the sound is just small debris that were in the tub. I hear more noise during the wash cycle but maybe it's not that loud in person (often the camera seems to amplify some sounds/noises compared to what they are perceived in reality).

 

[turquoisedude]

GRRRR!

Well, I tested the water valve and to not much surprise, I found that the valve still dribbled water when all three solenoids were off.

I figured a good cleaning was in order - there were some hard water deposits and scale that I was able to remove, but when I put the blessed thing back together, it was still dribbling. Worse still, around the hot solenoid was now leaking...

I am not sure if a valve rebuild kit would be helpful here or if I should give up and try to find a replacement solenoid.

The replacement option is vexing me, however... I did a cycle test to determine when/how the three solenoids got power. The 'warm' settings on the machine would send power to the warm or middle solenoid, which I will guess would allow both hot and cold water to flow. There was no simultaneous powering of the hot and cold solenoids... Something tells me that a three-solenoid water valve like this is going to be tough to find.

I do believe that older Maytags use this kind of a set up - however, I remember that when I found a valve for my A702, I was told it was 'the last one they had'...

Any suggestions as to what might be a suitable replacement here??

I am soooooo close on this one but I am throwing in the towel for tonight. I may still try a water test tomorrow to see how vell its holds vater... I'll sleep on that... LOL

 

[d-jones]

Paul - I may be wrong, but that looks like an older Eaton CW-26 valve, and it shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement for it. The CW-26 was Eaton's generic replacement for the extremely hard to find Dole thermostatic valve. I would personally move heaven and earth in an attempt to repair an original Dole valve, but not an Eaton valve. The Horton 221 is another suitable replacement that actually looks like the Dole valve from the outside. There's one currently for sale on eBay, but it's a little over priced in my opinion. I've seen them online recently for a bit less. A Google search of CW-26 in quotations along with the word valve, will turn up several online sources for the Eaton valve as well.

 

Here's a photo of the same Eaton valve that I found installed on my A700. Note the newer solenoids, but other than that it's a dead ringer for the valve you have there. Since I have no intention of using this valve going forward, if you can't find another replacement I'll send you this one. It was working fine for the previous owner, though I've never tried it out myself.

[this post was last edited: 4/20/2013-19:08]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221-Water-Valve-/290897793839?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43badc132f

 

[combo52]

Inlet Valve Problems

Paul all you likely need is new valve diaphragms to fix your old valve, David, djones did a post here about replacing this part. I would never take apart a valve that old and not replace the valve diaphragms, it usually only makes matters worse. If you want I will send you three new valve diaphragms.

 

[d-jones]

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</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> Here's a link to that thread.</span>

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45624_6~1

 

[turquoisedude]

David, thanks for reposting the link about valve repairs - I had forgotten about that thread.

John, I'd definitely be interested in getting the replacement diaphragms for the Dominion washer valve. They seem to be 1 inch in diameter - here's a photo for reference. I'll get in touch with you this week for further information.

Oh and I did not get the chance to water test the washer yet - spent the day Sunday at an estate auction. It cost me the day, but it was worth it!!

 

[turquoisedude]

This weekend's progress....

I had a pretty busy day planned today - I desparately needed to do some housework and there was tons of yard work to be done now that it's actually stopped snowing... BUT I made darn sure that while the Banana Chiffon Cake was baking, I'd have time to play appliance repair guy!
I wanted to try a water test with the 'new' Dominion washer - however, I was afraid of finding major leaks so I tried a backflow test. I ran water through the drain hose and into the pump and up into the tub. I figured this would be less water than a full tub of water... LOL
Well, needless to say, there were leaks... The hoses from the tub to the pump and from the pump to the drain hose itself were drippy. AND there was a leak from around the pump housing.
The poor old Dominion got up-ended once again so that I could investigate.
So here's the first culprit... The pump cover had a gasket and I must have wrecked it when I did my initial inspection of the pump. Should be reasonably easy to find or make a replacement, though.

 

[turquoisedude]

No surprise here, either... The hose from the tub outlet to the pump was showing signs of cracking (sorry the picture close-up doesn't show that well).

Again, I am sure that I can find or rig a replacement somehow. The hose diameter is about 1 1/2 inches, but the bend worries me a bit...

 

[turquoisedude]

But here's a nice surprise - the tub outlet is solid! It's literally part of the tub so no gaskets, seals, or joints to worry about - bonus!

I hope to get the replacement hoses next week (Like I've got better things to do? LOL) and should be water-testing next weekend!

 

[volvoguy87]

Pump

That pump looks like the one I've seen on a Speed Queen wringer washer. It's a rubber thing and ought to be findable.

Dave

 

[turquoisedude]

Some progress, but.....

So this past week's mission was to replace the cracked hoses from the tub to the pump and from the pump to the drain port. I tried a few appliance places, got laughed at so I tried some auto parts places and got laughed at again... I tried one of the larger hardware stores and came away with this 1 1/4 reinforced flexible hose. Looked promising!