Whirlpool Agitators

[washmeup]

Why did Whirlpool ever get rid of the Surgilator Agitator? It worked so much better than the agitators that they use today, plus it was unique to their brand. Now everyone seems to use the same style of corkscrew agitators.

 

[ingliscanada]

Direct Drive Tranny

Perhaps the Surgilator doesn't work as well with the shorter stroke of today's DD tranny, as with the longer stroke of the BD.

 

[strongenough78]

Can you imagine what the rollover would be like in a direct drive with a belt drive surgilator. that would be cool.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

I don't think it would be very good or they would not have re-designed the agitator. A number of things changed in the first couple years of the Direct Drive machine (they had rear-facing motors and pumps, spin-drains, etc.) but one thing that hasn't is their complete re-design of the agitators to work with the short stroke transmission. Most of the agitators used today in DDs have been around for 20 years or more, largely unchanged except for Sears' continual efforts to improve the Dual Action while keeping the old versions for lower line models.

I think Whirlpool wanted to create less turbulence and splash and more 'flow'. The BD Surgilators were especially good at creating splash, etc.

Gordon

 

[ingliscanada]

Spash is Right!

I remember that from our old Inglis many years ago, especially on the suds-return. It was a single speed model, so it would agitate at it's normal speed (68spm), and as the suds were coming into the tub, it would splash all over the place! The 2-speed models rectified that with slow agitation during suds-return.

 

[rickr]

My 56 Whirlpool "Surgilating away"

 

[rickr]

The set with the purple gel in the control panels

I love this set! Great dryer, and wonderful washer too.

 

[combo52]

DUAL ACTION AGITATORS

The current DAAs are the best thing that ever happened to agitator washers. They allow larger loads to be washed with less water give better roll over better cleaning all with less clothing damage and wear. Consumers also love the new DAAs I never hear customers saying I wish this washer had an agitator like my old washer. Don't get me wrong on this as I have over 200 hundred older automatic washers and I love all the interesting agitator designs in all these machines but none of them will wash as large a load as well as the later DAAs will. Even the wonderful unimatic washers of which i have four of don't wash a very large load tangle badly and can cause serious clothing damage. I an old enough to remember customers who had unimatics and how much they hated them many of them didn't wear out people just got tired of fighting with them on laundry day and bought a new washer. This is one reason so many unimatics have been found in the corners of basements that still work, people knew they still worked and didn't throw then away but bought some new.

 

[supersurgilator]

I agree that DAA's do a fantastic job of cleaning, and I have never experienced any clothing damage while using one. Having said that, look how long Whirlpool used the Surgilator agitator? They kept it around a lot longer than on the Kenmore badged models that got a different style agitator every few years.

 

[danmantn]

DD with Surgilator

Here's my DD with a "Surgilator", although not an 80s version. Splish Splash!! Rollover is pretty bad on comforters, heavy loads. But a LOT more fun to watch than those corkscrew agitators!

 

[danmantn]

I actually bought my Speed Queen primarily because it had the traditional agitator...cleans great too. EVERYBODY seems to have corkscrews. No thanks. I spend hours watching the washer again--never did that with my WP.

 

[Unimatic1140]

can cause serious clothing damage

buzzz, sorry John I have to disagree. In my ten years of using Unimatics I have never had any clothing damage, much less serious clothing damage and I use them generally weekly.

Now as for the direct drive dual-action agitators, there is a reason they got the name shredmores around here ;-). I do think the original dual-action agitators were more gentle with the longer slower stroke.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

On the DAA...

Robert -

Having both belt-drive and a 1993 Direct Drive with Dual-Action agitators, I fully agree with you that the belt-drive versions are more gentle.

Having used DA equipped belt-drives for 27 years, and my DD for four (it usually sits stored), I would say both machines safely handle a proper load of clothes, and for us on this site, I think we all would agree that we are more likely to know how to "properly" load a machine. HOWEVER, so many people out there do horrible jobs loading laundry and never stop to consider the consequences, and I firmly believe that an over-loaded direct drive machine is going to beat the crud out of laundry, and the auger on the agitator is going to do nothing more than keep the clothes impailed on the fins.

Over-loaded belt-drives don't perform the same way as an over-loaded DD. Maybe I have not seen badly overloaded machines, but a BD will take the whole load and shift it side to side with agitation, so the load is moving with the agitator. On the DD, the clothes just sit there and agitator fins spastically beat the lower half of the load while the rest goes nowhere.

Maybe I'm wrong about this? (not going to go do a test to find out)

Gordon

 

[yogitunes]

The whole idea behind the BD DA was to wash a larger load and have turnover....the original concept and test was a packed test machine, with a clear tub, adding a black sock to a white load, and watch the actual turnover from the top of the washer to the bottom where the cleaning was actually taking place....only Kenmore had it, and designed it first, mainly because every agitator by them had only vanes at the bottom, if you wanted vigorous wash action on a REAL load (not a few pieces of clothing in a large tub of water) you had to wash HALF loads, at least Whirlpool gave you VANES up to the top, even if the machine was a EX-LARGE capacity, the vanes stretched with it, on a Kenmore or even a Maytag, they only increased the length of the agitator post....

That's why on almost every YOUTUBE video, they either wash a small load to show wash action or they fill the tub all the way up and add a few pieces to show "great" rollover...

I know some of you people out there only have yourselves to wash for, and can't wait for a few pieces to build up, just to get your machine running, and theres others out there who have many members in a household, some with only one set of machines, and do you really think your gonna wash a few pieces at a time or get a whole load done, I love watching the machines operate as the next member, but theres days I have a million things to do, I have laundry EVERYDAY, and I have 3 sets hooked up, all going at the same time to keep up...

Unimatics of any type are fun to watch, and so are Maytags and countless others, we have a ball with them, but if you had to wash several loads a day and juggle everything else in daily lives, some may consider a better perspective of getting a job done faster.....thats what the "average" public was looking for when the DA was introduced...

just my opinion...

 

[combo52]

WASHER AGITATION

My next door neighbor bought a WO-65 in 1953 and used that washer till 1965 when she bought a WP model LMA7800 a nice model with the magic clean filter. She didn't buy a clothes dryer till 1974 when she got a LGA7800 which is still working. Of corse as a little boy I was always hanging around my friends mothers while they were doing laundry or working in the kitchen. I must also say she one of the most perfect housewives the house yard and herself were always perfect I think she did her hair and put on makeup to come out to hang laundry. And I used to watch her untangling the baskets of wash and hang them on the line and sometimes she would say something about torn seems in her husbands long sleeve dress shirts that were tied into ropes or the amount of ironing she had to do on her clothes or that of her two daughters. I remember how thrilled she was with the new WP how the dark clothes came out with no lint and how much easer it was to iron things. The WP lasted till about 1975 when the bearings were shot and I completely rebuilt the machine and it lasted till 1985. I then sold her daughter one of the early super capacity DD which still in the house. When ever you tie clothes in a tight knot or rope you may have some fabric damage my favorite test load for tangling is always s load of 15-20 mens long sleeve dress shirts. On regular agitator washers a fast short stroke will do less damage to clothes than a long slow stroke where the agitator can hold on to the clothes and drag them through the water. GE FF washers always had a faster shorter stroke than many washers and MT went to the faster short stroke about 1990 as well. A DAA will not just force the clothes down into the agitator blades when clothes go down they are being forced up the out side of the . The greatest damage occurs in a regular non DAA washer where an overloaded tub of clothes can not circulate at all and the same clothes stay in contact with the agitator for the whole wash cycle.

 

[mickeyd]

Missing piece

A properly loaded Frigidaire is not going to damage anything. But it takes long practice and skill to do it. Once you understand the concept and master the skill of loading in quadrants by dropping the clothes straight in, and not arranging them in circular fashion, the items come out without a hitch. I just removed a load piece by piece from the 56. One pant leg of a pair of sweat pants was gently braided in three loops with the sleeve of a sweater, and they fell apart easily. The load was large. It was very difficult for me and took a long time to remember to load the Uni the right way. It's totally counter-intuitive, but once you do, the issue just passes away.

BUT, when heavy blankets, down comforters, coats, jackets, tarps, camping and other heavy outdoor articles have to be washed, there is nothing quite like the direct drive dual action WP/KM/KA agitator. Up down up down up down the clothing goes in a wonderful rhythm. It is a highly evolved, ultra-efficient species, achieved after decades of engineering and experimentation in agitator design.
If you find it scary, just use the low speed.
Like the pulsator, it has never damaged anything here. For me the DA is just as great a marvel as 3 ring agitator.

 

[a78jumper]

My mother had a 1958 Inglis Royale and a 1968 Inglis Sterling with the Surgilator and both foamed pretty heavily at least with the detergents of the day.

 

[chromecap]

I generally use my DD on the slower setting for anything that is not too bulky or heavy. Works good and the clothes get clean, what more could i really ask. Would like to have a Speed Queen though....just because it has that Surgilatoresque agi in it.

 

[supersuds]

Why is the DD Dual Action discussion being limited to overloads?

Assuming, for the sake of argument, the DD machines are easier on clothes when they're overloaded -- and I really don't care because I don't do that --- you can't overlook the fact that a DD on regular speed will thrash a small/medium load within an inch of its life.

Moreover, a lot of the DDs don't have a gentle cycle; they're just one-speed washers.

I have to live with one of the DDs now and I was much happier with the 1985 belt-drive Imperial 70. Your mileage may vary, of course, but that's my experience.