Why does everyone think Maytag is so great?

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Maydrag ?

I've been amazed at the amount of people on here that found the old Maytags as they called them boring. I don't think they're boring' in fact they're great. It's just that some other washers like a rare ABC-O-Matic are more exciting.
 
Maydrag?

Mrcleanjeans, I thought you started this thread saying "plain and unadored". Now you are saying you are amazed others find old Maytags as boring. I am amazed you are amazed...
 
Goldenboy:

I think the point mrcleanjeans was making is that he would prefer a Maytag top loader over any HE machine currently available. I, myself, don't knock front loaders. I actually like them, I really do. However, the Maytag Epic you buy at the store is NOT the Unimac or Speed Queen commercial soft-mount I would prefer. Nor are they the Zerowatt I currently have on the Y connector at my kitchen sink. They use water, and lots of it. Not only that, but my Zerowatt also uses up more electricity than my dryer during the wash cycle, when it's heating that water. Think of it as being the British Airway's Concord of home appliances.

You may find this to be a bit unimaginable, but my Frigidaire 1-18 uses about 44 gallons and will do 18 pounds, as opposed to the Zerowatt's 13 pound capacity with 60 gallons of water consumption per load, with no variable water level. That's a savings of 15 gallons each time you do a wash, using the Frigidaire 1-18! A Maytag top-loader will use even less water. But with all them gallons of water being used up by the Zerowatt, the result is the type of clean that can not be achieved by a standard household machine. It's very close to the type of clean you can only get by sending your items off to a linen and uniform service. My front loader was built for performance, not tree hugging. Like I said, I like front loaders and LOVE big iron!

No, I don't find a center-dial Maytag top loader to be that appealing, even with the lighted console. I guess it must be the sounds they make and the plain-jane agitator? I don't know. But I will take the 1978 Maytag A806 over a BRAND NEW Affinity, Cabrio, Oasis or Duet Sport any day.

NorfolkSouthern
 
Maytag washers and dryers 1950s-1970s

John. I thought I was the only one that felt that way. My cousin had a Maytag and had boys (who played sports) and load of dirty laundry. She said she hated the machine, did not clean well, gave it to a neighbor, and bought a Westinghouse Front loader in the mid 80's and loved it. She saw the difference in a few weeks with the boys white clothes and socks. She also stated. " They lasted long because they did not do anything".
 
"They lasted long because they did not do anything&quot

I've heard that many times, and always from someone that stuffed too many clothes in.

An overloaded Maytag doesn't wash for beans, but it won't hurt itself trying.

Ken D.
 
Goldenboy,I am amazed that you're amazed. From the beginning I said that Maytags have a classiness about them , they are just not AS exciting as some snazzier machines but no machine has ever been built like them.
 
Hi Ken from Haledon, NJ. Another NJ guy here. Actually my cousin that had the Maytag lives in West Paterson, Garret Mt. lol

She did not overstuff.... She showed me. I have heard this from many many people. (as Combo52 states). I guess it depends on your soil level of clothes too. I know I had a new Maytag from 1992 and it was okay. You could not put many clothes in it. It did get better however when I replaced the agitator with one of the cork screw ones that Maytag came out with a few years later. I have to say the best was I ever got was from the Westinghouse LT800E front loader from 1984. hands down.
 
Greetings from Haledon !

Nobody get's their clothes dirtier than me. I work in a dirty warehouse and sometimes work on the diesel trucks. I mean clothes that turn the wash water to mud. A properly loaded center-dial Maytag is among the best cleaning machines out there, and one of the best rinsing machines too. I have no experience with newer (orbital transmission) Maytags.

I've had belt-drive Whirlpools, GE Filter flos, a 1-18, I've used a wide variety of front loaders at many different laundromats, I feel that my Maytag A606 does a better job of soil removal and rinsing than any of the above, 1-18 excluded when the clothes weren't in knots.

That said, almost any machine will do a decent job if loaded correctly, but my experience with front loaders has been mediocre at best.

Ken D.
 
I Have To Say:

I was extremely pleased with the washing performance of my A108. As I've already said, it got regular laundry cleaner than the DD Whirly it replaced - very noticeably so.

But where it really stood out was during my partner's final illness - he had a great many "accidents," involving all kinds of stains I won't even mention here, and the Mighty Tag got out every single one of them. Stuff would go down to the laundry room in unmentionably nasty condition, and come back up clean, stain-free, and fresh-smelling. I did sometimes run a Fabric-Matic delicate cycle using cold water as a pre-wash cycle for certain stains, and then ran a warm regular cycle, but the machine always came through for me. The hospice people told me many times that they were amazed at how clean I could keep my partner's bedding; most of their clients' caregivers eventually put up with a certain amount of stains.

I will say that the bleach bill was fairly impressive.
 
Sandy, I think your model did clean nicely. Someone in the family I think had this model and liked it. DO you or anyone else on the club have a picture of it?

Thanks so much

Ray
 
Dependable

OK, I do have a Maytag but it's one of the 'dreaded' front loaders, because I only have a 24" wide space in my condo.

I believe I have one of the last 'pure' Maytag machines but I could be wrong. I love my front loader. The only other choices I had were those god-awful 'skinny-mini' machines which I replaced, a foriegn front-loader brand - which was here before my Maytag, or my current set.

In the 2.5 years I've had the machine, the only problem I've had was a quarter got stuck in the pump. More my fault than the machines, but the point is that I can wash a full-size comforter well. Granted, it's a longer wash but I do get my clothes clean.

The downside of this washer is that it feels like the guys from "The Big Bang Theory" are always worried about the spin. The spin cycle sometimes takes a long time because it seems to be worried about something instead of spinning a little of the water out and then restart the spin.

While there are virtues for top-loading machines, I like the fact that I can do more wash in a front loader.

I agree that sometimes there's not enough water during the wash cycle and I have that covered as well, cheat. I cheat with an empty gallon jug that I fill up with water, pause the machine and add through the detergent chute. When it has enough water for my wash, I start it again and it's fine.

Sure, there's a balance between resources, and living out in the Southwest (Phoenix) rain is an odd site. Just watch people try to drive in it or the underpasses flood with one good hour long storm. Sometimes, there's enough water and sometimes I think it needs more. I still have a choice and my old gallon jug available.

So, I love my Maytags and I love my front loaders and for the moment I have the best of two worlds. They're not perfect, but for my cause, it works.

I'd love my Aunt's ceter dial Maytag set for a display and some washes, but then I wouldn't have much of a living room, which may be an improvement.
 
Water use and energy use...

Both are valid concerns. In some places, they may be enough of a concern that a front loader may be the only valid choice.

However...one real concern I have is that a new washer will take energy and resources to make it, ship it to the customer, and then eventually dispose of it. I've been told the resources used will be huge. It would be one thing if that machine would last a long time, but somehow I doubt it will. I see too many appliances 5 years old that have fatal problems advertised on Craigslist. I don't think 20-40 years will happen.

Another thought: with an older machine, one can get a machine that has a suds saver feature. This will allow reuse of water for several loads.
 
Sudsavers

Love 'em

I realize a sudsaver would require more thought than the "masses" actually like to put into laundry, but I think it is a great way to reduce water consumption AND the amount of chemicals being sent into the enviroment. Since you are reusing the wash water several times you are then using much less detergent which is sending less to water treatment plants. I know that there is no way for the treatment plants to get the chlorine out of the water and firmly believe that there are traces or more of chemicals from the detergents we use.

My family didn't do it to be enviromentally friendly, they used sudsavers to save money. I have found that using wringers to do the laundry + a trip through the automatic to ensure that the clothes are throughly rinsed and spun Damp Dry reduced my water bill by $50 to $70 a month. It also reduced the need to replace my box of Tide from once a month to once a quarter. This seems like a reduction of consumption WINNER to me...
 
I have just purchased from a friend in OK who is an appliance repairman, a 1982 normal tub size Maytag automatic. He has rebuilt it and I love that machine! Right next to it sits my 1997 Kitchen Aide automatic.
The Maytag it much quieter. The roll over is great, and I only have to rinse once in the Maytag where I have always done a 2nd rinse with the KA. To test the ability of rinsing, I have take the load out of the maytag with only once rinse and transfered it to the KA for a second rinse, set on the 2nd rinse option. No scum, dirty water or detergent laden water is present in the 2nd rinse.
Perhaps one reason why people say that the Maytag is not an exciting machine etc. is because all action is stopped when the lid is lifted except for fill. For those of us that like to watch the action, Maytag won't let you do that. What I do, and it works, is to take a wooden paint stirer from the paint store and wedge it in between the stop action switch and the bottom of the lid. You have to hold the lid open but you see plenty of water churning etc. in there.
I have a 1980 center dial electric dryer in harvest gold that i bought new and have never had a repair on it. My vote goes to the Maytags. I have several wringer washers and love them all. Easy has great spiralator action. Speed Queen sits up nice and tall and the bowl shaped tub rolls the clothes over well. Maytag with Gyrafoam action really turns the clothes over and washes well. ABC wringers have a slower stroke but the clothes are really rolled around on the bottom of the tub, where most of the washing takes place anyway.
Have fun washing with whatever you have. Gary
 
The early Front-loading Neptunes...

had a similar feature where part of the last rinse was saved in a small tank. The problem was, and why I didn't have my mom get one at the time, that if the water sat too long, there was that old water odor and at the time her water treatment for the hard well-water didn't do a good job of getting the smell out of the water.

The laundromat I went to had the first ones and the owner told me that while there's enough people using the washers to flush out the old water, if you didn't wash enough, you'd have problems. Overall he loved them, but he also had some standard top loaders.

I think there's a market for this type of option, the problem is that if you don't know how to use it effectively, it might cause more problems than it's worth.

Saving money is important, but if it costs too much in time or it's too complicated, most people are going to opt out.
 

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