why top loaders popular in the usa

[rapunzel]

Hi Louis,

There are always exceptions to the norm. People on limited budgets will buy items that are beyond their means. You said yourself that your neighbor did not own a car for a long time. Maybe the washing machine was the trade-off. Perhaps your neighbor's wife didn't only sew for her own family, but also to supplement their income. Could it also be possible that she did laundry for other people?

If I had been the only person with an automatic washer in my neighborhood, I would have considered turning this into an economic advantage.

Olav

 

[foraloysius]

Olav

No, I know that she only sew for her own family. Several women did in the neighbourhood and none of them sewed for others. And she didn't do laundry for others. Doing it for a household of 8 children was quite enough I think.

 

[irishwashguy]

When I was a kid, you only saw them at laundromats

You would see them only at the laudomat, I knew two people that had them in their laudry rooms,although, they did not spin out very well, you rarely saw them in a store. When you would, there was a choice of one, maybe two until the late 80's when european laundry came to the states.

 

[circlew]

We had two

front load washers, both Westinghouse Laundromats. The first was a '56 that my Mom got for Christmas when I was 5 months old, replacing a Maytag wringer. That machine lasted until '65, but remember it being worked on a few times. It sometimes would get out of balance, and move from its spot. Once it went so far it unplugged itself, and the top came loose.
The second machine was a '65 (also in white), with the flush fitting side swing door. That thing was lousy. The door started rusting out in a short time, and it required service on several occasions. It was replaced in Sept. 73 with a Maytag A206 (white), and a DE406 dryer was also purchased at this time.

I remember Mom using Instant Fels when I was real little, then All or Dash, and Salvo towards the end. She never bought Tide unless to use for other cleaning. Once the Maytag TL arrived, she started using liquids most of the time; Wisk at first, then Era. I don't remember her making any comments one way or the other as to whether the FL's or TL gave better results. She never overloaded any of them, and always used a sensible amount of detergent. The Maytag was still working when I gave it away in 2003. I still have the dryer.

 

[liberator1509]

We actually have top-loaders in the British Isles too

I believe that this is a question of market-driven production. Top-loaders were quite popular here from the 1960s through to the 1970s at a point when automatics were NOT the norm, and considered luxury purchases. Originally (in the 60s) automatics were generally bought by people on middle to high incomes, with larger houses and more flexibility in locating a washer. In the 60s, consumers could choose between a range of top-load, front-load and the unique half-way-house Keymatic. Kitchens weren't fitted with wall-to-wall cabinets and counter-tops, so any style washer could be accommodated. In the 1960s an automatic cost about £120 - one whole month of a healthy middle-manager's salary - about £3000-4000 grand today. In the 60s and 70s, the Hotpoint top-loader was considered very good in terms of results, spin-drying, capacity etc.

By the time cheap Italian automatics (mainly Indesit front-loaders) came in the 1970s, a trend for fitted kitchens meant the market swung to front-load machines. These machines were less than half the cost of a top-loader, and ultimately cheaper than the ubiquitous twin-tub, driving the UK manufacturers to cut production costs as much as possible to compete. Top-loaders were still popular for consumers with laundry rooms, but the market had swung so much to front-loaders that there was little reason to continue production. The traditional top-loader is much more complex, requiring a gear-box, brake etc etc, so could never be produced as cheaply as a front-loader. EU water and energy labeling finally killed the UK top-loader off.

There is still a market for US top-load washer and dryer pairs here, generally sold to the luxury market by Whirlpool and Maytag through specialist appliance/kitchen-porn 'lifestyle' suppliers - ironic as the models sold here are BOL US models. Top-loaders were even more popular in Ireland than the UK through the 70s and 80s with GE filter-flo pair marketed alongside the UK Hotpoint model - the GE was very popular amongst guest-house owners, hospitals, holiday parks etc - I bet there are still examples out there!

Personally I think there is very little to argue in terms of performance between top-load and front-load (I admit there is much to argue in terms of water consumption) - we have a Hotpoint Top-Loader and it washes as well as a front-loader, I think it rinses better and it is much quicker, and I manage to get brilliant whites!!