Wringer Washer Failure

[johnrk]

I have purchased on this site, and have read with interest, information about various wringer washers for sale.

I'm wondering whether what I've read here--that the main cause for failure of washing machines is the seal keeping the motor separate from the water--applies for these wringer washers also. I'm also wondering whether the pump mechanisms on those models having them were a significant source of breakdowns and required service.

Looking over the 1966 Maytag operator's manual for their MOL and TOL wringer models, it was recommended that at the end of each washday, the operator remove the agitator and clean out the sediment chamber around the shaft (and with pump models to clean out the pump screen). Then, approximately monthly, it is recommended that the shaft be lubricated with petroleum jelly. Also recommended to wipe down the inner tub with a cloth.

Did most users actually do this chore? Were our ancestors better at doing this than we are these days? Looking back at the 1954 Cooper supply catalogue I purchased here, the wringer washers cost between $125 and $200, meaning in today's Dollars, $1000 to $1800! Given the wages of the day, that might certainly give impetus to taking good care of these appliances, even if they weren't automatic...

 

[ea56]

My Mom had a 69’ Maytag E2LSP wringer and we always rinsed out the tub, removed the agitator, cleaned the screen, left the agitator off the post, dried the tub between uses, and we kept the post lubed with vaseline regularlly. Me first washer was a Maytag J2P and I maintained it the same way.

These were fantastic washers! And if we had the room and/or setup for one I’d have one right now and use it exclusively. I just really enjoyed the whole process from beginning to end in doing my laundry with a wringer washer. And a whole weeks wash can be done in an hour.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/7/2017-22:51]

 

[stan]

I have a Maytag E, pump model

I don't use it as much as I use to but when I do...I do all that after finishing use. I also lower the drain hose as low as possible (into a bucket) and try to get as much water out of the pump, along wit separating the wringer rollers, and I leave the lid open til things are dry.

 

[losangeles]

Wringer washer failure

I have a Norge wringer (date still to be determined)that has a pump and a Maytag E2L also with a pump and a rebuilt Speed Queen with pump.. I have met and become friends with an elderly used appliance dealer, who seems to be wise in all things washing machines. He has told me that back in the "old days" women were so glad to just be finished with the wash that, which is some cases with large families took a whole day. And if you did not have plumbed water to the house, there was a lot of fetching of water to be done and just draining the dirty water out was considered a done deal.
All that being said, I do all those things mentioned in the above post. I do this because these are my toys, my babies and I want them to last as long as I do. I use all my machines regularly, and Eddie says I enjoy the whole experience from beginning to end.

 

[launderess]

From what one has read/heard largest "damage" to wringer washers wasn't pump and or agitator being frozen to shaft; but busting the "mangle" by shoving items too big/thick for it to handle.

Maytag's were more forgiving than some other conventional washers because of its self adjusting wringer, but even then there are/were limits.

This is the worrisome thing about using any sort of mangle; once you've got a very large/bulky thing caught up in the rollers, getting it back out may not be easy. More so if half or more of the thing has already gone through...

 

[ea56]

When I still lived at home as a teenager my Mom used to wash her double bed down comforter in the Maytag wringer. It was a very densely filled comforter from LL Bean. I would help her put it through the wringer, when it was wet it was so heavy that it took the two of us to feed through the wringer. There was never any problem with the wringer handling the heavy comforter. But when it got to the end while going through the wiinger water would shoot all over the place from the end of the comforter. We used to get pretty wet, but the comforter got clean and wrung out. After the rinse, we ran it through twice to extract as much water as possible.

These Maytag Wringer washers are almost indestructible.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/10/2017-17:32]

 

[launderess]

To be fair

Down will compress quite a lot and rather easily. Other things perhaps not so much. The Maytag repair person we spoke with mentioned things like thick rugs, coverlets or quilts.

For the record there are power wringers designed just for rugs and other thick items. However they are "HUGE", with rollers long as the largest flatwork ironers. The idea is that things can be wrung in only a single layer, instead of having to be folded.

The folding is where IMHO many get into trouble with wringers/mangles. Ideally things should go through spread evenly along the rolls. If something is too wide it will have to be made to fit.

 

[ea56]

My Grandma made beautiful quilts and she put them through the wringer, that’s just what people did, you used what you had. And I used to run articles through the wringer in more than one layer of thickness, no problems. I put Levis through just the way I pulled them out of the tub, agitator running all the while, no broken zippers, no broken buttons. I never took any special care putting anything through the wringer, just made sure they feed through evenly, making adjustments while feeding the stuff into the wringer. This was the way the women that I knew as a kid did it, so thats how I learned. Yes, manufactures used to recommend all these various precautions, but in reality, most people didn’t follow them.

Doing laundry used to be pretty basic, but more labor intensive. You didn’t worry about dumbed down temps, spin speeds, cycle times, the user controlled the process, not the machine.
Eddie

 

[johnrk]

Eddie

I learned freehand sewing machine embroidery and freehand quilting/piecing about 35 years ago, when I had to have something to do after surgery. I purchased a swiss Elna and a couple of books and to this day I still freehand monogram and make tapestries, etc. I never learned how to garment sew at all.

Your posting on 'user control' prompted me to immediately think of sewing machines; I still own around 20 or so. Like washing machines, they've tried to mate electronics with a highly mechanical process to 'dumb down' what the sewer needs to know. And, like washing machines, it's had a patchy success record.

As with laundry, there is no substitute for knowing the fabrics involved, knowing the threads to use for those fabrics, not to mention such things as stitch length, width, pattern, etc. So many new sewers have been seduced by machines offering all sorts of stitches and thinking-aids, only to be disappointed in the end.

The worst is the silly machines doing what I call 'passive embroidery'--those where the operator designs a little thing on a screen and the machine then duplicates it. Of course, this thing will only do the most primitive of designs, being limited by the screen's ability and the machine's ability to emulate it. I've taught women how to monogram, thread paint and do applique in an afternoon with a conventional zigzag machine, it's not brain surgery.

If there's a theme I see repeated over and over on this website, it's 'user control'. Our brains will not be matched by silly microprocessors and software programs, and most here realize it.