You'll NEVER believe what happened :-(

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lightedcontrols

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Joined
Sep 7, 2004
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Came home late Friday evening from Wytheville and threw a small load of whites into the machine. Added my detergent and Biz, and went upstairs. Went down to the laundry room to put the clothes in the dryer only to find the Norge COMPLETELY dead!!! Took the front and back panels off and the motor was hot, hot, hot!!! She has lived a good life. Born in 1972, she worked hard all her life....(if you ask Gyrafoam, she'll say she was overworked)....anyway, seems her motor finally gave out. (I have bunches of these motors in the warehouse in Wytheville but of course I was in Roanoke. Sooooooo.....I called my local appliance dealer, after hours, and he was kind enough to open his store for me and let me take one of the last, MADE IN NEWTON IOWA, orbital Maytags home with me. Of course that awful cruel action agitator HAD TO GO!!! Here's a few pics for you guys. Mark Lightedcontrols PS. Sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with the site, but am really busy trying to get my home built.

10-1-2006-19-44-18--lightedcontrols.jpg
 
Great washer, Mark! Does it have the fast agitation of a new Maytag? You're the first person I've know to have one of the cabinet dryers; how do you like it? Do you find you use the upper hanging section often? They look cool, that's for sure.
 
Definitely not fun when a motor goes out...had that happen to me with the 1-18 last July, but luckily I had one brand-new 1-18 motor in the stash. I'm just glad it wasn't an oil seal failure.

The Power-Fin modification in a new 'Tag works great, the turnover is simply amazing. Handles a decent-sized load too.

Good luck on the new house...can't wait to see the result!
 
Hi frigilux

Yes, the washer has the fast orbital agitation stroke of the new Maytags. Love the drying center. Actually I didn't think that I would use the top much, but use it a LOT to lay things flat to dry. I've hung a few things to dry but mostly use it for flat drying.....like "play" wear, lycra, spandex, pvc, sweaters, etc..... By the way, the lower dryer is the later Norge design....don't know why they didn't do the Dependable Care design in this one, as it's a MUCH better dryer. This great dryer has been discontinued by Maytag/Whirlpool, so if you want one, better get it now. Lightedcontrols
 
Hi Steve!

Hi Steve!
Would love for you to come for a visit! We've got a warehouse FULL of goodies!!! Of course, the rest of you all are welcome too! Lightedcontrols Mark
 
nice tag Mark

ole norgie boy get to the spin or leave you with some bailing and wringing to do? I had a later magic chef by then ,the lint filter pan was discontinued and the lid opened to the back, glad U can save the avocado norge, I still like avocado. The Magic chef w/d and their refrigerator where all good performers, IIRC, they sent a $50 or $75. purchase offer for the w/d, I had purhcased the refigerator first, but that made the decison. You know the drill, first house, " i need, i need, i need. LOL alr2903 P.S. VERY Nice TAG
 
Hi Mark, too bad about the Norge, when you said you called your local appliance dealer, after hours, and he was kind enough to open his store for you and let you take one of the last", I thought you were going to say one "take of the last Norge motors"! LOL!
 
For what this is worth

The service manual that introduces the orbital transmission to the no-longer-so-lonely Maytag men states that the orbital transmission moves the agitator fins through the water at exactly the same velocity as the original helical transmission. The only difference is that the stroke is shorter, so there are more strokes per minute, which makes it appear that the agitator moves at a faster speed, but it doesn't.

Remember, when Westy tried switching agitators, other club members posted warnings. The orbital transmission was designed to be teamed up only with the redesigned agitator, which was purposely designed with shorter fins. The original aqua agitator has longer fins, so it moves more water and clothes a longer distance with each stroke. The original transmission had real metal gears, so that additional workload was not a problem for it. But that additional workload will cause the el-cheap-o plastic gears in the orbital transmission to fail prematurely.

The corkscrew agitator/orbital transmission will generally get your clothes just as clean as, if not cleaner than, the original agitator/transmission -- and with less wear, tear and stretching on the clothes -- provided that you do as the manual says: drop the clothes in until they reach the top row of holes, without patting the clothes down to make space for more.
 
...and my machine has had the Power-Fin for almost 2 years, doing 14 loads a week if not more. No problems whatsoever! :)
 

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