Tonight on Discovery channel's episode of "Mythbusters" the guys decided to see how much clothes they could cram into what appears to be a 90 series KM Super capacity top loader. I hope that they will repeat this episode as I don't have DVR and mye VCR is on deathrow. They supercharged it by putting in a 10 hp motor! These guys - Jamie and Adam - are truly psycho! It has something to do with washing dog pee with baking soda?! I need to watch the rest and post again...

Adam tried to see if they could blow up (I am not making this up) a combination of dog pee with baking soda and bleach. The initial spin speed was 630 rpm before they swapped out the OEM motor with the 10 hp. I am no Math wiz but I wonder can anyone guess what the rpm would be with such a motor? They didn't mention what rpm was attained with the swap...and no, apparently a myth, you cannot make an explosion with dog pee, baking soda and bleach. Since I didn't watch the beginning of the show I don't know what the connection was with using the washer. Anyone else catch tonite's show?...

I think what they were trying to show was that the man was trying to stuff all those clothes into the washer and got spun around doing so and was thrown about and was injured. Then the bleach came off a shelf and spilled on the dog urine, forming clorine and gassing anyone there. But the original motor was not strong enough to move the laundry or the person. Just kind of sad though, ruining a perfectly good washer. Nep

:-)

I wouldn't say I am a fan of MB but did find it interesting how they changed out the motor. Makes me wonder if one could upgrade the standard motor to achieve better spin extraction - from 630 rpm - to say 850? Maybe wouldn't work without a lot of modifications...

I saw a segment of them putting "Buster" (their crash test dummy) in the washer and trying to spin it.

Kari is hot!

Ha, that's funny.

AC induction motors run at a standard speed, I think it's 1170 RPM. So a higher horsepower motor wouldn't make the machine run faster unless they changed out a bunch of specialized components, and God knows where they would find new components that worked and also fit into the available space.

Souping up the spin speed would cause more wear on the bearings and probably cause the machine to break down quickly. Or perhaps "fail spectacularly" with parts flying hither and yon.

I would have thought it more interesting to run a series of tests to determine the minimum achievable power and water consumption to remove a given type of dirt, i.e. KWH per lb. of load, and gallons per lb. of load. Though the various manufacturers probably do that during their design process, and it wouldn't make for "exciting television" like blowing things up.

I saw one of those programs on TV during an airplane flight recently, complete with those guys blowing up random stuff in the desert.

Are there any antique-restoration programs on TV that could be gotten interested in doing something about appliance restorations?

What is the Episode Title of the "Mythbusters"....when?

Please let me know..

-- Peter, kenmorepeter5a

induction motor speeds-This depends upon--
1.-The number of winding "pole pairs" in the motor-
2.-The Frequency of the AC power feeding the motor.
For most applications the induction motor is 1750 RPM-or rounded off-1800 RPM.this is a 4 pole motor.Next would be a 2 pole-this would be 3450-3600 RPM.These two are the most common.motors can be wound for other speeds depending upon application.Now with the advent of modern solid state devices and digital technology-we have the VFD motor drive-Variable Frequency Drive.This device converts in the incoming AC-2 phase or 3 phase to DC-then a digital frequency standard generates a frequency-this is amplified and used to feed the motor.VFD's are used in 3 ph higher horsepower motors-say 1 hp on up.The drive can also be interfaced into a computer-the computer can generate a signal to the VFD unit changing the frequency.Or you can do it by hand-some have a dial on them to change speed.You can make an 1800RPM motor have a speed range of about +-20percent.Now whats this someone connecting a 10hp motor to a washer-Some machine--if its 1800 RPM-the washer would probably run at the same speed.I beleive most washers have 1800 -or is it 1750 RPM motors.Or at least one of the spedds is 1750 RPM.On multiple speed AC motors-you are changing the number of pole pairs to shift speed.If the motor changes down to 1350 RPM,or 1150,you change to 6 poles and 8 poles.In most multiple speed motors the lower speeds are usually lower horsepower.The motor gives highest horsepower at its fastest speed in the case of multiple speed ones.

at our last visit I watched an episode on local TV with local Thai voiceovers. It helped me learn a little bit of their language. Peter, I think you can search the TLC website, click on Discover and locate the TV listings for MythBusters. I don't make a habit of trying to catch their show but if I recall correctly the next episode is next Wednesday at 9pm; every commercial break (of which there were a LOT) reminded viewers of the next episode day. Longing for the days when Cable TV did not have more commercials than mainstream TV (!)

He he oh yeah i have seen that episode too. They are very strange guys. I saw another program where they tried to check if cd-r records can break in the computer. They just test EVERYTHING. How to get rid of Skunk Smell (eeewww), but they are kind of cool.

Sorry for the washer in that episode though.

I saw that episode.They went to a used appliance store looking for a heavy duty washer.The owner sold them this Kenmore DD,while passing up a Maytag sitting next to it!

kennyGF