I thought I would let you all know the Maytag A50 I picked up last week in Wisconsin is running pretty smooth! I was able to get a brand new impeller belt and I believe it needs a new pump belt.

For those of you who get troubled by "suds-lock" with these machines, I thought you might like to know how I get around that. I put a few inches of cold water in the spin tub, thus helping the suds push out. It seems to work. I'm a Tide user and believe me, in these machines, you get a lot of suds! :-)

Funny, but the belt only cost $14. The people who tried to "fix" this machine, had taken a motor belt of some kind and rigged up a system to make it tighter. It was really strange; it involved two 2" machine screws, cafe curtain rod hangers and 2 small, metric sockets. It was really strange and no, I did not take a picture. The neoprene belt is much better!!

The spin is incredible. The book says 2000 rpm's. It sounds like the extractors at a laundromat when it picks up speed! The impellers rotate at 400 rpm's; that's why there's a lot of suds. Maytag always prided themselves with their gyratators that the cleaning relied on water action alone. The same holds true with these little porta-washers.

These machines are very efficient. It holds about 11 gallons of water and the longest wash time is 5 minutes. Items really get cleaned well.

I'll do pictures later after I get it all polished up.

Great news! Enjoy the machine!

Isn't that a great spin? Before I had faster spinning washers, I used my Porta-Washer as an extractor for some loads. They did a good job washing too, and with the reversing impellers there was very little tangling. The other unpublished "added feature" was that since they were rather sloppy, you ended up with a clean floor as well!

Aren't the large-vaned impellers great? I could wash 1 queen sheet & 4 pillowcases in one load! Held a lot for a side-impeller machine (although bottom-impeller washers seem to hold more). The black splashguard is a nice feature; you can fill it halfway up the "gyrators" and watch the water arc out under it in a cool "shower-spray."

How is the noise factor? My machine was whisper-quiet when washing; you couldn't hear the motor, just the water/clothes rushing around the tub. The extractor did sound a little weird, snap the latch, hear the "WaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" as the spinner ramped up to 2000 RPM, then of course "BANG!" as the latch was released when the inertia brake locked. I ended up taking the brake off (very easy procedure) because the latch wouldn't stay locked with it on.

I took GregN's advice on mine and ran it through 2 5-minute wash cycles, to get clothes REALLY clean!

--Austin

Yes, these are great little machines! I washed two pair of blue jeans in one load. It worked quite well and yes, I set it for two, 5-minute washes.

This machine is "whisper quiet" when washing, also. I love that feature. The spin is incredible and there is some serious "banging" for a moment or two before it ramps up. Quite an experience!! I think, even new, these machines were noisy during the initial phase of the spin. When I was cleaning, I had the entire top off and was able to start the spinner without the latch. That was pretty cool. That baby moves out! There wasn't "gunk" in the spin basket tub; which I was really grateful for. There was plenty of "gunk" on the entire top.

I used Clorox SoftScrub with bleach to clean and it was able to reduce some of the yellowing. The bleaching action, I'm sure, is what helped. I gently used a Mr. Clean Eraser with the SoftScrub and it worked really, really well at cleaning off the gunk. Rinse, rinse, rinse ... wipe, wipe, wipe.

These little machines are about as close to a wringer washer as you can get. Yes, you get a clean floor AND extremely clean hands using one!! :-)

People don't always take care of their things, do they?