Thread Number: 21324
1948 General Electric AW6 Owners Manual
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Post# 336166   3/18/2009 at 22:12 (5,488 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
Thanks to a tipoff from Matthew (GEextraRinse) I won this manual on eBay. Its for the early AW6 GE washer, the 1948 model, mine is an earlier 1947 model and you can see how they redesigned the machine slightly for 1948.

Also notice in the installing instructions there is no instructions on how to adjust the leveling legs. That's because they didn't have any! It wasn't until 1950 that GE put leveling legs on their machines. Wouldn't be good on an uneven floor. I added branded new leveling legs to my 1947 machine to make it more stable.

Thanks Matt!


CLICK HERE TO GO TO unimatic1140's LINK





Post# 336167 , Reply# 1   3/18/2009 at 22:14 (5,488 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
Here is my machine, before and after restoration shots...



Post# 336169 , Reply# 2   3/18/2009 at 22:20 (5,488 days old) by ttuee2006 ()        
OOOOOOOO PRETTY!

Can we see inside? :-)

Post# 336170 , Reply# 3   3/18/2009 at 22:34 (5,488 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        
Can we see inside? :-)

unimatic1140's profile picture
Post# 336171 , Reply# 4   3/18/2009 at 22:36 (5,488 days old) by rickr (.)        

rickr's profile picture
Robert, that is a beautiful machine! Glad you got the owners manual. The manual is rare enough, but you even have the machine! Wonder how many still are still out there? Not many I would bet. You may have the only early GE automatic left.

Post# 336172 , Reply# 5   3/18/2009 at 22:54 (5,488 days old) by supersuds (Knoxville, Tenn.)        

supersuds's profile picture
Ha, I love how the wash temperature options are HOT (130 F), MEDIUM (115 F) and WARM (100 F). Nobody expected that washing in 40 or 50 degree water would work.

Post# 336177 , Reply# 6   3/18/2009 at 23:22 (5,488 days old) by ttuee2006 ()        

Thanks for the link to the past post! Very interesting and amazing washer!

Post# 336204 , Reply# 7   3/19/2009 at 06:59 (5,488 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)        
Oh its amazing alright

jetcone's profile picture
Silent and deadly is how I'd describe it.

Robert been slammmed this week, will call you back sooner.


Post# 336206 , Reply# 8   3/19/2009 at 07:41 (5,488 days old) by tlee618 ()        

Yay Robert, that was a great score!!

Post# 336208 , Reply# 9   3/19/2009 at 08:08 (5,488 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

turquoisedude's profile picture
Wow - that is a great find indeed! Sometimes it is far easier to find the manual than it is to find the machine!

Is this the solid tub model with the high-speed spin that I have heard about??


Post# 336225 , Reply# 10   3/19/2009 at 10:20 (5,487 days old) by geextrarinse (Hudson Valley, New York )        
very cool!

geextrarinse's profile picture
Glad to see you were able to get this Robert! And some day i hope to come see this machine- and all the rest, in person!

Post# 336234 , Reply# 11   3/19/2009 at 10:55 (5,487 days old) by pdub (Portland, Oregon)        

pdub's profile picture
Aren't these old manuals fun! Congratulations on your find.

Thanks for posting the links to the restoration of this machine. I remember when you originally got this machine and how excited you were. It's fun to see that again.

Patrick


Post# 336242 , Reply# 12   3/19/2009 at 11:48 (5,487 days old) by gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA)        

I will never understand why GE made so many changes to this design-----at least for the first five years anyway. They had a great thing going on. Should have kept the high speed spin until they had to give it up with the Perf.tub FF's.

Post# 336244 , Reply# 13   3/19/2009 at 12:00 (5,487 days old) by dishwashercrazy (West Peoria, IL)        
I can't believe...

dishwashercrazy's profile picture
that so much thought went into these early G.E. Automatics and the ease of removing the washbasket for cleaning.

I think we can probably speculate that most of the owners of these and other early automatics didn't really follow the Use and Care Instructions very well. Otherwise, there would still be lots of these machines left for us to enjoy.



Post# 336261 , Reply# 14   3/19/2009 at 14:09 (5,487 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        

gansky1's profile picture
I wonder how many people would take apart their washers and clean them like this?

"If machine has a kerosene odor..." Wow. Can you imagine the horror of homemakers now being told to use kerosene for work clothes - and soaking them in a pail overnight?


Post# 336384 , Reply# 15   3/20/2009 at 03:31 (5,487 days old) by kenmore81 ()        
Great Find

Im glad you got it. I miss you tube vids lol

Post# 336395 , Reply# 16   3/20/2009 at 04:26 (5,487 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK)        
Nice One

chestermikeuk's profile picture
Not like the manuals of today, where they hardly tell you what to do and only a few short pages at that!!! lovely machine and yes it is super silent.....

Why did they drop the spin speed, was it because of suspension issues etc??


Post# 336422 , Reply# 17   3/20/2009 at 08:58 (5,487 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
Why did they drop the spin speed, was it because of suspension issues etc??

Mike, I really believe the problem was the original AW6 machine's design was too expensive to manufacture profitably and they resigned it with a simpler belt drive design (the AW5 series, introduced for 1951).


Post# 336434 , Reply# 18   3/20/2009 at 10:24 (5,486 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)        
Question for Robert:

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Robert - why did the top on the AW6 have to be replaced? Was the original too rusty to restore? Also, did G.E. ever make a dryer that paired with this washer? I am not normally very interested in G.E.'s, but this early machine is fascinating!

Post# 336467 , Reply# 19   3/20/2009 at 16:21 (5,486 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
why did the top on the AW6 have to be replaced?

Because the top had rails that hold the porcelain subtop down and seals the outer tub. The rails has rusted away so bad on the original top that the subtop would could have fallen down into the outer tub and come in contact with the 1140rpm spinning basket. I couldn't take the chance of that kind of damage.



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