Thread Number: 39844
Why did washers need lint filters? |
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Post# 590026 , Reply# 1   4/16/2012 at 19:33 (4,363 days old) by StrongEnough78 (California)   |   | |
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I think it's so things like pet hair especially, aren't left behind in the washer, or on the clothes even, leaving a mess to clean before starting the next load. I've had that happen before especially at the laundromat. Plus extra filtering in the wash, and then the dryer will get out more excess lint, like with new towels.
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Post# 590047 , Reply# 2   4/16/2012 at 20:12 (4,363 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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For home use so having some sort of lint filtering system was seen as a "bonus" for housewives. Just another bell and whistle to advertise one brand machine from another.
Even many early tumble dryers didn't have lint filters, but they did remove fluff. The stuff was just sent spewing out of the vents to cover lawns or whatever. Once lint filters became almost mandatory in all tumble dryers it reduced the need for such in washing machines. While many top loaders still do have such systems, front loaders do not. |
Post# 590056 , Reply# 3   4/16/2012 at 20:33 (4,363 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs)   |   | |
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Right you are about early clothes dryers. My mom's Apex gas dryer with the automobile spark plug ingnitor had no lint filter. Fortunately my mom was a clothes line fanatic and rarely used the dryer which simply vented under the house for several years.I guess for a long time we were living over a "lint" powder keg.
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Post# 590059 , Reply# 4   4/16/2012 at 20:45 (4,363 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)   |   | |
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Post# 590066 , Reply# 5   4/16/2012 at 21:03 (4,363 days old) by washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai’i)   |   | |
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Post# 590068 , Reply# 6   4/16/2012 at 21:04 (4,363 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)   |   | |
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My mother had an old Bendix gas dryer that did not have a lint filter or a convenient automatic igniter, just a pilot light she would not keep on. Every spring after the snow melted away, there was a huge blanket of lint on the lawn beside the house I would have to go rake up as a kid. Her first washer with a lint filter was a mid level Kenmore and she couldnt believe the amount of lint in each load. Bendix was eventually replaced with a Kenmore 70 gas dryer and she cleaned that lint screen twice during every load. She said it made it dry faster and used less gas.
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Post# 590089 , Reply# 7   4/16/2012 at 23:03 (4,363 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs)   |   | |
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Tim, your mom probably did save a little by cleaning that dryer lint filter twice for each load, but what a hassle lighting and re-lighting that pilot. Even though I was really young I remember the sequence of steps when using my mom's Apex. First you turned this knob that said "Gas" to "on" which started the supply to the pilot. If you walked away you'd start to smell gas. Then you turned this knob marked "Ignition" to "on" and had to hold it there since it would spring back to "off." You would hear the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz of the spark plug lighting the pilot. You held the ignitor on for about 45 seconds or more until the thermocouple heated and the pilot remained on. Then you set the timer, push the red "Start" button and looked through the burner viewing window at the top to make sure it lit. The Apex broiled your clothes through a perforated drum like the old Frigidaire Filtrators. It said Automatic Dryer on the front but I guess it really wasn't.
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Post# 590166 , Reply# 9   4/17/2012 at 06:33 (4,362 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)   |   | |
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Wasn't it also-that in those times the "automatic" lint filters were not available or perfected? |
Post# 590179 , Reply# 11   4/17/2012 at 07:55 (4,362 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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IMXO [ in my expert opinion ] I would rate the effectiveness as follows.
All KM back-flush self-cleaning filters from 1958- the end of BD washers in the 1980s, WP also used this technology from 1964-the 1980s on selected models.
KM washers with the removable screen type filters from 1956-the mid 1960s were very effective in trapping lint. The brush type WP Magic-Mix filter was almost as effective but a pain to clean. Also the first GE FFs with the metal filter in the ST washers all caught a noticeable amount of lint.
After these there were also quite a few runner ups, the plastic edge filters on WPs, KMs, Frigidaire 1-18s, WP & KMs basket mounted filters that came out in the early 1980s, Norges, GE FFs with the plastic filter, HPs and SQs tub mounted Self-Cleaning filters and MTs first agitator mounted filters with the SS screen with a gasket on the bottom to keep the lint from merely washing past the screen.
At the end of the pack would be several White Westinghouse edge style filters and MTs agitator mounted filter after it was all plastic. This last groups filters were all but useless.
When I was growing up we had a solid tub 1960 Franklin built washer and then I got a hold of one of my Mothers friends old 1959 LKMs. I rebuilt the LKM about 1967 as the Franklin was pretty much worn out doing laundry for a family of 7 including us 5 boys. One of the first differences that Mom and I noticed was when we went to clean the 1963 KM 70 model lint filter after we started using the 1959 LKM was there was less than 1/2 the amount of lint in the dryers filter after each load. At first Mom and I wondered if there was something wrong with dryers filter LOL. But as I started rebuilding various different washers and we would go back and forth using different machines you could always see the difference in the amount of lint that had been left on the clothes when they went into the dryer by what the dryers filter collected.
Dryers produce very little lint as they are not hard enough on clothing to cause much wear. You can prove this by drying a load of towels that have just been washed in a TL washer. Then without rewashing re wet the towels and put them through the final spin of the same TL washer and dry them again in the same manner and you will likely see less than 1/2 as much lint in the filter when they are dry.
Note I did leave out one of the best TL washers Lint Filter system which is my old 1948 GE AW6 washer that I traded to Robert. This GE had a very effective and clever Self-Cleaning filter. |
Post# 590185 , Reply# 13   4/17/2012 at 08:30 (4,362 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)   |   | |
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My very first washer was a coppertone Kenmore 70 with self cleaning filter I bought used for $100. Worked perfect for 10 years and suddenly refused to pump out the water. I gave it to my brother in law who discovered the filter itself was clogged full. He simply bypassed the filter with a section of hose and used the machine for several more years. Yes Joe, that Bendix pilot was a pain to light each time. You had to go thru the bottom access panel, turn the gas on, push and hold the red button and light it with a long wooden match. It did not have a start button, only a 0 -60 minute timer you turned to start it and it also baked the clothes. Had a very high airflow with a small 3" vent pipe
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Post# 591389 , Reply# 15   4/22/2012 at 17:39 (4,357 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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Just to give the Miele a break, and did several loads of washing.
Am here to tell you that IMHO top loaders do produce more linting of material than H-Axis washers, hence the need for a filter. The Whirlpool's filter was full of lint as one might expect after each wash, but the tale was told in the dryer. Normally after washing loads in the Miele there is not much if any lint in the dryer's filter, this includes bath linen (terry towels and wash cloths), not this time. Since one separated bed and bath linen for the Whirlpool (the one load would have been easily managed in the Miele), it was clear the *terrycloth* load must have been beated up during the washing by all the lint captured in filter. |
Post# 591416 , Reply# 16   4/22/2012 at 19:15 (4,357 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea))   |   | |
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The 'Tag agitator filter DID do something. Lemme tellya how I know. I had roommates who never cleaned it. You know how hard it is to clean one of those things once lint has dried on it? And I don't mean a little lint, but completely glommed. Now if it was doing nothing, where did the lint come from?
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Post# 591422 , Reply# 17   4/22/2012 at 20:06 (4,357 days old) by akronman (Akron/Cleveland Ohio)   |   | |
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Post# 591424 , Reply# 18   4/22/2012 at 20:14 (4,357 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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I mean the Whirlpool is so easy when it is fresh "lint". Just whack the thing face down against a hard surface and 99% of the stuff comes right off. Mind you apply to much force to that whack and you can break the thing.
The brush filter on Mother Dear's vintage (well by now anyway) Whirlpool was easy as well when wet. Especially if one used a small comb to do the job. |
Post# 591431 , Reply# 19   4/22/2012 at 20:31 (4,357 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California)   |   | |
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Automatic lint filters were available relatively early (my '65 Whirlpool set has an automatic lint filter). Looking at the construction, however, I think they were phased out in later models, in favor of the edge-type filter, because the edge type was cheaper, and perhaps because marketing thought that owners were happier to actually see the lint. My '83 Whirlpool washer had one of those edge filters, and I hated it. It didn't catch much, and what it did catch was nearly impossible to clean off the teeth.
I tend to doubt that manual lint filters do much to protect drain plumbing. If a drain system can't handle soft washer lint it's probably got other major problems. With front loaders most lint gets collected by the dryer lint filter anyway. I've also noticed, at least with the Neptune, that some fabrics produce far more lint than others. Like bamboo fiber throw rugs. Major lint producers in the dryer. Soft fluffy cotton towels, much less. Average load, mostly human and pet hair shows up in the dryer filter. |
Post# 591542 , Reply# 22   4/23/2012 at 07:51 (4,356 days old) by drewz (Alexandria, Virginia)   |   | |
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I remember cleaning that nasty filter thing as a child, but now as adult I understand the importance of the thing. Self cleaning means nothing to me or my Kenmores except calling the plumber once every two years because of the lint. Got to be at one end or the other, so now I purchase those mesh lint screens for the end of the washer hose and you would not believe how much lint it catches and fewer calls to plumber. You would think now that most people only have laundry boxes because space does not allow for a laundry tub the appliances makers would put them back on washers. A major source of mold found in homes, apartments, and condo's are found around laundry boxes. When stoppages do occur due to lint build up, water is introduced inside the walls where the mold can thrive. And, as everyone knows you cannot use the hose mesh lint screen in a wall laundry box otherwise you would really have a flood. How many people do you think do preventative maintenance on their laundry boxes by snaking them yearly? |
Post# 592321 , Reply# 25   4/26/2012 at 11:32 (4,353 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula)   |   | |
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Nice horses! |