Thread Number: 52444
About as BOL as it gets.
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Post# 747433   4/3/2014 at 22:26 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

This came accross on my local craigslist and I thought I'd share here. I know some people enjoy BOL machines and these certainly fit the bill. The washer doesn't even have selectable water temps in the timer, it's a warm wash cold rinse. The agitator is a lovely shade of grey too.




Post# 747434 , Reply# 1   4/3/2014 at 22:27 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Galaxy Brand

Post# 747436 , Reply# 2   4/3/2014 at 22:28 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Grey agitator

Post# 747437 , Reply# 3   4/3/2014 at 22:29 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Washer controls

Post# 747438 , Reply# 4   4/3/2014 at 22:30 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Just an auto cycle, no timed dry.

Post# 747440 , Reply# 5   4/3/2014 at 22:30 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Money shot.

Post# 747442 , Reply# 6   4/3/2014 at 22:32 (3,646 days old) by cam2s (Nebraska)        

Here's the link to the listing if anybody is interested.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO cam2s's LINK on Grandisland Craigslist


Post# 747443 , Reply# 7   4/3/2014 at 22:33 (3,646 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)        

wayupnorth's profile picture
I cant remember if Galaxy was the first other name the BOL for Sears or Capri but both were the definite BOL.

Post# 747450 , Reply# 8   4/3/2014 at 23:59 (3,646 days old) by hippiedoll ( arizona )        
oh my gosh!!!

hippiedoll's profile picture
how much more "basic" can you get than this set of washer & dryer!!??!!?? i don't think it gets any "plainer" than these here!!!

i would have never guessed a washer or dryer would be as basic as these!!!
LOL....

thanks for sharing this post. i really got a kick out of see these pictures.


:o)


Post# 747455 , Reply# 9   4/4/2014 at 00:43 (3,646 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)        

daveamkrayoguy's profile picture
The Dryer:


So basic, it doesn't have AIR FUFF!!!!


So no Delicate stuff can be washed in the washer----DELICATELY!!!!


-- Dave


Post# 747459 , Reply# 10   4/4/2014 at 01:34 (3,646 days old) by washdaddy (Baltimore)        

True BOL machines. I'm actually surprised the dryer has an automatic cycle on it as opposed to just a timed cycle.

Even though the washer has only one temp setting programmed into it (warm wash, cold rinse) you can alter your wash temp to what you want by adjusting the water supply faucets. It just depends on what you want to do to achieve the temps you want. Where there's a will there's a way by all means.


Post# 747471 , Reply# 11   4/4/2014 at 03:36 (3,646 days old) by fido ()        

Yes, I would have thought a clockwork timer would be the simplest and cheapest form of dryer control.

Post# 747474 , Reply# 12   4/4/2014 at 03:51 (3,646 days old) by kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.)        

kenmoreguy89's profile picture
Warm wash only???? What the f..... NO! I mean really??? Not for me! But you could just close cold water tap and get only hot during filling and adjust faucets to fit your temp needs....as BOL as it gets for real! After this you only have actual semi- automatics!

Post# 747476 , Reply# 13   4/4/2014 at 04:02 (3,646 days old) by lebron (Minnesota)        

lebron's profile picture
They look very low use, perhaps in a condo or cabin that didn't see many people?

Post# 747481 , Reply# 14   4/4/2014 at 05:44 (3,646 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)        

foraloysius's profile picture
Temperature selection at the tap and no water lever selection, you're supposed to wash full loads only. I guess you would find these machines in salons for washing towels or so?

Post# 747486 , Reply# 15   4/4/2014 at 06:05 (3,646 days old) by kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.)        

kenmoreguy89's profile picture
Right,...water level along with it! You can do reduced loads and or few items but you'd waste lot of water it is not needed for them.....

Post# 747489 , Reply# 16   4/4/2014 at 06:21 (3,646 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )        
I would just as soon have...

An ingrown toenail....You could get rid of that!!LOL

Post# 747492 , Reply# 17   4/4/2014 at 06:34 (3,646 days old) by akronman (Akron/Cleveland Ohio)        
Dryer

akronman's profile picture
I have that dryer. It's got very accurate controls, you just set it at that star and hit the button. No buzzer or anything, but it works well. And will probably run forever.

The washer-----I wouldn't want it, true, but as a college kid it would have been an improvement over carrying laundry baskets to the bus to the laundromat. I would have loved it. It would be easy to turn off the cold water at the start to get a hot wash, then just turn the valve back on once it fills, you'll get your cold rinse.

I bet Sears priced them right in the day.


Post# 747493 , Reply# 18   4/4/2014 at 06:46 (3,646 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
Capacity

mrb627's profile picture
These would be the same capacity as a coin-op machine, right? So why the issues with doing full loads?

Also, that indicator in the timer dial at the 11 o'clock position, is that the last increment of agitation before draining wash water or the dry agitate setting?

Malcolm


Post# 747498 , Reply# 19   4/4/2014 at 07:19 (3,646 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
BOL Sears Washer and Dryer

combo52's profile picture
These were made as an advertising enticement to get people into the Sears appliance department in their stores. The interesting thing is they only cost a few bucks less to make that the pair that was priced for hundreds more that Sears wanted you to buy.

That said I would have NO PROBLEM using these as my only washer and dryer for the next 20 years, I can certainly think of much worse machines to have. Back in the mid 80s when we got a lot of the basic 24" single dial DD washers on product exchanges I would always bring them into my home shop and do all my laundry in them with no problem at all.

The dryer has auto-dry because auto-dry is required on all dryers to save energy and also to help protect against over drying to reduce fire risk.


Post# 747505 , Reply# 20   4/4/2014 at 07:28 (3,646 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        

gansky1's profile picture

In 1998 I had a Kenmore version of this washer, but with three water level and temp switches on a darker brown panel.  It was a giveaway, left in a house a friend bought.  It held a surprising amount of laundry and even with the straight vane agitator, turned over nicely and washed well.  It could have probably performed better on very large loads with a dual-action agitator, but I had no complaints.

 

I remember my mother coming to visit and being confounded by my having TWO washers.  What for??

Oh, just wait, Mom :-)


Post# 747553 , Reply# 21   4/4/2014 at 10:00 (3,646 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

The one thing that dryer could NOT do was operate on 120 volts and shut off automatically because it was a time/temperature auto dry system. The WP-built portable dryers for 120 volt operation all had electronic dry controls for the automatic termination cycle.

Post# 747556 , Reply# 22   4/4/2014 at 10:18 (3,646 days old) by logixx (Germany)        
how much more "basic" can you get than this set?

logixx's profile picture
Kinda off-topic, but this dishwasher has a even more BOL cycle selection than the washer in this thread - only one cycle.

Back on topic: I know some people, who'd only need Wash My Clothes and Dry My Clothes as available options...


CLICK HERE TO GO TO logixx's LINK


Post# 747566 , Reply# 23   4/4/2014 at 11:13 (3,646 days old) by cleanteamofny ((Monroe, New York)        
BOL Dishwasher is insane!

cleanteamofny's profile picture

One cycle will clean most loads if it has a smart sensor to measure water soils condition!


Post# 747568 , Reply# 24   4/4/2014 at 11:19 (3,646 days old) by cleanteamofny ((Monroe, New York)        

cleanteamofny's profile picture
The wash tub holes looks from the era of 97/98 unless the machine is older and the tub was replaced!

Post# 747575 , Reply# 25   4/4/2014 at 11:55 (3,646 days old) by fido ()        

"How much more "basic" can you get than this set?"

Well, you could just have the washer and no dryer. I've washed my own clothes since 1981 and never felt the need to own a tumble dryer.


Post# 747582 , Reply# 26   4/4/2014 at 12:35 (3,646 days old) by sarahperdue (Alabama)        
Looks perfect...

sarahperdue's profile picture
For my boys. At 9 and 11, they strive for functional laundry incompetence hoping that we will just take over for them.

And the washer has more features than the functional features of the first washer I had in college. I hooked it up to the garden hose in the garage of my rental house and ran the drain hose down the hill in the backyard. Cold/Cold, but it beat trips to the laundromat any day of the week.

I had a friend in Richmond, VA whose only washer was a Kenmore table top portable. She did laundry for herself and her husband in it. Talk about basic. Hers didn't even have the drain valve at the bottom.

Sarah


Post# 747587 , Reply# 27   4/4/2014 at 13:34 (3,646 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey)        

yogitunes's profile picture
one mans trash, is anothers treasure.....

may not be the dream set we are all used to.....but for some, this may be all they could afford, or felt they needed....

and for some, it may be the holy grail versus the laundry mat, or washing by hand....

this mentality would be no different of a TwinTub in the 60's.....may seem too much of hands on by todays standards, but think back in the day, something this small and simple could have made daily life so much easier for many...

we play with machines today, knowing automatics are readily available....but sit back and wonder, in that era, you used what you had to get by, may not been the best way of doing things, but you adapted to make it as easy as possible...and some task were drudgery...


Post# 747630 , Reply# 28   4/4/2014 at 17:32 (3,645 days old) by washdaddy (Baltimore)        

Malcolm-
I think that mark on the dial indicates the end of the wash and beginning of the drain and spin before the rinse.

Rick


Post# 747890 , Reply# 29   4/5/2014 at 18:34 (3,644 days old) by kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.)        

kenmoreguy89's profile picture
Well, If I had to choose among no washer and these ones, of course I'd get these any day....
Just find very weird at how an automatic machine may not have what I call basic essentials like a temp selector, which cannot really believe may have increased the price that much to make it lesser appetible...so I hope to do not offend anyone saying that this is true nonsense....
Load selector is just a plus as it may allow only a water saving feature not affecting the work it has to do as the washer will actually get clothes clean whenever you load it with a full load of towels or just one t-shirt, even though in the last case you'd have water wasted for nothing...
You know, I own a twin tub, and for what concerns the washing I can decide how much water use and just get it from the tap the temp I want it..
But it's a twin tub....
This one is an automatic, it wash and spins itself, but you have to play with taps to get an hot wash which should not miss in any respectable washer worth to be called so IMO, also you cannot fill it less for reduced loads like you could indeed do with any wringer or twin tub machine....so just don't get this, you'd have more flexibility with a twin tub in this sense....I think of me, having the taps hook up under the sink, and cannot really imagine me playing with taps when I want an hot wash with a pair like this....
Since temperature selectors are and were really not a feature all this expensive to install I'd have just found sensed them to have at least this, i can live with a washer with 1 cycle only and a full tub fill only as I could manually play and adjust the cycle according to llaundry i have to wash,, but cannot live with a thing having no temp selector may it be taps or actual selector I can easily reach to select the wash temp I want...that in a machine even if having only one cycle meant as auto WASH RINSE SPIN would make of it an actual automatic...it is just is not completely automatic without a temp selector IMO..


Post# 747910 , Reply# 30   4/5/2014 at 19:13 (3,644 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
BOL Kenmore Pair

combo52's profile picture
Hi Freddy, reread my post, when Sears introduced this washer they never intended that anyone would buy them, these were only made to get people into the Sears Store and let the Sears Salesman try their darnedest to sell them something that the salesman actually got a sales commission on.

Post# 747921 , Reply# 31   4/5/2014 at 19:33 (3,644 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)        

wayupnorth's profile picture
I have good friends that owned a Sears dealer store and Sears dictated everything. Just before they sold the store, the only commissions paid to the store to pass on to salespeople was on the high end Elite models. The store got zero on those Galaxy, Capri models, only a severe scolding from the district manager for not selling the customer up to top of the line. Plus they had to deliver it, set it up and get paid a flat $25, even if their truck used that much fuel to go to almost Canada. I havnt stepped foot in Sears in years and never plan to even though I was brought up in a total Sears home.

Post# 748026 , Reply# 32   4/6/2014 at 06:28 (3,644 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas)        
Another BOL Dishwasher

When we bought this house it came with a Kenmore builder quality dishwasher. This thing was as BOL as it gets too. There was a "dry" on and off switch. The timer had only two marks on it. "Start" & "Dry". That was all.

The thing was loud as hell when it ran, but if you provided nice hot water to it, the dishes would come out reasonably clean.

You gotta feel kinda sorry for BOL appliances.


Post# 748028 , Reply# 33   4/6/2014 at 06:46 (3,644 days old) by kenmoreguy89 (Valenza Piemonte, Italy- Soon to be US immigrant.)        

kenmoreguy89's profile picture
Oh thanks John, sorry, for some reasons I should have skipped reading your entire post.
Now that makes sense..
Thank you.


Post# 748041 , Reply# 34   4/6/2014 at 08:40 (3,644 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey)        

yogitunes's profile picture
may not be the best of the best....

but look into todays market....it may only be a manual selection by adjusting valves for temp....BUT look at how were trying our best to change the HE machines today into giving us a HOT wash, or even more water....

I think many would probably go with this machine rather than a new HE for the most part....

but for basic functions in a machine that would serve anyone well.....take a direct drive, largest capacity, 3 water temps and levels, a Normal cycle, and maybe a short one.....2 speeds are optional......and you would get along just fine

everyone different, but the bottom line, even with all the cycles I have available.....I run the same one over and over......Normal, HOT or WARM wash, Cold rinse....and thats it...

its just nice to look at all the shiny buttons....


one size does not fit all.........but put this washer in a kitchen, and hooked to a sink.....for some it would be a godsend!....


Post# 748059 , Reply# 35   4/6/2014 at 10:20 (3,644 days old) by Kenmoreguy64 (Charlotte, NC)        

kenmoreguy64's profile picture
Martin -

I think you are exactly correct. Nearly always I use the normal cycle, warm wash with a cold rinse. Occasionally I find a use for delicate and pre-wash, mostly because they're there on many of my machines, but the rest of the features I don't use. On a large capacity machine I would want adjustable water levels, or I'd have to adjust my habits with a single fill level, but in standard capacity machines they seem to always run full anyway.

There was a standard capacity belt-drive version of this machine, but it had two wash temps. I have looked at that model and figured I could have easily learned to be happy with it. There was a couple other very BOL belt-drives as well, and these make up the bulk of my dream find list.

Gordon



Post# 748119 , Reply# 36   4/6/2014 at 14:49 (3,643 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)        
I think I have that one beat!

goatfarmer's profile picture
Post# 748133 , Reply# 37   4/6/2014 at 16:03 (3,643 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey)        

yogitunes's profile picture
I know we talk about some machines being BOL with a few features.....

but these would have to fall under Sub Level of BOL.....at least their Automatics....

any lower and you would have to fill it yourself with a hose, then we are hitting levels of semi-automatic....


Post# 748136 , Reply# 38   4/6/2014 at 16:11 (3,643 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)        
Thinking of a certain BOL Dishwasher memory:

daveamkrayoguy's profile picture
And in an apartment my ex- and I "house-sat" for one of her sisters, the Hotpoint dishwasher there had the one knob w/ only an "Off" and "Dry" and probably louder than a heavy rainstorm falling on a tin barn!

The other appliances were a non-frost free Hotpoint fridge & a no-name 20" gas stove my ex- begged me not to turn on!

The former apt. her sis lived in had much more full-featured Hotpoint appliances, ref. d/w and s/c elec. stove, and included a washer & dryer in a sliding door closet I unfortunately didn't get to see...


-- Dave


Post# 748169 , Reply# 39   4/6/2014 at 17:47 (3,643 days old) by squeenjj ()        
Barely a Washer

That washer does beat a Rub board and a Tub. I've never seen a model that stripped down.

Post# 748190 , Reply# 40   4/6/2014 at 19:01 (3,643 days old) by jakeseacrest (Massachusetts)        

jakeseacrest's profile picture
This was my first washer and dryer set when I moved out of my parent's house in 2001. I was still using both until I replaced them with a Frigidaire front load and Roper dryer in 2006. They were both still working when I got rid of them. If memory serves they were $199 each at Sears.

Post# 748221 , Reply# 41   4/6/2014 at 20:39 (3,643 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)        

daveamkrayoguy's profile picture
I remember a black-paneled Signature being the BOL-most washer & dryer set at Montgomery Ward back in 1989, when I was browsing at appliances...

A saleslady seemed to say everything that was the Ward's brand was "made by White-Westinghouse" to a customer looking at washers & dryers, and had warned him that a potential BOL he'd considered buying "only had Hot-Wash", at every one he'd looked at & when asked to choose between White & the only-other-offered color being Almond, just shyly said "White"...

He was probably wary about spending a lot of money, a bachelor who'd heretofore relied on going to a laundromat or widowed by a wife who'd done all the wash, including his...


-- Dave


Post# 748274 , Reply# 42   4/7/2014 at 02:53 (3,643 days old) by hippiedoll ( arizona )        
Reply# 36

hippiedoll's profile picture
oh goatfarmer, what a hoot!!!
LOL........

:oD


Post# 748634 , Reply# 43   4/8/2014 at 02:29 (3,642 days old) by vintagekitchen ()        
I like old school BOL

Back in the day BOL didn't have as many options and features, but it was simple, and worked just as well as the TOL models, being just as well built. An older BOL washer might not have a delicates, knits, or perm press cycle, but it's one cycle and one water level did wash just as well as a TOL model, simply requiring human intervention for things like delicates, by letting it agitate a minute or so, shutting it off and letting g it soak, then letting it agitate a minute or so. Your other option was to continue hand washing g your delicates. For women who started out with a wringer washer, a BOL automatic made the transition far easier than a TOL model would have. And more affordable too.

BOL appliances were always popular in this area, partly due to a thrifty farm population, and partly because it was not unheard of for women in this area to still be cooking on nothing but a wood stove and using a wringer washer until the late 1970s, so they wanted the smallest learning curve possible with their new automatic appliances.

An electric stove with 1 knob per burner and one knob to control the oven didn't take too much figuring out, and was far simpler than stoking a fire and controlling a complicated system of dampers on a wood cooking stove. But a TOL model with a burner size selector knob and burner with a brain, 2 oven knobs with multiple oven functions, griddle option, etc etc, would have taken days to figure out, and seemed just as complicated as their old wood stove.

Same for a washer, one knob, one water level, same temperature for every load unless changed at the knobs for those special loads, was far simpler than filling a wringer, monitoring the wash time, wringing the clothes, rinsing, etc. TOL with temperature selection, speed selection, load size selection, and 4 plus cycle options on the timer, not to mention a plethora of dispensers and a filter to remember, would have been mind boggling to figure out and seemed troublesome to adjust all those switches and knobs for each and every load.

Dryer? Timed dry, one temperature, easy. Auto dry, multiple temperatures, etc, it's easier to just carry them to the clothesline.

Dishwasher? One knob wonder, fill it up, put in detergent, turn it on, dishes are clean and done. Multiple cycles for various soil levels, heat options, dry options, etc? Too confusing, too much trouble, by the time I figure all that out I could be putting the last hand washed dish in the drainer and wiping out the sink.

I say all this, because I have known a few women whose husband's or children insisted on getting them TOL appliances as their first ones, and these tended to be the women who clung kicking and screaming to their old ways, leaving that TOL dryer under a plastic tablecloth in the basement while they used the clothesline still, using the wringer washer because it did a better job than their TOL Kenmore automatic, using the wood stove because the food tasted better than anything cooked on that electric thing that always burns cakes, and doing dishes by hand because they could do it faster and do a better job than that fancy machine with all it's buttons. If these same women had been given basic BOL appliances, they would have jumped on the bandwagon just like their neighbors and relegated their old wood stove and wringer washer to the barn.


Post# 811453 , Reply# 44   2/27/2015 at 12:11 (3,317 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)        
re: Post# 748634 , Reply# 43

daveamkrayoguy's profile picture

At this point, I wonder why I got so sold on the MOL-to-TOL app's when we got this house...

 

Seems as though they are too fancy & complicated for my wife to use, if she were the only one here...

 

Hence, my LIFE is too fancy & complicated that these fancy features to make using 'em to me, effortless!

 

But, IF, not for know-it-all-hubby, who does the cooking etc. here, then 'I':

 

Just better set the washer for the highest water level & cold wash/cold rinse temperature setting, not to mention having the Heavy Duty fast agitation/fast spin and expect the timer on the dryer to be used for all EIGHTY MINUTES, while the temp there is cranked to the max!

The dishwasher? 'Fraid that is gonna be used to hold the cabinets up--there's gonna be washing EVERTYTHING by hand, and avoiding use of the dishdrainer (she puts WET stuff on the counter, unless it's her stuff specified for DAIRY, but given we've gone MEATLESS, then everything's is one and the same; can't really get out of the sphere of what meat I eat as much or for long as I thought I could)...

 

Oh, the RANGE: an awful lot of CLICKING when she turns a burner on--and a pan for macaroni filled right to the TOP w/ water and the oven she uses will be not BELOW the burners, but the MICROWAVE located ABOVE 'em--and for a portion of french fries or fish sticks taken out of the box/bag, as opposed to making 'em entirely as the directions state on the initial cooking...

 

 

-- Dave



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