Thread Number: 70459  /  Tag: Modern Automatic Washers
My Kenmore Laundry Center Lives!
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Post# 933815   4/22/2017 at 02:12 (2,532 days old) by thevacuumman (Fritch, Texas)        

Unfortunately, I had to say farewell to my Maytag LA510 when I moved to my new house due to the hookups being in the bathroom and there wasn't enough room for my washer and dryer. The house I moved into had this Kenmore/Frigidaire Laundry Center that leaked and the dryer didn't function. After replacing the tub seal and the drum motor for the dryer it's good as new!

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Post# 933847 , Reply# 1   4/22/2017 at 06:44 (2,531 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)        

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Good going! I enjoyed my two Frigidaire traditional top-load washers (one a 1986; the other a 2004) for the indexing tubs, which were great fun to watch. The 2004--which indexed far more than the earlier model--tended to tangle bedsheets unmercifully, but other than that, they were fine. Certainly better than making trips to the laundromat.

Post# 933910 , Reply# 2   4/22/2017 at 15:07 (2,531 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey)        

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these get a bad rap, and there are some trouble prone areas.....

but for the ones I have come across, they have been durable units.....one I know of belongs to my MIL, was purchased in 2002, and still running strong with no repairs...honestly didn't think it would hold out this long, but it has...

my neighbor has one that just recently needed a belt for the dryer.....

preference for the Kenmore version with the dual action agitator.....

there are a number of agitators for these, the smaller finned version, with the bent fins on the upper barrel area seem to work best as it doesn't cause excess indexing of the tub, clothing rolls over better with minimal run around...and those upper fins help push the clothing down.....

be sure to lubricate the dryers rollers and rear drum bearing too!


Post# 933917 , Reply# 3   4/22/2017 at 15:50 (2,531 days old) by 48bencix (Sacramento CA)        
New models

The new Models of the Whirlpool all in one Laundry Centers are Direct Drive still. Indication is there is no start button. You can select Deep Wash. So it is a option for Top Load washer advocates.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO 48bencix's LINK


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Post# 933982 , Reply# 4   4/23/2017 at 01:14 (2,531 days old) by washdaddy (Baltimore)        
Here's my 2 cents on the Laundry Center

I have the Frigidaire version of the unit in my apartment with the basic straight vane agitator. My machine doesn't offer the soak/prewash on the dial. It offers Cottons, Colors, and Delicates. The machine claims to be 2-speed but actually it's a single speed unit. When using the Delicate cycle the machine pauses during the wash portion of the cycle and soaks for a couple of minutes, agitates for a few, pauses again....you get the picture.

As far as indexing, the higher the water level is set on the machine the greater the index. It does a number on bed sheets for sure by getting them all twisted. The fitted sheet affects it more than the others no matter how you load the sheets into the machine. I've come to accept that I play tug of war to unload after washing sheets.

The temp settings for the machine are a joke as far as I'm concerned because the temp sensor dumbs down the hot side to the point your lucky if the wash water is tepid when set to hot. I rarely change it to anything else since the temp is so mild.

The dryer does a decent job of drying although cycle times can be a little long if it's a full or heavy load. I'm only one person so that isn't too much of a problem for me. I use the AUTO cycle for everything usually and it comes out fine.

The machine will be ten yrs old as of the end of summer and it's only had one minor repair. Surprising enough it does a decent job of cleaning. I just wish that I could get hotter temps for washing whites when I could really use it.


Post# 934040 , Reply# 5   4/23/2017 at 12:10 (2,530 days old) by thevacuumman (Fritch, Texas)        

I replaced the rear drum bearing & cup, the drum glides, the idler pulley and the belt when I had it all apart since I pulled the drum anyway.

Post# 934100 , Reply# 6   4/23/2017 at 17:28 (2,530 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.))        
Glad you were able to fix it:

whirlykenmore78's profile picture
Replacing a stacked W/D is never a cheap or easy undertaking. I hope it lasts you many more washdays.
WK78


Post# 934107 , Reply# 7   4/23/2017 at 17:46 (2,530 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA)        

I've had three of the Frigd labeled units and had good luck with all three. But I don't understand why the new WP has "wash time selection" and a soil level selection. What does the soil level do?

Post# 934376 , Reply# 8   4/25/2017 at 00:39 (2,529 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA)        
New washer spin speeds

I noticed that my Tag uses slow spin speed on almost all cycles. I thought it was just those units. But when I was dreaming over on the Speed Queen site it looks like it too uses mostly slow spin. I don't understand. Wouldn't fast spin give dryer clothes which would save dry time and reduce electric usage? (I'm falling out of love with the Tags)

Post# 934377 , Reply# 9   4/25/2017 at 00:49 (2,529 days old) by murando531 (Augusta, Georgia - US)        

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Most all washers of the last 5 to almost 10 years, top and front load, have started using a lower spin speed in just the first spin after the wash to keep the load from plastering tightly to the sides of the basket, and to reduce suds lock because the soapy water isn't being as aggressively slung out to froth up in the outer tub. . The final spins are full speed.

Post# 934382 , Reply# 10   4/25/2017 at 01:36 (2,529 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))        

Though, I'd like to add, it might be possible with some cycles that speeds are stepped, so what starts out slow and then might change to higher speeds.
That reduces deep-set wrinkels, and allows the pump to cope with the amount of water which, if not drained fast enough, is whipped up to dense foam by the drum, as murando described.
Wondering there why they wouldn't use such a spin profile for the intermediate spin(s) as better extraction of the soapy water improves rinsing.

On some models and versions, slow isn't slow in another cycle. One might be a few rpm higher or lower then some other.
And, especially on the digital versions, some cycles default to lower spin speeds then are actually selectable, just for care and reduced wear on the machine.
And last but not least, if you want to get the maximum extraction, you can always run a spin only in the end to make sure you get a long high speed spin.

Side note there: With certain thinner items like T-Shirts or socks and underwear, higher spin speeds have a lesser effect on saving time and thus energy in the dryer, simply because they don't hold as much water to begin with. And lower spins speeds there reduce wrinkling, though a dryer will somewhat cancel out the difference in creasing.
With heavier items (towels, jeans, sweatpants or such), they hold more water by nature and thus higher spin speeds have a higher effect.
But I found that with some dryers and loads, I like to spin items which are heavily layered such as jeans (around the pocket areas) at a somewhat lower speed. The higher residual moisture in the single layered areas extends the drying, and as extraction on the multi-layered areas isn't all that good no matter what, the longer drying time allows for better heat penetration in these areas, improving the eveness of drying.
Pair that with low temperatures and some jeans get almost completly evenly dry, even the fith pocket which ususally always stays damp.

But, to give you some numbers from the european market to put extraction rates into perspective:
1400rpm is the average spin speed for a washer here. 1600rpm is the highest currently avaible. There are few 1200rpm models, but the verry bottom of the line goes down to 1000rpm.
Let's take an 8kg load, that is a little more the 17.5lbs.
A 1400rpm machine reaches about 50% residual moisture content, meaning that 50% of the weight of the dry laundry will remain in it as water.
For the example load, that is exactly 4kg, or 4l, which equals just above 1 gallon of water.
The 1200rpm model and the 1000rmp model reach 55% or 60% respectivley. That is 4.4l or 4.8l for each, which is about equal to just above 1.15gal/1.25gal.
The 1600rpm machine however will reach 44% residual moisture, equal to 3.52l, or 0.92gal.
There was this show-off thing manufacturers had in Germany in the early 2000s where everybody offered 1800rpm machines. These reached 42%, equal to 3.36l, or 0.88gal.

So, its 1.25gal->1.15gal->1gal->0.92gal->0.88gal as stepping. You see the biggest jump is from 1200rpm to 1400rpm, so that was the sweetspot to accumulate around. 1600rpm still has a littel advantage versus 1400rpm, but stepping up to 1800rpm barely changes the results.
What the point of this is: There is a certain sweetspot for spinspeeds, where extraction is good, but you don't overwork laundry and machine. People who dry a lot on the line don't care about spin speeds to much, dryer users might want to grab a 1600rpm model.
Each design is pretty unique with that, we in Europe just have the advantage of drumdiameters not changing to much between manufacturers and machines, so the spin speed usually determines the extraction in percent by almost direct correlation.
With US machines, and the high dryer use, something simmilar to a 1600rpm would be a good grab, but as tub sizes vary a lot between machines, 2 machines with the same spin speed can have vastly different extraction rates. And as spin-speeds in the US for the most part are lower then those in the EU, the difference between slow and fast might not be all that big, or at least not significant enough to actually affect the drying time much.



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