Thread Number: 15503
Hoover Keymatic Hotwater Keyplate 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 260792   1/20/2008 at 02:41 (5,933 days old) by brisnat81 (Brisbane Australia)        

Hi All,

I water tested the Keymatic today and so far its nice and water tight.

I ran it through a rinse and spin, and other than the pulsator cluch not engaging properly, it seems to work ok.

I have two favours to ask:

1) does anyone have any suggestions on how to try and adjust the clutch, without potentially making it worse? The Pulsate solenoid engages, and there is an occaisional grumbling noise from the clutch, but the pulsator continues to free wheel.

2) does anyone have a later hot wash keyplate that they are prepared to part with? I have a cold wash only keyplate, which advances all cycles through the heating period. I'm happy to come to any sort of agreeable arrangement, if someone has a spare?

Once I get the pulsator spinning, I'll make some videos.

Thanks all

Nathan




Post# 260824 , Reply# 1   1/20/2008 at 08:35 (5,933 days old) by gizmo (Victoria, Australia)        

Hi Nathan

I will look at my small pile of spares but I don't think I have a pulsator clutch. Haved you had it apart yet? (to see how it works.)If you need help I can pull mine apart to refresh my memory, but they work the same as the spin clutches on most Japanese top loaders like Hitachi and Panasonic, as well as the similar Hoovers (eg Premier) and Simpsons (eg Genesis or Riviera). It consists of a cylinder attached to the spin pulley at the back of the drum, and a similar cylinder attached to the pulsator shaft. The two cylinders are directly against each other and in line, the clutch is a steel spring wrapped around both. The end of the spring sticks out and fits into a groove in the white plastic cover around the spring. The cover has a triangular protrusion which snags on the actuator arm when it is engaged by the solenoid. When the clutch engages, the spring is released to wrap tightly around both cylinders and effectively join them together. You see the plastic cover whirring around with the shaft and spring inside.
When the clutch releases, actuator arm pulls in closer, the triangular "lump" on the cover catches on it and the cover can't rotate any more. The spring is attached to the plastic cover so the end of the spring is now held stationary. The pulley and its cylinder are still rotating inside the spring, but the rotation tends to "unwind" the spring so it no longer grips the pulsator shaft's cylinder, and it stops driving.
So when the solenoid snaps in, the clutch should release.

If you have no pulsator drive, and the clutch assembly is still in place, the most likely explanations are (1) that the spring is damaged and no longer grips. The two cylinders wear and the pulsator rear face wears away, so the two cylinders can move apart a tiny bit and the spring wedges in between the two and gets all chewed up. I have seen a couple like this. The spring can snap at this point too. (2) the pulsator may have been deliberately disconnected as they are pretty useless, the water level just barely covers the pulsator so it tends to do nothing much except rub fast on fabric causing bad linting of towels. Like any front loader there is a lot more clothes than water in a Keymatic, unlike a Hoovermatic twinnie where the clothes are freely circulating in a lot of water and the pulsator is well down in the tub. The Keymatic pulsator in my opinion does nothing useful and is quite unreliable, so many are deliberately disconnected. I learnt this from an old Hoover mechanic when I still had a few of them, and I certainly found that the machine washed better on "delicates" (8 min wash, tumble only) than "cottons" or "whites heavy soil" ( 4 min wash tumble and pulsate). So the clutch spring may not even be there.

How did you fix the sump hose problem?

I have recently found that the sump hose from a UK Hotpoint FL, also sold here as a GE FL, has a concertina section and a rubber tee with a blank end to form a "catch pot" to intercept coins,could probably be used as a replacement for the first section of a Keymatic hose. (the bit that fails.) I will take a photo of the two together and post them so you get the idea. It would be installed backwards and sideways to its original installation in the Hotpoint.

Chris.

Post# 260859 , Reply# 2   1/20/2008 at 13:25 (5,933 days old) by brisnat81 (Brisbane Australia)        
Sump hose replacement

 Hi Chris,

I replaced the sump hose, with a tub to pump hose from a hoover 7xx,8xx,9xx series TL, a Top Radiator hose from a TD, TE Cortina and lots of 45mm PVC.

It sits almost on the ground and just clears the tub when its full, but it doesnt leak and as there is so little movement hopefully it'll be fine.

It seemed like the triangular lump was rotating regardless of whether the actuator arm was engaged or disengaged. It was moving with just a slow jerky movement and just slowly freewheeling. The same during spin, the pulsator was almost stationary, other than a few slow turns.

The tumbling ribs are a bit loose, were they all like that, or is there a rubber spaces that falls apart with age. I was amazed by how much water goes in there, and how far down the tub moves when full.

Post# 260910 , Reply# 3   1/20/2008 at 17:29 (5,933 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)        
Nathan

 seamusuk's profile picture
Hey mate

Unfortunatly I dont have a spare Keyplate :(

I presume your 3226 was made in Meadowbank? any chance of a close up of the backsticker to compare with the UK version??

Seamus

Post# 261417 , Reply# 4   1/24/2008 at 05:25 (5,929 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)        
Hotpoint Sump hose

 seamusuk's profile picture
Chris

There would be a bit of "bodging" needed as there is a outlet branch on the section it would replace for the pressure switch? hose. Im sure something could be adapted tho!

Seamus

Post# 261477 , Reply# 5   1/24/2008 at 14:09 (5,929 days old) by brisnat81 (Brisbane Australia)        
AU Compliance Sticker

 Hi Seamus,

Please see the Sticker below.


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