Visit to the local laundromat (1957)

Took a trip to local coin-op shop here and had a very nice conversation with the owner, whose dad opened the place in 1957. He has a lot of old and working washers and equipment there but some of the older machines are giving way to some newer GE commercial crap. Mostly old harvest gold FF's. I catalogued the machines it was interesting.

24 Total 1976-1979 Harvest Gold Commercial 2-Speed Filter-Flo's
6 Milnor Triple-Loader Washer/Extractors ranging 1965-1977 in Yellow/Harvest Gold
36 Cissell gas-powered full-height wall dryers 1966 and 1970 in yellow
26 GE Commercial "profile" era machines in almond and white

The laundry has a basement with a lot of old stuff as well. There he had a few old commercial Speed Queens from the early 60's (medallion on the front) and some Frigidaire coin-ops from when the place opened.

I was surprised when he did not speak very highly of the Frigidaires. They washed well and were quick, but after having them for about 8 years he said that they were all pretty much dead. The owner said that his father loved tinkering with them but after a while it was costing more than they were worth and they started purchasing Speed Queens as each of the Frigidaires died off. The whole place had Frigidaire logo signs and clocks and lights everywhere.

He said he took over the laundry in 66 and by then there were only 2 Frigidaires in service still. The main isles were all SQ's with the 2 Frigidaires in the rear corner of the floor. The SQ's were good machines, but he issued many rewashes and refunds because they were not great cleaning machines. He complained about the solid tubs leaving residue from a previous wash and having pump issues. The pumps would clog and the washer would start spinning and water would go everywhere, said that was common. They had early 60's SQ's in the original building and in 69 they expanded into the next storefront when they bought the building and he bought 4 more Milnors. They moved the Milnors into the original space and moved the displaced Speed Queens into the new section. They also purchased some new Cissell dryers similar to the original ones.

It was a very interesting visit, he said the new GE's were crap and he doesn't bother repairing them anymore. They started a full replacement of the Speed Queen units in late 75 after a vandalism destroyed a good deal of them. He liked the GE's a lot and even has a set at home, he calls them the best washing machine around for the dollar. When they 1st bought them he said the filter hats were coming up missing left and right, some people even used them as ashtrays in the lobby. At one time he said he had well over 100 filter hats laying around. The Filter Flo's were the best machines he had over the life of the business, he still repairs the FF's using other FF's that are too worn to fix. I don't think that's bad for 30+ year old units. He said the clutches and transmission seals are bad on a lot of the FF's from so much use, he has about 20 new transmissions in his "magic room".

He's also down to 1 working Milnor unit out of 6. I didn't understand it when he explained how they worked exactly although he was nice enough to show me. He said there were multiple clutches that go in 2 directions and they can engage at the same time and blow them? I dunno but they're neat machines, gravity drain and a lot of solenoids. He just doesn't worry about them anymore. The business has been slowly declining and he has stopped buying new machines altogether. It's kind of sad, I remember going in there when I was a kid over 20 years ago and how nice the place was always kept. The rows of yellow machines, the checkered floor and sitting and watching those huge Milnors when the spin cycle would kick in, it shook the whole building. It's something that I had been meaning to do for a while in visiting, I'm glad I did.

-Tim


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Post# 388831 10/28/2009 at 16:13 (5,292 days old) by macboy91si (Frankfort, KY)
Checkrate/Likes Took a trip to local coin-op shop here and had a very nice conversation with the owner, whose dad opened the place in 1957. He has a lot of old and working washers and equipment there but some of the older machines are giving way to some newer GE commercial crap. Mostly old harvest gold FF's. I catalogued the machines it was interesting. 24 Total 1976-1979 Harvest Gold Commercial 2-Speed Filter-Flo's 6 Milnor Triple-Loader Washer/Extractors ranging 1965-1977 in Yellow/Harvest Gold 36 Cissell gas-powered full-height wall dryers 1966 and 1970 in yellow 26 GE Commercial "profile" era machines in almond and white The laundry has a basement with a lot of old stuff as well. There he had a few old commercial Speed Queens from the early 60's (medallion on the front) and some Frigidaire coin-ops from when the place opened. I was surprised when he did not speak very highly of the Frigidaires. They washed well and were quick, but after having them for about 8 years he said that they were all pretty much dead. The owner said that his father loved tinkering with them but after a while it was costing more than they were worth and they started purchasing Speed Queens as each of the Frigidaires died off. The whole place had Frigidaire logo signs and clocks and lights everywhere. He said he took over the laundry in 66 and by then there were only 2 Frigidaires in service still. The main isles were all SQ's with the 2 Frigidaires in the rear corner of the floor. The SQ's were good machines, but he issued many rewashes and refunds because they were not great cleaning machines. He complained about the solid tubs leaving residue from a previous wash and having pump issues. The pumps would clog and the washer would start spinning and water would go everywhere, said that was common. They had early 60's SQ's in the original building and in 69 they expanded into the next storefront when they bought the building and he bought 4 more Milnors. They moved the Milnors into the original space and moved the displaced Speed Queens into the new section. They also purchased some new Cissell dryers similar to the original ones. It was a very interesting visit, he said the new GE's were crap and he doesn't bother repairing them anymore. They started a full replacement of the Speed Queen units in late 75 after a vandalism destroyed a good deal of them. He liked the GE's a lot and even has a set at home, he calls them the best washing machine around for the dollar. When they 1st bought them he said the filter hats were coming up missing left and right, some people even used them as ashtrays in the lobby. At one time he said he had well over 100 filter hats laying around. The Filter Flo's were the best machines he had over the life of the business, he still repairs the FF's using other FF's that are too worn to fix. I don't think that's bad for 30+ year old units. He said the clutches and transmission seals are bad on a lot of the FF's from so much use, he has about 20 new transmissions in his "magic room". He's also down to 1 working Milnor unit out of 6. I didn't understand it when he explained how they worked exactly although he was nice enough to show me. He said there were multiple clutches that go in 2 directions and they can engage at the same time and blow them? I dunno but they're neat machines, gravity drain and a lot of solenoids. He just doesn't worry about them anymore. The business has been slowly declining and he has stopped buying new machines altogether. It's kind of sad, I remember going in there when I was a kid over 20 years ago and how nice the place was always kept. The rows of yellow machines, the checkered floor and sitting and watching those huge Milnors when the spin cycle would kick in, it shook the whole building. It's something that I had been meaning to do for a while in visiting, I'm glad I did. -Tim

Post# 388833 , Reply# 1 10/28/2009 at 16:19 (5,292 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There�s a Lady on Stage)
Checkrate/Likes *Great Story, Thanks For Posting* With portable and or small washing machines and dryers not only common, but rather inexpensive, which goes for many full sized models as well, laundromats are a dying breed. Most persons simply rather do their was at home, and only go to laundromats if they cannot have units at home, or perhaps to do large items or amounts of laundry quickly. OTHO laundromats have high fixed costs, which can impede pricing. A mat owner may want raise his vend prices to increase profits, but there is a limit to how much some will pay. Here local laundromat workers tells one that the self serve part of the business does not bring in nearly as much money as drop off service. L.

Post# 388945 , Reply# 2 10/28/2009 at 22:57 (5,291 days old) by alr2903 (TN)
Checkrate/Likes Macboy91si, I know the old Milnors had 2 or more motors and some kind of solenoid "kicked" ratchet that combined the power of both motors to supply the distribution speed. This was, i think before multispeed motors and such became available or reliable. The newer milnor's have a multi speed motor, like a wascomat. Launderess you are right i washed all the king size bedding this past week, the largest wascomat took 17 quarters. I noticed many, bringing wet wash in to use the dryers only. I guess with pricing and the economy many wash in a portable or TT at home and dry only. Even though its an occasional visit to wash large items, I can see how a portable would quickly show a $ return for a large family without machines at home. First time i used the wascomats with the Electrolux emblem on them, it may be because i had such bulky items but water did come 1/2 way up the window, that made me smile. alr2903