These weren't to hard if you just used an old

comb and brushed the lint off under running water and let the lint go down the drain. The purpose of lint filters on washers was not to keep lint out of the plumbing but instead have less on the clothing as it emerged from the washer, this was much more important before dryers became so common place. Any washing method puts a lot of lint down the drain, even using a wash board in the laundry tub.

By far the most effective filters ever used on automatic washers were the various self-cleaning filters used on WP & KM belt drive washers. These removed large amounts of lint and flushed it harmlessly down the drain as the machine started the drain cycle. Probably the least effective filter was the filter in the MT Power-fin agitators, however the earlier SS mesh filters in the bakelit agitators did work a lot better as they had a rubber gasket at the bottom to keep most of the lint from just washing past the screen. The 2nd worst and highly overrated were the GE filter flow plastic pan filters. Unlike the MT filters that people never bothered to clean after not seeing any real lint collected when the washer was new, the GE owners often didn't even bother using it at all I would see it sitting on a shelf in the laundry room covered with dust. On the GE FF you can weight a hand full of dryer lint and put it in the filter pan and after a full wash cycle and you can let it dry and reweigh it and you will usually have even less lint tan you started with. The large diameter of the filter pan and its rapid movement makes the filter act like a sifter and just works most of the lint through the pan. The earlier GE FF with the metal pans did work much better as the pan floated on the agitator during agitation so it did end up trapping more lint. As with many things often the first designs are the best and they get cheapened as time goes on, Even the later basket mounted self-cleaning filters used on WP & KM BD & DD washers were largely infective.

I highly drought that lint would clog a septic system. For one lint is heaver than water and would in the calm water of the main tank just sink to the bottom where it would rot along other solids. Two 90% of lint is cotton and is very biodegradable so even if it gets out of the tank intact it would rot in the drain field. And as I said in the earlier post all clothes washing produces a lot of lint and even the best filter system won't catch even 1/2 of the lint so you have a lot of lint going down the drain anyway.

If the laundry water had gone into the regular tank the bacteria would eat the lint. It is always a good idea to add as much food and sh.. to a septic system to keep it healthy, do minimize grease and chlorine bleach as these will hamper a septic tanks health. Maybe your friends wear too much polyester clothing LOl.

I love that simple 1962 Whirlpool.  And it is in AWESOME shape.  My Grandma had a Kenmore version of that except it was a single cycle, single wl, three temp machine.  Had a bakelite straight vane agitator. 

Malcolm

I have the same WP Convertible that Launderess has, and when I first got it, I kept the filter out!!! First, because I liked watching the captivating stream of water flushing out the spigot. Second, it took too long to pick the lint out of the bed of nails. This is nuts, I thought. Who has the time or patience to nit pick all this lint. Having no manual for the machine, I was obviously clueless.

Then one day, after having had the filter where it is supposed to be, I pulled it out after a load of towels, and the filter slipped out of my hand and slammed against the counter. Shocked to see all the lint removed effortlessly, I had that eureka moment, and then how dumb could I have been, etc. After that it was a slam dunk.

For the general discussion, I have both the old and the new self-cleaners, and I really can't see the difference in performance; they both do very well.

What a fun and interesting thread.