Thread Number: 4860
Firestone Electric Dryer 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 107611   2/3/2006 at 16:52 (6,649 days old) by mavei511 ()        

When I was a kid in the Sixties we had a Firestone electric dryer and a Philco-Bendix washer. The dryer was nothing fancy,just a white box with a red 120 min. timer knob on top.
There was no console. It had the unusual feature of having the element wrapped around the entire drum The reason we got rid of it is because it was so slow-took the whole 2 hours to dry! My question is who made Firestone? Was it GE or someone else like Franklin?
We switched to speedy, powerful,and economical(at that time)GAS(Maytag).I remember the difference was dramatic! Since then I have never liked electrics. Over the years I've tried several electric dryers and found they are still too slow.Another annoyance is that I can't tell that an electric dryer is heating up.With gas all I have to do is listen for the burner igniting and I know it's going to work. If I don't hear it,somethings wrong.At least the manufacturers could install an indicator light wired in series with the element instead of having to check if it's getting warm.




Post# 107626 , Reply# 1   2/3/2006 at 18:36 (6,649 days old) by lesto (Atlanta)        

When I was a kid, a next door neighbor had a Firestone dryer. It was the first and only one I've ever seen. It had a timer knob very similar to the one on a 58 unimatic. It was the absolute noisiest dryer I've ever heard and took forever to dry a load. I've always wondered who manufactured it.

Les

Post# 107682 , Reply# 2   2/3/2006 at 21:14 (6,648 days old) by sactoteddybear ()        
Re: Firestone Electric Dryer:

 This sounds like that Firestone Dryer might have been Wired for 110-Volt operation, instead of 220-Volt operation. Now you've got my curiousity as to who Manufactured that Dryer as well. It would seem to me, since the Firestone Tire Dealers sold the Philco Washers, Dryers and other Major Appliances, that the Dryer would have been Manufactured by Philco-Ford.

I certaily hope that someone else might have an answer for all of us and possibly even a/some Pix's of one as well.

Peace, Good Times and Fun, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

Post# 107693 , Reply# 3   2/3/2006 at 21:50 (6,648 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        

gansky1's profile picture
Firestone would have been a Franklin product.

Post# 107932 , Reply# 4   2/5/2006 at 07:47 (6,647 days old) by designgeek ()        

At 110 - 120 volts you can get about 1200 watts of heat and max of 300 watts for the motor. At 220 - 240 volts, if you still assume 300 watts for the motor, you can get 2400 to 2700 watts for heat. That translates into much faster drying time.

The total energy consumed is still about the same either way, and it stands to reason due to the basic thermodynamics: removing X pounds of water from Y pounds of fabric requires Z amount of energy; and you can use Z amount of energy in 1/2 hour with more energy per unit of time, or in 1 hour with half as much energy per unit of time.

The only way to "beat the system" is to remove more water mechanically, i.e. via centrifugal force from a highspeed automatic spin cycle or a separate spinner, or via ambient evaporation (letting the stuff dry partially on a rack overnight, then into the tumble dryer to finish drying more quickly). With any of these methods, there is less water to remove via evaporation from heat.

The "slow" 110 - 120 volt dryers can actually end up being quite fast enough if they're teamed up with a washer having highspeed spin, or a separate spinner such as SpinX.

Post# 108132 , Reply# 5   2/6/2006 at 01:53 (6,646 days old) by mavei511 ()        

The dryer was a 5600 watt 220 volt dryer,and NO,it wasn't miswired for 110 volts.

Post# 108156 , Reply# 6   2/6/2006 at 08:16 (6,646 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY)        

toggleswitch's profile picture
That woudld be a great machine to see, even in pics.

HINT HINT HINT HINT.
Can anyone oblige?


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