You've probably seen it a million times before, but here's a short video I shot while in the Minneapolis area over Memorial Day weekend.
 
This is Don's (Jetaction) BEAUTIFUL 1966 806S washer (and matching gas dryer) in turqwazz!   
 

FYI it's also in Hi Def, so change the setting (on youtube) and watch it full screen if you wish!

Great video, Kevin!  Thanks for posting this.   That truly is a beautiful machine - I got to see it up close last year and have been keeping several eyes out for one ever since... LOL 

Makes me want to get the suds valve back onto the 66 Inglis and give it a Whirl... 

Maytag's had the returned suds come in through the bottom, and GE's came in so that the returning wash water went through the Filter-Flo pan first.  Does anyone care to enlighten us as to how other brands returned saved suds? 

Whirlpools and Kenmores (I'll bet my Inglis will too...) returned the water through the bottom of the tub also.   And like the Maytag, the agitator is in motion while the water is flowing back.  

This household is "still" a suds-saving one.  I'll keep using my suds-saver as long as I can.  They rule IMO!!!

Thanks everyone and you are very welcome!   I'm happy you are all enjoying this video!

Bill (scoots) to answer your question about converting your 206 to a 206S.   Yes you would need the correct timer, the suds return valve and associated wiring, the correct, additional drain hose that extends near the bottom of the tub.   Essentially you'd have to strip all that off another washer, or from one that's already been stripped.   It might be easier to just replace the entire machine with an "S" model if you can find one.

Kevin  

I've been looking through the archives and using the Searchalator without success. Since I have no experience with a suds saver machine I was hoping someone would explain some things for me.

I understand the concept of a suds saver machine and how there are two drain hoses and a laundry sink or receiving vessel to hold wash water to be pumped back into the machine to be used again. I am assuming that, on a Maytag A806S machine, one would start the machine as one normally would and select "Save Suds"? Then at the end of the wash cycle I assume the machine would pump the wash water into the sink?

This is the part where I'm not filling in the blanks. At the beginning of the next load of laundry, I'm guessing that the timer is set to the first segment on the dial of the regular cycle marked "Return Suds"? This is where things get confusing for me. On an A806 machine, the first segment on the regular cycle is Pre-Wash.  As I recall, the machine fills the Pre-Wash cycle with whatever rinse water temperature I've selected (I seldom use it), washes for 4 minutes, pumps out and then fills with the wash temperature I've selected. So on a suds saver machine I'm assuming I would have to set the timer to "Return Suds" for it to suck the previous wash water out of the sink? But....does the 806S ignore the Pre-Wash cycle and not pump that water out and refill at that point and just advance through all of this for a Pre-Wash, Soak and Wash, all with the same water?? Does the "Save Suds" button cause the machine to behave differently at this point? Otherwise, there sure would be a lot of filling and emptying.

I'm sure this all sounds very simple and elementary to those of you that have one of these machines and if one were setting in front of me I'm sure I would discover all of this quite quickly. But trying to imagine this in my mind is somewhat bewildering.

The Return Suds portion of the timer is an independent portion of the timer, meaning that once the timer runs through each of the increments that it will stop and not advance further.

The user would then select the cycle of their choice, and with the full water level option, it will normally fill with some fresh water at the beginning of the cycle to then satisfy a full tub fill. 

To save suds, this is where the Maytag differs greatly from a Whirlpool/Kenmore, as you have the choice to save your wash water with the SAVE SUDS button, rather than it being mandatory on a Whirlpool/Kenmore.  With the SAVE SUDS option selected, the diverter will engage at the beginning of the spin drain, and will release just before all the water is saved, and flush the remaining down the drain.  From what I've read/heard, this was meant to ensure that the same amount was saved so that fresh water would be added for the next suds return, and also any sediment would be flushed, rather than saved.

I agree - doing this in person is much easier than trying to digest this through instruction.  And much more fun!

Ben

Thanks so much, Ben. I really appreciate your answer. Explains a lot.

The WP-KM SS is more automatic and more sophisticated in its operation.

The MT system when set for suds return the timer never moves, it just turns on the motor in the agitate direction and the two-way solenoid is energized, if you forget the washer when returning the suds water it will run all day, and if the holding tub has too much water in it [ unlikely ] the washer will quickly return all the water and over flow. After the water is returned you must reset the timer to a wash cycle. Because a MT washer spins as it drains any grit and sand will be saved in the suds tub, most of the sand and grit will go out as the washer starts to drain. It really does not make much difference because the sand and grit will just sit in the bottom of the suds storage tub anyway, but it does leave a bigger mess to clean up.

On the WP-KM system the timer will advance into the normal wash cycle after the water is returned, so you can be adding clothing as the water returns [ since the washer would return water and agitate with the lid open] and throw in a little more detergent and walk away.  The water level control is also wired to turn off the two way valve when the WLS is satisfied. WP-KM generally did not use a [ suds-save suds-drain ] switch on their washers as it was completely unnecessary, if you didn't want to save the wash water you simply left the drain plug out of the drain and the wash water simply went down the drain. The WP-KM since they did a neutral drain the sand and grit tended to sit in the outer tub till the TWV turned off and the washer started to spin and spray rinse the S&G away.

After you returned wash water to a MT you still had to remove the drain plug and rinse out the sink anyway, if I were using the MT even if I did not want to save the water I would leave the switch on save and just take the drain plug out so the used wash water would rinse some of the accumulated sand and grit down the drain.

John L.

Thanks for your input, John.

Don,

That's kinda what I thought when I heard you guys talking in the background about it advancing. I'll venture a guess and say it probably pauses through the Pre-Wash/Soak part of the cycle, which would take several minutes, and then starts up again at the wash section. That's actually kinda cool, if one wanted an extended soak, because the regular Soak cycle is only 1 minute of wash and 4 minutes of soak. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Brian

The MTs we sold in the 70s did not advance in the suds return timer position. Hi Don, does the pre-wash on your machine normally just advance into the main wash?, later the TOL MTS drained out the water after the PW and you could put liquid detergent in the FS cup and have it dispense into the main wash.