One pound to eighteen pounds of laundry.  Timeless, really.

As with any washer, there are things that the 1-18 handles really well like towels, mixed cotton loads, etc. and some loads it doesn't do quite as stellar of a job with.  Large loads of blue jeans, bulky comforters and the like won't turn over as rapidly.  Your mileage may vary.

I love mine for super-sized towel loads, nothing washes towels like the plunging Jet-Action of a Frigidaire and rinsing is excellent.   The fibers of towels in particular seem to fluff up, even old towels have been revived to a degree with that wash action.  Less wear it seems, too.  I have a set of microfiber fleece sheets and a couple of throws that it does a great job with, never a tangle and always well rinsed.

Is that you can load that thing up and the Jet Cone always wins.  I have done many a Maxi load in my two with fine results.  I still resort to the old X loading patern with mine because it is a habit and it also produces a better balanced load.  I always start the bottom with pants or shorts and then the shirts on the top.  Pants are folded in half and dropped loosely, the same with shirts.

I have a huge bulky queen comforter for winter and it fills the machine to the top when loaded dry.  The water entering reduces it size somewhat.  This comforter is so huge that it will not turn over however it still comes clean because...  The Jet Cone and the recirculation keeps water on the move, the Jet Cone forces sudsy water through the comforter while the filter is catching all the nasty stuff.  I do a double rinse and a two 50 minute drying sessions in a 1-18 dryer because the comforter balls up and has to be flipped to dry the other parts.  It's a laborious task but the machines produce good final results even when taxed in this manner.

A Maytag 806 or 712 cannot come close to what a 1/18 holds (and expect it to get clean or moved around). 

Frankly, I don't think original designs that are vintage and rare should be mutilated at all.  Don't mutilate a jetcone!!!!!

In 2006 at the Texas Washin, I washed a load in the 1/18 of my own towels.  I normally washed these as two separate loads in the Lady Shredmore, both about 3/4 full.  the 1/18 didn't even hiccup.  I think everyone at Austin's house that evening were amazed at just how much of a BobLoad I got in that 1/18.  I'm estimating 16 bath towels, 16 wash cloths, and at least 10 hand towels.  And these are not the postage stamp size bath towels. 

Wellllll Todd, I can't say from experience.  I've never had an opportunity to BobLoad a Norge newer than our 1964.  I'd love to find out.  As Hans says, nothing outcleans a Norge!!!   If I ever go visit my sister & BIL in Petaluma, I won't pack anything.  I'll simply load up several boxes of dirty laundry and ship it out there and come on over for a wash-in

I've never had the problems that Greg posted from the CR article.  I think a big issue that can come up with any Frigidiare washer is a lack of knowing how to use it properly which could have easily been the case with CR.  Of course CR lost it's credibility with me a long time ago.  I think it's all about the money with them, who pays the most to get the best rating ;)

I share your observations--I've had stellar loads in my 1-18 that I couldn't believe, and some real sucksters that I thought would be easy.  The key, as you say, is understanding the load composition and setting the water level (and time!) accordingly.  Even when I load properly, I sometimes find that dress shirts and slacks get tied together, or bedsheets require unspooling before loading in the dryer.  C'est la vie.

Because this requires thought, I think it was doomed :-)  My mother's BD Kenmore from the early eighties was very much fire-and-forget in terms of getting everything in there.  

Good detergent seems key in a 1-18 too, since some get way too sudsy and then you end up with a blanket of fine lint settling back on your clothes when it spins out the water, once the suds are compressed back against them.

YMMV, but I've found the cones pull downward and you can, in a large load, get compaction of items between the Jet Cones and other items in the load, which can result in some stretching.

Harry, there's always a machine that's better than others for something. Some machines are more durable, some are easier to service, some are gentler on clothes, some do beat the dirt out of clothes better. I personally don't care that much about how good machines are or how a washer treats my clothes as I rarely wear more than $40 worth of clothing anyway! I never use the delicate or permanent press cycles and even if I have quite a few irons, I never use them to iron my clothes and I never use my Gladiron ironer either!

I do like to use the extra cycles like the Soak, pre-wash and even more the Extra Rinse!

To me, the fun factor of watching a machine operate is the important thing. And Frigidaires offer plenty of action! They don't tear my clothes, I'm quite good at doing that by myself while I'm wearing them! They probably did stretch a few elastic bands, or maybe it's just because I'm overweight!

They aren't the easiest to work on or to get replacement parts for, but that's a good excuse to get more machines!

use a laundry bag for fine items it wont allow buckles and such to get caught under the bottom cone and squished.

As for torn underwear I've never seen that in 30 years of using Jet Action washers. In fact my 3 speed 1-18 on the hand wash cycle cleans and handles knitted wool better than any machine out there- including front loaders.

When you can safely wash a Norwegian sweater and not felt it that is impressive washing action.

I will have to experience that Norge 20 pounder as Ive not seen more capacity than in my 1-18's.

Gansky tells me i'm gonna love my super capacity Lady Kenmore with the super surgilator, gotta set that one up soon for comparison washing.

Here's one!  Sorry, I did put too much detergent... 

 I filmed the exact same load at the "Normal" level during the rinse cycle:

I would have guessed the same result, that the 1-18 has the largest capacity of all top loaders ever built.

Yes they are:

http://youtube.com/channel/UCfzIOjgBfLiZBKgtEE7ZdJQ

The load was a mix of towels and bed sheets. One of them being very lightweight but thick! So it weights about 14 pounds but it filled the tub when there was no water.

You're right, the turnover would have been great with the water level just above "Normal". There's no way I could have fitted that load in my other washers. Maybe I should try in a 12 pound solid tub machine. I think it would be seriously overloaded like the one in my avatar!

Hans !!

amazing !!

Always love the solid tub Ripiddry 1010 washers, great videos Jon.

The 1-18 3SP washer is very,  gentile in agitation, I would also give GE FF washer high marks when using the Mini-Basket at low speeds and the 68-72 Lady Kenmore's with 3SP motors and the Vaira-Flex agitators. Does anyone have any other TL washers tat they consider very gentile on delicate fabrics?.

I still give the all time award to a Calypso when using the Hand Wash cycle, we have one AW member that actually washes loads of Bounty paper towels in his machine without problems, Jon this might be a good test for the 1-18.

Bounty paper towels?! How about trying with cheaper ones!?

You may well be correct Bruce about the 1-18s gentleness, the main thing I remember about CRs test was ONLY one machine failed the test and put runs in the sheer fabric and it was the single speed Maytag's with the polyfinn agitators, we need to look up the test results again.

But in any case the Calypso was not out yet and I will put its gentleness up against even the 3Sp 1-18 anytime.

an amazing hand wash in that F&P !!