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Thread Number: 91584
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Off Balance Switches |
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Post# 1161100 10/4/2022 at 04:23 (563 days old) by chetlaham  (United States) |
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Post# 1161106 , Reply# 1 10/4/2022 at 07:31 (563 days old) by jmm63 (Denville, NJ) |
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Post# 1161114 , Reply# 3 10/4/2022 at 09:19 (563 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 1161131 , Reply# 4 10/4/2022 at 16:42 (562 days old) by chetlaham (United States) |
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Post# 1161141 , Reply# 5 10/4/2022 at 17:58 (562 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Makers of many domestic front loaders at least long have cautioned against laundering bulky/large items such as bath rugs, thick or heavy cotton blankets, etc..
Later fully computer controlled washers such as my AEG can cope better than say the older Miele where control of drum is limited, and washer lacks ability to slowly rev up or down extraction. Many a front loader has been harmed if not destroyed by laundering heavy items like those mentioned above. Tech that provides service for AEG washers doesn't recommend doing heavy blankets and so forth in washer. All this being said modern front loaders to various extents will use combination of drum control, graduated revving up of spin, OOB detection and so on to minimize issues. However at some point if washer cannot get load balanced within accepted parameters one of several things will happen: it will abort all spinning and move to next portion of cycle, spin at lower rpms, or just shut itself down. Like top loading washers, modern front loaders have reduced space between tub and cabinet. This allows larger tubs for increased capacity to fit in a cabinet with same footprint. What it means off bat it's a tight fit compared to machines of old. Thus while my older Miele will spin with OOB loads (banging and clanging away), most modern machines won't. Regarding top loaders have tons of old issues of Consumer Reports. CR took points off washers without OOB sensors or whatever. IIRC many Maytag models were some of worse offenders. Housewives would return to washer when they assumed things were done; only to find the thing hadn't spun because of OOB loads or some such. | ||
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Post# 1161143 , Reply# 6 10/4/2022 at 18:02 (562 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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KM belt-drive OOB is a latching relay that kills power to the timer motor and drive motor until the timer is pulled/pushed (or pushed/pulled as may be the case) to Off/On which resets the relay. Manually redistribute the load before restarting. Catalyst is electronic control. OOB stops spin (or Catalyst treatment) briefly for the load to settle, then restarts. Four successive triggers 1) aborts Catalyst and begins the regular wash period or 2) stops spin for an OB fault (open/close the lid to redistribute the load and resume spin, or Stop/Cancel to abort). | ||
| Post# 1161148 , Reply# 7 10/4/2022 at 19:42 (562 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
Reply #3
You’d have to ask waterwitch since he acquired a 1952 Whirlpool set. It might have a out of balance sensor on it but you’d have to ask waterwitch or John Lefever about that. I don’t have any experience with the early belt drives, only belt drive experience I have is with my ‘63 Whirlpool and 80’s Kenmore portable belt drive washer.
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Post# 1161151 , Reply# 8 10/4/2022 at 20:27 (562 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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I’ve never seen a washer damage by out of balance load
With the notable exception of the new high speed Samsung, LG whirlpool or Maytag top load machines.
The damage these machines sustain has been from washing waterproof items that have a plastic covering the load is initially balance but once it gets to a fast enough speed the plastic membrane ruptures in the machine is suddenly out of balance. The very first couple of years of Kenmore and whirlpool belt drives had a mechanical unbalanced switch that would push the timer control out and stop the machine. Whirl pool belt drive belt washers did not need an unbalance switch because they would sustain no damage even if the load did become out of balance. Sears used an unbalanced switch on their better models as a sales gimmick whirlpool never really use them at all. Even commercial machines and laundromats did not have unbalance switches. Whirlpool direct drive washers did not use on balance switches either, really only washers with poor suspension systems had to have them where they couldn’t tolerate an unbalanced load without causing an undo amount of noise and vibration. John L | ||
| Post# 1161153 , Reply# 9 10/4/2022 at 21:53 (562 days old) by qsd-dan (West) | ||
One word...
Cheapskates. Save $1 per machine = $1 million saved with a million machines produced.
Some OOB designs were laughably ridiculous. On my '63 WCI Frigidaire washer, the out of balance switch was triggered from the action of a 12-6 o'clock tub movement yet an unbalanced load would cause the tub would bang into the cabinet at a 9-3 o'clock movement, never triggering the out of balance switch. Once every 3-4 spins cycles would cause the tub to bang into the cabinet due to the fast initial acceleration of the spin cycle. That was the downside of the quick spinning Frigidaire washers. CLICK HERE TO GO TO qsd-dan's LINK | ||
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Post# 1161154 , Reply# 10 10/4/2022 at 21:53 (562 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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John, I recall Kenmore coin-op toploaders at a local laundromat in the late 60s and early 70s that had OOB switches. It was in a small strip-mall type of building with a convenience store at one end, laundromat at the other end, and a hair salon in the middle that mother visited. A few times having a look-see at the laundromat there'd be a washer buzzing off-balance. | ||
| Post# 1161155 , Reply# 11 10/4/2022 at 21:57 (562 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
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Reply #9
Suds lock error since the link isn’t working :/
View Full Size
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Post# 1161265 , Reply# 14 10/7/2022 at 02:32 (560 days old) by chetlaham (United States) |
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You bring up an interesting point about clutch slippage. I've seen several post FF GE washers, mine included, that were damaged from tub banging. They accelerated to full speed within seconds, whereas WP took time. Slow acceleration I think is key, which basically says hey put a pump on the drive motor and forget about neutral draining. Sanity peaked at one point in time.
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