1980’s washer buying advice

[robmarshall]

Hi all,
I am hoping the more senior members can help me with a little advice on buying an old washer but first, here’s a little background.

We have two washing machines in the house. One is a modern Bosch (well, a WFL2260, which is getting on to a decade old and has only needed a door seal and a set of brushes to date) and a very old V696 from the early 1980s. The elderly Bosch has had a set of drum bearings, a door seal, a motor capacitor and two drain pumps in the last eight years, all of which were sourced from UK Whitegoods.

The old Bosch has a hard time and has to wash very dirty items, such as oil soaked overalls, so I do not contaminate the usual household machine and get into trouble with my wife. Also, the newer Bosch also does not cope very well with the very dirty items, because it does not use enough water; I view it is a compromised machine that is excellent for domestic laundry but not ideal for more industrial filthy clothes/cloths etc.

The older machine works much better for my heavy-duty laundry, despite using more water and, possibly, more electricity. Every now-and-again, when we have loads of washing to get through (we have a 14 months-old daughter in the house), we also use the older Bosch and have not had any problems with our own clothes being damaged. The issue with the older machine is that my wife cannot figure out how to work it!

In terms of our domestic set-up, we have a separate utility room with hot and cold water supplies. We have an efficient combi-boiler, which can hot-fill both our washers, this being a more economic proposition than allowing the machines to fill-up with cold water and then heating the water electrically. We do not have a water meter.

For anyone, who has not dropped off to sleep yet, it would be useful for us to have a machine with a larger capacity than the older Bosch, so we can wash blankets, rugs, and possibly duvets as well. I have been offered a top-loader Hotpoint 15792 and am wondering whether or not it should replace the older Bosch. The V696 would not be scrapped, just relegated to my warm garage in case our modern machine finally dies.

So, taking into account my circumstances and that the old machine only does 2 loads a week, maximum, is it a wise idea to replace the front-loading V696 with the Hotpoint? Also, is the 15792 a robust and reliable machine, despite being aeons old? Does the Hotpoint have an induction motor like the V696, so there are no brushes?

I feel confident in the reliability of the older Hotties, as my mother had an old Hotpoint Liberator 1848 and that just went on-and-on… maybe I am deluded.

Your comments/advice would be most useful and appreciated, as always. Thank-you.

Rob

[iadom]

Re: 1980’s washer buying advice

The Hotpoint top loader was not a bad machine, sadly the vast majority of spares are now unavailable. It did use a huge amount of water, approx 45 gallons for a full load.
The much earlier 1502 model was far better, the later models had a weaker motor that suffered from quickly wearing clutches, pump leaks etc, the motor is an induction motor.
There are also one or two places that are susceptible to corrosion, mainly on the gearbox support tube. I worked for Hotpoint for many years before becoming self employed so have worked on thousands of these machines over the years. If the old Bosch is still working then I would advise against replacing it with an old Hotpoint top loader.

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[Martin]

Re: 1980’s washer buying advice

“oil soaked overalls, duvet, rugs and blankets”……a trip to the coin-op launderette best suited to that stuff….! Who washes rugs anyway? Take them outside onto the washing line and whack them with an old carpet beater. Duvets often need specialist dry cleaning and not machine washing as a rule.

The V696 is a great machine, take great care of it and it will continue to serve you well. Though wash non of the above items in it. Tell your friend with the Hotpoint to put it on EBay for 99 pence (buyer collects) 😉

[keepitsimple]

Re: 1980’s washer buying advice

robmarshall wrote:Hi all,
For anyone, who has not dropped off to sleep yet, it would be useful for us to have a machine with a larger capacity than the older Bosch, so we can wash blankets, rugs, and possibly duvets as well.
Rob

You need a really big machine to handle double/king size duvets, but the even bigger problem I found is drying them. After using laundromats in the past (and waiting ages for even big dryers to handle them) I then discovered Morrisons in-store cleaners. Generally they have an offer of 2 duvets – of any size or type of filling – washed, dried and expertly packaged for about £20. I have goose down duvets and they do a beautiful job. Personally, I’d never risk having duvets dry cleaned, but I’ve seen a few companies who advertise the service, so presumably they have a process that’s safe with no toxic residues.

(I have no connection with Morrisons by the way.)

[robmarshall]

Re: 1980’s washer buying advice

Thank-you so much for your replies and advice.

The consensus I get is the V696 is a liked machine. I am not surprised. It is beautifully made inside, with a stainless outer drum and cast iron weights, instead of concrete. It was a machine I saved from scrap, after the door was snapped off by a set of ‘little darlings’, the parents of whom rented my Grandmother’s house after she died. I knew how little use the machine got for the first 15 years of its life, which is why I repaired it. It was our daily washer for six months, as I dragged my heels changing the brushes in our newer Bosch…

The other advantage the V696 has is that is doubles-up as a dryer. OK, the drying part is hopelessly inefficient but it would be better than nothing, if our modern dryer (a Creda TVR2) packs in. Hence this is why I will not throw it away, as I have the space in which to store it.

To elaborate a little, my work involves my overalls getting caked in old oil, grime and grease; plus I test various cleaning/polishing products and so cloths saturated with such chemicals have to go in as well. Using a laundrette is a no-go, mainly because it is impractical and time consuming to get clothes to-and-from the shop.

Yet, the Hotpoint would cost me about £20.00 in total, including collection, it works perfectly and is cosmetically smart. However, is the 15790/15792 a piece of junk? Can it not wash as well?

Thanks for the advice on duvets and point taken. However, I do need to wash blankets every now and then – the Bosch can just about handle them but it tends to go ‘walkies’, which cannot do much for its longevity. The other problem I have with the Bosch (well, it is more a problem with me, rather than the machine) is that the pump gets locked up with various nasties that come out of my pockets. At least I can access the pump easily though, by removing one screw and the whole lower panel comes off.

So any positives about getting the Hotpoint, before I abandon the idea totally, permitting the current owner to condemn it to the tip?

Thanking you again. ?

[iadom]

Re: 1980’s washer buying advice

If you could remove the back of the Hotpoint and take a couple of pictures of the inside we could give you a better idea. A picture of the motor and pump which is directly above the motor, a picture of the clutch. You can do this from underneath by tilting the machine to the side, clutch is underneath the motor. Also a picture of the central gearbox support column, where it goes up into the drum.

Not a bad machine but nothing like the quality of the earlier top loaders.

PS. The clutch is one part that is still available, not expensive and easy to fit.

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[Author]

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