- This topic has 39 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Re: When Adam was a lad!
I’ve still got the little tool for adjusting the distribution speed on the old Hoover modules. COme to think of it I’ve still got a module for the old A3006.
Remember the days when if a fault occurred, the timer just stopped, and you could tell what was wrong just by where it had stopped and whether water inside etc? You could just pull the knob back out and observe and diagnose in seconds.
Now the buggers just turn themselves off or do stupid things like whiz round pointlessly and give a stupid error code (as if we need one) which half of the time turns out to be erroneous or so ambiguous as to be virtually useless.
Re: When Adam was a lad!
I bought a Hoover AC Module Tester from HT Maddocks & Son. Big piece of kit in a brown suitcase carrier. Stuck the module in the testing block then covered it with a perspex cover, hit the switch and BANG!
Oh those were fun days!
Martin
Seeing as we’re not doing tools anymore but reminiscing about machines we have loved (or hated); you’ve all forgotten the magnificent, the one and only exploding Hotpoint 1600! And we all think (I hope) that the WMA series is bad…………
Regards,
Penguin.When Adam was a lad!
Ah yes the exploding Power Micro Circuit (PMC) and those darned 1600 Timer Knobs you needed to unlock/reset by using a 2p coin!
Martin
Re: When Adam was a lad!
These have a special place in my heart, for all the wrong reasons:-
Cut my teeth on these darn things way back in this mists of time!
The top loading dishwashers were all in posh mansions in Henley, Ascot & Sunningdale.
Martin
Re: When Adam was a lad!
….and you guys in the Midlands who have been around a while surely remember the Swanmaid Dishwasher?( Build in Brum) With its integral immersion heater tank and unique gravity drainage system. The first domestic UK made dishwasher to use a “Spray Arm” instead of an “Impellor”…………….
……..No?…….perhaps I’ve been around too long after all!
Martin
Re: When Adam was a lad!
God I remember those, Bulpitt Ltd. Used a kettle in the base with 2 3Kw elements.
You had to set the door handle to 3-0-clock whislt you loaded it, by the time that was done, the water was up to temperature. Then shut the door and crank the door lever to 6-0-clock, and it was away. Whilst the wash was under way with the pre heated water, the rinse water was heating in the kettle, so simple yet nobody has taken up the idea since.
All mechanical on the timer, nothing to go wrong, not even a pump in the early days, just a dump valve. The very early ones had a liner which was covered in blue plastic, and when it started to come off, meant a cavity change, pig of a job.
Good old days, NOT. Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
Alex
Re: When Adam was a lad!
Yes I’ve done a couple of those, there was a small hotel here with two of them.
Mind you there were very old by the time I got to repair them 😉
Dave.
Current commercial d/w’s still work on the same same basic principle – dump valve, separate boiler; some have the removable central tube for the “end of day” drain. Dead easy unless the programme device (could be timer, could be electronc) fails. Then it can get really SCARY. Mind you, they’re in pubs, restaurants etc & desperation is a wonderful thing!
Penguin.
Re: When Adam was a lad!
I’m not alone on the old dishwashers then. (I knew Alex would recall anyhow!) ….did any of you guys repair even earlier machine like the Easiclene shown above?…What about the “Dishlex” Dishwasher with the huge Immersion Heater Tank on the R/Hand Side. In the front a huge float water level system with a Lead U Trap Drain Fixing. The Lid switch was a remarkable 1950’s piece of engineering in that it used a Glass Tube filled with Mercury, when the tube tilted to on side the mercury flowed across the 2 contacts making the connection, and away it went!
Large 1/4 horse motor bolted underneath attached to an Impellor you could launch a power boat across the bay with these days!
Alex won’t remember those I bet ?
Martin
Re: When Adam was a lad!
I remember something that utilised a mercury switch, I was invloved in one when I was an apprentice.
What about the Thor washing machine. Open looking thing, top loader with a mangle and the motor along with the belt exposed and mounted on a frame under the tub. They were always painted green.
That is as far back as I want to remember.
Re: When Adam was a lad!
You got me there Alex, never saw a Thor in my life but they are still very prized in India, Uganda, Namia, Kenya etc (honest.. the same machines you describe are still out there)
I started with the Hoover Single Tub (can’t recall the model) Flip up wringer, no pump just a black hose hooked on the outside you lowered into a bucket.
And we used to overhaul (in our workshop)Hoover 375’s, New Brushes, Belt, Agitator Bearings and sometimes Carbon Brushes all in for £3.2.6d at what is now John Lewis plc. (Oh! and the price included free delivery back to the customer)
Martin
Re: When Adam was a lad!
Hi Guys
My Father still waxes lyrically about a machine called an imperial that he used to sell for a company in London ,Ring any bells
LawrenceRe: When Adam was a lad!
Wasn’t Imperial another part of Colston??? Not sure!
Who could fail to wonder at this beast……..
What a joy to repair they were…….
Martin
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.