Finally a Matthias electricity related video that I completely understand. Thanks for making it *that* simple.

It's always fun watching you take apart and explain how something works! What a shame we can't buy durable appliances anymore.

I used a washer motor to rebuild my commercial garage door opener. It is a really old school opener with no PCB, just a series of relays and micro switches. It required a motor that can be reversed with separate sets of wires, just like a washing machine motor. It has been running the door opener for almost 10 years and still going strong. This video would have been very helpful back then. I am sure many will benefit from this video.

You are one of the best people out here on KZfaq. I’ve learned so much from you over the years, things that I never would have figured out on my own. Cheers 🎉

Nice you got LG, you'll have lots of repair content in a year, I can't wait to see!

You actually just explained this to me in a way that I finally understood what was happening inside the motor to make it work. Thank you!

about 10 years ago I went down the rabbit hole of wiring washing machine motors so that I could get them to spin as fast as possible to throw bricks in them. But the internet lets us down because your washing machine motor is completely different to mine. Typically, 10 years ago all of the WM motors in the uk were brushed commutator universal motors, but all of the videos explaining how a "washing machine motor" works was referring to an induction motor, similar to yours, usually with capacitor start. The newer ones here use a "silent drive" motor, basically a brushless 3 phase induction motor that requires a separate board to drive it. The deluxe machines (possibly like your new one) have a direct drive, with a pancake motor attached to the back of the drum. People of the internet like to turn them into pelton wheel turbines for off grid hydro power. I have a few videos on my channel of the bricks in the washing machines. Cheers.

Matthias, if you offered online courses teaching electronics I'd sign up. Your style of teaching is easy to follow.

The fact that you only found out the wiring schematic at the time this washing machine is retiring is a testament to the build quality and durability..

Very good explanation and demonstration. As an old guy I find it extremely difficult to get used to the idea that I must pay more for a product that probably won’t last as long as the one it replaces. Another great vid, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I had the joy and pleasure of "fixing" a drying machine a couple of weeks ago. Also very old and extremely simple. The bearings in the motor itself were worn, and it was a real pain to disassemble the motor and replace its bearings (without proper tools), but now it runs like new. Also had to replace the belt, the old one was very worn and stretched.

Still using the old Miele washing machine from my grandparents... Nearly 55 years old. Good old Made in Germany. 😅

tbh I shed a tear when I sent Fr. Schwarzer into retirement. it was a 3rd or 4th hand-down Privileg toploader, also the bearings... I miss her dancing through the kitchen and the new one beeps... also turning the programming wheel mid-wash to ffw is such an underrated feature

You never know what the subject will be but you always know it will be informative and enjoyable!

Matthias, you're a renaissance man of handyman work.

We have a 80's Maytag washer and dryer that we still use . Best appliances ever made

Very helpful! I recently saved my washer motor for a project so I will be referencing this!

Well explained! As an addition, I'd like to mention that European refrigerator compressors are equipped with a device that monitors the starting current: it interrupts the starter winding using a thermocouple. This module is called a "klixon," probably because it makes a satisfying click when it operates.

This channel is such a fresh breeze / mental floss in hands-on explaining every day engineering.. I almost feel "Zen" afterwards.

One of my best friends is a home building contractor. During a recent conversation, he related to me how totally terrible home appliances are today. He said even the most expensive ones are lucky to last 3-4 years which is usually about the same as their warranties. I have a 35 year old Kenmore refrigerator in my shop that has outlasted a Frigidare and a GE. I looks horrible being in a shop environment but it works like a champ!

Brilliant explanation. One thing I never understood is how a pure resistive load can cause a phase shift. Would it be better to say that the startup inductive forces when comparing start to run are different, leading to the phase shift simply because of induction? With different gauge wires, and different current draw between the two sides, it makes sense there would be a phase shift because of that.

I remember this simple washing machines from my early childhood. My mother got one second hand, I guess it was made in the 40's or 50's, it had a wooden cub, a big strong motor underneath and had hand swing what's-it-called the squees out the water to hang it upon the washing line. Miele was the brand, it was used til in the 80's. Maybe it us still working, It never stopped, it simply was replaced by an automatic washing machine.

great video. BTW, I'm using the Maytag dryer that Grandma bought in '77. The washer died several years ago due to transmission failure. I've saved the timer, pump, etc, but have never needed them.

Those old appliances are nearly bulletproof; we picked up an 80s Kenmore (Whirlpool) unit 10 years ago and other than a few parts it still runs like a champ. Everyone we know with a new fancy model keeps having to call a repair guy for random things that break down. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Incredible video! All the "overwhelmingly positive comments posed here," are truly well-earned!

My fridge is 32 or 33 or 34 years old. Made here. Repaired a few times over the years. Next fridge may be commercial but will build a better fridge at some point. Easy to do and do well.

Thanks for this video! More and more I find myself thinking about saving the motors for things, so thanks for the explanation on how to understand them!

Thank you Matthias for the excellent explanation and demonstration. I look forward to see how you use the motor in the future.

great video, i always get excited when this channel uploads a new video

I thought I had the same washer, but looking at mine, it's from the late seventies. Never dies.

Maytag and Sears Kenmore were the best. Had a Sears for over 33 years. All it ever needed was a belt. My new one I'm hoping to get 10 years out of it. Cheers

I always learn so much from you Matthias. Many thanks!

Excellent video. Enjoyed the entire thing.

Best induction motor video to date! I've been building up my induction motor collection for over a decade of watching your videos and I learned something new! I have one, maybe two motors that are built this way and I understand them a little bit more now.

I still have that same old Maytag washer. My parents bought it in the mid 80s. It's needed a belt once or twice and that is it. We still use it every day. They moved to a new house in the early 2000s and are now on their third front loading washer. 😢

Great video; with fantastic descriptions/breakdowns as always. You should have gotten a Speed Queen washer and dryer set. They mostly make washers/dryers for laundry mats/commercial use. They've brought that ruggedness, and reliability into their residential models. They are old school; feature an agitator, simple controls. One of their marketing slogans is "Designed to last 25 years".

My first home (purchased in 2002) came with the Maytag washer and dryer you can see in the basement of “That 70’s Show”. I lived there for 8 years and only once replaced the thermostat in the dryer. Simple and reliable. If the next owners are smart, those are still kicking it in that basement.

This is a great video. Informational, and educational, in that I've not seen it explained more clearly and in a way I've not seen done before. Took something complicated, and to me intimidating, and broke it down to where I will 100% save and re-use my next washer motor.

I literally yesterday recovered two washing machine motors from otherwise broken machines. I was expecting to have to figure out the wiring myself so this is very lucky timing!

Really interesting indeed! Thanks, Matthias! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

I predict we will be seeing many videos of repairs and rants on the new front load washer. After switching to a "fancy" front load, I am looking to go back to a top load (maybe Speed Queen) ASAP.

Congrats to your clear demo, comprehensive as usual!

The water level switch is also pretty handy. It is and off/on switch with a diaphragm and works off air pressure that builds up in the tube when the water level rises. I used a splice fitting attached to a piece of cpvc to control a pump motor for maintaining a constant water level in a homebrewing design.

Wow! Great explanations. I would surely be able to do it myself now! Thank you, Mathias.

Awesome video. Thanks for bringing it to the level of we mortals.

I love this video, thanks for your content. This was the same type of washing machine I had as a child; we bought it brand new. I also love this type of motor controls etc… stuff, it’s always been my favourite topic in my studies.

I love these old reliable machines. I wish we could still get the parts to keep them running. The new ones don't last nearly as long.

I've taken that Maytag motor apart, the little box on the top where the wires attach is a relay that controls the start circuit. It opens when the RPM of the motor attains a sufficient level. It didn't use a start capacitor, it used that relay (originally). I actually added a capacitor to the circuit, which didn't work very well, but later I found out that the relay is easy to rebuild, and has points in it similar to the points in the ignition. All I had to do was to file the points and the motor started working again. That's a good motor, it was in my mother's Maytag, which unfortunately she scrapped when she replaced the washer. EDIT: I guess you kind of explained what I said in the comment, in a bit clearer way. I assumed that the relay worked by centrifugal force. Since I never took the motor out of the machine, I never saw the little tab that moves the switch, that you point out in the video. Anyway if you unscrew that cover plate you can inspect the points of that relay, it might need dressing with either a point file or a nail file. Great video, a few years ago when I fixed my mother's Maytag, the repairman said that the transmission was gone, when all it was, was the little relay, the transmission was fine. Thanks for the content. Keep up the good work.

Your main channel just arrived in my inbox as MicroStrategy

I have a version of that washer from 1994… same one that I found in almost all rental apartment buildings I’ve had to do laundry. This unit has had 1 belt replacement, and I had to replace the tilt/lid open switch that had been corroded by mice getting into the controls area. Aside from a squeak if the drum gets off-centre during the spin cycle, it’s been a remarkably robust machine.

I'd suggest ordering a replacement drain pump for your new LG and store it somewhere near the washer. You'll need it rather suddenly in a few years.

I have the identical washer (and dryer) and it's turned into a challenge to see how long I can keep them running. Soon I'll have to get a lathe to make my own parts, ha ha.

Those old style washer tubs make the best burn barrel/fire pit ever!

Very good explanation! I doubt that those front loaders will even last 10 years without the main spider exploding into pieces inside! I have a whole video on that haha

Your are a great instructor !

Am I the only one wanting a teardown of the new washer for comparison?

Great video, always appreciate your useful and interesting info!

Thank you for breaking that down for me. I'd like to see more appliance motors, if there are other types of tech that needs to be deciphered. And other useful gizmos I can keep from appliances. I hate wasting stuff.

I’m in appliance repair. These washer designs are great I have rebuilt them from the bottom up aha

Such good videos. I was able to wire an old motor years ago from your earlier videos on this.

Wow! Our Maytag dryer just died, now with this masterclass I can recover its motor, thanks a lot, quite on time!

Man, if videos like this were out on every topic I could build a car

Amazing with the start wind not kicking off, the current was very high. But once it dropped out the current dropped so low in comparison. Since the motor running was drawing less than 6 amps, the motor didn't even have one horse power to do the job... Thumbs Up!

Matthias, you have a special talent for making things easily understood and interesting 👍👍 Thanks for making these vids for us to learn from and enjoy! These old electro-mechanical washing machines tend to live long lives, and are easily repairable as long as you can get parts. The newer electronic machines are more efficient, but also do a worse job at cleaning heavy dirt, and they are not built as robustly. Many have electronic components which regularly fail, and the repair is to replace a circuit board which is costly. Often there is a shortage of the parts needed due to high demand for them and the factories render them 'obsolete' sooner, meaning that 5 years from now you may not be able to get parts and will be forced to buy a new machine. So if you have an old machine you should repair it and maintain it as long as possible because the new ones are a rip-off. But that's all you can get now. In the end this increase in efficiency will cost us more financially and ecologically too; so the final conclusion is for me that they are not truly efficient at all. These old motors have many uses in a shop and like the machine they came from were built to be robust. They should be saved and used instead of being scrapped. One thing to look for is that the centrifugal switch sometimes gets gummed up and will give a no-start condition. Clean it if it looks like it needs it and try again; often that gets a dead motor going again. The new machine's motors are not built as robustly and may not have as much horsepower but are still a worthy save.

That's the exact model I had and couldn't figure out the wiring. Thank you for the walk through, too late for me but that was informative.

Have a very similar Maytag A712 from ~1985 that came with a house I bought in 2022 (also found the original box). Somehow ours actually rusted the tub and is on its last legs. This video will be a great help when its time to get a new machine.

Congratulations, and consolation, on a new Appliance. Always fun to discover the "features" (bugs?) built into new appliances these days

we're on our 2nd washer in 25 years, and I've already repaired it TWICE myself (new overflow pipe, and new water valve). There is a bellows-type water pipe on top of those horizontal washers and they wear out because they shake so much.

I used multiple old front loaded washer motors without problems. They were pretty much universal motors. Mine had six wires, two for tachometer, two for the brushed rotor, two for the stator winding. No starter winding at all. Very easy to use and cheap power controllers from aliexpress work great with them. Possible to reverse direction of rotation by changing polarity of one of the windings. They can also be wired for 230 or 110 (windings in series or parallel). My homemade wood lathe works with one of those.

Awesome. New ones will go out in 10 years - if it has a stainless tub and aluminum spider. I don't know why - but that's what I heard and it was the spider that went out on our last washer right at 10 years. We had a 30 year old Whirlpool before that.

🎶 The tub on the washer goes round and round, round and round 🎶 Thanks for the enlightenment Matthias! 😊

A super video from basics … got to respect your skills and prognostic abilities predicting “ latest models lifetime “ 😂

"they don't make 'em like they used to" is very very true.

Great video. Hope to see more like this.

Those old appliances are timeless. New appliances last hardly any time at all. Last couple washing machines I've had, I salvaged the timers and liquid level sensors out of them and sold them on eBay. Lots of people trying to keep these machines running.

Pretty neat stuff. We had a front-loading washer and it would mildew and get moldy. We replaced it with a top-loader which I think is much better.

This is actually so useful ! I’ve actually run into problem with an old belt sander and now I know it’s the starting motor wire which I was wondering why it was so thin ! I only need to reattach it…. If only it’d that simple 😂 thanks you !

Yeah, well... from the 80s it's more like 40 years! Wow, that's some longevity!

Mechanical switches. Unbeatable. Also you can get any size type of bearing for anything !

Thank you SO MUCH, for explaining this.

The reason i watch your videos! The best on youtube!

Omg, love u Matthias. U deserve the infotainment oscar!

That washer was also made when they were still belt driven. Later on they were mounting the motor directly under the tub. And then when the seal in the bottom of the tub leaked a little it dripped down into the motor damaging it.

Excellent video!

While it can often be difficult to get parts for old washing machines, or appliances in general, from manufacturers and suppliers after a while, there is still hope if you don't want to outright replace things. Often, things like bearings can be matched up by size and type at a local bearing shop, or by people in the know who do a lot of "out of spec" repairs. I can recall a time when a relative took a bearing out of a window ac unit in to a bearing shop, and as soon as he set it on the counter, the clerk was able to identify the make and model of the air conditioner without even having to look at the part number. Even good used parts from appliance breakers can often be found on sites like ebay. I replaced the motor and drain pump in my 30 year old washer last year after the starter windings burned out, thanks to the bearings in the motor binding with rust from a leaking drain pump. My washer uses a common shaft to drive the drum out one side of the motor, and the drain pump out the other side, hence the motor issue. The motor I got from ebay worked flawlessly, without noise, and I was able to get the drain pump new.

Your understanding of everything is refreshing, understanding you is easy,... you should teach,...

I have a similar Maytag which came with the house I bought 38 years ago. It has had daily use and it's still running.

I'm sure there are people out there that would love to have that washing machine. I'm a service tech for an appliance company and I had to tell a customer today that their washing machine had a major failure. (tub bearing). The unit was only 4 years old!

I love these projects!

Those pressure switches work great for making an electrically isolated foot switch for controlling things.

Thanks. Learned a lot.

Might want to go ahead and buy a basic GE or Whirlpool washer dryer setup for when those LG machines die. And always top load washer. Great video as always, though!

We had front loader washer, need to monitor larger rubbery door gasket for mold. We would leave the door open when not in use. We actually switched back to a simple Maytag washer when we needed to replace some electrical parts that cost more than the new washer.

Amazing explanation and elegant smart old machine… loved this video 👍🏻👍🏻

Wednesday night: I'm going to put this washer on the kerb for somebody that finds it useful. Thursday morning: I found this abandoned washer on the kerb with bad drum bearing, which I could make out of brass and steel. Also it is missing a motor similar to one I happen to own (sorry 😆, had to)

I have that washing machine still running strong!

My front loader washer is 30 years old. I've replaced the motor and tub suspension springs about 10 years ago. These will keep running because they are so old that there's no electronics - the perfect blend of old school mechanical tech and front loader efficiency. Today's units are full of electronics that will likely fail first and be impossible to fix and must be replaced - if parts are available. Of course, Matthias will just build a PI controller for his if necessary...

Excellent. Very useful information.

Cool video, thanks!

You had the opportunity to get a set of Speed Queens, now you'll need to wait three years until these die to upgrade. Speed Queen is made in USA, and designed with serviceability in mind. They're made like the old ones were, but better.