Dexter Dryer Start Issue

[canon]

Originally Posted by jh

I can change the temperature setting any time by simply pressing the corresponding button (without stopping the dryer first). It is weird that Dexter made this process so complicated. Are the new Dexter dryers still work like this?

He only has to stop it because he removed the jumper on the machine. Otherwise you can change it anytime. Paul, it seems that would be more of a problem than it defaulting to medium. If a customer wants to change after starting and it won't, they may think dryer is broken.

[DaveLevenson]

My 50-year-old Huebsch 30-lb single-tumbler dryers have a temperature-setting knob on the shaft of a mechanical thermostat. They default to the setting used by the previous customer, and may be adjusted at any time, whether or not the machine is running!

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by DaveLevenson

My 50-year-old Huebsch 30-lb single-tumbler dryers have a temperature-setting knob on the shaft of a mechanical thermostat. They default to the setting used by the previous customer, and may be adjusted at any time, whether or not the machine is running!

Dave,

Your knob thermostat brough up not so fond memories of threading that long tube to the back of the dryer and down and then into the lint compartment everytime I replaced one of those units. Ugggh! When you think about it, it's kind of amazing that Huebsch is still supporting the old dryers with parts availability after all those years.

The new thermisters are small probes that screw into a metal panel to sense the exhaust air temperature. They fail less often and can be replaced in about 2 minutes on my dryers.

[MrMachine]

Originally Posted by jh

I can change the temperature setting any time by simply pressing the corresponding button (without stopping the dryer first). It is weird that Dexter made this process so complicated. Are the new Dexter dryers still work like this?

Guys, I made a boo-boo.
I was thinking about my ADC dryers where you must open the door to first stop the dryer which then allows you to change the temp setting.
On my Dexters, you only have to press another temp button to change the temp, withOUT opening the door.

So chalk one up for Dexter, and chalk one down for ADC.

[DaveLevenson]

Originally Posted by Adamski

Your knob thermostat brough up not so fond memories of threading that long tube to the back of the dryer and down and then into the lint compartment everytime I replaced one of those units. Ugggh! When you think about it, it's kind of amazing that Huebsch is still supporting the old dryers with parts availability after all those years. ...

Larry: On one occasion, I telephoned Huebsch technical support with a question. The technician asked for the dryer serial number. When I told him, he exclaimed: "Man, that dryer's older than I am!" But he answered my question, and gave me the current part number for what I needed.

I've replaced two thermostats in the seven years I've owned the store. Of all of the dryer maintenance tasks, I have found that to be the easiest. On my model 30EG machines, there is conduit from behind the front panel to the wireway in the rear. With the cover removed from the wireway, the tube can be pushed through this conduit from the front until the temperature-sensing bulb is in the wireway, and then pulled from the rear until the thermostat is approximately seated in the mounting bracket. Then the tube can be routed down the wireway and pushed through the hole into the lint-filter area. Finally, it can be inserted into the bracket by reaching in through the lint-filter access door. It all takes about 15 minutes, including opening and re-closing the front panel, rear wireway, and lint filter area.

[Adamski]

Dave,

I remember that wireway running down the back. We thought it was the greatest improvement as all the wires used to run in flex-conduit prior to that model. Guess what, they're back in flex-conduit again.

I think it's amazing that Huebsch still supports (both technically and with parts) fifty year old dryers. Who else does that?

[mjwalsh]

Originally Posted by DaveLevenson

My 50-year-old Huebsch 30-lb single-tumbler dryers have a temperature-setting knob on the shaft of a mechanical thermostat. They default to the setting used by the previous customer, and may be adjusted at any time, whether or not the machine is running!

Dave & others,

There is a time & a place to keep vintage equipment. Just think ... by Dave waiting on purchasing brand new dryers ... if the extra gas required does not do him in ... maybe the manufacturer will have improved their coin mechs enough or some other key improvement ... to make the wait worthwhile!

There are times when I wish I still had my 1959 Heubsch 700# plus Sherman Tank Like 50# capacity dryers. Only 3 of them came with a slot that allowed a lever to adjust the temperature. On the other 9 ... I did an in house upgrade with a metal cutting saw & a homemade lever ... so the customer could finally choose. Only one fire --- everything on that fire pointed to an actual deliberate mini-arson like Case alluded to. Insurance - & bit too emotional news media involved.

Almost 100% of my customers back in the 70s would still choose the lever at its highest setting which I believe was 200 degrees because they wanted to make darn sure they got their money's worth! I would always feel sheepish because the door adjustment to shut the dryer off when opened would get out of whack quite often. Because of it a old-young? buck in his twenties obviously drinking with a party of friends was all over me on "liability". Same afternoon, one of the regulars ... an eighty year old young woman was taking the clothes out early with the huge drum turning ... door open. I offered to make the dryer stop. She emphatically told me "No this is not a problem... it is actually 'fun'"! Go figure. Those two 1725 rpm 19th century technology extractors were a legitimate concern though... customer satisfaction! Believe me ... clothers dried fast though! Only needed to clean the lint out on these single dryers once a week ... another plus.

I do not miss the extra gas expense that became an serious issue in the 80s. Also I wish they had been "powder coated" like my existing ADCs for appearance sake. Another pain was their use of a chain, idler roller, & sprockets.

mike

[DaveLevenson]

Originally Posted by mjwalsh

... There is a time & a place to keep vintage equipment. Just think ... by Dave waiting on purchasing brand new dryers ... if the extra gas required does not do him in ... maybe the manufacturer will have improved their coin mechs enough or some other key improvement ... to make the wait worthwhile! ...

My dryers have had two major upgrades applied in the field: Before I bought the store, someone had replaced the standing pilots with Ram-5 spark ignitions. A couple of years ago, I replaced all of the mechanical timers with solid-state electronic units.

Over the years, a number of motors have been replaced. They begin to remind me of the old story about the New England woodsman who claims to have been using the same axe for 50 years (though he has replaced the axe-head four times, and the axe-handle ten times during those 50 years)!