washing machines

[int 504]

Are any of the new ones any good? Top load or front load? We've always had top load. Current one is a whirlpool. Didn't last very long. Not going to try to repair. Thanks for any recommendations.

[junkandcattle]

Speed queen still makes one very close to old school machine. I think a 7 year warranty.  Wife likes hers a lot better than the 5 year old Maytag we scrapped 

[Farmall1066]

I second speed queen, don’t have one, but have heard a lot of good about them.  Not cheap, but sounds almost bullet proof.  That’s what we will buy when our 5 year old Maytag dies.

[Shell1066]

Two words. Speed queen. Buy once cry once. We bought one two years ago and will never go back. Yes their expensive but it's worth the expense.

[jd560]

Speed Queen.  Our OLD Maytag finally gave it up and a Friend (who is an appliance repair/service man) of our daughters said Speed Queen is the best now.  Expensive up front, but that's what we got.  Our Old Maytag was of the best generation -- was probably over 25 years old.

[Michigan No Till]

Get ya a good repair guy that knows his stuff, better if he has a appliance bone yard and remans the old ones..

Have a set of the largest capacity whirlpool ever made. 

From the 90's, anytime there's a problem and he's done with the repair we always have the conversation about new..

You will regret it!!

Older were made to last.

 

[vtfireman85]

I would avoid front load like the plague. Anything forgotten in a pocket ends up in the pump, or if you are lucky, in a strainer, and you find out after you are mopping up several gallons of water all over the floor. A dollar in change and 2 drywall screws are enough to make them back up. 

[Lazy WP]

We tried 3 different washers when our antique one lost its transmission. Finally found a new Speed Queen that doesn’t have any of the bells and whistles. Works great but was pricey. We won’t look at anything else now. 

[yellowrosefarm]

I bought a speed queen several years ago after our old GE caught fire. Speed queen has a metal drum vs plastic on many others. The plastic drum in the GE was on fire as I was dragging it out the back door. I had just come in from shoveling snow and smelled smoke. If I hadn't been right there, it would have burnt the house down. The $1500 for the speed queen has been well worth it.

[acem]

Good old  washers can be bought at estate sale, etc.

Just got a fridge at an estate sale.

[TroyDairy]

We wash 30+ oversized loads of crappy cow towels in the parlor.  NEVER BUY ANYTYHING MAYTAG OR FRONT LOAD.  Absolutely worst brand imho.  Never last 6 Months.  Front loads cannot handle overloading and stink.   I know Maytag and WHilpool and amana  and Kirkland and etc (google it) are all under same co now buy Maytags are junk now.  Repair guys locally won even try saving one and reselling it he says.

 

Amana top load HD something is best.  Has 2 knobs on top panel and most easy to replace pumps etc.  Here its $600 new with warranty.    Then you step up to SpeedQueen and other commercials which if good are 10k++++ each.  We should try some speedqueen but ....man the guys overload so much I hate seeing them wreak 1700 dollar units vs 600 frankly.  Some have gottent eh big commercial units.  $100,000 for 2 washer and huge dryer!  Say its cool, but if they are down its a $1400 bill for anything.

 

Guy we grab freshened up ones from says anythin gnewer then 2010 2015 are poor qualit generally speaking.  Samsung are right there with may-flood as well.

[Chester5732]

Speed Queen here. Nothing else. 

[Mudfly]

My parents had a speed queen.  Lasted 5 years.  My MIL had one about the same.  I think they are a better option, but they are not infallible.  

We as a society need to get back to making things that last instead of making cheap junk.  Stock prices are not the end all goal to be chased at all costs.  

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

My wife was adamant that we needed a new washer. I decided it would be ok since she doesn’t ask for much. I bought a new Whirlpool and that thing was an $800 piece of junk. I was amazed at how bad it was. It broke down several times in two 2 years. I don’t think I’m even going to bother fixing it again because it won’t hold together. It didn’t even run 6 months before the first time it wouldn’t wash. I bought an old Kenmore like we had, which I believe was made by Maytag. It is from the 1990’s. It is ten times the washer the new one I bought is. 

[Shell1066]

I checked into a commercial speed queen. 6000. But the family style one was 1500 ish. The guy said you dont want a front load. We got a top load , no electronics, two knobs to control all the functions. My wife has been happy with it and isn't having to wash a load twice to get it clean. THAT was worth every bit of the 1500.!!

[Illini986]

I jumped on the Speed Queen bandwagon almost three years ago after the 20 year old Fisher & Paykel set I'd inherited from my grandparents was nearing the end of its life and I couldn't find anyone local to work on them. Been very happy with them but they are plenty pricey as others have said. 

[Board Shortener Tom]

Old school with no bells and whistles for me.  I've not owned a Speed Queen yet but the older top loads I've had last for a decade or more.  I buy them used. A repair guy told me not to buy the ones with circuit boards in them because that's what he is always replacing. 

[yellowrosefarm]

6 minutes ago, Board Shortener Tom said:

Old school with no bells and whistles for me.  I've not owned a Speed Queen yet but the older top loads I've had last for a decade or more.  I buy them used. A repair guy told me not to buy the ones with circuit boards in them because that's what he is always replacing. 

That's where the fire started in mine, the circuit board under the drum. Heat and flame from that started the drum burning. It was not in use at the time, but was plugged in.

[Gearclash]

Some people cuss LG but we bought an LG washer and dryer shortly after we got married near enough 16 years ago and they are still in service. Washer is front load. Last fall the washer started to produce a bearing howl during high speed spin so I pulled the washer apart and replaced the tub bearings, seal, door gasket and tub spider. I was surprised how well the rest looked. Since the dryer had to be moved to work on the washer, I pulled it apart also, cleaned all the lint, coins and hair pins out, replaced the drum drive belt, and put it back to work. 

Never had trouble with debris in the pump and never cleaned the screen until the bearing replacement.

 

Household of 8 now so washer and dryer use borders on daily.  

Maybe LG is junk now, your mileage may differ. 

[Chester5732]

Like my repair guy said. Buy a Maytag with the extended warranty ant it costs the same as a speed queen. The speed queen has a longer warranty to begin with. 

[oleman]

We have an LG front loader model vm3250hva. Have not looked at a service manual but they claim to be directly driven without belts or gears (about a 2010 year model), my neighbor gave it to me and helped me install it.  I would not have it today except it was FREE, and I did not require another washer, had a 2 yo GE top loader with a metal drum and all manual controls. The lg tub is all ss and it has controls that came off a space-ship, star wars digital dash crap. WHY-ME, never turn down a gift!  Neighbor got a new tenant, who had their own washer and wanted to use their own.  The LG is a water saver, but does a poor job of cleaning dirty work clothes, and  takes up too much space. Washed items come out very dry, if I fiddle with the controls it probably would clean better  with the correct cycle. I keep looking for a real Speed Queen with a wringer at the local Habitat for Humanity store. I have found top-loader Speed Queen models there, that looked perfect for $160. HAB items have a 30 day money back warranted so nothing to loose except time,  BUT in the last 20 years no wringer model, believe they have all been scrapped! 

 

[New Englander]

After two Maytag failures in short order, one top, one front, we bought a high end Whirlpool front loader maybe 6-7 years ago. It hasn't missed a beat, spins clothes to just damp and never moves around. The Maytag top loader had a safety feature - it would unplug itself it it wandered too far. 

The Whirlpool is direct drive and doesn't seem to mind how much I load it.

Many years ago another pilot and I rented a house. Those were the "will fly for food" days. Anyway, after first and last month's rent we were broke. Needing a washing machine we picked out a likely looking candidate at the dump, an old Maytag. It ground the gears terribly every time it shifted but otherwise worked fine. We figured it might last until we could afford a better one. Years later we got jobs in different parts of the country, went our separate ways, and I hauled it back to the dump still grinding and washing. That's when the Maytag man really didn't have to work. Years later and after that experience I bought two in a row that were absolutely junk. Never again.

[lotsaIHCs]

Our Maytag washer and dryer were bought in 2018. They are the oversize ones with the drums that I can barely reach the bottom or back of. Maytag Commercial Technology. A couple of months ago the washer quit spinning the clothes. It has a 10 year warranty on the drum, transmission and motor. But I really didn't want to haul the thing down to a service center or pay for repair and try to get reimbursed from Maytag. When I called into their warranty claim center, I entered the serial number of the washer and the automated voice said it didn't exist.  Click, the call was over. I tried several times, same result. I tried to talk to someone and after sitting on hold for 2 hours I finally took the option to have them call me back when my turn came up and they said I would keep my place in line. I never got a call back. I had nothing to lose so I figured I'd take a look myself. It is a direct drive and I fpund that a bolt had fallen out of the motor and with it being missing the clutch wouldn't engage the spin cycle. Easy fix, took all of 15 minutes. And I found out where the bolt that was laying under the washer went! Been working fine since. The dryer also needed new rollers about a year ago. Again, an easy job. In the meantime we were using the spare washing machine in the basement, a 1990 or so model Maytag. It still works like a champ, absolutely nothing wrong with it. But we were amazed at how tiny the drum is and how small a load of laundry we had to do with it. The newer ones are nowhere near the quality of that 1990 one but the new ones haven't been terrible either. The bolt that came loose and the rollers are the only problems we've had. Until fairly recently we were doing laundry for 5 but all the kids are on their own now so just the two of us.

[Chester5732]

Just in case the speed queen quits we have a Maytag for backup.  My wife’s grandparents wringer washer. It still works flawlessly. 

[supermechanic]

I scour the online marketplace ads (pun intended) for analog laundry sets.

 I have spares stored for their eventual use.

 No microprocessors for me. If it has a touchpad, I won't even look at it.