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Thread: Top Load HE Washing Machine - Agitator vs No Agitator

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    Monroe, MI
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    11,896
    Our new Electrolux washer operating cost is $12 if you have electric hot water, $10 for gas according to the tag. Didn't find the one for the dryer.


  2. #17
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Weaver View Post
    When we got the FP a while ago, I was reading a farmer forum, and one of the guys on there was an appliance repairman. I don't know if he'd read it somewhere or if he was guessing, but his comment about a moderate use washer before problems was that you can expect about 5 years now for most washers that are of the same style as the original maytags, which he described as 20-year washers. The flip side of that is the original maytag top loaders use so much hot water that a new HE inexpensive top loader that lasts 10 years may pay for the difference in lifetime.
    David, I completely agree. This is why I'm thinking about just getting a $400 - 600 HE washing machine and expect to replace it in another five years. We got five years out of our current one with out any electronics failing. I just can't stand the mold smell. We can go weeks or months without it and then if I haven't ran bleach through it in a while and the wife runs some clothes through, the smell will ruin a whole load of laundry for me. The worst part is I don't realize it until after she has put the clothes up and I have to do the sniff test shirt by shirt.

    First world problem, I know. But aggravating nonetheless.

    The Maytag Centennial model is on sale in my area for around $450. I may take a flier on that one unless someone has strong opinions against it.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
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    5,427
    You shouldn't expect to have to replace a washer or dryer in five years. My Samsung front loader I believe is five years old now and still going strong. I prop the door open after every use and no mold so far. The Samsung replaced a working Maytag Neptune. I got something new because the Samsung is supposed to vibrate less.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Rockville, MD
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    1,269
    Seems to me that a bad experience with one manufacturers model, whether it be top or front is not good enough reasoning to exclude all models of that type of machine. All you need to do is look at reviews like Consumer Reports and realize every type has plus and minus'. Right now the front loaders may have some advantage in that they don't beat up your clothes and you can load more, but they generally take more time, probably because of load size. All of them seem to be having the 5 - 8 year electronics fail problem. Go beyond 8 and consider yourself lucky or that electronics board wasn't made on a Monday.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Morris View Post
    Seems to me that a bad experience with one manufacturers model, whether it be top or front is not good enough reasoning to exclude all models of that type of machine. All you need to do is look at reviews like Consumer Reports and realize every type has plus and minus'. Right now the front loaders may have some advantage in that they don't beat up your clothes and you can load more, but they generally take more time, probably because of load size. All of them seem to be having the 5 - 8 year electronics fail problem. Go beyond 8 and consider yourself lucky or that electronics board wasn't made on a Monday.
    Don, while I agree with your statement we had other issues with other GE products (our refrigerator) that soiled my opinion of the brand. I was really hoping someone here would say, "I bought Brand XYZ HE washing machine x years ago and love it; never had a problem with it." Honestly, I would take that recommendation as well as I would any other Consumer Report recommendation.

    I am put off of front load washing machines because the unit is in a high traffic area and leaving the door open is, in my opinion, not a suitable solution to combat the mold growth.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    You folks need to stop talking about washing machines and their failures.

    My wife is out of town for 2 weeks and sure enough when I began doing laundry Saturday morning, the washing machine began leaking.....

    Stop it! These discussions on the internet can go viral!
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
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    11,896
    Hopefully water, not oil...


  8. #23
    Remembered incorrectly. The label on the FP says $11 and $19, depending on the source of the hot water. That being said, I'm sure my we spend 4x that based on how much laundry my wife does.

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Brown View Post
    David, I completely agree. This is why I'm thinking about just getting a $400 - 600 HE washing machine and expect to replace it in another five years. We got five years out of our current one with out any electronics failing. I just can't stand the mold smell. We can go weeks or months without it and then if I haven't ran bleach through it in a while and the wife runs some clothes through, the smell will ruin a whole load of laundry for me. The worst part is I don't realize it until after she has put the clothes up and I have to do the sniff test shirt by shirt.

    First world problem, I know. But aggravating nonetheless.

    The Maytag Centennial model is on sale in my area for around $450. I may take a flier on that one unless someone has strong opinions against it.
    Not sure what causes the mold smell. coming up on 8 years of use, we don't have any smell in the FP. My wife is so tidy that I had to argue with her constantly to keep the lid open (I just can't see any detriment to doing that, our basement is semi-finished so nothing is going to go in it). But no smell problems in the washer to speak of. It seems like if there is one, it might be a design issue.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Meiser View Post
    Hopefully water, not oil...
    Water.... I have tried to isolate the possible cause by function.....is it in the fill cycle.....the spin dry cycle with no conclusive results.

    I am going to buy a downloadable service manual and try to isolate the potential cause.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  11. #26
    Got a Maytag front loader that was made in Germany. Don't know if they still are made in Germany, but this machine is good. Only have 2 complaints about it.

    1. That gray rubber seal that covers the round white plastic thingamajig. Have to squeeze the rubber seal to clean out the white plastic part. Mold and crud buildup all around the plastic part once a month.

    2. As to smell, throw in a couple of cups of bleach and that cures the smell.

    3. Oh, yes, the BLEACH DISPENSER!!! Picture washing a bunch of white tee-shirts and having to use some bleach in the bleach dispenser . The whites come out of the washer nice and white! But throw in 7 or 8 pair of black sweatpants in the 2nd wash , new ones at that !!! and they ALL CAME OUT OF THE MACHINE LOOKING LIKE SOME ABSTRACT PICASSO PAINTING!! I would have thought that all the bleach would have been emptied from the Bleach dispenser on the 1st wash!

  12. #27
    So (maybe it was said already), the bleach was a frontloader issue? I didn't ever seriously look at front loaders, because they had reliability issues 8 years ago, and I didn't like their price (and at the time , they weren't more efficient than the FP top loader). They were absolutely the rage back then, though. I watched a "I have better stuff than you" type buddy buy one for $1600 and then turn around and buy another one two years later. Senseless. I'm sure a lot of them were decent, but it was too hard to know which was which back then, and it seemed like there was little difference between a $1500 W/D pair and a pair that was almost $4000 with the stands. So, I punted.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Great Falls, VA
    Posts
    813
    Last month, Jeff Rossen filmed a report for NBC on the mold and odor problem with front loading HE washers. Ongoing lawsuits over it. The new models are supposedly being designed with better venting to allow things to dry out between uses. May have largely solved the problem. Here's the link:
    http://www.today.com/news/your-washi...old-6C10671363

    FWIW, we bought a Whirlpool top loading HE washer four years ago, avoiding the front loaders because of the anecdotal reports of mold even back then. No mold problem, but it didn't clean the clothes very well either, and a slight soap residue remained even using the HE detergent! Exchanged it two weeks later for a regular Whirlpool Cabrio (not HE), and the clothes get clean.

    On repairing the modern machines, coincidently, last week the 4-y/o machine's "start" button stopped working. I pulled the control console and found that a small plastic, "springy" tab under the button had broken off, so that the micro-switch on the control panel beneath it couldn't be activated. Everything else worked fine, and the machine started right up when I plugged it in and clicked the micro-switch directly. Here's the surprise: The only way to replace the plastic strip with the broken tab would be to buy a complete new console, which is only available with the included control board and more, for $230. Not to be outdone by controlled obsolescence, I just cut out the button, and we now start the machine by just pressing the micro-switch directly. Cost $0. Self-satisfaction priceless.

    David

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by David C. Roseman View Post
    Last month, Jeff Rossen filmed a report for NBC on the mold and odor problem with front loading HE washers. Ongoing lawsuits over it. The new models are supposedly being designed with better venting to allow things to dry out between uses. May have largely solved the problem. Here's the link:
    http://www.today.com/news/your-washi...old-6C10671363

    FWIW, we bought a Whirlpool top loading HE washer four years ago, avoiding the front loaders because of the anecdotal reports of mold even back then. No mold problem, but it didn't clean the clothes very well either, and a slight soap residue remained even using the HE detergent! Exchanged it two weeks later for a regular Whirlpool Cabrio (not HE), and the clothes get clean.

    On repairing the modern machines, coincidently, last week the 4-y/o machine's "start" button stopped working. I pulled the control console and found that a small plastic, "springy" tab under the button had broken off, so that the micro-switch on the control panel beneath it couldn't be activated. Everything else worked fine, and the machine started right up when I plugged it in and clicked the micro-switch directly. Here's the surprise: The only way to replace the plastic strip with the broken tab would be to buy a complete new console, which is only available with the included control board and more, for $230. Not to be outdone by controlled obsolescence, I just cut out the button, and we now start the machine by just pressing the micro-switch directly. Cost $0. Self-satisfaction priceless.

    David
    Oh yes, the old "Controlled obsolescence" !! They make things so that you either have to spend a ton of money to repair it , that it makes it easier just to buy a whole new machine , or fix it yourself and possibly voiding the warranty.

    Remember the days when machines were made to last for YEARS!!!

  15. #30
    Between the intentionally limited design lifetime and the cost of manufacture (and designing to make the cost of manufacture as low as possible), there's not going to be much that is intentionally created to last a long time and be easy to repair.

    That is, perhaps, just slightly less irritating than the intentionally shallow bowled washers they make for coin-op places so that you can't put many clothes in them. When I used to live in an apartment, the washers were good maytag commercial jobs, but the tub was very shallow so that you had to pay to do more loads.

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