Washing Machine+Dryer

My washing machine has been on its last legs for a few years… I’m shocked the bearing hasn’t given out yet based on the violet shaking that occurs for a few seconds every cycle when its getting up to speed. I’ve been lucky and never had to purchase a washer/dryer before so this is uncharted waters for me.

Does anyone have any recommendations on retailers to look at and/or avoid? same thing goes for brands? Big box stores? Specialty retailers?

I currently have front loading Kenmores that are somewhere around 10ish years old. I won’t be in this house longer than another 3-4 years tops, so I’m not necessarily looking for top of the line/longevity as I would if I was staying here long term.

Unless is a speed queen the rest are all comparable and are disposable. Yes if you buy a speed queen it will cost more and will be the last one you have to buy.

After having stacked single units in some condos, that’s the route we went in the house now. Half the foot print and no bending over to empty the dryer !

An appliance repair man told me to stay away from front load washers (tubs have a tendency to leak) and foreign brands (hard to get parts at times). I’ve been in the house for 33 years and on the second washer, Kenmore (probably Whirlpool). Replaced the rubber piece between the motor and transmission twice and the transmission once.

big- I’ve got stacked units now and I’m a big fan of the small footprint. I actually don’t have room to do anything else unless I remodeled the room.

supercat wrote:

Unless is a speed queen the rest are all comparable and are disposable. Yes if you buy a speed queen it will cost more and will be the last one you have to buy.

This has been my philosophy as well.

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Our Kenmore front loads are going on 22 years only thing I have had to do is replace the drums bearings in both not that hard of a job. Cost of bearings if I remember was around $12- $20, cheap fix and still going strong.

Now our Samsung refrigerator is another story still working on trying too straighten out the the poor design for the defrost cycle.

We’ve been looking for a new washer for awhile now as well and Speed Queen seems to be in a category of its own. The price point for them and ultimately the longevity might not be something that suits you if you’re just looking to get a few more years out of one at your location. But from a very wide variety of resources the #1 recommendation I’m seeing is Speed Queen, and I’m hoping that’s what we end up going with.

Thanks guys, good to know on the Speed Queen for my next house.

Any recommendations on what retailers you are purchasing these appliances from?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Thanks guys, good to know on the Speed Queen for my next house.

Any recommendations on what retailers you are purchasing these appliances from?

Bathricks in Hastings is where we bought our speed queens.

Speed Queens are the washer, to which Kirby is the vacuum. Built like a tank.

Speed queens and great but when I bought mine 6 years ago I went whirlpool and they have been great. Top load washer front load dryer. My clothes are filthy every day. Looks like I roll in the mud, but it’s concrete slurry. Very hard on the washers. I went through 2 other brands before that in 4 years. As of now the whirlpool is still kicking and knock on wood hasn’t even had a hiccup.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Speed queens and great but when I bought mine 6 years ago I went whirlpool and they have been great. Top load washer front load dryer. My clothes are filthy every day. Looks like I roll in the mud, but it’s concrete slurry. Very hard on the washers. I went through 2 other brands before that in 4 years. As of now the whirlpool is still kicking and knock on wood hasn’t even had a hiccup.

bc…….if your clothes are that hard on washers..have you entertained going to the local laundromat??? use someone elses washing machine???

we do that with all our carpets!!!!!

glenn57 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Speed queens and great but when I bought mine 6 years ago I went whirlpool and they have been great. Top load washer front load dryer. My clothes are filthy every day. Looks like I roll in the mud, but it’s concrete slurry. Very hard on the washers. I went through 2 other brands before that in 4 years. As of now the whirlpool is still kicking and knock on wood hasn’t even had a hiccup.

bc…….if your clothes are that hard on washers..have you entertained going to the local laundromat??? use someone elses washing machine???

we do that with all our carpets!!!!!

Yes I did that for a couple years. But between the pain in the butt and 30 or so bucks for the wash and dry it come out the same to just wash at home and get 5 or 6 years out of my washer. I still use the laundry mat for my carhartts from work. The whirlpool set I bought was a discontinued model I paid 600 for the pair. They have been solid for 6 years so far. The other ones we had were LG and they sucked.

yea it does kinda suck…..the one in in cold spring the machines look like sh!t inside so i resorted to driving to Richmond…5 miles away. they have a new laundromat….. luckily i dont need to do it often!!!!!1

My 2 cents, (on account of having to replace washers at both houses I’ve bought), everything “American” is basically made by the same people, Whirlpool, Kenmore, Maytag etc… you’re basically buying a nameplate. Honestly, if its only for a few years, look at the used market, we got what was an 800 washer off faceplant for 100 bucks. Lady thought it was junk, all it needed was some lime away and clearing the 20 bucks in change out from under the agitator. I replaced the “wear” parts, and its good as new. Obviously it helps to have confidence in making those simple repairs, and your mileage will vary depending on what’s available but 80 bucks and some elbow grease sure beats the price for something new, especially with a limited timeframe. Something to consider anyway…

Similar to Wildlifeguy, I’ve bought 2 sets of Maytag Neptune washer/dryer combos off of Facebook, one set for us and one for my sister. Amazing what people sell because they want to “update” the look of their laundry room. Both sets were only 5-6 years old, got both for less than $400 for the W/D pair.

From what I’ve seen, all front loaders have the same short list of common issues.

1. Rear drum bearing goes bad. I’ve already done the bearing on our washer because with the kids we do lots of laundry. Not to bad of a job, took me about 2 hours even though I had never done one before.

2. Door seal. Haven’t had to do any yet on the Maytag, but mostly this gets done by a lot of people because if you don’t leave the door open between uses, the seal will get mildew on it.

big_g wrote:

Speed Queens are the washer, to which Kirby is the vacuum. Built like a tank.

Speed Queens are great, but we’ve only owned one Kirby and it was crap. Kirby didn’t stand behind it at all!

I am sure at least one person had bad luck with Speed Queen too.. just sayin’