We have recently replaced our Maytag Neptune washer and dryer. The Neptunes were eight years old and everything on both had been replaced except for the frames, outside sheet metal, motors, and the tub on the washer. EVERYTHING else had to be replaced including the tub on the dryer, bearings on both washer and dryer, and the electric controls on both. The washer finally blew up when a service man plugged it in. I mean caught on fire and started burning. NO Maytag product will ever enter my house again.
Now that I have that off my chest let me 'preach' about washers and dryers. The Maytags were a disaster but buying a front loader was not. Front loading washers use less than half the water per load that a top loader does. They get clothes as clean as a top loader. But the best thing about a front loader is that they do not tear up your clothes like a top loader will. Work shirts that lasted at most a year in a top load suddenly were wearable for three years. My daughters' Old Navy and other name brands (gotta have that logo) did not fade or tear. And a front loader uses half the detergent. My wife figures we save $10 a month on detergent alone with a front loading washing machine.
Downside is that a load in our new LG brand washer takes nearly an hour to wash. But the loads are three times larger than the borrowed top loader we used for a month so the time factor evens out. Actually my wife likes the long but big (gotta be careful here) cycle because she does not have to constantly go out to the utility room to check the machines. She has washed a quilt, queen comforter, complete queen size sheet set and several towels at one time with no problem. You just open the door and stuff clothes in until you can barely close the door, I actually use my foot to jam em' in tighter.
With the Neptune we had a probem with the dryer being slow. According to the information supplied us at pruchase the dryer should finish drying a load before the washer finished its cycle. It would not. We could wash three in the time it took to dry two. When the flexible ribbed vent broke I replaced it with solid pipe and the dryer finished ten minutes before the second load was washed. Cost myself lots of money on electricity for four years because of that.
The new LG dryer is about 20% larger than the Maytag and at first it too was slow. I finally read the intruction book and it said "no more than four 90 degree bends in a 20 foot run of vent pipe." I rearanged the dryer, cut another hole in a cabinet and took two 90 degree bends out of the run and now the dryer works as advertised.
I bought the LG (available at Home Depot and Best Buy) for two reasons. First I wanted an American brand. Then I found out that the FRONT LOADING Whirlpool and Kenmores (same machines, diffent names) are made in Germany and Sweden. The front loading GE is made in China. But the Bosch, which is a German brand is assembled in the USA. LG is a South Korean brand but they are building factories in the US to assemble, then completely build their products.
Second reason is that all the managers at the local Home Depot were ordering LG appliances. I have no way of checking the reliability of products but I figure they do.
I know one guy posting above said he had a Neptune and had no trouble but the managers at the Sears and Best Brands stores said they had to have them on their floors but tried to talk everybody out of buying them. Best Buy has stopped carrying Maytag altogether because of service problems. The manager at a local (small) Sears store said all their problems with Kenmore and Whirlpool brand FRONT LOADERS were caused by using too much detergent per load. Research on the Internet of the LG brand leads me to believe most of the problems with them are the same. You must use HE detergent and only as much as reccommended.
In conclusion of this long winded essay. My instuctions from my wife while shopping for a new washer and dryer were: 1) It must be front loading, 2) It must have the largest capacity available, 3) It must be easy to use, and 4) It must not be a Maytag.
The LG front loading, large capacity washer and dryer cost me $1400. We save each month a few dollars on water, a few dollars on electricity, at least $10 a month on detergent and softener, and clothes last at least twice as long as before. I think the payoff over a top loading set will be about four years.
