Washing Machine

[kenmac]

the bad thing about parts for sears appliances are, some parts are proprietary. And can only be purchased through sears even though the appliance mabe a whirlpool

 

[Bird]

Yep, Ken, and similar situations are not uncommon with other companies as well as Sears. For example, some, if not all, Craftsman air-compressors have a data plate right on the tank that says it's made by DeVilbiss. Now a DeVilbiss dealer has the parts and can repair it, but cannot repair one under warranty. Sears buys in quantity and their agreement is that they'll handle the warranty. Another example: I found who made the hydraulic valve for my Kubota front end loader and contacted them to try to get a repair manual. They flat refused to tell me anything at all because it's proprietary to Kubota.

There are certainly things I don't like about Sears, but one of the things I always did like is that most of their products come with exploded views and parts lists.

 

[billbill1]

When we built our home 8 years ago, we bought all new appliances. We sold the Maytags that we had with our old home, 24 years and not one single problem. The wife wanted the new Neptune-Maytags since we had such great luck with the old set. The door lock broke and spilled water all over the house after five years on the washer. It was going to be three weeks before we could get repair parts and our daughter and grandson were home for a visit. A washing machine was very important during that week. We ran to Lowes and bought a new Whirlpool Duet to replace it with. The insides of the $800 Whirlpool microwave actually caught on fire and had to be replaced after 7 years. A $200 replacement (Maytag) does all we need a microwave to do, we only defrost and reheat in a microwave. Just last week, the refrigerator quit for the second time and being 8 years old, we bought a new one. I bought a GE this time and it was $800 at Factory Direct Appliance, the exact same one was $900 at Home Depot and a week wait. Only the dryer and the dishwasher are still working 8 years later. Pretty poor performance for all brand new stuff IMHO.

 

[Bird]

Pretty poor performance for all brand new stuff IMHO.

Yep, I agree. Of course we just bought this house 3 years ago. The house was built in 1991 and the last 2 owners have been single men. Everything inside appeared to have been freshly painted, but no paint odor and neighbors tell us the guy who lived here the previous 3 years didn't paint it. But the Rheem heat pump, the built in Kenmore microwave above the kitchen range, the KitchenAid electric range with convection oven, and the KitchenAid dishwasher are all 1999 models. They all appeared new so apparently the previous owners didn't do much cooking here, but I wonder how long all this stuff will last.

 

[billbill1]

I just placed an order for a Rheem heat pump yesterday, $3900 installed. Looking to lower the heat bills from propane, I mainly heat with a wood furnace but getting harder to motivate myself to cut wood as the years keep advancing.

 

[RSKY]

We bought one of the first sets of Maytag Neptunes sold in our area several years ago. NOTHING with the Maytag name will ever be in my house again. The washer finally caught fire, with a repairman standing next to me, and burned the control panel completely up. At that time the only things original were the frame, outside sheet metal, motor, transmission, pump, and control panel (which did burn up). Everything else including all bearings, the tub, door, wiring, hoses, switches, and other several other parts had been replaced. The dryer was a little better but not much. It had the tub replaced also.

We bought LG and have had not one single problem for three years. We like it so well we bought all LG for our kitchen remodel.

 

[mikim]

The best refrigerator we own is a 1957 model GE... I changed the door seal on it ... and the elect plug.... sits in an old mobile we have for weekends and it sometimes reaches unreal temps in there in the summer ....like 120 deg .... but the old fridge just keeps runnin'. ... It was pretty funny when I went to order that door seal ... parts man didn't believe it was a real model number til he looked it up on the computer ...then was really surprised when he could actually get one.

 

[ByronBob]

My Kenmore washing machine died at 3.5yrs also. Ended up buying the 5yr extended warranty also on the new one.

With 2 kids and so many of us at home, the unit gets used almost daily. They just don't work all that well anymore. Quality isn't the best.

Washing machines are almost a throw away item now a days.

 

[studor]

Used to always buy Maytag -- then they got bought by Whirlpool and I needed a repair -- worst service I have ever experienced and the response from Whirlpool was so bad it was actually like a Dilbert cartoon. That was last year -- have since bought five GE appliances and have been completely happy with all of them. I would strongly suggest looking carefully the Whirlpool website before buying anything from them -- note there is no place for customer feedback -- they don't want any

 

[Tig]

I've got an 18 year old Kenmore washer and dryer. We sold the house and the new people did not ask for them so they will make the move with us. The are getting worn out so they will be replaced in the next year or so. No complaints.
I do appreciate the experiences in this thread and I am making notes for when we go shopping for the replacements. Any thoughts on frontloaders, or those all in one units? I like the idea of saving space.