Never buy a frontloading washing machine

So our GE (kenmore) frontloading washing started making a horrible noise the other day and we decided to open it up see if we could fix it.
Well as soon as we started to disassemble I realized how poorly designed these things are, not just this model but from the research Ive done online apparently all front loading washing machines are the same basic design.

The stainless drum that your clothes are tossed in is cantilevered out so that the entire weight of your wet clothes plus the forces of the spin dry cycle when the load isn't perfectly balanced (and it never is) are supported by two ball bearings on the shaft pictured below.

Of course on top of these inadequate bearings are the aluminum support blades used to connect the drum to the shaft with the bearings, using aluminum in a wet environment with dissimilar metals like steel and brass is a recipe for galvanic corrosion as you can see in the pics.

So taking all these design flaws into account it should be no surprise that the bearings started to fail causing vibration which in combination with corrosion of the aluminum led to the crack you see below. And the crack leaving the drum with no support gouged and broke the plastic housing the stainless drum spins inside.

I should also add that the thin rubber tube connecting the plastic housing to the drain pump had several cracks in which hadn't started to leak yet but if the rest of the machine held up would have caused a flood in our basement some time in the near future.

So we're off to buy a new washing machine (A top loader and not a GE).
The silver lining in all this is maybe I can use some of the parts for brewing.

Un-frigging-believable! How old is this thing? The really good part of frontloaders; they cost so much.

I ran across this when looking up help for DIY appliance repair. I like this guy-he says what he thinks!

He HATES GE!

Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man Blog Archive Yet Another Reason to Avoid GE Appliances: Ripoff Parts Prices

http://fixitnow.com/wp/2005/05/26/ge-bringing-anything-but-good-appliances-to-life/

What to buy:

http://www.fixitnow.com/2003_09_01_whatsnew_archive.htm#106443135616141973

We've had a frontloader for years and no problems. We also had a Kenmore frontloader before that one that had the shocks break off in no time at all. Avoid Kenmore at all costs.

There's a commercial frontloader in my apartment. It works well. They told me when I first moved in "It's more efficient. It uses less power, less water and you need less soap then the regular washer."

I asked: "Then why does it cost a dollar more for the same size load?"

"Because it was more expensive."

"But you're saving money in the long-run. Why charge us more?"

********.

It was six years old, it should have lasted longer. The top loader we had lasted close to 15 years before this one.

I have a front loader that we've used for probably close to four years now (Kenmore model). With 8 of us in the house we probably average 10 loads of laundry a week). Never had any major issues with it, except that it gets kind of musty smelling if we don't leave the door open between loads. I've seen some complaints on these washers, and just as many positives. Sometimes I think people just get a crappy piece of equipment.

I have a Kenmore dryer too that is about to be booted from this house. It keeps snagging all our clothes in between the frame and the drum, thus leaving burn marks.

I have the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer. They are about 6 years old and never had a problem other than a sock getting sucked into the pump takes 5 minutes to fix. Family of 5 doing at least 3 loads a day . The only Kenmore appliance that I would buy again is the whisper canister vacuum they last forever. I have been told that Electrolux makes them

springer said:

I have the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer. They are about 6 years old and never had a problem

Click to expand...

+1 It had the highest ratings with Consumer Reports at the time too. Should last 15-20 years.

Maybe kenmore just sucks but what Ive read online suggests front loading washing machines are prone to this type of problem, basically front loaders are efficient and easy to use but top loaders are more reliable.
The silver lining seems to be the pulleys from this washer will work beautifully for motorizing my grain mill. I'm also looking for ideas for using the perforated stainless drum for brewing purposes. The holes in the drum are way to large for a false bottom but its scrap value is negligible so I'd like to find some use for it.

Have a Kenmore front loader now, had it for 7+ years. Every house in the UK pretty much has a front loader.

The one we had in the UK was over 12 years old when we moved and was still going strong after a couple of motor brush replacements.

+1000 on front loaders being superior!

I can't say anything about the longevity yet, but I do know our electric bill went down by 25% right after we bought our front loader. It uses less water, but the main savings comes from the electric dryer running only half as long because the clothes have less water to dry out because of the faster spinning action.

I agree that the front loaders are more efficient, but looking at the way the weight is balanced and distributed top loaders are likely to last longer all other thing being equal.

Aside from the pulleys being used for motorizing my grain mill I've been thinking that the stainless drum will make an excellent compost tumbler, it will mix and oxygenate compost nicely, I would like to use it for brewing but I can't think of any brewing uses for it.

I have a whirlpool Duet- 2thingsgondbad. One the front boot wore a hole in it and poured water everywhere

Then one of the front Shocks broke the mount point off. I duct taped the **** out of it and havent had an issue since. But still for 1100$ I should NEVER have an Issue

We have recently purchased Samsung front loading washer and dryer and have been great so far. no complaints, really quite and fast, not really sure if I will be able to see the cost savings on the electric bill though.

I'm on my second front-loader in ten years. The first is going strong in our rental house.

The first one is a Whirlpool Neptune, which has had a few problems, such as a well-known problem with the main control board. The second is an LG front-loader that is just great (although only 18 months old).

We bought the LG about 5 months ago its great and the 5 year extended Home Depot warranty for 99 bucks leaves me with at least some piece of mind

We have an Amana washer, dryer, and refrigerator. We bought each new when we moved into our house. Some time after installation, but within warranty period, the washer made horrible noises. SWMBO called the dealer; some joker told her that most likely the transmission was ill and would need replacing, which wouldn't cost us, BUT, he would most likely destroy the pump in the process and that WOULD cost us. Well, needless to say, his manager didn't think it necessary to ruin the pump to replace the tranny. Makes me wonder how many people get taken on that??

Speedqueen.


We replaced our Kenmore washer with a Speedqueen after the Kenmore gave us only five years run time (maybe three loads a week). Speedqueens are commercial grade washers with all metal gears/parts (no plastic).

They aren't 'pretty,' but they work (and hopefully last).

EDIT: It's a top loader.

Kenmore does not make appliances, they just rebrand others. Our Kenmore washer and dry is the Whirlpool Duet with a couple functions removed. We have had it for 6 years without and problems. I will however keep an eye on it for the problem described here. That does seem to be a very highly stressed bearing. It is no wonder these are more expensive than the traditional top loaders.

Craig

A friend bought front loader after doing a bunch of reading about how they save water and money in the log term. I think he had it 5 years before something major broke and it's big money to fix in addition to the very high initial price. Granted, they have a poor septic system and needed to conserve water for that reason, but he was very disappointed that it failed so soon after owning the other kind for decades with no troubles.

I have an LG front loader - loved it up until this week when it threw an error code and it has taken a week and a half to get a technician. Oh well it does clean clothes well when it is working

The holes in the drum are way to large for a false bottom

Click to expand...

Hop dryer.

My Kenmore/Whirlpool front-loader is going on 11 years, but mostly I've been the only one using it and it's always been in dry areas.

Well the silver lining has turned into two brewing related projects. The pulleys are perfect for my grain mill, and while I can't grow any where close to enough hops to need a dryer that size I have turned the old drum into a tumbling compost bin to help feed my hops.
I'll post pics of both as soon as my grain mill project is done, a few days hopefully.