Comment by MarkusWandel | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MarkusWandel | Hacker News Reader

I have an early 2000s (got it for free in 2004) Maytag top loader of the more-or-less classic design. It has had exactly one issue in all this time: A piece of debris got into the water pump, and I had to take that apart to get it out. Aside from that nothing, and in the past decade it has been a busy family washing machine. It'll probably die from the mechanical dial sequencer wearing out, if anything.

The reason the Maytags were so reliable is their mechanical simplicity. Motor runs one way, the machine agitates and washes. Run the other way, the machine drains. The gearbox is simple, so simple that "spin" and "drain" are the same thing. How do you spin a tub full of water? You have a special kind of belt, that acts as a slip clutch so the spin builds up gradually as the water drains away.

Because of the simple mechanics, the tub is deep; the machine has truly gigantic capacity. We fear the day it finally dies and we have to replace it with something else, the only choices being: Really crappy top loading agitator machines, the bizarre "agitator-less" top loaders, and front loaders.

I used to use a Whirlpool built Kenmore machine before that. It had unbelievably complicated mechanics and plumbing (ever hear of a "wig wag"?) But it did have a reverse flush lint filter. That complicated stuff also eventually went wrong. Because if its simple mechanicals, the Maytag does not do any kind of lint filtering. Given that we also line dry, that is an issue. The machine is plainly for a world in which everything goes through a clothes dryer, which strips the lint.

Are you me? I bought mine in about 2006 or so, and in early December 2021, I had to take it apart to remove a child's sock that had been sucked into the pump. Youtube and a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon got it done, my wife was impressed. She didn't think even her mechanically inclined dad would have bothered to try that job. Honestly, the toughest part of it all was getting the main metal sheath/body back on properly. Took me 3 attempts because I was working by myself and the darn thing is so flimsy. It's been running like a tank and I've been impressed with the quality.

If you’re looking for that reliability and simplicity, you may want to take a look at SpeedQueen. They’re a bit more expensive, but built like tanks.

There’s an independent appliance store near my house that sells speed queen. I always drool over those!

Are the front load Speed Queens also best in class? I can see a front loader in our future; they do use less water. The old-school Maytag, especially with the wife's insistence on an extra rinse, uses a lot.

We bought a 20 year old Speed Queen last year for $100. Running great.

The Speed Queen TC5 is a splendid washer. Sadly they still felt the need to junk it up with ASICs for some reason, but it works extremely well. One warning, the "standard" clean or "EPA setting" is the one they included to pass regulatory requirements and doesn't clean like older washers do. Fortunately there are several other settings to achieve traditional performance.

> Fortunately there are several other settings to achieve traditional performance.

What are they? I'm thinking of getting one eventually?

Though, being a white collar worker, my clothes probably don't actually get dirty enough to really need more heavy duty settings.

There is a deep fill option that uses extra water. Then the cycle selection additionally has perm press, heavy duty, bulky/sheet, spin, and delicate. All of those are traditional. Only the default “normal eco” setting without the deep fill option doesn’t get soiled clothes properly clean. I use eco for most things by the way since I don’t work in the fields. But if I did this machine would handle it.

I did - I bought a Speed Queen set. To be fair, mine was a set of used units, but after reading thousands of these anecdotes across the internet, I knew that they were easily rated for 10k+ loads.

The part that was true - they're built like tanks. The part I didn't expect - they're super rudimentary machines. They're loud and not particularly efficient.

I had mine for just over a year before my wife voluntold me to find something else.

The newer Speed Queens are barely audible. I have to listen for the water sloshing to tell it's even on.

There's a reason most laundromats are full of them.

You missed the decline. Some new energy rules went into effect in 2006/7, and to meet them, Maytag basically undersized motors and such.

My in-laws bought a washer dryer set in 2004, which they still have. We bought ours with the house in 2006 and they failed in 3-4 years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com