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Comment by Handprint4469 | Hacker News Reader

Yup, had the same happen with a 3-month old washing machine. I'm sticking to Bosch from now on.

In washing machines, there is also LG (Korean). And in Europe, Electrolux/AEG.

SpeedQueens are beasts if you can afford it and their interfaces are downright quaint compared to the smart-crap everyone else makes. They're essentially all made for commercial customers so they almost never break with regular household usage and parts are easily available for repairs.

Agreed. This is what we settled on as well after doing some research. They also have longer than average warranties on most models.

I recently purchased a TC5 and really like it. You can actually get proper commercial equipment from them with some mild social engineering. They still manufacture washers that are purely mechanical:

https://speedqueencommercial.com/en-us/products/top-load-was...

I stuck with the consumer segment because I dont want to have a weird conversation if I need service. The TC5 is electronic control, but it doesnt have all the limitation crap that other consumer units do. No lid lock & 100% fill is pretty much all I ask for these days.

Can confirm. Used a Speed Queen dryer for 5+ years now. Didn't find it to be especially expensive.

I agree. We have a farm as well and Georgia clay, tractor grease, pebbles, a miswired 220 outlet (just popped a fuse...easily replaced), nails, and the occasional misplaced socket haven't broken it. Gets used 3-4 times daily. We also have one in the barn tack room that we wash horse blankets with. I love them.

Loved ours when we had it, though it was a bit smaller than some other ones.

I like my LG TV and washing machine, but I'm not sure I'd trust them with a fridge. Is it better than Samsung's fridges?

I have all LG appliances. Washer & drier are 10+ years old, came with the house. Fridge, stove & dishwasher are newish (2 years old). So far they have been great. I really like the induction top on the stove, though having to match the pan size to the burner is a little annoying sometimes.

Can second on the washer and dryer. I've had mine for 3 years and it's been great. Only maintenance I've had to do is cleaning the filter on the washer. I have 3 dogs, so I was somewhat impressed it took 3 years to clog up that filter.

The smart crap even works reasonably well if you're into it. I used to work a 2 minute drive from home and would use the "wash/dryer done" push notifications to run home and swap loads over. Not crazy useful, but it worked and had a niche.

Yes.

There are - but you typically can't go wrong with a Bosch (or Miele).

My Bosch is now coming up to 15 years old - I had to take it apart a year or so ago to replace the heating element as it finally blew, and the inside of the machine looked new. Spare parts are still available as well.

You can go wrong with a Miele. The repair costs and parts availability were atrocious on our Miele appliances after the five year extended warranty was up. I loved my Miele appliances until they broke. The glass on our range got broken and it was a 1650 dollar part to replace and required 300 more for a technician to do it. Same thing happening to our washing machine, speed oven, and dishwasher. The amount of money we’ve spent to repair them in years 6-9 (five year warranty, and they’re all 6-9 years old) has been exceptionally high.

Great products, but their after warranty service is so expensive they are often not even worth repairing, which makes their whole lasts longer pitch kind of mute. At that point they become just like every other luxury appliance maker. We were disappointed.

I’d do Bosch / Speed Queen if I had to do it again.

And Miele. A bit on the pricey side but very solid gear.

Exact same thing here, had to call a repair service to replace a chip inside for $350 and now its been working fine for a few years.

So many washing machines of different brands have compatible parts. But honestly, I'm also doing the same. And after it's out of warranty, I replace the whole unit after the first non - trivial fault that I can't fix myself. That's how I roll with all of my appliances. I've got 10+ years out of my Siemens washing machine and dryer. Both died within a month of each other. I replaced the washer immediately with a Bosch but had a go at fixing the dryer since it was just a fried circuit board. Checked online, the board was €180. Screw that! Tried to get the board repaired to avoid wasting an otherwise working item, but after €60 and 5 weeks waiting, the repaired circuit board still hadn't arrived (lost in the mail?) and the weather had been awful for line drying. So I bought a Bosch dryer. This action promptly released the repaired circuit board from it's delivery purgatory. Gah, fucksake, etc. Lesson learned. (I gave the circuit board to a local repairman to appease the gods)

Now my Samsung refrigerator (a large double-door thing that we Europeans call "an American Fridge Freezer" has frozen up its condensation pipe twice in two months, so it does a little "fridge-pee" on kitchen floor every morning. This has happened about 4 times in the last 12 years, and I always plug it out, empty it, remove the inside and back panels, thaw the pipe, clean the evaporator and reassemble. Massive pain in the arse, but if I get 3 years out of it, that's worth the hassle. But twice in 2 months? Fuck that. New fridge please. (Which means spend enough time looking at reviews and specs to become a fridge salesman, and ultimately buy a Bosch anyway)

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