Thread Number: 32824
GE reliability
[Down to Last]

automaticwasher.org's exclusive eBay Watch:
scroll >>> for more items --- [As an eBay Partner, eBay may compensate automaticwasher.org if you make a purchase using any link to eBay on this page]
Post# 494526   2/6/2011 at 18:38 (4,799 days old) by Supersurgilator (Indiana)        

I was very surprised when I just looked at the last testing of washers done by consumer reports. A standard GE toploader actually showed up as one of their recommended machines. Has their reliability problems been improved at all? I was always under the impressions that these machines were trouble prone and tended to leak.




Post# 494535 , Reply# 1   2/6/2011 at 19:26 (4,799 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
GE RELIABILITY

combo52's profile picture
CRs only goes back about a half dozen years in thier reliably reporting. It can be a good indicator of initial quality but tells you little of the longevity of major appliances. I always thought they should ask you what machine you had before and how long it lasted. They do the same thing with cars, Hondas and Toyotas hold up very well in the short run but still cost more to keep running than many domestic cars do if you keep your car 10-15 years and 100-200,000 miles like I do. I have always said when all the cab companies and other fleet operators start running Asian cars I will sit up and take notice.

Post# 494618 , Reply# 2   2/7/2011 at 06:44 (4,798 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
Machine Flavors

mrb627's profile picture
I think the reports on CR are very difficult to distinguish as many manufactures have 2 or 3 flavors of machines in their lineup. One of the three might have problems and the other 2 boost the ratings. I use CR as a very loose guideline in their reviews of anything and everything.

Malcolm


Post# 494623 , Reply# 3   2/7/2011 at 07:39 (4,798 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
CRs RELIABILITY RATINGS

combo52's profile picture
Good points Malcolm, One of the other many big flaws in thier ratings is thier attempt to rate brands like Kenmore. KM branded dishwashers are made by at least 5 different companies over the last 10 years. There refrigerators at least 5 and laundry 3 different companies. This makes thier reliability ratings useless for the KM brand, they should instead when rating an appliance say the DW is made by WP and should have similar reliability to other WP built DWs.

Post# 494633 , Reply# 4   2/7/2011 at 08:42 (4,798 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
Again

mrb627's profile picture
CR is preying on the ignorant consumer and often misguiding them to enter a bad purchase.

Sad.

Malcolm


Post# 494650 , Reply# 5   2/7/2011 at 09:20 (4,798 days old) by Imperial70 (MA USA)        
combo52:Time to sit up and take notice

Hi Combo52,

Picture it: Cambridge and Boston MA, 2010/11
The Crown Vics and Grand Marquis are rapidly disappearing and in there place are Camry Hybrids and Sienna Mini Vans. There are some Ford Fusions in the mix.
I'd say that for the most part the hybrids are very popular as cabs in Cambridge/Boston.

I'm not praising this turn of events, just stating a fact.



Post# 494653 , Reply# 6   2/7/2011 at 09:42 (4,798 days old) by luv2wash ()        

Could you tell me ... I'm new to reading CR and am finding all the information available there and on-line overwhelming.

I am in the market for a new washer/dryer pair. I thought Miele W4842/T9822 would be the best (or so I've been told several times).

When I start to research the pair I'm left unsure what to buy. While I’m not thrilled about the cost of them, I am willing to pay it for machines that perform well and are reliable. I do not want to pay the price just for a name that does not deliver on its promise.

While CR rates the washer (W4842) fairly well - 12th (score 80 vs top score 87). The dryer is worse ... score 64 vs top score 83. The dryer was worrisome to me before I read that. I think it looks small and I've been told (even by Miele) that it is noisy.

You all seem to be much savier than I with all this information, how does one "weed" through it and feel confident in a good purchase?

How does one not be an “ignorant consumer” who is misguided in what to buy? If not CR, where are we supposed to get information or are we just supposed to go with our “gut”?


Post# 494666 , Reply# 7   2/7/2011 at 11:56 (4,798 days old) by stevet (West Melbourne, FL)        
Great(er) Expectations???

John,
you make an excellent point about how ratings can be skewed in the case of Kenmore machines and Whirlpool products.
I have always been amazed at how WP dishwashers are rated over the similar KA machines and yet they are nearly identical clones.

I really feel that the people who fill out the questionnaires that CU sends out are people who have not had their expectations met when it comes to really being satisfied with the products they are reviewing.
If a person buys a Whirlpool product he or she has a certain level of expectations as to what the product will deliver in terms of results and reliability. If that person paid the premium price for a Kitchenaid, their level of satisfation would be that much higher. Therefore, when the product fails to deliver in service or longevity, they are all the more upset and ready to condemn the product.

I see that on a daily basis on the commercial side of the business... customers buy a lower priced unit than the company I work for and therefore are resolved to the fact that when and if it breaks, it can be expected because they chose not to buy a "......" dishwasher, slicer or mixer.

And I would also bet that most people still think Hobart builds Kitchenaid machines and that is the level of quality and longevity they expect when they pay that premium price.

When you think about it, any and all d/w's whirlpool makes should perform within a few points of each other and the satisfaction index should reflect that too.

I would be willing to bet someone who has had to replace a pump on a KA DW is a whole lot angrier that it failed than someone who bought a WP or Kenmore. And I would say they would rate a lesser failure as more annoying or greivous on a higher priced machine than if they spent less money.
The "you get what you paid for" mentality is in there somewhere and somehow.


Post# 494694 , Reply# 8   2/7/2011 at 14:14 (4,798 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
Furthermore

mrb627's profile picture
I would wager that a portion of the people who fill out that questionaire get the brand name of the appliance worng to begin with. How many times do you see an ad on CL for a Maytag washer and it is a Whirlpool?

Malcolm


Post# 494704 , Reply# 9   2/7/2011 at 15:32 (4,798 days old) by cehalstead (Charleston, WV)        
mistaken brands

I asked my neighbor once what kind of washer she had.  Her answer was
"I dunno".......


Post# 494822 , Reply# 10   2/7/2011 at 23:25 (4,798 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)        
Before There Was Walmart

launderess's profile picture
There was Kenmore.

Sears does not merely slap their brand name on whatever a manufacturer is churning out, rather it insists on certain design and other changes for it's models. Furthermore the appliances are not produced as part of the main run, rather the plant in question shuts down other production, and or makes arrangements so only Kenmore's are produced for that period.

Unless things have changed, Sears used it's position as the number one seller of major home appliances not only to insist on changes, but pricing as well.

With the above in mind it is not hard to see why there could be differences in reliablity between a Kenmore appliance and it's branded cousin.

Case in point; my "Kenmore" branded 18" dishwasher is made by Frigidare/WCI (or whatever it is calling itself these days). Read all the reviews at the time for the later but went with the Kenmore mainly because could use my Sears card and save some money. While the Frigidaire had horrible marks including for reliability, so far after >ten years other than one door spring going, my Kenmore has had zero issues.

Of course with the race to the bottom we are seeing with major appliances, Sears/Kenmore has not been immune. However am willing to bet much of this can be traced back to Sears not being top dog anymore in appliance sales, and indeed the company's fiscal woes all together leading up to being purchased by K-Mart.

There was also a time when Sears in-house service techs took care of anything one purchased. Now for the most part I've heard the work is contracted out and the word on the street here and on the Internet is to run fast, run far.



Post# 494823 , Reply# 11   2/7/2011 at 23:29 (4,798 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)        
GE Appliances Have Long Been The Red Headed Step Child

launderess's profile picture
Of the corporate giant General Electric. Jet engines, healthcare equipment, financing, et all all brought in more funds for the company and was where they concentrated efforts. This showed in the almost horrible reputation GE appliances gained over the pase several years.

Recently the CEO of GE has gone on record saying the company needs to get back to producing things "Americans need", thus helping put people back to work in the process. Will be interesting to see if any of this translates into better marks for General Electric's appliances. In the mean time I shouldn't touch one with a barge pole. *LOL*


Post# 495034 , Reply# 12   2/8/2011 at 20:07 (4,797 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
Kenmore vs Walmart

mrb627's profile picture

I think the difference between Kenmore and Walmart is Sears gave a crap about quality and innovation.  Walmart on the other hand is just interested in the cheapest thing possible to turn the most profit for their bottom line.  To hell with the consumer.

 

Malcolm


Post# 495151 , Reply# 13   2/9/2011 at 07:38 (4,796 days old) by Iheartmaytag (Wichita, Kansas)        

iheartmaytag's profile picture
Back in the day, GE washers were very reliable. Today--not-so-much. Once could hope that they were returning their attention to the days of yore, but I doubt it. When I was shopping for my new FL, I looked at the GE Edsel faced machine at Sear's. Or as my mother said "is that a washer or a toliet?" Which ever, the machine felt rather sub-GE.

Just a few short years ago GE was trying to dump their appliance devision. From what I heard their reputation had gotten to such a state, even Harier didn't want them.



Post# 495252 , Reply# 14   2/9/2011 at 14:34 (4,796 days old) by wringersteve ()        
GE: GRRRRRR!!

I ranted in another thread about our 2010 GE Hydrowave that replaced our 2007 Hotpoint Hydrowave.

Last weekend, after I replaced the front and rear drum bearings on our 2007 Hotpoint dryer, I wandered into a mom & pop appliance store that sold Speed Queen. I could tell a huge difference just in the way the door opened and closed compared to the Hotpoint. Guess what my next purchase will be!


Post# 495302 , Reply# 15   2/9/2011 at 17:10 (4,796 days old) by TGM8000 (New York)        
There's good -n-bad in all brands

I have owned GE all my life and love them! I currently have a 4yr old GE washer- hydrowave W/ agitator and love it! My GE side-by-side refrigerator and flat top stove are 12yrs old and never any repairs. My friend purchased kenmore frig, washer & dryer at the same time and has had at least 20 repairs on the three! He has now purchased LG and has had numerous repairs on them! My neighbor has vowed to never buy whirlpool again, after her washer died farely new! So I am perfectly happy with my GE!

Post# 495342 , Reply# 16   2/9/2011 at 20:34 (4,796 days old) by wringersteve ()        
TGM8000,

I agree with you. Both good and bad exist in all brands. We've had our GE smooth top stove since 1997 and our GE side-by-side fridge since 1998. Both have performed flawlessly. My wife and I just seem to have bad luck with washers. Since 1996, we've had the following washers: Whirlpool, Kenmore, Maytag Neptune, Hotpoint, and 2 GE's, and a Speed Queen wringer (which works perfectly). We never overload or abuse our machines, but we just seem to have bad luck (hence my frustration). My in-laws go through garbage disposers (our GE Dispos-all has worked fine since '97) and water heaters (we've only had 2 since 1996). My mom's 1987 Maytag washer and dryer have each only had 1 repair. Anything built by human hands can fail. My frustration is with modern-day appliances that are designed to fail within a few years, and with repair parts that are so over-priced that one has no choice but to purchase a new machine. Next time I'm going with either a used vintage model or a new Speed Queen.

Post# 495360 , Reply# 17   2/9/2011 at 22:07 (4,796 days old) by cfz2882 (Belle Fourche,SD)        
'07 hydrowave

wringersteve,what went wrong with the '07 hydrowave?-IIRC from an earlier
thread it stank of burnt electronics...did the motor inverter blow?
BTW i have a 2009 lower end plastic tub agitator hydrowave-got it brand new,
slightly beat up from a shipping accident for $50 and fixed it up,it is an
interesting washer that works great so far,but it is in my non-DD summer
rotation lineup so far and gets drained and put away for the cold months.


Post# 495395 , Reply# 18   2/10/2011 at 06:32 (4,795 days old) by wringersteve ()        
Yep,

The inverter blew out on both the '07 Hotpoint and '10 GE.

Post# 495461 , Reply# 19   2/10/2011 at 11:36 (4,795 days old) by roscoe62 (Canada)        

Have you guys noticed that the newer washers now have a 1/4 horse power drive instead of the 1/2 HP that used to be in older machines? Since the size of the tub is getting bigger it didn't make sense to put a smaller motor on a larger capacity machine , or did it, then we wonder why they don't stand up to older models?
A dealer for Crosley, a division of Maytag, told me that the Maytag line(s) motor was a complete HP that is why they last so much longer.


Post# 495463 , Reply# 20   2/10/2011 at 11:40 (4,795 days old) by estesguy (kansas)        
My GE track record

I personally haven’t had that much trouble with any of my GE appliances The timeline starts when we moved into our first new house in 1983

Refrigeration:
1983 GE 20cf SXS, is still in operation at my in laws house, was replaced in 2000 by a GE 25cf SXS, due to color change. The 2000 model is still in operation, given to a friend who needed it, as I purchased a new GE 25cf SXS stainless in kitchen remodel three months ago. The only issue was the 1983 ice maker had a barrel cube type that was replaced by the more traditional crescent shaped cube ice maker.

Microwave:
1984 over the range GE Spacesaver was replaced in 2000, as part of a kitchen update to help sell the previous house, as the wood grain door looked dated, ha. New house we moved into in Dec of 2000 had a GE OTR Spacesaver that the magnetron failed at 4 yrs. It was replaced by a 2004 JVM2070 touch screen in Bisque, and is now at my in laws house, as it was changed out for the same GE model in SS, for my kitchen remodel three months ago.

Range:
I’ve owned 3 GE slide in ranges over the years and never had any issues with any of them. They were only changed out for color styling updates. My bisque one went to the in laws, to replace their Maytag slide in, that had a self clean oven never worked. I replaced mine with a SS GE slide in, once again, for the kitchen remodel

Dishwasher:
1983 belt drive Maytag was replaced in 1997, due to a very noisy pump and worn out racks, by an upper end GE Electronic touch model with nylon racks. We moved in 2000 to a new house and installed a GE tall tub, which was replaced in 2010 with a GE hidden control SS model for the kitchen remodel. No issues with any of them.

Laundry:
1983 Maytag was purchased new, but I always felt had a marginally balanced tub, but I never could get the dealer to replace it. I kept that machine until we moved in 2000, and then had to get rid of it, as it would not stay put on a truss floor. It kept moving several inches after spin cycle was done. The matching Maytag dryer had to have the push to start switch replaced about every 5 years, or the heating element wouldn’t come on. So we replaced the washer and dryer in 2000 with an Amana set that lasted 6 yrs when the tub bearing seal went out and took the motor with it. The Amana dryer had issues too, I won’t go into. I now have a 2007 Hydrowave upstairs and a 2005 GE transmission model downstairs with matching dryers on both. I know it’s too early in the game for durability on both of them. But so far, both have had no issues. I did replace the heating element on the matching dryer on the older GE 2 years into ownership, and did it myself. I found the dryer wasn’t that hard to work on at all, having never done it before.

Summary:
In all of my GE appliances, the only appliance that gave me a major problem was the magnetron failure in the OTR microwave at 4 years. All the other’s have performed very well in my opinion, considering what you pay for them. Although I wouldn’t want any new top load GE with the infusor agitator.


Post# 799066 , Reply# 21   12/14/2014 at 16:49 (3,392 days old) by GELaundry4ever (Nacogdoches, TX, USA)        
GE gear oil

Does anybody know if GE used the exact same gear oil in their new transmissions as they did in their filter-flos or did they use a completely different type? Thanks.

Post# 799090 , Reply# 22   12/14/2014 at 19:12 (3,392 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
GE Transmission Gear Oil

combo52's profile picture
What difference does it make, who cares what kind of oil they use?

Post# 799109 , Reply# 23   12/14/2014 at 21:05 (3,392 days old) by joeypete (Concord, NH)        

joeypete's profile picture
Having used GE appliances almost exclusively for the past 15 years. I never had problems with any of them. That was a major motivator in buying my washer and dryer.

Post# 799114 , Reply# 24   12/14/2014 at 21:20 (3,392 days old) by imperial70 (MA USA)        

joeypete

 

I have to agree. Lots of people have good luck with GE appliances.   My GE refrigerator is 4 years old and works very well.  My GE front load washer is only a few months old but it too is running great with excellent vibration control and great washing results. 


Post# 799145 , Reply# 25   12/14/2014 at 23:54 (3,392 days old) by Rhschnauss ()        
Ge buyout

I hope the buyout of Ge appliances by Electrolux does not destroy the brand. Electrolux bought out ryobi in the past and turned ryobi from a great product to absolute worthless junk.

Post# 799214 , Reply# 26   12/15/2014 at 13:52 (3,391 days old) by DavidBlazor (Astoria Oregon)        
20 year old filter flo

Back in the day when I was rather young my mom bought a higher end GE FILTER FLO washer. I don't know the model # but remember that it had 3 toggle switches, small dial in the center for water levels including mini basket and 4 cycles on the cycle dial. The machine lasted 20 years without any service calls. One day the machine filled up and the agitator just quit turning. Mom went out and came home with a TOL ROPER washer and dryer.

I have been keeping my eye on the Portland craigslist to see if one like it shows up. Seems like older is more reliable IMHO.


Post# 799251 , Reply# 27   12/15/2014 at 16:25 (3,391 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)        

dadoes's profile picture
 
FilterFlos (with perforated baskets) are water guzzlers.  They have a huge outer tub because the design requires room for the inner basket to oscillate inside the outer tub during spin.  All the space in the outer tub must fill with water ...



Forum Index:       Other Forums:                      



Comes to the Rescue!

The Discuss-o-Mat has stopped, buzzer is sounding!!!
If you would like to reply to this thread please log-in...

Discuss-O-MAT Log-In



New Members
Click Here To Sign Up.



                     


automaticwasher.org home
Discuss-o-Mat Forums
Vintage Brochures, Service and Owners Manuals
Fun Vintage Washer Ephemera
See It Wash!
Video Downloads
Audio Downloads
Picture of the Day
Patent of the Day
Photos of our Collections
The Old Aberdeen Farm
Vintage Service Manuals
Vintage washer/dryer/dishwasher to sell?
Technical/service questions?
Looking for Parts?
Website related questions?
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy
Our Privacy Policy