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Thread Number: 38563
Direct drive washers |
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Post# 572172 , Reply# 1 1/29/2012 at 15:00 (4,463 days old) by wayupnorth  (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Washer dependability
I dont know if it is just newer direct drive washers or all newer washers in general. I know several people with newer DD top loaders that they swear are pieces of crap and others with newer front loaders that say the same. My next door neighbor is on her 3rd Kenmore front loader in 8 years. First sprung a bearing and destroyed the outer tub, 2nd shorted the electronic controls totally after 6 months. My cousin has a one year old Maytag Centennial that has had 4 service calls already. I plan on keeping my dependable 1984 Maytag LA511 going as long as I possibly can.
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| Post# 572175 , Reply# 2 1/29/2012 at 15:14 (4,463 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room) | ||
I have gotten this impression too that modern DD quality has gone down. No first hand experience here, but I do see a surprising number of DD machines (and modern washers in general) on Craigslist that are clearly broken.
The design may be the same basic design, but it's always possible to keep a basic design, but cheapen the quality. I don't think I'd be inclined to buy a modern washer...unless I win the lottery and can afford something like Miele or Speed Queen. | ||
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Post# 572227 , Reply# 7 1/29/2012 at 18:49 (4,463 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Up here in the North
I had to laugh at your last post Norgechef. Thats the way we all do it up here, no matter which side of the border, just put it out in storage in the woods. Thankfully we still have woods to put it into. BTW, both of my grandfathers and my father were born in Canada and have always enjoyed every trip to the Maritime Provinces.
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Post# 572229 , Reply# 8 1/29/2012 at 18:54 (4,463 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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| Post# 572245 , Reply# 9 1/29/2012 at 20:02 (4,463 days old) by norgechef (Saint George New Brunswick ) | ||
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@wayupnorth lol, do most the machines still work after they are brought back from the woods, im just afraid the cold winter might do something to them...... | ||
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Post# 572275 , Reply# 10 1/29/2012 at 20:27 (4,463 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN) |
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My experience with DD machines is not that overloading wears them out. Instead it is the failure of the neutral drain mechanism to engage that eventually causes the clutch and sometimes the motor coupler to fail.
My brothers run a large dairy farm and use recycled hotel towels (that have been cut down to 16' x 16" and had the edges surged) to wipe down udders before the cows are milked. They do six decent-sized loads of these towels every day. I've checked and while these are full loads they are not "packed" into the machine. For some reason a few years back they had been getting a lot of reconditioned DD WP-made machines (Kenmore, WP, Roper, etc.). They would burn through a machine about every 12-18 months before it would either stop spinning because of a worn clutch or a shredded motor coupling because it was spinning with a full tub of water. Last fall, I hooked them up with a 1995 Dependable care Maytag that had new belts and motor carriage springs. 4 months into this "experiment" there have been NO issues. Time will tell if this solves their problem, but in my experience, the weakest link in the WP DD is the neutral drain mechanism. IT seems to fail first, and from there secondary things tend to go pretty quickly. | ||
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Post# 572278 , Reply# 11 1/29/2012 at 20:37 (4,463 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Thats iffy
The newer machines where the drain hose comes out of the top and acts as a siphon break does trap water in the bottom/pumps. It could have split the pump when it gets below freezing, like it does here where we both are. Before ever putting it in, I would let it warm up real good and try it outside, maybe with an outside hose by putting water in it and check for leaks before even thinking of installing it permantly. Older washers, where the drain hose came out of the bottom would act as a gravity drain so every bit of water would go out the hose when it was dropped.
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Post# 572298 , Reply# 14 1/29/2012 at 22:06 (4,463 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN) |
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Post# 572305 , Reply# 15 1/29/2012 at 23:08 (4,463 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Sounds like that motor is fried Norgechef
It has to sit until TOTALLY warmed up before even attempting to turn it on. Kenmore71 is right. I would wait till at least May around where we are before even attempting to get your Maytag out and going. Course, the Northeast spring mud makes going into the woods alot more difficult before then...lol. If you had to get it going it sooner it would be best to put very hot water in the tub, let it sit and watch for leaks, just in case it has more issues. But dont force it to run until all the mechanicals are warmed up.
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Post# 572343 , Reply# 16 1/30/2012 at 07:45 (4,462 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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SMOKING MOTOR The motor windings deteriorated from being stored in a damp environment and shorted and burned when the machine was run again, you need another motor. While not a good practice it will not hurt the motor to try to start with a frozen pump it simply trips the built in overload.
Did anyone ever see the way MT used to test the washers motors that they bought from various manufacturers ? They would take a hundred or more and install them on metal racks and clamp the motor shaft so it couldn't move at all and then they would apply power and let them struggle to start and trip on their overloads. This testing would go on 24 hours a day for over a month and very few motors would fail in any way. This test was to test the motor windings, overloads and internal wring connections. | ||
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