Best TL Washing Machine?

What's the typical situation for your laundry and how dirty is it getting? Blue collar worker, office worker? Kids active in sports, getting really dirty?

If your laundry is mostly just stains, a front loader will work better due to the higher water to detergent ratio. Virtually all front loaders except Speed Queen have an internal heater which helps cleaning performance but there's a big learning curve in selecting proper cycles times to achieve that. "Hot" on a "Normal" cycle for some front loaders is as low as 90F.

Today's top loaders have been dumbed down so far to meet EPA standard and they're too just restrictive in options and don't provide good performance. Build quality is a pathetic joke. Most have dumbed down water temps using a restrictor on the hot water side of the water valve. Speed Queen is the only top loader that has the build quality of your Maytag but the 5000 series no longer allows you to select water levels beside a full tub fill. Everything else is automatically sensed. There's a restrictor in the hot water side of the water valve that dumbs down warm water temps (also adds additional time for hot water fills). You have no control over the timer, all cycle times are preset and not adjustable.

The Maytag Commercial has a junky transmission with a bad reputation. They had big issues with the tub seal which supposedly was updated. I wouldn't expect it to last more that 5-7 years with the typical 4 person family, if that long.

A front loader, like LG, is probably the best option in todays world. I would keep the Maytag going as long as possible if you're happy with it.


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Post# 1198987 2/10/2024 at 13:20 by trish (CT)
Checkrate/Likes So, I posted in the Imperial forum about my 1995 Maytag that has some rusting around the small drain holes & they are staining our clothes. We are going to try the white epoxy Rustoleum tougch up, as suggested, but want to get our ducks in a row--if it doesn't work. If replacement becomes necessary, I want something as close to this TL as possible. After some research, the Maytag Commercial & the Speed Queen TC5000 seemed like possible candidates. Today, however, I found a lot of negative reviews for both. Any suggestions/advice will be appreciated! 2024, so far, has seen multiple appliance failures in our house--lol. no lol.

Post# 1198988 , Reply# 1 2/10/2024 at 13:33 by panasonicvac (Northern Utah)
Checkrate/Likes 3 You'd likely have less problems with the SQ than the Maytag. They're built like old school whereas the Maytag is much newer but cheaper design. Maytag does have a slight bigger capacity and can clean better. Personally, I'd go for the SQ because I think that's the only good top loader that's left on the market. I wouldn't trust the five year or even a one year warranty on the Maytag.

Post# 1198992 , Reply# 2 2/10/2024 at 14:11 by qsd-dan (West)
Checkrate/Likes 2 What's the typical situation for your laundry and how dirty is it getting? Blue collar worker, office worker? Kids active in sports, getting really dirty? If your laundry is mostly just stains, a front loader will work better due to the higher water to detergent ratio. Virtually all front loaders except Speed Queen have an internal heater which helps cleaning performance but there's a big learning curve in selecting proper cycles times to achieve that. "Hot" on a "Normal" cycle for some front loaders is as low as 90F. Today's top loaders have been dumbed down so far to meet EPA standard and they're too just restrictive in options and don't provide good performance. Build quality is a pathetic joke. Most have dumbed down water temps using a restrictor on the hot water side of the water valve. Speed Queen is the only top loader that has the build quality of your Maytag but the 5000 series no longer allows you to select water levels beside a full tub fill. Everything else is automatically sensed. There's a restrictor in the hot water side of the water valve that dumbs down warm water temps (also adds additional time for hot water fills). You have no control over the timer, all cycle times are preset and not adjustable. The Maytag Commercial has a junky transmission with a bad reputation. They had big issues with the tub seal which supposedly was updated. I wouldn't expect it to last more that 5-7 years with the typical 4 person family, if that long. A front loader, like LG, is probably the best option in todays world. I would keep the Maytag going as long as possible if you're happy with it.

Post# 1198998 , Reply# 3 2/10/2024 at 16:29 by GELaundry4ever (Nacogdoches, TX, USA)
Checkrate/Likes *best tl washer* That's out of the question. Speed Queen Classic.

Post# 1199006 , Reply# 4 2/10/2024 at 20:06 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 4 *Best new automatic washer for US users* Without question is a Speed Queen front load machine. It does exactly what it�s supposed to do beautifully for an extremely long time. Because of changes and energy regulation, etc. top load washers have been compromised greatly if you want the closest machine to your Maytag operation the Speed Queen TC five series. Top loader is the best one to get As others mentioned, the commercial quality, Maytag Toploader will do a great job it�s not gonna have the durability your Maytag had, but I really don�t know anything about you or your family the Maytag commercial Toploader might last you 20 years, it might last you five without knowing your size of family usage, etc. Can�t really recommend. Other good front loaders that are less expensive are Maytag or whirlpool same company LG Samsung and GE are all good performing machines, the LG is one of the more popular ones and if you don�t mind sending your money to South Korea buy one. If you�d like to keep things for a long time, I would check to see what kind of local service you have. Many areas still do not service Samsung and LG machines even here in Washington DC. The majority of independent services won�t touch them so you may be buying a throwaway machine unless you�re clever enough to fix it yourself. John

Post# 1199208 , Reply# 5 2/13/2024 at 14:14 by Good-Shepherd (New Jersey)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *2024, so far, has seen multiple appliance failures* If you want to save some money and get another vintage Maytag there are a couple of late 90's- early 2000's MT's on facebook marketplace. The later models had the Load Sense agitator for better turnover.