Discussion»Questions»Home and Garden» Your washing machine is broken and it will takes two weeks to get parts. (This happened to our piece of crap dryer.)
Depends on whether it breaks down just after I've done a wash (in which case I would have enough underwear) or I was just about to do a wash. If the latter, it really isn't a big deal to wash your underwear by hand.
You're lucky that parts are still available (if they are, don't hold your breath). Major appliances are ALL crap these days, designed that way by the single US appliance manufacturer that's left, Whirlpool. But don't worry, they just got Congress to pass some law to protect them from those evil foreign manufacturers like LG, Samsung, GE (now owned by the Chinese company Haier), Frigidaire (Electrolux) and a few others. (We don't need no stinkin' competition: "Crony Capitalism" at its finest.)
Whirlpool told me that 10-years is their design life expectancy for major appliances these days when I had an issue with our washing machine, one of the first Duet front-loaders, made in Germany (speaking of foreign-made appliances). Seems that the inner stainless steel drum decided to separate from its support shaft, took the outer drum with it. Now its matching dryer is having control board issues, this $350 item is no longer available from Whirlpool, discontinued.
Our GE Articia fridge is another disaster, POS right out of the box. From day one the unit wouldn't dispense ice unless you leaned REAL hard on the freezer door. The "official" GE fix was to put a piece of thick foam tape on the freezer doorframe to "adjust" the switch position. So far I've personally had to replace: the control board, the defroster heater, the defrost thermistor, the freezer thermistor, the defrost fan, the cold food (as opposed to the frozen food) compartment's mechanical damper that controls how much cold air is channeled over from the freezer compartment, all on separate occasions. There's probably other stuff that escapes my mind now too.
In the meantime my grandmother's 50-year old Maytag wringer washer and her 45-year-old GE fridge are still chugging along fine.
I am sure there are many stories like yours. My stepdaughter is a manager at a Sears appliance outlet and she said they are actually made to only last five. Our 'new' dryer has been repaired three times and the matching washer doesn't clean. They make much of their money on those warranties. I also had a dryer and washer (Frigidaire) for 25 years that I could repair myself. I actually replaced a control board for the washer. It was mechanical. My first wife has a 60 tear old fridge that still works.
You can thank the Obama administration for the unreasonable regulations regarding appliances........you can't buy a great dishwasher anymore and you have to pay a ton for a washer that YOU control. The dishwashers run for 2.5 hours to save six gallons of water............SCREAM!!
My mother had an old Whirlpool (Malley's) that handled all the washing for a family of up to nine for twenty years before the bearings wore out. They don't make them like that anymore, no profit in it. I had a Simpson one that lasted almost ten, currently have a Fisher & Paykel.
The washer is okay, but I've only had it a year so I can't comment in its durability from personal experience. Haven't got any other F&P appliances atm.
There's a coin-operated laundromat around the corner if I really need it. Trouble is finding enough coins, I have to go to the pub to get change (nothing else is open late enough) .
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