1979 Tags

[repair-man]

Just a few thoughts from my experience

I also have been in the appliance sevice business for 20 plus years and agree with RCD that all brands had strengths and weaknesses. For about 11 of those years I sold Maytag appliances. I sold many Depedable Care washers, Performa, Atlantis, Neptune and sadly even a few Amanatags. This experience changed my view of Maytag. The majority of machines traded in at that time were older Maytags, W/K belt drives, GE filter flo, and a few early direct drives. I got more complaints about the Dependable Cares than I ever imagined I would. The most common was from W/K people who liked to watch the machine agitate. This was understandable but didn't reflect poor performance on the Maytag's. But many customers didn't seem to be impressed with their washers. Most didn't call to complain but would mention it at a later time when I was out to do sevice on something at their home. Some still do ! Although I have to say the majority of the machines I sold are long gone. I'll bet that more direct drives survived from that time period than did the depedable cares. As was mentioned by someone in an earlier post I think Whirlpool's success must speak (at least somewhat) about the quality and design of their products. Maytag did go out of business. When a company no longer has the resources to go on unless another company buys them out to use the name that is my definition of going out of business. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that at one time Maytag didn't build a quality product. They were quiet, smooth, and the center dail machines are my favorite design of all time. BUT, I don't think they were ever top performers. During my years as a Maytag dealer I got to know several long-time (multi generation) dealers and they looked forward to a replacement for the helical drive machine. After Maytag blew it with the Amanatag deal they were happy to get DD Maytag's.

 

[qsd-dan]

Wow, I didn't expect this explosion, but..

Ahh where to begin....

if it's so bad, why keep suffering?

2 reasons: #1 Nostalgia. I grew up with that dryer and I even (faintly) remember when my parents bought it. #2 It's the only gas dryer in my collection, so I keep it in order to run 2 dryers at the same time (my house is equipped with both 220v and NG). Got a hold of a gas DG306 HOH but that didn't work out due to its more than 2 hour cycle times, even after a complete tear down and rebuild. BTW, that poorly designed gas dryer was around for a couple of decades ;>) It was probably one of the main reasons that Maytag decided to implement the SOH design.

I have no qualms at all with the WP/KM design from a mechanical aspect. My biggest issue is the airflow design with bulky loads, or extremely light loads.

There is no evidence that the new MT TL washers and dryers that are being sold today won't outlast a pair of 1979 MTs. People are having far less service calls and keeping machines far longer than ever.

You obviously didn't click on the two links I posted. Take a look on craigslist and you'll find plenty of broken WP/KM washers/dryers that aren't even close to the 5 year mark. I was talking to one of the guys at parts counter a few weeks back and he said WP has been using Chinese parts (particularly motors) in their appliances for the past few years now. I can't confirm nor deny that statement since I haven't been into a new WP washer/dryer, but that could very well be the reason for early failures.

Just remember who went out of business

Yeah, by Ralph Hake, a former Whirlpool CFO who PURPOSELY destroyed Maytag in as little as 4 years. By driving the company into the ground, Maytag became an easy takeover target, triggering Hake’s golden parachute payments. This, of course, is on top of his multi-million dollar annual pay package.

 

[combo52]

SLOW DRYING DRYERS

Everyone should keep in mind that if you have a dryer gas or electric that is taking far longer than it should it may be dangerous to keep using it. Older dryers do not have the safety fuses that more recent models do and can be a fire hazard if they are not operating properly. Dan I am sorry that you didn't succeed in fixing your HOH DG306 gas dryer, but I wouldn't continue to run down Maytag about it. We sold more than 100 MT HOH gas dryers in the 1970s and never took one back or had any seriously slow ones. If fact the only ones that we did take back were two electric ones that actually caught fire and were returned to the factory. The electric HOH dryers were a more dangerous design because of the over 1600 degree heating element being barely 2" from the clothes and no real option for a lower heat setting.

Dan looking at your two links of people getting rid of fairly new machines is silly and doesn't prove a thing. It is equivalent to looking at the obituary page in the news paper and citing the deaths of two children as evidence that people aren't living as long today, and we all know that is not true. I believe that people in general keeping most appliances and cars longer than anytime is history. One can always come up with examples other wise but thats not statically accurate.

 

[coldspot66]

Those 2 examples of W/P Kenmore washers that didn't "hold up" probably had broken couplers..or lid switches. An easy and inexpensive fix.

 

[coldspot66]

I do disagree that appliances last longer today......pricing of new machines and repair parts seem to favor replacement rather than repair. I do agree that the DD design seems to have decent longevity. I have serviced 15 yo machines and early dd machines (mid 80's). Weak spot is the crappy lid switch assembly.