Amana NTW4516FW washer has officially been discontinued???

[whirlpool862]

It seems like this model has finally been discontinued by Whirlpool, as the Amana website has it indefinitely out of stock as it was out of stock for a while. How do you feel about this? I believe the NTW4519JW is still active. Other sellers of the item will probably not have it restocked once it’s out of stock. This model has been made for about 9 years but they did revise it over the years. The early models filled to the top on every load.

The traditional style VMWs with the porcelain tubs seem to be getting phased out in general. But I think the WTW4816FW is still active but it’s only at Lowe’s. The WTW4616FW and the Roper equivalent to the Amana I believe is also active but no big box store carries them anymore, it used to be sold at Lowe’s. How do you feel about this? The stock is low on the other model but it will probably go back in full stock.

Link to Amana website

 

[johnb300m]

Hmmmm, I guess this doesn't surprise me.
I'm actually surprised the porcelain coated drum lasted this long.
Nobody wants to porcelain coat anything anymore.
It's "dirty" and "takes too long" in the assembly process opposed to just stamping and welding a stainless steel ring with plastic end caps.

 

[whirlpool862]

But Whirlpool still makes the porcelain tubs for these but I think some of the older stainless ones were discontinued.

I personally like the stainless and even plastic drums over the porcelain coat ones since they held up better over time and didn’t rust, although no drum material is really terrible.

The plastic inner and outer tubs are not as bad as people estimate, I’ve never seen a plastic GE drum explode or break unless they put a firecracker in the washer or something. Who puts firecrackers in washing machines to begin with? The plastic outer tubs weren’t bad they did feel different but they used hard and durable plastic, not the same plastic used in children’s toys. The plastic tubs weren’t the bad thing about the older GE’s.

These days it seems like both the porcelain and plastic tubs are being phased out.

 

[combo52]

I’m not surprised whirlpool kept the porcelain wash tub so Long whirlpool had a huge investment in making these porcelain wash baskets and they were actually very cheap for them to build.

A lot of customer is looking for an older style traditional washer also liked seeing the porcelain basket cause they felt like it was more like their old washer.

But the stainless steel is certainly more durable. I’m glad they’re not using a lot of plastic wash tubs even though they held up fine. They’re just not very recyclable. It’s bad enough that they have plastic outer tubs.

That’s the real beauty of the more expensive Speed Queen’s at least the machine is very recyclable at the end of its useful life. There is just about no plastic in a Speed Queen top loader or front loader. I’m sure it’s the lowest in the industry that’s for sure.

John L

 

[whirlpool862]

In general, wash tubs are pretty durable regardless of the material. It’s usually the splines or the bottom of the tub that fails. The porcelain coated tubs were the most problematic but they did hold up, they just sometimes rusted over time.