Amana vs. Speed Queen

[bwoods]

I've been eying this Speed Queen on Craigslist and am about to succumb to buying it.

Thanks to Laundress and some of you others I am beginning to get a handle on the McGraw-Edison/Raytheon/Amana/Speed Queen/Goodman/Alliance soap opera (or at least think I am.

last year I acquired a Goodman built Amana washer. It was the TOL 3-speed model with the 710 rpm spin, compared to the 640 rpm for the two speed Amana's. I absolutely loved it, for the two weeks it worked.

It held a ton of clothes, had great turnover, spun quietly with very little vibration, and the clothes came out of the spin quite dry. However, apparently, the triple lip seal had been leaking water into the transmission and it locked up permanently, burned up the belt and stunk up the house. I reluctantly trashed it instead of buying a new transmission and bearing. A mistake on my part.

So, does the Speed Queen in this picture use a different seal than did Goodman? In looking at a schematic of the Speed Queen, the components look almost identical as those of the Amana. So is Alliance using Goodman's poorly designed seal which will most likely cause transmission failure down the road?

In the close up of the Alliance manufacture's label (see link below), it indicates the machine is only an 18 pounder. The Goodman-Amana I had stated it had a 3.3 cu ft tub, and it certainly looked larger than other 18 lb machines I have had. So is Alliance, for some reason, using smaller tubs than the Goodman Amana?

Does anyone know about the spin speed of the Speed Queen versus that of the Goodman/Amana? If the tub is smaller and the spin speed is less I can't see any reason to go with the Alliance version of the machine and will just wait until I find another Goodman built unit (and hope I don't have seal leakage again.)

https://knoxville.craigslist.org/for/5136264599.html

http://images.craigslist.org/00Z0Z_9JQ0QnPg11Y_600x450.jpg

 

[Chetlaham]

Dont think, buy it lol

The spin on the Speed Queen is 710 RPM. The Speed Queen here is an Alliance made washer which is light years ahead of Amana let alone any modern washer in terms of reliability. I am unsure of the sealing mechanism, however an Alliance made machine will easily last 15 years. I would not think twice about buying this machine, you scored. The only down side (and I could be wrong) is that the machine might be a single speed model.

The Speed Queen washers made in that last 10 years are hands down the best washers on the market and have been for over a decade. The modern Speed Queen design rivals the orbital Maytags that were in production before Whirlpool bought Maytag.

 

[Chetlaham]

Ohhh...

Forgot to add. What ever washer and dryer her family bought her I want the same. Id do anything for a new in box Dependable Care or belt driven Whirlpool. Either that she is not aware of what a real washer is supposed be like. In any case her loss is your gain, and at $125 it worth it.

 

[combo52]

Used SQ TL Washer

Is an Alliance built washer and has a much better seal design and placement than the MT-Goodman built washers. Alliance uses a better seal and the seal assembly is also raised off the bottom of the washers outer tub which keeps it from being affected by mineral build-up and other crud as much.

 

The tub capacity of the Amana you had and the used SQ is the same.

 

The Amana could have been fixed, it just needed a new seal and top bearing, the transmission should have been fine. The downside to fixing is you still have the same bad design and if you do not have soft water and use too little detergent the seal will fail much sooner again. The other downside to fixing is that it can be very difficult to disassemble and replace the top bearing and seal in these washers. We are seeing the seal and top bearing fail in some SQ TL washers even during the 3 year warranty, especially when people are over rinsing clothing, such as always using the 2nd rinse option and again using too little detergent, cheap detergent and have less than great water conditions [ over 3 grains of minerals in their water supply ].

 

Most  of the current SQ TL washers that have been sold in recent years and are being sold today will be trashed when the main seal fails. It is just too labor intensive and therefore costly to repair this design washer, GE TL washers since 1995 and all WCI-Frigidaire TL washers also fall pray to this bad design and as a result very few are ever repaired when they have a serious problem.

 

Even WPs inexpensive new Belt-Drive TL washers can be repaired easily in less than an hour in the home without working up a sweat when the main seal-bearings or transmission fail.

 

 

 

[bwoods]

good information

Thank you both for the information. I may get the Speed Queen, if it's not a one speed unit.

Although, I did save the control panel and motor from the Amana. I wonder is SQ and Goodman use the same wiring color coding. If I swap out the control panel and motor, I can get three speeds and a warm rinse.

 

[maylingsmom]

combo52

I am hijacking this thread to ask you a question. What did you mean by ""using too little detergent, cheap detergent" and seal and top bearing failure in Speed Queen? I had not heard this before so interested. Are you asking those people whose machines you are repairing (or do you repair?) how they were doing their laundry?

 

[mrb627]

Single Speed

The machine in the CL ad is a single speed machine.

Malcolm

 

[bwoods]

speed

Thanks, Malcom. I was afraid that might be the case.

 

[bwoods]

amana set on CL with odd agitator

Here is something odd. A Goodman-built Amana with a strange agitator. Have any of you ever seen this type agitator on a non-Whirlpool Amana? Did somebody replace the agitator with a different design, possibly. Even the lid diagram (if you look closely) has the regular Amana/SQ type agitator shown.

http://greenville.craigslist.org/hsh/5163736381.html

 

[yogitunes]

that's a Norge design from when Maytag was building these.....

not favored by many, but for the few I got a hold of, decent machines that held a lot...pumps seemed to be a weak spot for some....

 

[bwoods]

norge/maytag design

Thanks, Martin. So apparently Maytag did not change the earlier Goodman design control panel for a while, so this must have been one of the first Maytag-built Amanas. Had they changed the problematic seal at this time? Was it still utilizing Goodman's transmission and hi-speed spin?

 

[yogitunes]

not sure about it being a Goodman......I know the term they were using was a "Dual-Drive" tranny, basically double the gears, which caused equal weight, and no counter balance was required....

the only ones I knew were trouble prone for seal failure was the Raytheon built Amana/SQ......

once Alliance took over for SQ, those issues were first priority.....so far so good....better reliability than the Raytheon design....

 

[combo52]

Amana Washer With A Dual Action Agitator.

Yes these were only made after MT owned the Amana name. After MT bought Amana they continued to use the SQ style transmission [ Goodman never made any big changes in these washers ]. The DAA was used in some Amana models after MT cheapened the Amana-SQ style washers by using the Non-Repairable Norge style transmissions in both the Norge and SQ platform washers.

 

The DDA was by far the best agitator ever used in these SQ designed washers, it is too bad that SQ does not use them today, they not only allow you to wash more clothing in a given load and also are far more genital on your clothing.

 

John L.

 

[bwoods]

thanks

Good info! Thanks.

 

[philr]

...and also are far more genital on your clothing.

<span style="font-size: 14pt;">John, that made me laugh!!</span>

I thought this was a characteristic of some Frigidaire agitators!

 

<span style="font-size: 36pt;">;-)</span>

 

[gusherb]

Phil

You mean the Frigidaire Dildowash 2000?

"Does the wash and does your wife!" [this post was last edited: 8/14/2015-00:56]

 

[bwoods]

Aman-Goodman brochure

genitals aside....

The Speed Queen/Amana/McGraw-Edison/Ratheon/Goodman/Alliance/Maytag/Whirlpool saga has got to be one of the more convoluted in laundry history. I have been doing a little research.

Apparently Goodman bought the Amana line in 1997, but did not make any major changes until the 1999 model year in which they re-engineered many things and this line stayed in production until Maytag bought them out in 2001.

Goodman did a very nice job of revamping Raytheon's machines, but the engineer in charge of the bearings must have been asleep on the job as that seems to be the Achilles's heel.

I vaguely remembered a posting of the brochure from the 1999 Amana line on AW.org and finally found it. Mike (nmassman44) posted it about 4 years ago. It's very interesting to look at the changes/improvements that Goodman did to the Raytheon design.

The link is below and the post # is 488918.

Amana washer and dryer brochure scan.

Hey everyone I thought I would scan this brochure from 1999. Enjoy!

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[Chetlaham]

Raytheon Design

Was that the one with 2 belts and pump to the right?

 

[repair-man]

I agree that that is not the correct agitator in the Amana machine. As Combo said the Dual action agitatorwas used in all the Amana design machines after Maytag cheapened them and changed the transmission. But as I remember it this was also when they changed to the Maytag style control panel. The Amanas at that time would have been the two tone white/gray style. And had a gray fabric softener dispenser. This machine has the Amana style panel that Speed Queen still uses today. Almost immediately after Maytag bought Amana they introduced a Maytag labeled model with this panel. This is not a Herrin built Norge design machine.