Brastemp Mondial VS Whirlpool World portables (compacts)— Why do only the North American versions have tub seal issues?

[norgechef]

I thought of posting this in the Imperial forum but considering the last Whirlpool World/Kenmore/Crosley compact portables were made up until 2012 I thought I’d post this here. As far as I know, the full-size Brastemp Mondial’s were discontinued long before 2012, not sure about their version of the compacts, the Mondial “Baby”, but anyways.

One thing that has always seemed odd to me is that the Brazilian/South American Brastemp Mondial washers seem to last MUCH longer without tub seal & bearing issues, when you were lucky to get 4-5 years out of them here. Which is unfortunate considering most of the other components in the machines would last forever if only they had improved on the bearing/seal assembly for the compact North American models.
The later rear-control models had some issues with the electronics but it was usually hit or miss. The tiny Invensys pumps in the later models were sometimes prone to failure too but also a 50/50 problem. Still no super expensive or labor intensive repairs. Repairing the control boards on these is very easy. The ones on the later rear-control touchpad models at least. I’ll post pictures of both types of machines we had here at the bottom of this post.

I speculate that there must of been a difference in the design of the tub seal. Maybe the bearing as well. Maybe due to planned obsolescence since they knew they were very reliable machines. A little *too* reliable perhaps…

Also a big issue with these was that most people would forget (or never informed by the salesman) that they had the lint filter in the agitator that needed to be removed every cycle or two & cleaned. I have seen most of these machines regardless of condition with the lint filters appearing to of never been removed or cleaned, overflowing & clogged with lint balls & hair. That could be another reason.

Lastly, maybe a water quality issue? Maybe Brazil, Mexico & other South American countries have predominately soft or “clean”/pure water compared to many parts of North America? That theory’s pretty off the wall but could have some truth…
I say this because I picked up a VERY heavily used Kenmore portable once, it had been used on well water instead of city/town water so no bleach, fluoride, etc. added.
The water was clearly mineral rich/full of iron as the tub was stained yellow-y/brown. It was not well taken care of either. Very musty odor in the tub. It was being used several times daily by a large family at the time & had been since it’s purchase in 2008. Never a repair according to them. This machine was picked up by me in late 2022 with the only problems being dry creaky suspension & snapped snubber straps from the extreme use the machine had seen. Aside from the suspension being a little loud & weak, to my complete amazement the spin cycle took right off & was silent in terms of bearing noise. No leaks either. I replaced the snubber straps, lubricated the suspension & sold it to a friend who lives in an apartment full of young room-mates. I’m sure it’s being abused & I just found that it’s STILL WORKING! No leaks, no bearing noise. She says the machine is almost silent & they use it all the time. & they are quiet machines. I find this almost impossible as the original owner stated it had no repairs & I’ve seen much newer lightly used ones leaking & with bad bearings.

If anyone has any insight as to why the Brastemp Mondials from the early 90’s are still chugging along & ~75% of those kind of machines in North America are in the dump with bad bearings, please chime in!

 

[norgechef]

This is the early model/design. First generation. Sold under the Whirlpool, Kenmore, Crosley & GE brands from the mid-90’s until late 2003.

This model had a full-size traditional electric drain pump that was much more heavy duty than the later Invensys brand design. It also had a plastic motor pulley & different heavy-duty mode shifter/brake actuator. They also had porcelain-on-steel baskets. The earlier models has spreckle porcelain but the ones made in the 2000s until 2003/4 had white porcelain.

 

[norgechef]

This is the later/second generation, made from late 2003/early 2004 until they were discontinued in 2012. Sold under the Whirlpool, Kenmore & Crosley brand names. They have touchpad controls instead of knobs. These ones were very basic. They didn’t even have a spin only or rinse & spin cycle options. 4 cycles, 3 “speeds” versus the two of the previous models however.
The drum was stainless steel on these, like in the Brastemp mondial’s.
They also had a different suspension, different weaker mode shifter/brake actuator that would sometimes get stuck or fail after long periods of being unused or in storage, so the motor would run but the washer wouldn’t spin as the brake was still locked. Usually fiddling with them a bit would get them working again without any repairs though.
They had an upgraded steel/metal motor pulley instead of the plastic one on the earlier models. The splutch-gearbox still had the plastic pulley though.
Lastly, the control boards were different on these & sometimes had issues, as well as the slow tiny Invensys drain pumps.

Despite these being a cheaper, less heavy duty design than the first generation front-control models, this was the type of machine that I acquired in 2022 that was very heavily used, that still to this day has a good bearing/seal assembly & never had any other issues either, minus the suspension.

 

[hvtech42]

Lastly, maybe a water quality issue? Maybe Brazil, Mexico & other South American countries have predominately soft or “clean”/pure water compared to many parts of North America? That theory’s pretty off the wall but could have some truth…

The US/Canada version of these machines were all imported from Mexico (which is North America not South America). So if there is any difference in longevity between these machines in the US/Canada and Mexico, that seems an obvious sign that the explanation is down to use conditions rather than construction. I'm not sure of any construction differences between Mexican and Brazilian versions of this machine.

Chlorine or fluoride in the water shouldn't affect on seal life, but water hardness absolutely can. Hard water combined with poor quality or not enough detergent is one of the most common causes of premature seal/bearing failure. So if there's a difference in water hardness between the countries, that could absolutely be a factor.

Also the longer machine life in Latin America could be a factor of those countries being poorer, making people more likely to repair a machine when it breaks rather than replacing. Don't forget that, unless parts are no longer available, the owner is the one who has the final say on what the lifespan of their appliance will be - not the manufacturer.