Hi there washer111
My previous Kleenmaid washer lasted about 20 years and then the tub seal failed, or was it a rusty tub? I don't remember. It was uncanny though and happened the day the repairman came. For a few months there had been a small trickle coming out from underneath that machine and I had called the service guy to make an assessment. He had filled the machine and put it through its paces and, as expected, it worked without flaw. He left it standing with a full tub to check the source of the leak. We were discussing the value of repair over replacement within earshot of the old washer. This feller offered a good deal on a brand new Kleenmaid (SQ), (as seen in pictures). It really was as if the machine was listening and decided to help me make up my mind. All of a sudden it just let go of the water. It didn't trickle, but gushed out from underneath. That was in 2003 and the replacement had just gotten off the boat from America. I believe it had been manufactured three months prior to me buying it. The repair dude pointed this out when he delivered and installed it.
I know how to take care of my stuff. Warm and hot washes are standard laundry practice in my house and so are warm rinses. I have gas hot water btw. Yesterday I also opened up my dryer and cleaned that out. Not that there was all that much lint in there. I also wanted to see if the belt and rollers needed replacing, but it all still looks and works just fine. That dryer is actually older than the washer. I got that off another friend, who was downsizing in the late nineties. The original rollers were changed when I first installed this machine, but that's all the maintenance it's ever had. It's a great dryer and it's fast.
As my mate was fixing my washer, he was telling me that there is a good and consistent demand for restored Kleenmaid/Speed Queen washers. People pay as much as a thousand bucks for them. He reconditions and sells between three and four machines a week. I just hope that mine will last another decade and, based on personal experience, that is not an unreasonable expectation.