Direct drive washers

[norgechef]

Is it just me or has the dependability of direct drive washers gotten very poor.I was just browsing youtube and it seems that all the newer direct drive machines 2000-2010 have so many more problems than the ones from the 80s and 90s, seeing that the older models only need a motor coupler replacement once every 20 years.I know my gram and gramp have a Roper direct drive machine from 1997 thats never needed ANY repairs at all and she has had ALLOT of people live in her house and i got to say that machine must have gone through at least 10,000 loads! since we live in a small town my gram always says how she could swear that washer washed everybody's clothes in the town.Now it seems like direct drive washers only last short periods of time and some serious part is broken! where has the dependability gone? i mean they still use the same parts on the direct drive machines that they used from the 80s right? so why do they brake so quick1!!!!?????

 

[wayupnorth]

Washer dependability

I dont know if it is just newer direct drive washers or all newer washers in general. I know several people with newer DD top loaders that they swear are pieces of crap and others with newer front loaders that say the same. My next door neighbor is on her 3rd Kenmore front loader in 8 years. First sprung a bearing and destroyed the outer tub, 2nd shorted the electronic controls totally after 6 months. My cousin has a one year old Maytag Centennial that has had 4 service calls already. I plan on keeping my dependable 1984 Maytag LA511 going as long as I possibly can.

 

[lordkenmore]

I have gotten this impression too that modern DD quality has gone down. No first hand experience here, but I do see a surprising number of DD machines (and modern washers in general) on Craigslist that are clearly broken.

The design may be the same basic design, but it's always possible to keep a basic design, but cheapen the quality.

I don't think I'd be inclined to buy a modern washer...unless I win the lottery and can afford something like Miele or Speed Queen.

 

[cfz2882]

dead motors

i have encountered quite a few newer DDs(late '90s/early 2000s in my cases)that
have had dead motors that were open circuit but the windings looked fine-i'm
thinking these motors probably have bad overload protectors,possibly from
chronic overloading of the washers... I have a 2002 DD dump grab in nice shape
with a dead motor-when i get to it i'll check the motor out and see why the motor
is open circuit.

 

[norgechef]

@wayupnorth

i agree you should never get rid of that Maytag........I have a Maytag A112 from 1986 or 1989 i forget, its in storage right now,Well not really, its out behind my house in the woods with all my other machines since i have nowhere else to put them right now so i hope it still works when i go check the machines in the summer because i may have to make it my machine i use inside one day.....

 

[DirectDriveDave]

All I can say is time will tell. from what I have seen, most of it appears to be user error, but i'm not saying that's the only reason, but maybe the majority.

One of my friends from college has a DD washer from 2008 or so and he has said that even now it has required no repairs of any kind.

My bro's 2010 DD is still working perfect as well.

 

[norgechef]

@cfz2882

I used to have a neighbor,the poor thing is dead now but when she was alive she had a Kenmore set from 2002 and talk about overloading, sometimes i would go visit her and she had the washer on quite a bit because she had young kids but anyway when it would kick from drain to spin within seconds it would be BANG BANG BANG because she had overloaded it so much that it stretched out the springs and eventually wore them out.One time i suggested taking a look at it and she said sure so i opened up the washer and it was so plugged full that i was amazed she hadn't stripped out the gearbox anyway i closed the lid and let it bang until the end of cycle, of course when the load was done it was still pretty much soaking wet but she still put it in the dryer that way! i remember when i tried to move the drum it just went from side to side and stayed in the same spot with just the touch of a finger! i later asked her if she always plugged it that full and she said ''i didn't thing i was plugging it full i mean it does say super capacity''.She was drunk and high most of the time so she probably didn't know anyway but just a few weeks before she died i saw the washer out on the side of the road and that was like a month after i was there and checked it out. 3 days before she died i was talking to her and i mentioned the washer, she said it just made a grinding noise and wouldn't move, i said i guess you finally did it in.....then 3 days later she was gone with the snap of a finger, i figured it was her heart because she did so many drugs that earlier in the year she had 2 heart attacks but never stopped doing drugs and drinking, she was a really nice lady if you could see past that though, she was only 39 years old to....Sorry for making this so long guess i never realized how much i was writing but i though i might add a little bit about my old friend since i miss talking to her.

 

[wayupnorth]

Up here in the North

I had to laugh at your last post Norgechef. Thats the way we all do it up here, no matter which side of the border, just put it out in storage in the woods. Thankfully we still have woods to put it into. BTW, both of my grandfathers and my father were born in Canada and have always enjoyed every trip to the Maritime Provinces.

 

[wayupnorth]

Sorry, not the last post, didnt realize you had posted again, and sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[norgechef]

@wayupnorth

lol, do most the machines still work after they are brought back from the woods, im just afraid the cold winter might do something to them......

 

[kenmore71]

My experience with DD machines is not that overloading wears them out. Instead it is the failure of the neutral drain mechanism to engage that eventually causes the clutch and sometimes the motor coupler to fail.

My brothers run a large dairy farm and use recycled hotel towels (that have been cut down to 16' x 16" and had the edges surged) to wipe down udders before the cows are milked. They do six decent-sized loads of these towels every day. I've checked and while these are full loads they are not "packed" into the machine.

For some reason a few years back they had been getting a lot of reconditioned DD WP-made machines (Kenmore, WP, Roper, etc.). They would burn through a machine about every 12-18 months before it would either stop spinning because of a worn clutch or a shredded motor coupling because it was spinning with a full tub of water.

Last fall, I hooked them up with a 1995 Dependable care Maytag that had new belts and motor carriage springs. 4 months into this "experiment" there have been NO issues. Time will tell if this solves their problem, but in my experience, the weakest link in the WP DD is the neutral drain mechanism. IT seems to fail first, and from there secondary things tend to go pretty quickly.

 

[wayupnorth]

Thats iffy

The newer machines where the drain hose comes out of the top and acts as a siphon break does trap water in the bottom/pumps. It could have split the pump when it gets below freezing, like it does here where we both are. Before ever putting it in, I would let it warm up real good and try it outside, maybe with an outside hose by putting water in it and check for leaks before even thinking of installing it permantly. Older washers, where the drain hose came out of the bottom would act as a gravity drain so every bit of water would go out the hose when it was dropped.

 

[kenmorebd]

it would seem the newer direct drives may be a tad bit less reliable. Although as already brought up by many members we have to look at a few things that make this so. Buying a washing machine today is something that isn't only for the privileged, nor does it require saving up for a year has some of us, parents, or grandparents had to. We live in a more throw away society.And thus washing machines are treated with such care. Has for my recently acquired 2003 Kenmore top loader I know why this particular machine has problems some people who owned it( my folks) did quite a number on it. That plus the damp basement caused a few issues with its inner workings. The washing machine they owned before that a 1989? Whirlpool was given the exact same treatment but never needed a motor coupler placement and its neutral drain pack lasted quite a bit longer until about the machines final year service. Not so with the Kenmore, maybe they used cheaper parts?

Andrew

 

[norgechef]

@wayupnorth

Im just iffy because this October i drug my magic chef up to the house because i knew someone that needed a washer anyway after it filled the agitator started to move a little and the motor sounding like it was whining then it snapped out of slow and started agitating normally but there was still a sort of low power sound, so i let it run a few minutes on agitate then i turned it to spin and it made that whining sound again and took a second to start spinning but it was pumping when it started to spin, then after about 20 seconds of slow spinning and whining the motor started smoking and making this really strong odor.afterwards i though oh shit i ruined it because i didn't wait for it to warm up first.Do you think that machine will work again or will it need a new motor?

 

[kenmore71]

Any machine that may have frozen water in MUST sit 12-24 hours at a normal room temperature before you attempt to opperate it. I'm relatively certain you fried the motor.

 

[wayupnorth]

Sounds like that motor is fried Norgechef

It has to sit until TOTALLY warmed up before even attempting to turn it on. Kenmore71 is right. I would wait till at least May around where we are before even attempting to get your Maytag out and going. Course, the Northeast spring mud makes going into the woods alot more difficult before then...lol. If you had to get it going it sooner it would be best to put very hot water in the tub, let it sit and watch for leaks, just in case it has more issues. But dont force it to run until all the mechanicals are warmed up.

 

[combo52]

SMOKING MOTOR

The motor windings deteriorated from being stored in a damp environment and shorted and burned when the machine was run again, you need another motor. While not a good practice it will not hurt the motor to try to start with a frozen pump it simply trips the built in overload.

 

Did anyone ever see the way MT used to test the washers motors that they bought from various manufacturers ? They would take a hundred or more and install them on metal racks and clamp the motor shaft so it couldn't move at all and then they would apply power and let them struggle to start and trip on their overloads. This testing would go on 24 hours a day for over a month and very few motors would fail in any way. This test was to test the motor windings, overloads and internal wring connections.

 

[norgechef]

My Maytag ensignia/performa

I picked up this machine from my great grams because she complained that it was overheating and making a burning smell (Maytag MAV2757AWW) so i checked the belt and it looked fine, it still run good but i think a ceased pump may have made the motor overheat because i remember one time we were having a family get together and i heard the machine making a weird noise kinda like a scraping or something and i know it wasnt the sound those performa pumps usually make when they go but i thought maybe that was the reason the motor kept overheating. She also told me it went off balance all the time which i know was just a Snubber. The machine was bought in January 2006 and had moderate use.I just worry if i fix the motor, pump and snubber then have the transmission quit, i would probably have it fixed but not if it broke within months of the new parts.