GE Washer blues

[codyf]

Hey Friends! I'm Cody, I visit your site from time to time though I frequent Vacuum Land! I wanted to ask a couple of questions since you guys will know better than anyone!

first off when we built our new house I ran out and purchased a brand new set of GE front loaders.. Loved them at first, then my problems started with the washer. first was the door gasket ripping, repair man said that I probably had something in my pockets that caused that to happen but it was fixed under warranty. From that point on I was extra careful that there was nothing in the washer but lo and behold another gasket rip, water every were, not like a flood but still water was leaking... so I had it fixed again *out of my pocket this time*. next problem was the washer would get out of balance and would just slam against the dryer, We made sure it was level and that we were not over loading and just would at random do this.... repair man again.... could not explain the problem... so i just went with it until!!!! you guessed it! another ripped gasket... i threw it out the back door and gave it to the first person that would have it... swearing i would never own another front loader. So we replaced it with a GE top load with the infuser... here is were the questions are coming in!

1st.. What are your opinion of these machines?
2nd.. Do you feel like the clothes are clean? I'm not convinced, I liked there to be water over my clothes when i washed them, and this "infuser", what was so wrong with the agitator? lol
3rd.. If I were to find a set of older Maytag's... can I still get parts for them?

As you can probably pick up on... I'm not real keen on this 2 month old washer... I am searching high and low for a good set of old Maytag machines! something I know is washing my clothes!

Thanks in advance for your reply!

 

[strongenough78]

Well, I personally haven't had the opportunity to try one of these machines, but I've heard a lot of ups and downs about them. Some people love them, others don't. I thought GE still made a washer with a regular agitator. It would still have the same washing action as the infusor does, but it will use a full tub of water. I checked out the GE site recently and they had agitator washers on them. And I think they give the choice of selecting your load size or the option to let the machine do it automatically, don't quote me on that but I seem to remember seeing that. If you can, or even want to, see if they will take the machine back since it's only a couple of months old, and look to see if they have an agitator style washer instead. Just tell them you aren't happy with it, they should have no problem taking it back for a trade or refund. Or just return it altogether and find a good old Maytag set. They are still out there and parts, although getting scarce, do show up around the net. Many people on here know where to go to find good new or reconditioned parts if needed. Until then, check all of the cycles on your machine. I know a few brands have a sheets setting that will use more water to wash than the other cycles. I hope this helps and let us know what happens

 

[strongenough78]

I looked up their site again, here's a link right to a agitator style top load washer

GE Appliances: Shop for Home, Kitchen, & Laundry Appliances

GE Appliances is your home for the best kitchen appliances, home products, parts and accessories, and support.

products.geappliances.com

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Another Good bet

A Whirlpool or Kenmore toploader. These were the most produced and some of the most reliable ever. Just make sure if it is a newer one it still can do a full rinse.
WK78

 

[combo52]

GE Front Load Washer with torn Door Boots

Cody there was something very wrong with that washer, you should have complained to where it was purchased and directly to GE if that didn't get results. It is up them to prove that something you did caused the machine to tear door boots and or something was wrong with your floor that caused the machine to walk.

 

[kqkenmore]

Get a top load Speed Queen I have one and I love it. It washes like the older maytags and is not hard on the clothes. 

 

[qualin]

> 1st.. What are your opinion of these machines?

I'm personally not fond of any "washplate" style machine. With a lot of water like a conventional top loader, they do a good job moving water through the clothing, but the HE models make me cringe looking at them wash.

I can understand your desire to swap out the machine. The less water your clothes wash in, the more wear and tear there will be.

> 3rd.. If I were to find a set of older Maytag's... can I still get parts for them?

The problem is that the company that made the older Maytags doesn't exist anymore, Whirlpool makes Maytag now.

Like kqkenmore said, Speed Queen builds both front and top loaders with some of the best quality and durability in the industry.

If you want that legendary Maytag quality, but you want the company who built it to stand behind it and warranty it, you'll get it with the Speed Queen brand.

I agree with Combo52, door boots shouldn't rip, period. Maybe you got a lemon, or maybe the serviceperson just didn't know how to fix it.

Good luck on your quest!

 

[matthewza]

do yourself and your clothes a favour and get a speed queen!

 

[dalepar]

GE is the worst

The builder put GE front loader in our condo when built. It is terrible. It will not spin a load of towels. I gave up my cheap Kenmore (made by Frigidaire) front loader that worked like a charm. They don't make it anymore, so I do not know what to get. The GE bangs against the wall and moves about the laundry closet. It is a real piece of crap.

D

 

[combo52]

GE FL Washer That bangs against wall

Have you had it looked at by a service person ?, it may still have its shipping braces in place or have a broken or disconnected shock. The GE FL washers are about on a par with Frigidaire FL washers overall and many were built by Frigidaire and are identical mechanically.

 

[qualin]

I think GE makes decent conventional top loaders, (Not counting the Hydrowave series, ugh.) especially if you are on a budget. However, I wish I could say the same things about their front loaders.

I think GE has a lot of lessons to learn when it comes to engineering them.

If GE put the same amount of quality into their front loaders which they used to put into their 1960's era top loaders, I would have considered buying one.

 

[combo52]

GE Top Loading Washer Quailty

GE has not made or sold a durable TL washer since they stopped making the FF style machine. Right from the start the new plastic machines had almost 100% transmission failure rate within the first 5 years. Their current machines continue to have transmission, main seal and bearing failures and these failures are almost always the end of the washers useful life as it is too difficult and expensive to repair this washer design unlike the old FF washer where you could replace the entire transmission and main bearing and water seal in less than 30 minutes.

 

 

 

In defense of the new GE designs they do perform very well, but they are just not durable in heavy use situations and cost prohibitive to repair, you will almost never see these newer style machines in a laundromat, in fact GE lost almost all of their commercial laundry business overnight when they switched designs.

 

[qualin]

I guess it was a bit of a shocker for me to learn that GE was using plastic gears in their transmissions. To me, that's a really stupid design decision. GM tried that and it came to bite them in the behind.

I wasn't aware the transmission failure rate was so high. Thanks for the clarification.

One thing I don't understand was why GE went from a 90 degree stroke in the Filter Flo's to a 30 degree stroke in their non-Hydrowave machines.. then to a 360 degree stroke with the Hydrowave system. (Due to the DC motor)

It irks me that GE took a design from 1958, ran with it for 36 years and rather than applying the principals of Kaizen to it (Continuous Improvement) they re-engineered the whole thing from scratch while cutting corners.

I bought a GE Washer/Dryer set in 2004 with the expectation that I'd be getting Filter-Flo machines, without really realizing they had discontinued them in 1994. Go figure. Had I known, I just would have bought vintage GE machines instead and fixed them up.

Oh well...

 

[tolivac]

A freind of mine that lives in Richmond,va bought a plastic Ge washer years agne day his wife was doing laundry-she started the machine and was doing other things-she came back to the laundry room-and the machine was dead-Greg called me over-so I came and we both looked over the sad wet scene.Plastic shrapnel all over the floor and water-The wet-dry vac picked that up-next we hauled the GE washer carcuss to the dump-the dump attendant asked us to take it directly to the landfill area-guess they didn't recycle at that time-We placed the machine in front of the steel lug wheeled landfill dozer compactor and waited for its operator to return-we wanted to see that horrible machine "get it" from the landfill compactor-we waited several minutes-then left.
Next closer to home-in my area-a plastic GE like Gregs died and was left on the curb-a trailer park.Then it got smashed and vandalized-parts taken from it-then the plastic tub got run over and chopped up-smashed(what looked like it was a tub)by the Alamo roadside flail mower.Great end for that horrible machine!Finally the sad remains-cabinet was in a nearby woods-got hauled away by someone unknown.
Greg's wife ordered a TOL KN DD washer to replace the GE.It was MUCH better!!!

 

[qualin]

I'm sure there will be a lot of people who disagree with me on this, but I think there is absolutely no reason for a washer to have a plastic inner tub, except to save money.

I know that it resists rust, but my thoughts were, what if something scratches the plastic? (Like a zipper) Suddenly, crud gets caught in the scratch.

Another thought, do plastic tubs retain smells and germs that a metal tub wouldn't?

My guess involving the shrapnel is that the inner tub exploded on spin and shredded the outer tub in the process, something nearly unheard of with metal tubs.

Then again, if one expects to pay $299 for a washer, they can't expect much I guess. It seems to me that a WCI washer (aka Roper) for the same amount of money is a much better deal, provided it's modified properly to use the right water levels on both the wash and rinse.... compared to a plastic tubbed GE.

 

[tolivac]

i only looked inot the GE washer my freind had once-beleive it did have a plastic inner tub-was the outer tub on these made of plastic,too?I always thought both drums on the GE's were plastic.Didn't see a metal one of any sort at the scene where the flail mower smashed what looked like a plastic tub.

 

[combo52]

Plastic Inner Baskets

Are actually more expensive to make than porcelain coated steel tubs, plastic has some advantages and PCS has others. SS is the most durable and most expensive to make.