New Speed Queen top load washer TC five
I would use the old fill hoses if they’re in good condition, the screens are mainly to keep debris out of the inlet valves if you have a house with old iron plumbing or if you’re doing a lot of plumbing work, they might be helpful, sometimes part of your water heater starts to degrade And spews out bits of stuff, it’s up to you whether you use them or not there are screens inside the inlet valve anyway.
Using low agitation won’t really save anywhere and tear on the washer, but that’s up to you use what works for you.
Your dryer is going to appreciate the clothing being spun out better, if you’re used to using a time dry cycle, you may want to reduce the drying time by 10 minutes.
As far as drive felt life goes we only use about six of these belts a year. We are maintaining over 10,000 Speed Queen top load washers built over the last 15 years, including quite a number of them that are in commercial use. I would estimate the average user would get somewhere between 10 and 20 years out of the original belt Just doing a few loads a week it’s not particularly difficult to change.
With the increased reliability of newer machines, we hardly ever change belts anymore. The belt that I still put on more often than anything is the main drive belt on Maytag washers like your old one they tend to tear belts even in the agitation cycle because they slip , Speed Queen won’t do that.
I certainly would never make it generalization that people overload top load washers, certainly some people do, but I would say the vast majority of users underload their machines significantly and just wear the machines out running excess loads.
In the end, the life of an appliance like this is based on the number of times you use it and Time takes its toll on seals, corrosion, etc.
Given the good service you got out of the Maytag there’s no doubt that this new Speed Queen can easily run 35 years or more quality is much better than when the Maytag was made. You will never have any rust in the cabinet or base plate area of the Speed Queen the finishes are excellent, the only major differences they no longer have a porcelain finish on the top so be careful if you spill bleach on the machine if you use the bleach dispenser port, chase it with a quart of water and wipe up any spilled bleach in the machine will do beautifully.
John