Look at what I found at Costco today

[gansky1]

DD in May-drag

The AUS/US exchange rate is nearly 1:1 right now so the top-loader would be $1439 U.S. Crazy expensive for direct-drive WP washer, even if you do put high value on the outfit she's wearing. I do love that silver cap on the agitator, though...

 

[rapunzel]

Doesn't have the dual-action agitator...

...and it has dumbed down water level control.

I don't think that the water level control is just two settings. I suspect that fill can be anything between small and large. I played with the control and turning it there is incremental resistance to indicate different water level settings, or so it seems. I din't read the manual. The machine may actually have more options than what is apparent from the control panel at first glance.

I've never seen commercial Maytags with a dual-action agitator.

Crazy expensive for you guys is often regular pricing for us. In this case one is supposedly paying for the heavy duty, commercial-built quality. These are the same units that are found in laundromats, residential care places and other businesses. Anything that's earmarked as 'commercial quality' and intended for business use is usually priced much higher than stuff made for home use.

If I purchased these units from another distributor and not Costco, I'd probably have to pay even more. As a business I'd be able to recoup part of the purchase price and depreciation via my tax return.

 

[thefixer]

The water level is just a two position electrical switch. It does not control the pressure switch directly as many models that have the adjustable diaphram type pressure switch. The pressure switch in this washer consists of three separate switches. I don't have the wiring diagram for this washer so I can't say if all three are used or just two. This washer may only have a spray rinse versus a rinse fill. It may be that the low water levels are only on the U.S. version. I did read that export models are not restricted and that it is relatively easy to change this in the wiring behind the control panel. Looking for more info.