Maytag "Centennial" TL Washer - Continued

[drhardee]

Although the GE Harmony set that I mentioned in a previous post is still available, I'm frankly concerned with purchasing the $1,300.00 set due to all of the electronics in these machines, a bad previous experience with a GE washer back in the mid-90's (absolute and utter crap), and the fact that these Harmony machines are touch screen operated, which is NOT friendly to my blind husband.
While in the appliance store, I saw (and really liked) a set of Maytag "Centennial" TL machines. I don't have any sort of a price on these, but I do know from following the previous thread on these machines that the washer is a re-badged Whirlpool direct drive machine.

Has anyone purchased these machines, and if so, have you been pleased? A small part of me is thinking I'd be going "backwards" technology-wise...going from a FL (Frigidaire) to a TL...granted, a TOL Maytag top loader. The capacity of the two machine is roughly equivalent...3.0 cu. ft in the FL Frigidaire, vs 3.2 in the agitator Maytag. I'd be giving up a higher spin speed and a glass window for perhaps Maytag/Whirlpool longevity.

There is a photo of these very beautiful machines in the archive link provided.

Thoughts? Opinions?

http://www.automaticwasher.org/TD/ARCHIVE/MODERN/2008/15337x63.htm

 

[maytagbear]

They are Maytag in name only-

Open the lid, and you will see Whirlpool guts.

The pluses and minuses are that of Whirlpool machines.

Having said that, these might be better for your husband than the Harmony set.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[laundryshark]

NFB - International Braille and Technology Center

This might be of assistance if you are looking for additional accessible appliance options. For more information, call, email, or write to the Center.--Laundry Shark

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Technology_Center.asp?SnID=1475553877

 

[brant_ix]

Returned mine...

Was very disappointed with them. Others love them. Review on Sears.com 5820 and in some of the threads. Went with the Kenmore Oasis 28042. Love Them!

 

[laundromat]

GE has a cover for their control panel available in brail.

 

[drhardee]

Brant_IX, if you don't mind, please elaborate why you didn't like the Maytag washer and dryer. I did read the reviews, and they are all over the map. It seems that folks agree that they're very NOISY..even with Maytag's touted QuietIII insulation..which is probably nothing more than some low level dishwasher blanket glued to the inside of the front panel.

I get that. Traditional top loaders are much noisier than FL's. They use a lot more water and aren't nearly so versatile..and yes, they lack the heater, fast spin and nifty window of FL's. I'm weighing all that with getting a set that looks way cool, will probably do as good a job as my 2002 FridGEmore, which, judging by the noises it's making, is standing in death's doorway (with dripping galoshes), and will LAST longer than the 5-6 years folks seem to be getting out of smaller FL's.

The dryer I'm replacing is a 18 y.o. Whirlpool, which, other than routinely overdrying clothes even on the delicate setting, has been a trouper through and through.

The price for all of this 100th Anniversary fabulosity with the oh-so lovely gold tone trim is $930.00 for both, delivered and installed with haul away.

Folks with Whirlpool DD machines, please chime in! I have no experience with Whirlpool washers other than the husband's avocado green circa 1970 model which went "buh-bye" within a week of my moving in. It had truly lived it's best years by then, and was spinning at something approaching 90 r.p.m.'s when I sent it to an inglorious Valhalla back in '95. The MOL GE TL which replaced that workhorse was crap. It lasted 3 years, and was repaired something like 5 times in that period.

So here I am.

Should style trump substance in a TL, or can I get a reasonable facsimile of both in this RuPaul Whirlpool set?

 

[washabear]

I have a regular DD Whirlpool TL washer, which I purchased in January. I like it. It does what it’s supposed to do and seems to do it well. It is noisy—with all the thumping going on during agitation, one might think something is wrong with it, but apparently that is how these machines operate. The fast agitation is very aggressive (fun to watch!), but it switches down to a slower speed after a few minutes. When set to Super Plus, it will fill the tub all the way up, although I usually don’t use that because I don’t have that much laundry to do. One thing I like about it is that the Permanent Press cycle does two sprays during the spin before the rinse and two sprays during the spin after the rinse. I didn’t know it did that. Cool! (The Regular cycle doesn’t do sprays before the rinse.) The extra rinse option is nice, too, although I guess most machines these days give you that. (No sprays after the second rinse.) Note that the water temperatures are regulated, so if you want the hottest wash you can get, you have to shut off the cold water valve during the wash fill. I find the mixed hot fine for my needs.

Another bit: you can see the machine in action if you unscrew the left hinge (as you are facing it) from the lid and put it down.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

 

[volvoguy87]

DDs

The Whirlpool DD design is not the greatest washer ever created. It is rougher on clothes than necessary and the stainless steel tubs they sometimes use aren't the best.

That being said, they are probably the all-around best washing machine you can purchase brand new today. They will outlast many front loaders, they are relatively affordable, everyone seems to sell them, and parts and service aren't too difficult. Yes, there are better washers out there, but the DDs are (in my opinion) the best balance of price, durability, effectiveness, and style.

If you must have new, go with a DD,
Dave

 

[spaniel50]

Maytag Centennial Tl washer continued

I am not a washer collector but I can tell you if they are a Whirlpool on the inside I was unhappy with the new Whirlpool washer and dryer I purchased because of the following reasons. I replaced them with a Maytag Neptune FL washer and dryer which I love. The problems that I found on the Whirlpools were as follows:
(1) both washer and dryer were very noisy
(2) washer was rough on clothes
(3) didn't get the clothes clean
I owned a Maytag washer and dryer for over 30 years and assumed all tl washers were about the same. The Maytag Neptune was superior in washing ability,very quiet and I have cut my salt for the softner almost in half. The Whirlpool was always getting off balance which has never happened with the Neptune or my old Maytags. I do like the look of the Maytag Centennial but I was very unhappy with my Whirlpool TL washer and dryer.

 

[spaniel50]

Maytag Centennial TL washer continued

Here is a picture of the Maytag Neptunes that I replaced the new Whirlpools. It is my understanding that they quit making the Maytag Neptunes after Whirlpool took over Maytag.

 

[johnb300m]

We have that Neptune Dryer from 2003. It's awesome.
If our LA511 ever dies, I wonder if i'll be able to find my parents the matching Neptune washer....

I agree the Centennial washer/dryer combo is practically beautiful for a pair of laundry appliances.

But that DD system, I am not a fan of....I'd get it if I was pressed to the wall.
Not a DD fan.

 

[brant_ix]

No Problem at All

Hi DrHardee...

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, work has been very busy and time has been tight.

I'll try to give as much detail as I can...

My Maytag Centennial was not a Direct Drive machine, The repair guy had opened the machine up and there were belts and a transmission. Maybe that changed? It may be dependant on model or year, I can't say. The repair man opened the washer as a favor when he had come to fix the dryer. He told me these machines had the main design since around the 1940's with very few changes to them.

We bought the Maytag MTW5920TWO Washer and MED5820TWO Dryer. We decided on them because they had the Stainless Steel Wash Tub, The Beautiful Retro look, all the options and the Commercial Grade Parts.

When they arrived were very excited about them! Unfortunately, on day 1, the dryer would trip the circuit breaker every time it went into Cool Down. He came out 5 times and replaced all the Timer and Switch parts.
Long story short, they deemed it unrepairable. They replaced essentially everything in the mechanics and never got it to work the way it was supposed to. The Wrinkle Guard never worked, the timer would just keep advancing and the clothes would never turn. I don't hold any grudge to the dryer, Maytag or Whirlpool. I wouldn't rule the dryer out had the washer not been a disappointment. I think we just got a bad machine, and it happens.

With the washer, it was a big disappointment, it went off balance fairly frequently and was depositing white pieces of plastic on the clothes. Turned out that the top Balance ring which sits on the Stainless Steel wash tub snapped out of its tab locks and was grinding itself. Once I figured that out, I just rotated it back into place; it did come out again and the washer wasn't overloaded on half a load. The tabs are plastic and flimsy so I guess I wasn't really all that surprised. You know that my biggest complaint was that it was loud. Our washer and dryer are on the second floor right over the kitchen. So when it was washing, all you would here through the house is "whump da Whump da whump" during the wash cycle. I watched it a couple times and it was doing good turnover, it also had the 100 degree arc of agitation as opposed to the 90, so the spiral agitator would have a 1/2 sec to pause. Then even when it was spinning properly, sometimes you would hear gears grinding; a high pitched whiring sound. I also thought it would at least spin faster that the average 618 RPM since it was a 3 Speed Transmission.

Ya, I knew it wasn't an Original Maytag, but I didn't think it would be your less than average washer especially if I was buying the top of the line model. When they took the washer away, there was some pink grease on the floor from underneath it. About a tablespoon between 2 areas.

On the Positive Side, it definitely got the clothes clean, and despite the avg spin speed, the clothes were OK damp dry. It looks very stylish and definetly had the Heavy Duty commercial feel. You probably know they were the old KitchenAid and Whirlpool Catalyst lines and they had good history and reviews.

Having always been a fan of the 80's Kenmore's and Maytags and how quiet they were compared to these, they just didn't live up to the hype. And I couldn't LIVE with myself if I settled on a washer and dryer simply because they looked good, and didn't do the job I needed them to.

I hope this helped! Good Luck!
~Brant

 

[DADoES]

Brant,

If this is the model, Maytag MTW5820TW, then it was direct-drive.  Whirlpool has not manufactured belt-drive toploaders since approx 1985.  Being that they bought Maytag about 20 years later, any Maytag-labeled washer built by Whirlpool couldn't be anything other than direct-drive.  Direct-drive Whirlpools have a transmission, but there is no belt.  The motor drives the transmission via the coupler shown below.  If the repairman said that this machine is of the same design as one from the 1940s, then he needs to go back to school!

 

[funguy10]

all you would here through the house is "whump da Whump

Actually, I think the sound of an agitating DD Whirlpool sounds more like "Chun-Ka Chun-Ka Chun-ka".

 

[iheartmaytag]

I currently own a real Maytag, not a Whirl-tag. But I did have a nasty experience with a Whirl-crap before I bought my Tags.

Prior my mother would only have GE. I grew up with Filter-flo machines. When we bought a new house in 94, the Whirlys were there and ony five years old. Our set of GEs were near 18 years old and we decided to keep the newer machines. Besides being very small capacity, and hard on the clothes the machine cleaned well. The main problem I had was if you used a hot water wash, the drain hose would come off the plastic coupler on the pump and dump water all over my kitchen. When I am standing in water up to my ankles in my Kitchen it is not a good time for a man on the Whirlpool cool ine to tell me "That isn't our problem you have a defective machine." When it did this for the second time in two weeks I told the repair man I was going to trade them for a new GE.

He warned me that GE wasn't what it used to be and I should look at the Maytags. The new Tags were delivered a few days later and I have not been displeased in the last 15 years.

My decree is: "THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER WHIRLPOOL APPLIANCE IN MY HOME AGAIN--EVER". If you are able to look at their guts the Whirls TL anyway are very cheaply built.

 

[tuthill]

iheartmaytag

You may have had a bad experience with Whirlpool's, but to say that Whirlpool DD's are cheaply made is kind of a false statement. Many complain that they are rough on clothes, but the can clean a large load very well, and the whole design is solid and proven.

 

[mrb627]

In person?

Amazingly, these Maytags look better in the pix then they do in person, IMO.

MRB

 

[iheartmaytag]

tuthill

Sorry, we will have to agre to disagree.

Often we are creatures of what we know. There used to be nothing in our house but GE, until their quality started lacking.

The Whirl-crap appliances I have owned demonstrated a very short usable life cycle before they gave problems.

The Real Maytags I currently own--Washer, Dryer, Dishwasher, Convection Range, and Refrigerator are all solidly built and serving well.

I do think Whirlpool with the largest share of American Laundry appliances is a strong company, but I also tend to compare them the the automaker GM. They seem to feel that since they are so large the consumers should accept anything they put out there and be happy with them. I wasn't.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Whirlpools, et al....

I very much respect Dave's (Volvoguy87's) viewpoint on the DD washers. No washer today is what they were 20-25 years ago, sadly, but then again their respective prices aren't the same either. I wouldn't take a DD over a Whirlpool BD ever, BUT, if I had to buy something new, today, a Whirlpool DD would without question be my choice.

Personally, I respect the corporaton in general. I like that they seem to keep parts available on older products as long as they're selling, and I like how they don't change things just for the sake of changing them. A 1992 DD for example is comparable to a 2008 DD, mechanically. Because the DD is so common, servicers are plentiful, if/when needed.

A recent visit to a local used appliance shop/graveyard showed me something interesting: Of the 60+ washers out back in the junk, probaly only 6 were DDs, and they were from the mid 90s. There were some shells of a few others, but there were far more recent GEs, Frigidaires, and even Maytags (some were Norgetags) as compared to Whirlpools/Kenmores/Ropers, etc. If the population of junk followed sales histories, the yard should have been 50% or more WP products. There were some competitor's machines out there made in the late 90s, even a couple from 2000 and 2001, but NOT Whirlpool stuff.

The DDs ARE noisy, and their sounds are not particularly satisfying to listen to. They CAN be hard on clothes, but that's why a decent one has variable agitation speeds selectable by a knob. On the other hand, most still have porcelain on steel baskets, which are more and more a throw-back to prehistoric days, at least in the current marketplace. There is even a minor smattering of parts in a DD that originated in the old belt drives (spin tube design, spin bearings, tub drive blocks, centerpost gasket, etc.).

For what those machines have to put up with (mega sized loads, ruthless owners, and a marketplace that won't allow a sales price that can pay for some decent quality) a DD gets done what it needs to, at least I think, in a very respectable way.

I don't know that I'd buy a Maytag version though.....I think my dollar would go to Roper or Amana (Lowes has both) or if I was feeling nostalgic, Kenmore. I don't see what in a Maytag DD would justify their higher prices.