Modern Whirlpool

[gelaundry4ever]

It appears that Combo52's earlier ill-mannered and childish comments were removed. I apologize to Ben, (Mrstickball,) if he saw John Lefever's hateful response before administration removed it.
As far as the video being "click bait" that is Combo's personal perception of someone's motivation and not reality.
I didn't attach Ben's video to denigrate Whirlpool, but to bring about discussion. Yes, there is much decline in Whirlpool quality, but there is a reason. That reason extends to many other appliance manufacturers as well.
I pointed out earlier in the year, that we had moved, and the builder had placed a new Whirlpool dishwasher in the house and it leaked from a bad seal. Thankfully, our inspector caught it before we moved in. I got a 600 dollar allowance from the builder, and he removed the defective dishwasher. That doesn't say a lot about Whirlpool's quality control, although that was one machine and I can't make an overt generalization from one data point. BTW, I replaced the defective Whirlpool with a older non-tall tub GE tower-wash which, of course, washes with perfection.

The builder also had a Whirlpool over-the-range microwave (imported, of course) which works great. We also purchased a new Whirlpool counter-depth refrigerator. Time will show how reliable it is.

I certainly want to support Whirlpool, as it us the last U.S. owned full-line major appliance manufacturer. Just because of their size and massive sales volume doesn't mean they can't fail. I certainly hope they do not, and hope they never sell off to another manufacturer.

Sadly, U.S. consumers seem to want high tech snd low costs over higher price and quality.

Case in point is Alliance's Speed Queen. Great quality, but steep price and they have, sadly, a very low percentage of the residential laundry market, sales-wise.

Unless consumers are willing to start paying for quality over glitz, I think we will continue to see an overall decline in products...for all appliance manufacturers.

Tragically, nobody cares.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I pray Speed Queen Home doesn't go this route but I won't hold my breath.

Forgot about SQ, but it’s still touting real knobs not robotic touchscreens and diabolical bloops and bleeps, but I tuned down a similar Amana set on its way to the sole survivor of medical controls because those seemed too spartan not offering as many cycles, independent speed combinations or even temperature controls or even an extra rinse as my Kenmore that I now miss…

Probably still wish SQ would not be the last old school because I’m not as big a fan of the American Motors of laundry as I am the Ford, General Motors and Chrysler of, that General Electric, Maytag and Whirlpool once were!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Tragically, nobody cares.

Okay, then I’ll agree…

 

[vacerator]

Neighbors behind us get upset when we or the ones two doors over feed the squirrels peanuts. Why? Blue jay's eat them too.
I just want to enjoy life. I don't bother anyone, and don't want to be bothered. I'm in the twilight 20 years of life. The rest isn't worth fretting over. It isn't my problem anymore. Find a reason to seize each day we're given.

 

[phillymatt53]

Forgot about SQ, but it’s still touting real knobs not robotic touchscreens and diabolical bloops and bleeps, but I tuned down a similar Amana set on its way to the sole survivor of medical controls because those seemed too spartan not offering as many cycles, independent speed combinations or even temperature controls or even an extra rinse as my Kenmore that I now miss…

Probably still wish SQ would not be the last old school because I’m not as big a fan of the American Motors of laundry as I am the Ford, General Motors and Chrysler of, that General Electric, Maytag and Whirlpool once were!

The control styling and "touting real knobs"

That's only a styling design, because behind those knobs is quite likely the same fragile electronics with the same types of issues.
A Printed Circuit Board with dozens of components on it.
And most likely it's made overseas in some slave factory with little to no Quality Control.

How many "washer repairmen" know, or have been trained, on troubleshooting or actually repairing something like that?
Of course, you'd need a Schematic Diagram/service manual to even proceed with anything.
You'd have to be educated on logic signals, microprocessors, voltage regulators, etc etc etc....

Instead, the repairman is forced to "just change" the board with another one.
And hope for the best.

 

[reactor]

Neighbors behind us get upset when we or the ones two doors over feed the squirrels peanuts. Why? Blue jay's eat them too.
I just want to enjoy life. I don't bother anyone, and don't want to be bothered. I'm in the twilight 20 years of life. The rest isn't worth fretting over. It isn't my problem anymore. Find a reason to seize each day we're given.

It's none of your neighbor's concern...if you enjoy feeding the squirrels, and we know they enjoy it, then carry on, by all means We feed the opossums and stray cats every night.

 

[vacerator]

I agree reactor. Their complaint was the peanut shells. They called the city, and animal control agreed with them. They also complained about our neighbors feeding the stray cats. At least we don't have mice, or rats. The city set traps for the cats, which outsmarted them. They neuter and spay them and release in the same area anyway.

 

[TAG]

Better to capture the cats and have them neutered ... we don't need more feral cats around. They also capture native birds in numbers not to be believed ... they are apex predators

 

[phillymatt53]

Better to capture the cats and have them neutered ... we don't need more feral cats around. They also capture native birds in numbers not to be believed ... they are apex predators

There's a stray cat that haunts the neighborhood here.
Last week, it sat on my front patio several times, meowing real loud, even screaming.
The patio is directly below my bedroom windows, you can imagine the noise when trying to get some sleep at 1AM.
I cured that critter real quick..... I kept a large glass of water on the windowsill to dump down on that noisy beast.

 

[TAG]

Two things can occur at the same time that have little to do with one another. In the early 70's when oil prices increased the Japanese had the cars that people wanted. Small and fuel efficient. Lot was going on in the early 70's that upended markets -- like the end of the gold standard and the oil embargo. Japan was also operating on different kind of manufacturing, one that grew out of scarcity. The result was the desire for 0% component failure and just in time manufacturing.

It did not matter what US manufactures were going to do in 1975 -- the Japanese could produce what a huge part of the country wanted .. better and cheaper.

The same thing happened to appliance makers. It does not matter how great your top load washers are if they can't be sold because of some new government requirement or consumers no longer want them. Also -- Take an old style direct drive kenmore/ whirlpool washer. Everybody will say "what not just remake that simple unit". The question -- "how much would it cost to make that unit? I can tell you it's cheaper to make a touch panel and control board than to make buttons and mechanical timer. It's like auto climate control vs manual ... you may pay more for the auto climate. It does not = that it costs more to build (it does not)

I'm not a huge microwave user and typically hide it away or place it under a counter in a cubby when I do a kitchen. I recently had to buy one ... no one makes a "nice" microwave. they re all basically throw away products. What would it cost to make a great one ? Who would buy it ?

Same for almost any appliance. I have owned Asko, F&P and Miele dishwashers. I have only bought Bosch/ Thermador or Whirlpool. IMO -- Today as far as performance they are all about the same. I don't like the layout of the new Thermador vs the older Bosch units and of the three euro units I liked the Asko the best. I needed a dishwasher for a second condo I own in SC a couple of years ago. The second from the top 3 drawer Whirlpool stainless front from Costco was $550 installed after discounts -- with a 3 year warranty. I'm wondering how anyone can compete with that ? Was my 2k Thermador worth it ?

Try buying a built in refrigerator today ... not many out there.

Whirlpool is up against a lot of competition and the quest for lower cost manufacture is never ending .. it's the only way to survive. The fact that they have a problem in design manufacture is not a surprise ... it happens to everybody. It's how you deal with the problem.

I am always amazed at some situations. It's one thing in manufacture when designers come and say we have to build in more life to a given part because we can't design in easy replacement ... it's something else when they go cheap with something w/o thinking about if it fails.

 

[TAG]

There's a stray cat that haunts the neighborhood here.
Last week, it sat on my front patio several times, meowing real loud, even screaming.
The patio is directly below my bedroom windows, you can imagine the noise when trying to get some sleep at 1AM.
I cured that critter real quick..... I kept a large glass of water on the windowsill to dump down on that noisy beast.

I was speaking to a guy at a party a few years ago and mentioned that I had a family of fox in my yard for the first time ever and I have owned this property for 30 years. I told him I had an eight pound Pomeranian now and she just looked at them (mother and kids). He happened to work for the state of NJ in wild life conservation and I was wondering why they were now around etc. I also mentioned we have fewer stray cats around (my property backs up to a large conserved park) ... he told me coyotes. He them said they entered Camden NJ and eliminated the stray cat problem. They will go after a cat and the fox being native are smart enough to move away

 

[phillymatt53]

I was speaking to a guy at a party a few years ago and mentioned that I had a family of fox in my yard for the first time ever and I have owned this property for 30 years. I told him I had an eight pound Pomeranian now and she just looked at them (mother and kids). He happened to work for the state of NJ in wild life conservation and I was wondering why they were now around etc. I also mentioned we have fewer stray cats around (my property backs up to a large conserved park) ... he told me coyotes. He them said they entered Camden NJ and eliminated the stray cat problem. They will go after a cat and the fox being native are smart enough to move away

We rarely ever see opossums wandering around, the nearest park is about 2 or 3 miles away.