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48bencix

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
797
Location
Sacramento CA
I am looking for a new washer and dryer pair. My Maytag LAT2500 is 17 years old and needs a new transmission. I prefer matching because the set is in my kitchen. I am considering 3 models prices include delivery installation and tax:

Speed Queen top load AWN432SP113TW04 and matching dryer for about $1900.

Maytag top load MVWC565FW and matching dryer for about $1200.

LG front load WM3670HWA and matching dryer for about $1800.

Speed Queen is available at Zajic Appliance the others at Home Depot. I include 5 year service contract for the Maytag and LG washers since they may be more troublesome.

Speed Queen is good for a traditional top load although expensive. I do not like the dryer lint screen that you wipe with your finger. The dryer has some negative reviews.

The Maytag has an agitator and the option of deep wash and if fabric softener is selected, deep rinse. I think the design is interesting and possibly fun to use. The dryer has a proven design that Whirlpool has used for probably 40 years with the top mount lint screen. I would not buy a service contract for the dryer.

LG has pretty decent reliability ratings at Consumer Reports for a Front Loader. This machine would be the most economical to run and would wash well with no adjustments. I would not buy a service contract for the dryer.

Home Depot says that if the control board goes out they will give you back the purchase price and you can just buy a new machine. That seems to be the big expensive item in the new machines. The Speed Queen has a old style timer. Pretty foolproof. I found a video on the new style belt drive machines like the Maytag and actually the repairs look pretty easy, with the exception of the expensive control board.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybsyVXLfkfQ
48bencix-2017022615332101627_2.jpg

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48bencix-2017022615332101627_1.png
 
I would go with the lg. Because they are in your kitchen, I would rule out the speed queens just for the fact that they will be the noisiest.

Save yourself the $ on the extended service contract and just buy a $10 surge protector.
 
.
By far the best deal in laundry equipment is buying nearly new used stuff. Or better yet, new but unboxed machines used in home staging or other similar backstories.
I almost grabbed a TOL Samsung FL washer unused for $500 on Friday...not the $1400 plus it would retail for.
This machine advertised in your area is going for $215 and has only been used 2 years.

Ad copy:

Very good washer for sale. It works really well and never had any trouble with anything not working.
The only issue it has is that it accumulated some mold around the rubber part and we don't want to fuss with it so we want to just a buy a new one.
It was purchased brand new at the end of 2014 so it's fairly new.
Otherwise, it works beautifuly. If your interested or have any questions. please call the phone number listed in the contact info. We will be able to show it thursday the 23rd after 1 pm.
There has been interest so it is first come first serve. thank you!

http://https//sacramento.craigslist.org/app/6011055375.html
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I'd buy the LG WM3670 FL, they clean very well and spin out well too, if water level becomes an issue, a "water plus" option is available which will add more water.
 
I'd say:

Speed Queen.

LG just has too many problems with the electronics.

Modern Maytags aren't - they're just cheap Whirlpool Estate/Roper clones at four times the price.

Mutton dressed as lamb.

No matter how cute the Maytag guy is in the ads - you're just paying too doggone much for a Kirkland.

Personally? I'd go vintage Maytag. Last longer, be less trouble.

 
 
Best Washer-Dryer Choice [ Matched Pair ]

SQ, but shop for a better price than you found, We charge less than $1600 for the pair you looked including del & install, in fact people that pick them up at our shop get them for less than $1400.

 

Next best bet something from WP-MT, but skip the service contract, and keep in mind that dryers have more service calls in the first 15 years of life than the washer, washers just tend to eventually have a big repair that makes them not worth repairing, but that seldom occurs in the first five years, and if it does a decent manufacturer will usually give you some of your money back.

 

I would skip the LGs the dryers are cheap copies of WP dryers and are hard to repair and troublesome.

 

I have never had a complaint about SQs dryer lint filter but you can remove the screw that holds it in place and take the filter out to clean it if you like. The SQ dryer is very much like your MT dryer except it is faster drying and bigger inside, I don't know whats not to like, we certainly have had no complaints after selling hundreds of them.
 
What's not to like?

Belts that need replacing, timer issues on dryers, bearing failures, we had it all in the past year on here.
Oh, yeah, and the troublsome service experience they have.
And the absurd water usage by todays standard.

How the LG dryer is a copy of the WP design is a mystery to me. The only simmilarity I can see is that of any dryer to each other.

The LGs will be most likely the most hit or miss thing. Some love theirs, some hate it.
There are several videos by member of his LG with TurboWash operating, you could check then to see how they operate.
The dryers however appear to tend to tangle the load.

I personally would skip both TL options. Most who used a good FL properly would never go back.

If you shop around, look for the new ELux line or a Whirlpool or Maytag FL pair. Scratch and dent isles can give you a really good bargain.

Extended servics contracts: We buy them, but only if the policy makes sense. Some reduce the amount of payback in case of a non repairable issue after a certain time, these usually end up not quite as valuable as those with 100% coverage.
But I can see the reasoning not to buy them.
 
.
Combo John, would you now have a SQ TL machine in your washroom? Cause in the past you have said, "no way!"

SQ dryers & TL machines feel and function like the crudely design equipment they are. The upside is they supposedly will last longer. I however see few if any pepole posting about their 20 year old SQ's other than they leaked like hell and were chucked out long short of 20 years of use.
Both of the SQ machines you are looking at are looked down upon by Reviewed.com as being some of the worst performing machines out there *for the money*.
Add to that persons who rave about SQ but later qualify with, "make sure you have a good SQ tech in your area", and "buy from a dealer who will go to bat for you in case something come up"...
says to me i should have looked longer before i bought SQ's.

Appliances are a collection of components which may or may not have been made with good quality control. I own a trouble prone SQ washer and the feeling is i'm stuck with it cause SQ doesn't replace or refund like some other domestic manufacturers seem to. That said when it works i like it...but such a qualifier seems ridiculous considering the price paid.
[this post was last edited: 2/27/2017-10:12]
 
Time to haul out the

I'm a German living in America, not a German-American. I know the appliance market in Germany and in the US, so:

1) Extended warranties in the EU are not comparable to the very expensive and highly limited not-worth-the-paper-they're-written-on 'policies' common in the US.

2) LG appliances in Europe are NOT<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">the same as LG appliances sold in the US. I loved my LG washer as much as my Miele in Munich, but the standards and components and QC is </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">not the same, at all</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for the appliances sold here in the US as it is for their appliances sold in Europe. Stop comparing them, you're comparing two entirely different things.</span>

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">3) Maytag in the US, today, may look prettier than Roper/Estate but you're still paying several times as much for the same Roper/Estate innards. Which aren't that bad - just, why pay </span>Cadillac<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Cimarron prices for a Chevy </span>Celebrity<span style="font-size: 12pt;">?</span>

4) Water usage for TLs verus water usage for FLs in the EU is a false equivalence. Apart from the fact that rinsing clothes in water doesn't limit it's re-use. Must we go down the incorrect classification of Natriumphosphat in Germany pathway again on every single aspect of laundry?

5) Speed Queen is overpriced. So is Persil. Get over it.

6) Performance measurements of washers have to be read through very carefully. Öko-Test magazine used to fail the performance of a washer/dishwasher if it was shipped with protective Styropor instead of honeycomb recycling (sic) cardboard, regardless of how well it otherwise worked. Same applies to 'test' companies in the US - when you go through the fine print, you find out the tests aren't relevant to the real world.

 

Martin is, as always, quite clear here as to his questions - I think we should answer them as did John regarding the lint filter, not pontificate about comparisons of apples to oranges.
 
SQ TL Washers

Hi Robert I said that I would never have one in my personal laundry room as I prefer FL washers, but we sell SQ TL washers 4 to 1 over their FL machines, and we have had about ZERO problems with any of the SQ products we have sold, this includes the 600+ TL, FL and dryers we have sold.

We are also providing the service for six other companies selling SQ in our area and I under stand that SQ has sold more that 15,000 have been sold in our service area and we have had almost no service calls and none serious, I don't know of a single machine that had to be replaced.
 
I just got off the phone

It was even a landline POTS phone.

Called our appliance sales and service centre. They service all of Southern Wyoming, Nebraska panhandle, much of Northern Colorado. Here's what the man (in his mid-70s, been doing this since the 1950s) said:

Speed Queen has some problems with their harnesses. Corrosion. Some problems with premature bearing failures.

Nothing, absolutely nothing even close to comparable to the problems with GE/LG. Better than the Whirlpool group. He won't do Samsung (won't repeat his comments on them). Says, if he could only take one machine with him to a desert island (we're in a deep-freeze here, so his choice of words is telling), it would be a SQ TL.

 

So - zero service calls, ever? Not what John said and not what my local parts guru says. So glad he bought back the business! But nothing, at all, even remotely close to the LG problems, nothing at all in the ballpark with the GE trash coming out these days. 

And better than the entire Whirlpool group.

 

Oh, and, yes, dear anal-retentives: I specifically asked whether this was adjusted for volume. He said 'absolutely'. For the volume, Whirlpool today makes some very good machines, highly serviceable, more easily serviced than SQ. But - SQ failed far less often.

 

Let's be honest - isn't some of this simply the old 'I'm a Chevy guy vs. I'm a Ford dude?'
 
.
I adjusted my comment Pantera. The essence is unchanged, but do not want to appear to disparage Combo John or anyone else here.
I also clearly made my remarks about SQ with deference to what one pays new....but maybe you didn't see that?

[this post was last edited: 2/27/2017-15:21]
 
Absolutely great replies

Thanks for the replies and discussion. The Home Depot service contract is based on the appliance price so for the Maytag it is $100, $125 for LG. I never have purchased a service contract on any appliance. I fixed my Maytag dryer, the ignitor and the timer over the years. Both machines still work the washer has O rings almost completely gone, on the agitate shaft, so I replaced them and it seems all right so far. I am doing the research so I can replace after total failure. I could replace the transmission on the LAT2500 but it doesn't seem worth it.

One thing against the front loader is I have a wood floor and if the thing vibrates too much I would need to go into the crawl space and reinforce the floor.

I am keeping my eye on Craigslist ads because you can find some bargains there, we got a GE pair for my Mother in law next door for $600 almost brand new, a divorce sale.

I could also get the SQ and keep my dryer because they really almost match, the SQ looks a lot like a 17 year old Maytag.

I looked at Sears also but I kind of want to stay away from them, they charge for delivery unless you have a Sears Card. They are having other problems also.

Although I do not like the non-agitator TL machines GE makes one that has a warm rinse option, the only warm rinse option that I know of in a new machine.
 
No Robert, i did not see

The edit. My browser doesn't update this website automatically.

I, also, meant no offence - we've been through all of this for many years now and we'll still be going through it for many decades to come.

Including the hysterical water usage (I lived in Neuhausen for pity's sake - worrying about water in Germany is about as silly as it gets).

Including the whole false claims about the danger of TSP.
 
Fl wood floors

Most modern FLs don't have the resonance problem with wood floors they once did - Electrolux in particular has a suspension/electronic tuning to avoid exactly that.

So - you might want to investigate that more, if an FL comes into question, at all.
 
It will be no surprise that I cast my vote for the LG front load pair. It is what I have and I have NEVER had a set that held more clothes and large items and washed and rinsed as well as the washer and the dryer works perfectly too. Front load machines are what is overtaking top load machines. They are easier on your clothes, have virtually no linting and use less water. Only drawback is that the washer takes longer for a cycle. The dryer takes less time since the washer spins out practically dry when they come out. Mine are actually badged Kenmore Elite, but made by LG. I have a service contract on both, although I have not needed it so far in the over 3 years I have had them.
 
"I personally would skip both TL options. Most who used a good FL properly would never go back"

Count me in! Our current Whirlpool Duet washer mismatched with a Kenmore (Samsung DV419AEW Equivalent) dryer replaced our old set which was a Maytag Dryer and an Inglis direct drive washer (top load). The washer that we own now, cleans EVERYTHING VERY WELL, towels come out whiter without using bleach, something our older top loader still couldn't do even when bleach was used. If your willing to spend a little more, you could get a great Maytag/Whirlpool FL set, better than the LG. Our Whirlpool Duet is a little over 2 years old now and there are NO ISSUES at all.
 
Speed Wash

If I get the LG I would like to try Speed Wash Cycle. The salesman at Best Buy said that he has an LG and always uses Speed Wash. Of course if I had mud on my clothes from gardening I would use a Normal Cycle. It does annoy me that the cycle times are so long. Part of it is the extra rinses required by the front load design. Part is the sensing to determine water quantity and balancing for the spins.

My mom had the Bendix front loader from 1944 and we used it through the 1960's because my dad kept replacing the bearing. A lot of clothes for a family of 6 went through that machine. Picture is from Post# 549607. Notice the small door below the tub? You could unsnap the retainer and remove the filter to clean out lint and perhaps coins. LG has this feature in the front load machines, I think Samsung has it also.

48bencix-2017022714315201596_1.jpg
 
Excellent Video

I enjoyed the video and saw that you made other videos of the cycles on this washer, on YouTube. So, no spin between wash and rinse? Seems like this would get more detergent out of the clothes. I could try the other cycles if I get this washer. The spin, while you say isn't that high, is pretty fast and I am sure gets a lot of water out of the clothes. I think the direct drive motor is a good feature.

I did see an LG FL set at Manuel Joseph that was $599 each unit. It is not on the internet, only at the store. That may be worth looking into, possibly an older model.

Needless to say, the glass door on most FL washers is a plus for the entertainment value.
 
no spin between wash and rinse

Martin, that's why I won't use the quick wash on my Duet.  How, I will say the LG with TurboWash selected will give a spin/spray rinse after the deep rinse.  But if I was using this wash3er, I'd still select an optional rinse.  I also cannot see anything getting clean in 3 minutes unless it just needs to be refreshed.  I did notice in the owners manual this speed cycle does allow steam as an option. 
 
(Disclaimer: Not my videos but I do agree, I love watching the action especially seeing how the spins fair out) One thing that i do love about the LG's is how they have a re-circulation pump...and the spray rinses in the spin, something I wish my Whirlpool Duet other manufactures added to machines, it seems like a long over due feature so good on LG for that feature and really could cut down time.
 
Just a thought:

The SQ TL are very well made machines and will likely outlast the other options you are looking at but are old school.  That being said I would still choose them but with the electronic controller so you get a FULL 5 YEAR warranty.  Without buying a service contract.   

If you could swing it the BEST option is the SQ FL.  A true commercial washer adapted to home use.  They are quite expensive but will last for decades.  I do not regret buying mine.

WK78
 
I have the LG 3670. I'd get the LG with Turbo wash. Do you need steam? What is the capacity of the SQ? I can wash my king comforter in the 3670, and do bigger loads than in my Kenmore 90 series. What used to be 5 loads is now 3. Delay Start is awesome- I wake up to a load of laundry ready to hang on laundry day. Laundry day used to be 4 hours, now it's 3. Love the Water Plus feature.
 

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