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I once had a Danby model with a bottom-mount impeller (like the kind that you'd find on the side of a twin-tub washer like the Hoovers) that was awful. The clothes were always horribly tangled and full of lint. That one got replaced with an early 70's Inglis!
 
I have to second the direct drive Whirlpool/Shredmore machines. Not because of their build quality (which is also despicable IMHO), but because of the abusive wash action. I had one that came with the house. I HATED that machine. I was buying clothes every 4-6 months from shredding and holes. I NEVER overload my machines, there weren't any burrs on the tub or agitator either! It was just THAT violent....ugh!
 
Come on folks - I think we can come up with some suggestions better than a Whirlpool DD or even a later WCI machine. In economies the size of those in Europe, Australia, and the U.S., truly bad products don't stay on the market for very long when there are alternatives available. It works just as in nature - survival of the fittest. This would surely apply to the Direct Drive washers which have been manufactured in one form or another for 29 years (admittedly in small relative numbers the first couple years) and to the WCI design as well. I am less familiar with it, but I'd guess it has been around a decade or two as well, or longer? The DD WP has been the widest selling washer in the world for a number of recent years in a row.

Based on what Robert has posted in the Deluxe forum about two 2003/2004 Whirlpool Duet machines that have already suffered catastrophic failures...if that is a sign of things to come, they may be right up there on my list. An $800 machine that lasts 6 years is unacceptable.

I am a Whirlpool fan in general, but the Calypso and it's class-action lawsuit (settled in 2007) comes to mind too, as does the Maytag Neptune and it's class action suit, which was settled in 2005. Neither of these machines survived the public outcry in their exact form.

Gordon
 
Here in Brazil the worst washer was Lavinia 4kg (late 70's)
It had no agitator or impeller. It's an average top loader with a drum with fins, just like the front loaders.

It would work great if.... the drum had an horizontal axis.
it was ridiculous to watch that drum "agitating" like crazy and the clothes completelly stopped in the center.

Deppending on the load, some parts wouldn't even get wet.
 
My Vote Goes To...

...The infamous Maytag Neptune, which I feel embodied everything that is wrong with appliance design and manufacture today. It was intended to be energy-efficient and save water too. Unfortunately, due to poor boot design and lousy mainboard quality, many Neppies ended up scrapped years sooner than they should have been, a complete waste of the energy and resources used to build them. It is true that the problems were later corrected, more or less, but not before many consumers gave up on their Neptunes - and on Maytag.

What a contrast to Maytag's other big failure, their combo machines of the '60s. In that case, Maytag did everything but get search warrants to get the machines back and replace them to consumers. Nobody had to file suit, because they were properly taken care of. And Maytag stopped production of the machines right away, rather than blithely telling consumers that nothing was really wrong for several years before finally, reluctantly, beginning to make things right.
 
rollamatic gm frigidaire, the worst piece of junk frigidaire produced. even the 59' multimatic was better and that is not saying much. None finer than the unimatic.
 
I must go with the Direct Drive Kenmores. Not necissarly due to quality because we had a 70 series washer and dryer from 1988-2001 and replaced them with a 80 series set and we do on average of 15-18 loads a week, most are large loads.
It is just the fact that they are so rough on the clothes. I am forever mending the seams on my scrubs and lab coats on my Singer, not to mention that they come out twisted in knots that they all need iorned while damp with a heavy steam iron and heavily starched. It has also started to wear thin spots in my scrubs, which are not cheap to replace since a pair of pants and shirt are around $45 plus lab coats are $30 each. and it shreds tee shirts very quickly.
 
Belt drive Whirlmores or Kenpools (?) Can't be...

Jim, did you actually mean direct drive "...Whirlmores or Kenpools"? If not, what is wrong with the belt drive models?

Andrew S.
 
Well I'd say the BD's get points for popularity, longevity, and reliability, but IMO they are dreadful washers. Neutral drain coupled with a pathetic spin are my biggest beefs.
 
While early Neptunes were problem children, I'm still fond of them. I always said that the Neptune design was a slow SHARP learning curve taken WAY too quick. What I hated were the early model WCI washers like the Gibson or Frigidaire. Noisy and a pain to repair. Making it so you'd have to dismantle the pump to try to change the belt was one step above root canals w/o painkillers. LGS springs that would break, and LONG before Neptune, these had the pricey lid switch/lock assy that would burn out, sometimes with a fair amount of smoke! How many customers would break that little plastic 'eye' on the lid so they could open the washer without having to deal with the lock assy?

RCD
 

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