First new washer and dryer in 26 years.

[NickD 203]

Got a new Maytag washer with a MSRP of $1,360.00 for $599.00 with free delivery, would even have taken my old machines, but wife wanted me to keep them. So we moved those down in the basement for now. Recall paying 800 bucks for that pair, had a lot of use since 1985 to 1995, but kept them well maintained. Were valued at $750.00 in 95, really complained about that during my divorce, wife wouldn't take them, so got stuck in paying her $375.00 for those then old worn out machines. Also was able to keep my machine shop after paying her for that as well, so I took both machines completely apart and rebuilt them, better than new. With my kids getting old and married, the usage greatly decreased. My new wife loved those machines and asked why I wanted to buy new ones.

Just said, we replaced just about everything in our home, would like to depart with these memories as well, she being very frugal agreed to this purchase. Her machines in Venezuela were a complete wreck, but managed to get both working well in our last trip down there using the bare minimum of tools. My old machines still looked like new. Old washer is a walker, always had problems with my wife and step daughter, clothes had to be laid evenly one at a time for proper balance. Wife caught on, step daughter just dumped them in there, buzzer would go off and the machine was half away across out laundry room. Even put up a large sign in Spanish, clean the dryer filter before use. Ha, daughter would never pay attention to that.

New machines have automatic balancing, and the dryer won't kick on unless the filter is clean. Was the first on the list for delivery yesterday, made their job easy, removed the doors for easy access, moved my old machines, just said set them down, I will do the the rest. But they insisted they had to hook up the washer to make sure it worked. It did, but took it apart anywhere, don't like tangled up lines and like to make sure all the screws are tight, some were loose. Only did one load so far, really quiet, but had to read the instructions to figure out how to turn them on. Hundreds of different combinations are possible. Energy Star rated, at my electrical rates should only cost a dime per cycle. And water usage is about 75% less. Now I have to learn about high efficiency detergent, do they really have that? Talk to my sons about that, they use the regular stuff, says it works just as well and a lot cheaper.

Wife wasn't sure about that cherry red color, but would have cost us 800 bucks more for any different color, so she is thinking about a new paint scheme for our laundry room. Will give a couple of weeks for that, she is very good on interior decorating, just said we can close the laundry room door for now. About the only thing left is my old Panasonic three tube projector, it's large, weights about 130 pounds and is sitting on a nice looking coffee table in the middle of the room. She did make me get rid of my old milk boxes it was sitting on. But she loves that ten foot super bright picture. My kids got very expensive projectors with those 700 buck light bulbs, but need pitch black dark rooms to see a decent picture. We get a better picture with the drapes open. But thank God, for me, no Black Friday specials on projectors. This thing sold for $14,000.00 in 1992 was dropped from a truck and forgotten about, got it for five bucks with only 1/2 hour on the timer. Completely took it apart and rebuilt it painting it my wife's favorite color. They don't make projectors like this anymore and new isn't always better.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I just wanted to say that I really enjoy reading your posts!

[aidan80 9]

That's what I call getting your monies worth outta both the washer and dryer and the projector! I like hunting out a good deal too!

[DEDixon 39]

if you don't use an old washer, it will quickly go bad.

i suggest doing someone a favor and putting them on craigslist for free. although they likely aren't energy efficient, whoever "really" needs them won't care.

[NickD 203]

Wife wanted me to hang onto them in case the new ones were a disaster, could hook them up in my basement for spares. Did have a lot of problems with the water drain pump in the washer seizing up, so the last time I purchased a new one, opened it up. Found very little grease in the top bearing, zero in the bottom, so packed it full with Wolf's Red Bearing grease, that was about ten years ago. Other problems are both motors are fan cooled, open frame, and a lot of debris can block the air flow causing them to overheat. Is a once a year job to remove, clean, and lubricate them, no such thing as a bearing lubricated for life. Our vehicles today are loaded with bearings lubricated for life and that life ain't very long.

Both my old dryer and washer have drive belts, proper tension is extremely important, too tight and the bearing will wear quick, too loose and the belt will slip. Only changed them once in 26 years and more recently, rubber just dried up and cracked. Have and electric dryer, first was gas, but that was always a problem in cleaning out the carbon residue. With electric, nichrome wire is used with that worse wear points at the terminations, okay, mine are a half of an inch shorter, but the connections are clean. Sensors have contacts that can be cleaned.

On the timers, worse loads are the motors and heater on the contacts, added industrial relays that only draw 20 ma from those contacts and they will last forever with that kind of load. On sockets so easy and cheap to replace. Problems with kids jerking the knobs to fast that was stripping the timer gears, reversed the gear on time for fresh teeth, second time, had to find a junk timer with a more cared for gear. Way overpriced at 110 bucks for these things. These appliances are not maintenance free but beat washing by hand.

My newest range and dishwasher are microcontrolled devices, did add additional surge protection and while at it, ordered replacement relays for the heaters and motors, no space to add external relays, relays from my electronic source were only a buck a piece, but since I have them, they will never go bad. My history. Helps to get a service manual as they both have self-diagnostic codes that don't make sense without the manual.

Frostless refrigerators are another pain in the butt, mount the compressor, condenser on the floor and with pets and debris and fan cooling, really suck up the debris, so under that thing once a month to clean it out. Debris on the condenser fans causes the compressor motor to overheat while also running up your electric bill. Most problems deal with the motor start capacitor, if it opens, the compressor stalls and pops your circuit breaker, typically a three buck replacement. Followed by the defrost timer, had a cheap plastic one in mine, replaced it with a made in the USA all metal timer with real brass gears. It's contacts not only switch the compressor, but also all those heating elements, the condenser and recirculation motors can also use a couple of drops of electrical motor oil once a year.

Son got a new HE furnace is in new home, broke down after 13 months, parts were free, but had to paid 125 bucks an hour for an idiot to come out. On a weekend and concern about my new granddaughter, dropped everything and ran over. His blower motor was never dipped in varnish insulation for the stator windings, wore through the insulation and shorted the windings out plus burnt out the control board. Got his dealer out of bed and put those pieces of ####### on his counter and got new ones for free. Couldn't take the time to varnish his stator, but did lubricate the bearings, more made in China #######. And a week later, added industrial relays, four of them to isolate his controller board so at least that won't fry, but he still has four years left on his motor warranty, he knows how to replace it now.

When I got my new HE furnace, I pulled the motor, on mine they did varnish the stators, but where's the grease in the bearings? See a lot of this with all this Chinese ####### we are getting today. Does have a full ten year warranty, but don't want to wake up at 3:00 AM to a sub-zero house, also installed industrial relays to isolate the control board and rerouted all the wiring. Dealer came over and said wow. Nothing I did would void the warranty, but do want it to last for awhile.