Easy to repair washing machine wanted

Re: Easy to repair washing machine wanted

“I’m looking at new machines and the cost of repairing a simple bearing failure on the plastic tub machines is quite surprising. Are there any new machines where the bearings alone can be replaced, or do the bearings on new models last a lot longer?”
Yes. Vestel Turkish made machines, most Montpellier – though built in machines are rebadged Hoovers / Candy or another example is Royale. Chinese made machines including Samsung although I would not recommend a Samsung, there again I don`t recommend anything not even a Miele.
In the crazed world of washing machines luckily bearings are commom sizes and a couple of quid each though where you can come a cropper is if you need a new spider ( due to the machine being thrashed and then becomes trashed or just naturally corrodes as they are an aluminum alloy! ) as this usually means a drum complete which in turn is expensive. Some sealed tanks e.g. Indesit can be 110 quid so if that seems reasonable to you and your repairing the machine yourself then that might be less hassle – well, at least from that point of view.
Ebac. Seem to be somewhat low key despite all the fanfare, perhaps only sold more in N England? From factory production photo they have, or rather it had, a sealed tank unit so presume they all have sealed tanks.
Second hand stuff: should be able to pick up a Miele as a spare or repair off Ebay from 5 quid to something that works costing 80 quid +/-. Could land on a bargain or a world of hurt i.e. a total money pit that is equal to 4 boxes worth of tissues to cry into as parts are usually expensive as I`m sure you know. Most other makes out there that are old will have corroding spiders so if, say, you thought a WFF2000 Bosch rocks your boat which was a good machine from circ 2000 era the drum / spider unit is obsolete so not a good idea unless you know that it was run on soft water supply. Conversely, easiest machine to work on with competitively cheap and still after all these years, a good supply of spare parts is a Hotpoint WM or WMA series; mine`s a s/hand WM56 and is about 18 years old from memory; great machine had a set of bearings November 2016 ( you can get a new spider as a separate part from the drum ), Dad`s WMA is s/hand which was rebuilt 12 years ago has never gone wrong again except for the rear filter clean and a pair of shocks / dampers @ about 14 quid. His machine is 18`ish years old (?) if there are any left you could get a ” working machine ” for about 10 to 20 quid as a private buy or even free, be prepared to have to repair it though as something will need replacing..Bits that go wrong with WMA series are shocks, bearings / spider, motor brushes – 2 or 3 different motors were fitted – door seal, drum paddles, door lock and chaffed wires on the front concrete weight and poss heater, still well worth doing compared to a piece of brand new modern junk of any make and at any price whether it be 200 to 2000 quid; same could apply to a second hand Miele though that would / could break the bank as parts are 4x + more expensive than Hotpoint stuff from the same era.