Most easily repairable washing machine

[sc2987]

I need a new washing machine, 8-9kg, as the spider in my current machine is disintegrating, after about 12 years. I have now read how to preserve it for as long as possible, next time. We do no more than 4 loads per week (2 large, 2 small).

I want the new one to be easily repairable. I know that Miele use stainless steel (rather than plastic) outer tubs, but I’ve also read an article on the UKWG website which says only their engineers can repair their machines as they use specialist equipment (and that the spare parts are very expensive), and I want to use a local repair woman instead when necessary.

I considered a mid-priced Samsung with a 5 year warranty, but the conditions of the warranty could mean it ends up costing me more (e.g. if they decide something is wear and tear instead of a warranty fault, and then I am locked into paying their presumably more expensive engineers to deal with it, as using anyone else voids the remaining warranty). I assume this is fairly standard, so maybe a cheaper machine with a 2 year warranty would actually be less risky.

However, the third option is spending the extra (at least the lower end of Miele prices) for one that is easily repairable, but I don’t know which brands/models those are? Are there any other brands using stainless steel outer tubs, which can be repaired by mainstream repair people, and the parts aren’t hideously expensive?

[electrofix]

short answer is none of them

a lot use sealed tubs so tub failures make the machines scrap

there is little or no official tech support for the independant trade. i have access to a few websites but i should not have.

Samsung is one of the hardest to get support which includes LG and the spare parts prices get silly

go with the miele after all the spares are not cheap but if you dont need them because of reliability then it does not matter and its not all faults that cannot be repaired by independants and i manage ok

also have you read this

https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/buying-advice/washing-machine/2789-washing-machine-load-sizes

Dave

[sc2987]

Well our current machine is only 6kg, and I have been overloading it for years, so we really could do with a bigger one. It’s not feasible for us to do more loads, or go to a laundrette for the larger items, for various reasons. So I think 7kg might be too small, despite the points made in the article linked to, as less well washed items are still preferable to unwashed items. But I’ll consider it.

I’ll contact my repair person and see whether she can deal with a Miele or not.

But regardless of which machine I get, if I take care of the spider, as long as that and the bearings don’t go, the parts within the tub are less likely to need replacing than other parts that are accessible, aren’t they? Which could tip the balance to getting a low-end machine – I mean I know people say Miele are reliable, but even if it’s only one part in 10 years, it could still potentially cost more to replace than e.g. 3 parts in the same time on a cheaper machine.

I wish someone would restart ISE or a similar company!

[sc2987]

And I have just looked at the Miele website again and realised they lied to me when I emailed to ask which of their models had stainless steel tubs – they told me all of them were, but the 7kg models say the suds container is GlaronK.

[don]

Yes it appears that the 7kg do have what Miele call GlaronK which is a plastic reinforced with fibreglass from what I can find out. It’s all about research on your part and it proves that even the best of us can get it wrong. I think lie is a little bit to strong 😉

It does look like the 7kg are plastic which keeps the price down to the consumer as for the eight’s I have checked a couple with my Miele service and parts and yes they have stainless steel outers.

So you either pay the higher price for the build quality knowing you can replace parts if needed or the plastic variety which is a whole sealed tank and not therefore a viable repair.

Don

[sc2987]

Well whether it is lying or ignorance, they are not doing their job, which is to provide accurate information to customers. Lucky I noticed before purchasing.

Anyway, I’ve ordered the Miele WWD 120 WCS, which is their cheapest stainless steel one.

[IC WG]

sc2987 wrote:I need a new washing machine … I want the new one to be easily repairable.

I’m on a similar mission due to the death of our 22 year-old AEG over the w/e, and a ~10 year-old Bosch one six months ago.

Reading the warning on large capacity machines is interesting. We’re lucky enough to have space for two machines, so a pair of 5kg / 6kg machines may be a better bet. That’s what the old machines were, and it gave us enough capacity overall.

But it gets back to the question of which machine(s) to get next. The AEG is stainless steel drum, has had various parts replaced, etc but PCB death seems too hard to reliably rectify on a machine that old. Bosch was sealed plastic, suffered odours and mould far too often, and ultimately went due to non-replaceable bearings.

I’m considering getting decent looking 2nd hand machines with stainless steel tubs. Is there a guide anywhere to when each manufacturer switched from steel to plastic, such as which model codes, years or series?

[electrofix]

what you also have to remember is a lot of old machines were steel tubs vitreos coated. problem with that is the coating cracked on the stress points and water got in. used to get a lot of Bendix machine ( philco in disguise those days) where it would rust through by the dampers
think whirlpool was first to use a plastic tub, but dont quote me. That was about 30 years ago or so. They were brillaint machines and went on and on. Plastic tubs are not the problem, its unrepairable, welded plastic tubs. Take the hotpoint 95 series that became the WM series. The last one produced around 2000. plastic outer tub with stainless inner. took no end of abuse. we can still get a complete bearing kit for about £30 including the drum spider. Plus the design meant i could strip and replace a bearing assembly in under 90 minutes

Dave

[IC WG]

electrofix wrote:Plastic tubs are not the problem, its unrepairable, welded plastic tubs.

Dave

Thanks, I hadn’t realised that. The Bosch we had looked like it was made from recycled plastic, which is a sensible idea but it seemed to also harbour mould perhaps due to not being very smooth. At one point I took it out and set it up on it’s back like a cauldron with the heater element turned on for a few hours. That freshened it up for a couple of months…

So to adjust my question, how would I spot the last maintainable family of machines from each manufacturer, plastic tub or not?

[electrofix]

with bosch its easy to find which tubs can be split. their website has complete parts breakdowns. if you can buy the inner tub then you can split it

Bosch WAN series uses a split tub as far as i am aware

the same thing can be done on the Neff and Siemans sites as its the same company

Also the smells in machines are caused by the way they are being used and not the construction material. I would add its not helped by having a cold only feed to the machine

Dave

[IC WG]

electrofix wrote:Also the smells in machines are caused by the way they are being used and not the construction material. I would add its not helped by having a cold only feed to the machine

That’s again interesting and useful.

Our experience is that a stainless steel tub machine next to a plastic one with random selection of which load goes in where has led to continued odour problems with the plastic one but none at all with the steel one. It seems that one is more accepting of our laundry regime even though we might be able to help the other one along by changing it. Is there a post / blog on “correct use” to avoid the problem in all machines?

I could add a blended hot / cold feed if it would help.

[andyjawa]

It was when they were Phillips hot and cold fill washing machines probably the 1st to use the plastic tank from memory and yes they were long lasting and rarely ponged….why? Well they used to spin and pump out at the same time which boils down to that sludge never had much of chance to settle anywhere using, by todays pitiful standards of half bakeness, high levels of water! The Bendix washing machine that used to leak was not so much the steel enamel tank but was the stainless steel tank on the lower suspension mounts because the design and welding was naff; a trifle optimistic of them at the time! I rarely got problems with the enamel tanks unless someone did something repeatingly daft with coins chipping the enamel – good machines at the time as were one of the cheapest priced machines that just happened to have a s/steeled tank ……Candy!. Actually s/steel tanks have advantages but s/steel has its main failure is that it is brittle ( which is why car steering ball joints do not use it or suspension springs but some bikes use s/steel spokes which in my experience is never a good idea ) least at the grade used for tanks as opposed to drums whereas plastic does not rust, is light, is cheap/er and if well made lasts. On the negative you get a lot more strengthening nooks and crannies, they can be recycled but in reality it does not happen the way everyone thinks sealed or otherwise – the reality is a pretty poor show at best, and there is a problem with deflection which is why some plastic tanks internal show stress cracks where the bearing metal tube is buried within its plastic moulding e.g. some Indesits and some LG. The common makes that use a plastic tank which are dismantleable to change bearings are Vestel made machines ( which covers at least 24 brands ), EBAC from England, anything Chinese, Atlant from Belarus ( which are historically / were pretty good but they do not export to UK ), Samsung and a few Bosch/Neff/Siemens but the price of parts are not reasonable in my view and mid to upper range Miele ( whose parts prices are utter robbery ).
Conclusion: why not look in to EBAC and see if that ticks most of the right boxes, a start if nothing else.

[tedwards101]

If you can find one, proper Italian SMEG machines have a dismantlable outer tub as well. Most seem to be rebadged Beko these days though.

[andyjawa]

Yep, Smeg can be Bekos and that is very true as are Blomberg also, as are a touch of the Grundigs. To be frank as far as new s/steel tanked machines go it`s going to be more up-market Miele but I suspect they too will end up with a Glaron k tank as time goes by if they are successful. Of cousre “successful” could mean just until any warranty expires!

[electrofix]

really depends on the reliability as even if the bearing go on the SS tubs the price of the bearing kit is very high and its quite a strip down to do it

from my point of veiw the unreliability of sealed tubs stems from a cheap and non lubricated water seal along with poor quality thin aluminium spiders. If miele have addressed this then there may be no problem. Time will tell as we say

it would be interesting to see if anyone has any numbers on tub failures during warranty

Dave

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