It worked for a while

I wish i was so lucky I went a bought the most expensive washer in the store ( maytag neptune) thinking the more i spend the less proplems i will have .Well they have changed it out 3 times and now my waranty is out.My door latch went bad and blew a resister in the main board $ 200 just for parts . I wonder why they can't make the same washers as the one you have .Why change it if it works.

well I like it, good to hear about old equipment still doing its job. how about extending this thread to cover all old gear being used? including tools equipment plant just about anything?

Ill start off by mentioniing Ive here in the UK a nice 1942 15kw ex WD generator. Just did an oil change and the fibre coupling between the diesel and the alternator. now 62 years old and still going well. Use it to power a stick welder/ transformer of the same vintage. Will give 200 amps continious all day. Look forward to other news. Ted Frater Dorset UK.

If you can't afford to trash and replace the Neptune machine, and can't afford to keep fixing it, see if you can get a service contract on it - that way they have a financial incentive to re-engineer the badly designed parts into parts that last, so they get your contract money and don't have to come out and visit you every six months. And don't tell them about the door latch failure.

So it costs you a small fortune in parts and labor to keep running... But look at all that water and energy you're saving! ;-P

(We recently bought a new one - a Kirkland/Whirlpool conventional top-load washer, the kind that runs for 15 or 20 years before the problems start. The 'KISS' principle strikes again...)

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The front loading Neptune is troublesome because it is a new design. Same with those models equipped with LCD displays.

A plain old top loading washer from a good company (eg. Whirlpool, Maytag, but not GE) will still last a long time.

Didn't Maytag make very reliable long-lasting equipment at one time? I think Vance Packard mentioned them favourably in his book 'The Wastemakers'.

Leon

I have a year old maytag dishwasher that was installed when i had my kitchen completly gutted and renovated. About six months after it was installed it just stopped. I pulled the service panel off and checked the power lead with a multimeter. It showed 117.5 volts... it had power (or so i thought) I didn't want to mess with something i knew little about so i called a friend of the family who had been fixing our appliances for years. He worked full time for an appliance service company and in the evening he repairs stuff "on the side" He stopped by, pulled the panel and found a loose wire nut on the common lead (i checked the freakin power lead never thinking the common was loose) he replaced the wire nuts, reattached the panel (about 4-6 screws) then charged us $40.00 Not bad for about five minutes of work! (that's like $480. per hour) i think brain surgery cost that much. Anyway, i hope my $40.00 story will inspire all of you to check ALL the basic stuff before giving in. I think $40. was excessive, if it were me, i'd have said, "it was a simple fix, how about $20." but that's me.

walt

1n 1972 we build a new house and filled it up with all new appliances, whirlpool refrigerator, kenmore washer and a kenmore dryer..... the house had caloric oven, cook top and dishwasher installed by the builder...the washer lasted about 30 yrs. we just got tired of looking at the avacado color.. the dryer only lasted about 28 yrs... due to a gas problems that i could not figure out and it was leaking sometimes and was too close to the pilot in the hot water heat so we got rid of it. the ovwen conked out at about 30 yrs... the dishwasher never worked right after the first year and we never had much use for it..the cooktop is still working fine and the refrigerator was replace by a new one about three years ago... but still in use in the garage... the new stuff we had to replace it did not hold up as well. i think i had worked on just about everything new we had bought recently... good think i kept all my old repair manuals to keep the new ones running.... same priniciple but now getting to electronically involved that the techs dont work on them anymore and just replace circuit boards............ anything beyound a bad solder joint on the circuit board, a burned resistor, a broken or burned contact point ... and then i am lost on the electronics part....... worst thing they could have done(in my opinion) is to fill all the new stuff with electronics)... kinda hard to fix and costly as hell.....

Yes, I can hardly wait to be able to email my refrigerator and tell it what to defrost for dinner while it offers me the selections via web cam...

On 30 Aug 2004 06:48:34 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (TLKALLAM8) calmly ranted:

Have you spoken with Maytag about a Lemon Law problem? My experience with them is wretched, too. I had problems with their Magic Chef line and they said "Sorry, no exchanges for a real Maytag, but we'll extend your warranty by a year." The new rollers in the dryer thump for the first five minutes just like the originals. Why can't they design quiet rollers instead of those which go flat after 24 hours?

I'll upgrade to an -old- Maytag or Kenmore washer/dryer set when this one goes. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be waiting very long.

- Interpreted Interpolations Done Dirt Cheap. -----------

Website Application Programming

And I can hardly wait until you get the "liver and onions" virus (for people who don't like liver and onions - the virus will examine your eating records before deciding how to infect your fridge - your fridge electronically orders 100's of lbs of food you never eat from the store for you, and defrosts 5 lbs of it every night, no matter what you tell it to defrost), or the "vacation virus" (your fridge defrosts everything and it all rots throughout your vacation).

Having seen the digital toster first as a joke, and then as a reality that lived up to most of the problems in the joke, I'm not going for anything excessively "smart" in my house. I prefer a dumb house that can't get screwed up, with dumb appliances.

How old is it? I just went through a blown control board. The warranty on parts for nearly everything is 10 years. I told the service center what was wrong and they just handed me the parts. No questions asked. I was impressed by their customer service.

I agree that anything you pay that much for should last longer than it does. I had the same rational. The neptune was supposed to be "the best" washer out there. I bought the LED model over the "better" LCD model as that seemed to complicated. It is still only a washing machine.

The bottom line is, it's electronic. It will fail. The old models are seem like they are built like tanks because they have three major components and no electronics. There is nothing to go wrong with them. If that's what you want, go buy the cheapest toploading washer you can find. It will have a motor, a pump, a simple timer switch and the tub. That is all. It probably will last forever.

JW

My Maytag washer & dryer were bought in 1964 and still going strong. The last service call turned out to be for a dead motor, and the guy had one in his truck. It's been improved, but it's still a drop in replacement! Everythin I hear says the new ones aren't nearly as long lasting.

David

Oh, I forgot to mention. Behind the top panel(on mine at least), is a service manual. It is surprisingly complete. It will tell you how to get to all of the diagnostic codes and the test modes.

JW

Greetings all,

It was announced that a new company, TMIO I believe, will be taking over an abandoned manufacturing site here in Chattanooga to build "smart" ovens. They are supposed to be similar to the "smart" refrigerators mentioned above. Price tag, about $3,500. YIKES! Guess I'll stick with my old Magic Chef for a while.

Regards, Jim C Roberts

In '78 I had a good year so we bought Maytag washer, dryer, and dishwasher. The washer has never (touch wood) required service. The element has been replaced three times along with one fan impeller and one drive belt on the dryer, oh yes and a door latch and a substitute door safety switch. The dishwasher OTOH has been replaced one piece at a time, motor, belt, pump, timer, water level switch, dish rack, silverware basket (2), and solenoid water valve. I now have two spare parts DW'ers bought at a cost of $11 so I should get a few more years from this one. Over all, I have been well served by these machines, although I understand that latter machines don't last as well. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I had that sort of a problem with a dryer spent. Took an hour before I checked the outlet and found I only had one side of the 220. The electrician only tightened one hot and the neutral screw, one hot had never been tightened down. I thought it was good because I checked and reset the breaker first. Karl

Ran into this when my chums tenant got her dryer motor rewound and I got to reinstall it. still no joy so I put a test light on the outlet and one side was dead, both fuses looked OK but one was open. I had run into this before when a neighbor's dryer had no heat and I found an open fuse in the line that wasn't feeding the motor. I never trust a good "looking" fuse, It only takes a second to check. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I saw something similar Saturday at an appliance store. The pitch is that the TV (an LCD screen) lets you see what's inside (there's a little webcam size camera inside) without standing there with the door open wasting energy while you decide what to cook. This seems of dubious value to me.

The TV is also a regular TV with remote, so in today's space starved kitchens, it frees up counter space if you like to watch your favorite TV show (Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, etc) while cooking the family dinner

It isn't something I'd buy, but for people addicted to TV, or those who just like gadgets, it has a certain appeal.

Gary