New Washing Machine Recommendations

It's not an issue. Just noisy.
If you live a rural life in a bungalow that has a designated laundry room with unfinished walls, exposed pipes, and a concrete floor I guess it's not an issue. Easy access to pipes when the water hammer shock blows out old solder joints or weak points so repairs are less of a problem.

If you live in the city in a 40 storey high-rise neighbours and strata aren't putting up with the noise and potential damage incurred by the poor design feature of those machines and I don't blame them. LG was negligent in informing people of the issue in '08 when it was first brought to their attention.

Adjusting water pressure, water hammer arrestors, and all the other fixes that were touted to remedy the issue didn't work for most people so they just got rid of the machines. Good riddance to useless garbage...
 
Reliability is my # 1 concern with any appliance.

Loud noise from washer / dryer is very unimportant to me.
 
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We bought a GE front loader at Lowes with a hopper you fill with liquid laundry detergent (maybe 1 QT) and it adds the proper amount to each load. Excellent machine. Wife no longer adds too much detergent.

No issues in 2+ years.
 
Maytag Commercial Grade Washing Machine

^^^^This washer is as close as you can get to a 1990's classic Maytag machine. It is 33% less expensive than the Speed Queen, has more capacity, and better parts/service availability too. Buy it directly from Maytag to get the longer warranty than buying it from a big box store like Lowe's and get free delivery too.
Can I buy that even though I'm a private residence vs. a commercial business/military base/govt/city?
Speed Queen supposedly doesn't sell to the public, unless you somehow get around that. Maytag is different?
 
We go to the local laundromat every few months for heavy items and catching up.
I noticed they have about a dozen top loader washers of which most are Speed Queen or Maytag.
They carry a 3rd brand which I didn't recognize. Dryers are mostly all ADC....about 3 dozen of those.
 
I knew an eccentric morbidly thrifty guy who we called Milliwatt Rob. When his parents died, he bought a house and most of the furnishings were from his parents house. One thing he inherited was a washing machine. This was around 1990. He got rid of the washing machine, a Speed Queen, because he could not get it repaired. He would not buy a replacement, because he was too cheap. He used laundromats instead.
We later found out that the irreparable Speed Queen was a wringer machine that dated from the 1940s. I think the only place where wringer machines may still be in use is in the Middle East where fresh water is in short supply.
 
Can I buy that even though I'm a private residence vs. a commercial business/military base/govt/city?
Speed Queen supposedly doesn't sell to the public, unless you somehow get around that. Maytag is different?
Correct, Maytag will sell directly to the public through their website. On that specific commercial grade machine, the warranty is shorter if purchased through Lowes, Home Depot or Best Buy.

The public can also buy Speed Queen through a local authorized appliance retailer, but not at a big box store. ABT online sells Speed Queen to the public.
 
Very happy with this model, purchased 3 years ago along with its "sister" dryer.
Screenshot 2026-06-26 at 9.48.21 PM.webp
 
Correct, Maytag will sell directly to the public through their website. On that specific commercial grade machine, the warranty is shorter if purchased through Lowes, Home Depot or Best Buy.

The public can also buy Speed Queen through a local authorized appliance retailer, but not at a big box store. ABT online sells Speed Queen to the public.
Revival as I want a simple, reliable machine. How much difference in warranty, if you know?
 
How does it do with bedding, blankets? Specifically, does it go off balance easily??
We haven’t had this issue with any blankets, but keep in mind we live in the south so the blankets besides the bedsheets the blankets are on the thinner side, I guess.

It’s funny you asked because we just had guests for a few days and we washed the sheets and the blanket to a queen size bed and it was no issue, never is an issue, actually unlike the old days. I never see this washer bang around.

Now, for a winter comforter, which is heavy and thick, every spring we bring it to a laundromat with a super sized front loading washer to wash that because I don’t even think it would fit in a washer

Actually come to think of it every week we wash the heavy bath towels, plus small hand towels, plus the towel that you step on the floor with when you get out of the shower plus the kitchen towels and just throw them in there without a thought and it’s never an issue

I never much thought about it, but I always wondered why … this washer does a funky thing when you start it up it spins the tub at a high speed with the dry clothes you just put in itthat you are going to wash, it almost like it’s either counter balancing it or figuring out the weight of the clothes and then after that, it starts filling up with water and going into wash mode. It’s pretty good doing whatever it does.
Another tip if you ever do get one we do not use normal wash cycle, that is like the government, EPA efficiency standards, and it washes the clothes in ultra little water, no matter the brand I think you end up with lint on the clothes and it’s a pain in the neck

We choose deep wash each time, deep wash somehow knows how many clothes are in there and will fill the tub up with water to completely cover the clothes, then it will shut off the water on its own adjust the right level so it’s still not wasting water. It’s just completely covering the clothes.

As far as all this computer junk well, the days are gone, where everything‘s purely mechanical all I can tell you now it’s running perfect. The unit is only three years old actually just over three years old now. Being all these things have circuit boards now I also keep the washer plugged into a plug-in surge suppressor. In addition our house has a whole house search suppressor. However, I always plugged appliances into surge suppresses even before I installed a whole house one for the first time in my life.

I’ll probably curse myself, but I have never had at least in the last 19 years, will be 20 years at the end of September. I never had a major appliance breakdown.

Refrigerator, washer, dryer, dishwasher, range, microwave ..
 
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We've had our Speed Queen for 4 years now. Fortunately, the appliance store where I purchased it honored the Speed Queen warranty when the lid lock broke on the washer and the heating element broke on the dryer. They both happened within 6 weeks of each other. The Speed Queen does a good job with our linens, it dries our King comforters much better than any previous machine we had.
We had an LG set for 4 years but never was impressed by the dryer. I would have to dry something two or three times, but the washing machine worked well.
Appliances just like most of stuff today is junk designed to break right after the manufacture warranty expires.
My mom has a washer and dryer that are going on 35 years old. They have never needed anything, besides cleaning the lint out of the dryer hose, but no replacement parts etc. The washing machine washes the clothes much better than any modern junk. The dryer dries just fine. I talked with the repairman and he said all the appliances are crap these days. Probably better to find a 30 year old set and have someone go through it.
 
Huge benefit in the warranty on the Maytag Commercial Washer (and dryer) if you buy directly from Maytag.

Warranty if purchased directly from Maytag:
View attachment 350230

Warranty if purchased from a Big Box retailer:
View attachment 350231
The Maytag reviews on HD's site are troubling. Just all the complainers grouped together? Maybe. Truth is every machine I'm looking at has a lot of troubling reviews

If someone built an uber simple, heavy, reliable washer with, say, 3 settings....I feel like they'd make a killing. But maybe soccer Karens would snub it and maybe the .gov wouldn't allow it? Water use and all....

Here's a question: with enough steel and heavy bearings (like car wheel bearings), couldn't a drum not have any off-balance compensation and just "take it?" I mean the wheel bearings on a car see FAR greater loads basically 100% of the time
 
Appliances just like most of stuff today is junk designed to break right after the manufacture warranty expires.
My mom has a washer and dryer that are going on 35 years old. They have never needed anything, besides cleaning the lint out of the dryer hose, but no replacement parts etc. The washing machine washes the clothes much better than any modern junk. The dryer dries just fine. I talked with the repairman and he said all the appliances are crap these days. Probably better to find a 30 year old set and have someone go through it.
This is why I'm leaning toward buying a lower end, basic machine and just roll the dice. It seems you're also rolling the dice with more expensive machines, simply getting more features, more settings and Ai that "learns" but I see little correlation between cost and reliability.

My non-profit has a Speed Queen with a failed lid lock so you have to keep the lid heavily weighted for the first ~15 minutes or it just won't run.
 
My mom has a washer and dryer that are going on 35 years old. They have never needed anything, besides cleaning the lint out of the dryer hose, but no replacement parts etc. The washing machine washes the clothes much better than any modern junk. The dryer dries just fine. I talked with the repairman and he said all the appliances are crap these days. Probably better to find a 30 year old set and have someone go through it.
I have an electric Kenmore dryer from '96 that has never needed anything. I put it on my Sears card back then and it seemed like HUUUGE purchase. I think it was around $500, which I guess was quite a bit in '96.

But at this point it's cost me less than $17/yr. Not too shabby.....
 
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