In my opinion, if you don’t have a water (supply) or septic problem stick with a top load machine. My 40 year old Kenmore was still running in the house I sold 7 years ago! On a top-rated 3 or 4 year old large capacity LG we’ve replaced the door seal, an easy one, and the main (seriously cantilevered) bearing a year or so later, a near complete disassembly of the thing. It took 2 mechanical engineers, me & my son-in-law at least 3 hours with a tutorial. I had to grind a special tool to get the damn thing out. No wonder these things are filling the scrap yards! I remember questioning the obvious design flaw at Lowes when we bought it. By the way, it’s getting noisy again as I speak. It does a minimum of 4 loads a day. (4 adults & 4 grandchildren)
Oh, I forgot the custom stand that had to be built to set the damn things on. They wanted an extra $ 200 each for those, looks like even more scrap steel to ship back to China.
Note the bungie to keep the washer door slightly open, to prevent mold & smell when not in use. The magnet holder broke. The replacement magnet (I bought 2 just in case) was about 1/2 the strength of the original so it didn’t hold the door. (The Chinese cheapened it up, why not ?) The door otherwise just swings wide open, whoopie, great fun for 5 & 6 year old grand-kids to grab & hang on to while running by….
-D.D., Bow, NH
Many purchasers of front load washing machines experience problems with reliability and durability, as well as issues with mold and bad smells. Front load washer tips (frontloadwashertips.com) is my effort to help consumers have positive experiences with their front load washing machines.
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