After a measly twenty-five years of service our old Kenmore dryer has given up the ghost. The other night we smelled a burning smell coming from it. As befits a daughter of a family of firefighters my wife immediately disconnected it from the outlet. We then checked it for heat. Nothing was apparent. When we moved it away from the wall we noticed an oil leak.
Our equally old Kenmore washing machine has been limping along at a minimally acceptable level of functionality for years (if you want hot water, you’ve got to run it in with a hose). So we’ve decided to replace both our washer and dryer.
Yesterday and the day before we researched the subject both in our old issues of Consumer Reports and online and did a bit of online shopping. My wife went to Abt, our appliance store of choice, on Thursday and I went there yesterday. Now we’ve bought a new washer and dryer which will be delivered and installed on Thursday.
Our new washer and dryer are feature-laden and heavy on electronics which does not particularly comfort me. They’re more expensive than my first car and I’m resigned to the reality that they will not be nearly as reliable or durable as our old ones were. I’ll install some sort of power conditioning to protect the most fragile parts of the gadgets, unquestionably the electronic circuit boards.
Dave,
Consider yourself lucky that your old, reliable washer/dryer mysteriously lasted for so long. As you already realize that won’t happen with the new ones, as most appliances, gadgets, electronics. seem to have a built-in obsolescence that kicks in once their warranties expire.
It’s not mysterious. We are very careful shoppers, treat our purchases with care, and are very frugal. The new washer and dryer we purchased were very highly rated both by Consumer Reports and J. D. Powers. Our personal experience with the brand has been very good.
I’m still wearing sweaters I bought when I was in high school. I bought my dress shoes 35 years ago. That was when Florsheims were Florsheims. The uppers are still in great shape but it’s time for them to be resoled again.
Dave,
A picture is emerging of you as I read the upon post. Would there be any argyle socks as a companion piece to those dress shoes?
BTW, what is the brand of your new washer/dryer? It used to be that Maytag was marketed as having infrequent repairs and long service.
Could have helped you out on that washer and dryer, Dave. They seem to perform quite admirably.
Heh.
Dave,
We’ve had one of the “new” HE front-loading units for about 10 years now. So far no problems except for a piece of broken plastic trim from one of our moves (we’ve move these appliance across the country 3 times now) and IMO they function much better than the old-style machines.
We’re getting an LG washer and dryer. Sadly, Maytags (Maytag used to make the Kenmores) are just not Maytags any more.
We’ve had very good experience with LG and LG is apparently the technology leader in the new-style washers and dryers.
Our previous washer, a Whirlpool Duet, gave out after 12ish years shortly after my wife’s passing. I did my research and also would up with an LG machine. It’s been not quite too years but so far, so good.
The new ones don’t last as long as the old by a long shot. That’s pretty much inevitable when you go from metal parts to plastic and from mechanical to electronic.
I could’ve gone with Samsung, also very highly rated, and saved a considerable amount of jack. My experience of Samsung is that their products are not nearly as durable as LG. Not long ago I got rid of a Goldstar (“LG” originally was “Lucky Goldstar”) monitor that I’d had for many years. It was still functional; it was just completely obsolete.
While I was busy being awe-struck by the longevity of Dave’s washer/dryer, I was remiss in adding up the years of my own appliances. They are HE, front loading Whirlpool machines that have clocked in 22 years!