Dang it!

[BernieB]

Originally Posted by hotrodpc

I just fixed my 14 year old Kitchen-Aid washer. Still looks like brand new. Cost me a whole whopping $3.25 to order the parts off eBay and fixed it myself with factory OEM parts. I will not buy a new set. Sure they are energy efficient, but I hear lots of problems. I do not believe in extended warranties in most items, but I think you did the right thing if you got the modern front load type.

And your batteries. IF they failed, then deduct 365 days x 3 for a total of 3 years and thats how old the batteries are. For some reason, its been my experiences, those AC Delco batteries are good, but when they say its a 3 year battery, almost mark it on the calendar, that is what you get out of them. I think those things must be like some of fraudulent toner cartridges these days with chips in them, that do a page count, and if the toner says it yields 4000 pages, the chip tells the printer its out of toner even though it still probably has 1/3 of its life left in it. Sorry to hear of all it going at once, but thats the way life is. When it rains it pours. Funny how that happens. But hey, you're not alone. So much for asking what you should do with this extra $2K huh???

I generally don't go with extended warranties either, but I make an exception for washing machines. My mom had a Kenmore machine that we bought new when I was probably about 6. She got the "service plan" on it for something like $12 per year. The machine ran great for about 16 years, with occasional minor repairs and regular maintenance covered under the service plan. Then the transmission went on it. Sears didn't have a transmission for it. Hadn't had one for about 8 years they said, so they replaced the whole machine with a brand new one, with all the same features (and a few extras), all covered under the service plan. Didn't cost her a dime.

She kept the service plan going (by that time up to about $35 per year), and got 12 years out of the replacement machine before the motor and pump went. Again, Sears replaced the entire machine with a brand new one when they couldn't repair it.

Last time I spoke to my sister, who now lives with mom, they were on the fourth machine, still paying the service contract, and mom hasn't bought a washing machine since 1962.

(Oh, and while I probably could have fixed our old one, the g/f wanted new)

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Now, on the batteries... I looked earlier and could not find a date on either one, only serial #'s, which I assume Delco could look up and tell me how old they were. But, these are low amp (635 ca) commercial batteries with 6 year warranties, so even if they were still under warranty they'd probably only pro-rate for a year or so, and I'd still have low amp batteries. I think I'll just replace 'em both with a pair of 850 ca batteries from NAPA, or a pair of 800 amp Duralast Gold's with 8 year warranties. Probably outlast the truck.

[gmctrucks]

Bernie Wal-Mart has batteries that have free replacement for three years that's pretty good. Now on you new washer & dryer your going to notice that the clothes are going to come out of the washer almost dry and it uses less water and the dryer works way less of coarse good buy.

[scavanger]

I have always had the best luck with Delco batterys I buy the biggest that will fit. I generally get 5 to 7 yrs out of them.They are the last ones to corrode the terminals too.

Front load is the only way to go now. You can't get 5 gal water into them at one time. I think LG is now advertising that the savings with the washer will pay for the dryer in their lifetime.From experience I don't doubt them.

About 8 or 9 yrs ago we bought a Maytag Neptune set.
It was one of the early ones and had some issues but everything was repaired under warranty. about 3 yrs ago the main bearings went out. The seal goes bad and takes them out. They don't sell the bearings separate you have to buy the complete tub. After buying the tub I found out I could buy the bearings by number at a bearing supply. Last winter my daughters did the same thing, by this time they want over $500 for the tub and no longer sell the seal separately. I found the seal on The Repair Clinic .com , fixed the machine in about 1 1/2 hr for $60
If anyone runs into the same problem let me know I can clue you in.

Scav.

[BernieB]

Originally Posted by gmctrucks

Bernie Wal-Mart has batteries that have free replacement for three years that's pretty good. Now on you new washer & dryer your going to notice that the clothes are going to come out of the washer almost dry and it uses less water and the dryer works way less of coarse good buy.

I'm actually going to see what they have at Costco first, but I'll probably just get the Duralast Gold.

On the washer & dryer (and I think it's really, really weird to be discussing this in a TRUCK forum - if any of ya'll starts talking about ironing and the best ways to get stains out I'm staying out of the locker room) one of the things we wanted was energy efficiency, and the associated tax credit, so that's one of the reasons we bought what we bought. I also know, from the time I spent in Europe, that Bosch makes very good appliances, so I trust the brand. We'll see how they hold up. So far the only thing I don't like about them is the "end of cycle" beeps. You can turn the beeps on and off, handy when doing laundry while someone is sleeping, since the laundry area is near the master bedroom, but there's no indicator on the control panels to tell you if the darn things are on or odd. Instead you get either a short beep or a long beep to tell you, and I can never remember which is which. The manual for the dryer does tell you which is which, and I look it up every time, but the washer manual doesn't, and I suspect it's the opposite of the dryer. End result? A mad dash from the office (south side of the house) to the laundry (north side of the house) to shut off the infernal beeping at 1 AM when I'm doing laundry and on the forum while the g/f is sleeping. And with my knee, it's a pretty slow "dash".

[hotrodpc]

I am sold on Duralast batts. Good price for the quality. Honestly, how good or hassle free the exchange is, I don't know since I never had to replace or exchange one. I do know Wally world, in most cases will exchange almost hassle free, but you will exhange it too. Those nEverstarts have not been good to me and a few people I know. My dad buys nEverstarts and I try to convert him. Then he comments, wal mart is close, never had a problem exchanging them and I have had to exchange it 3 times with no problems. hahaha, yeah, exchanging it 3 times is a problem to me.

[scavanger]

Originally Posted by hotrodpc

My dad buys nEverstarts and I try to convert him. Then he comments, wal mart is close, never had a problem exchanging them and I have had to exchange it 3 times with no problems. hahaha, yeah, exchanging it 3 times is a problem to me.

I'm with you on the exchanging. I want it in there and be able to forget it for 5 or 6 yrs. No starts really pi$$ me off .

Scav.

[BernieB]

Well, I was planning to stop at Costco today, on the way home from a meeting with a client, but traffic was an utter nightmare. I left Alexandria, VA (just below DC) at 3:30 in the afternoon, heading south on I-95. Pulled into my driveway in Fredericksburg (47 miles) at 5:54 PM Two and a half hours to go 47 miles, and that was with my lights and strobes on, riding the shoulder most of the way.

The next time I say I'm going to DC after twelve noon on a Friday, would one of you please shoot me?

[Steve g.]

We had a maytag neptune, it was terrible, got fixed under the plan but it took the guys like 3 weeks to come out and look at it then another 2 weeks to order the part then 1 week later when they come back to put in the part that has been shipped to our house they realize it was the wrong part and cycle continues... now we went back to a top load because it was a nice simple one.

We have the walmart batteries (800 cold amps I think, 900 normal), they've been good so far. used to have interstates, they died last year, IDK how long they were in the truck before we got it so it's irrelevant that I even mentioned them... O well. Back to the washer machine discussion...

[scavanger]

Originally Posted by Steve g.

We had a maytag neptune, it was terrible, got fixed under the plan but it took the guys like 3 weeks to come out and look at it then another 2 weeks to order the part then 1 week later when they come back to put in the part that has been shipped to our house they realize it was the wrong part and cycle continues... now we went back to a top load because it was a nice simple one.

We have the walmart batteries (800 cold amps I think, 900 normal), they've been good so far. used to have interstates, they died last year, IDK how long they were in the truck before we got it so it's irrelevant that I even mentioned them... O well. Back to the washer machine discussion...

Sounds like a real poor service department. I can have a service man out in a day.
parts come in two days .
parts on the next day.
After warranty is done, I fix my own everything. I can't afford service people.

Scav.

[BernieB]

I've had Interstate brand batteries before and never had a problem with one, but they generally came with the vehicle and I didn't keep the vehicle itself that long.

What I'd like to find is an old brand called Deka. At least I think that's the name (I'll have to Google it). Back when I was driving ambulances they were changing batteries in all the rigs and putting these in. As I recall they had some absurdly high CCA numbers, like 1,000 or 1,100 for a group 34. (This was around 1984, when Die Hards and other good batteries were only rating around 600cca) I managed to talk one of the shop mechanics into giving me one for my personal car (1970 Plymouth Fury III with a 350hp 318) and that battery was fantastic. I remember once, middle of the winter, I pulled a late shift and got home just after dawn. Got out of the car and forgot to turn off the lights and the radio. Went inside, had breakfast, got the kids off to school and went to bed. Came out 9 hours later and the lights were still bright, stereo still playing and she cranked right over when I got in.