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I feel physically sick. Our Tricity Bendix is less than or just three years old and it's bitten the dust. The previous one lasted 6 years, washing clothes for one person and then a year or two for two people. This one has done its bearings after washing clothes for the 3 of us for 3 years.

I'm disgusted that we have built an economy on planned obsolescence. Spending the money is bad enough, but the thought of all the wasted materials and energy in building something that is designed to fail after a couple of years....

What good washing machines can people recommend, please?

Well I use Zanussi and my first one lasted about 15 years and my second one has lasted about 8 so far. But that might be lucky, I don't know. We wash for a family of 5 - so it is going every day more or less.

No idea what you paid, fs but it's always buy cheap, buy thrice these days.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Miele for various reasons. Ours has a steel counterweight, rather than concrete, making more of the machine recyclable and more precisely balanced. It has a 1600 rpm spin. This usually means a more efficient motor. It is very frugal with water; iirc the economy wash uses 38 litres. It's A-rated.

While not exactly silent, it is extremely quiet. It was expensive but I feel confident it will last at least twenty years; we've had it eight with no problems.

That said, I can back what snow said: we bought a Zanussi in 1987 second-hand from a family of five and it did us till we got the Miele in 2003.

Bosch WFB 2005, out-of-print now but you can buy 2ndhand and still get repairs from the Bosch lads (who tend to know their stuff). We've had ours for 11 years, about 3 full washes per week, and it's had to be repaired just the once: pump replaced because it was leaking.

The chap said the newer m/cs have a lot of fancy electronics which allows a good wash with less water/energy but wot's the point if it ups its toes in 5 years?? Also the bands inside the drum are metal and integral in ours, they're plastic and separate in the newer m/cs, so weaker.

I check pockets of every garment as I put it in, having first checked the drum's empty. Screwdrivers, memory sticks, watches, £20 notes (don't laff, it actually happened!)... I run an empty, 90 degC cycle once a year or so, and use descaler fttt. I never wash at 30 degC, and we never put trainers in the m/c to wash.

My mum had a Hoover Keymatic that lasted nearly to its 1/4-century.

Actually I would seriously consider buying 2ndhand now, with a guarantee.

Mrs Stumuzz recommends the Haynes washing machine manual.

Our machine has been brought back from death so many times. Brushes, springs, door seals, door hinges, under tensioned belts, over tensioned belts, new belts…… anyway it’s a Zanussi washer dryer and has broken down so many times.
She gets her little pink tool box out and off she goes! She’s not shy when it comes to landy wheel bearing replacement as well.

Think she deserves a cruise next year for our 25th. Hope she doesn’t read this forum!

Anyway, what's wrong with the machine? I will ask the little lady.

I have a Zanussi bought in 2002. Nothing has gone wrong with it so far. I use descaler every wash (pretty hard water here).

We had a Miele top loader (rather rare) for more than 20 years and it had three repairs in that time. For 15 years it was used every day, sometimes twice.

We have just replaced it with a Miele front loader. Really quiet. It has a 10 year warranty. Growers round here who have boiler suits to wash most days use them, and they rarely have problems.

I've had a Bosch for the past 8.5 years. Built like a German tank; no problems at all as yet.

It's definitely worth spending a bit extra - you save money in the long run.

We've had a Zanussi since 2003. Never broken down and still going strong and it gets some hammer. Also the quietest machine we've ever owned.

Of course, now I've said all this, it will crumble into a heap tomorrow!

replace bearings?

after all, they are only a drum that goes round'n'round...

I often wonder what your really save by buying "quality".

My 7kg Beko was a little over £200
A 7kg Miele is £884 according to a quick google search.

I have to replace mine 4 times before we're breaking even.
Even if it does break after three years, its still 12 years until the miele pays back.

Very few "broken" washing machines are actualy broken, but when a repair man has a £50 call out charge an hourly rate 10x that of the original builder, they're unlikely to be fixed.

I do wonder how many of the ones taken by the delivery man are actualy scrapped, and how many are shipped overseas to be reconditioned and sold over there.

DominicJ wrote: I do wonder how many of the ones taken by the delivery man are actualy scrapped, and how many are shipped overseas to be reconditioned and sold over there.

Agreed. Probably do not even make overseas. I bet the machines lined up outside second hand shops were condemned because they cannot get the parts or "by the time I have fitted it, it would be cheaper to get a new one" gov'

DominicJ wrote:Very few "broken" washing machines are actualy broken, but when a repair man has a £50 call out charge an hourly rate 10x that of the original builder, they're unlikely to be fixed.

You live in the wrong place! Round here it's £30 callout plus parts, with no hourly rate for normal jobs. After a couple of failed visits, the repairer finds and reconditions a machine for £100, and reduces the £30 callout charge to £20.

If you share the machine with your neighbours, you then get half he cost back from them .

When purchasing a washing machine, choose one in which the desired program is selected by turning a knob or dial and not on a digital display.

The ones with a digitally selected programe cant be used with a timeswitch in order to make best use of an off peak tarrif.

Also if the power fails even very briefy during a wash, the digital type must be restarted again at the begining of the wash, the older sort simply resume from where they stopped.

search antique auctions ebay etc look for old washing machines before built in obsolescence.

I have the sort of washing machine you would normally see in a museum that and a cast iron mangle hasn't needed repair since it was made .

if you want to get fancy you could get something newer like from the 1950s .

if you want basic a big tub and a copper posser which is what I normally use actually