Repair or Replace 13 year old Kitchenaid Washer?

15 years ago

My Kitchenaid Prestige washing machine started smoking last night and turned off the breaker. Before I call the service person out and pay a minimum of $75 I need advice. Should I try and repair my 13 year old washer or purchase a new more energy efficient one?

I've been reading the reviews all a.m. and I am completely confused about FL vs. TL models best/worst thinking I should repair what I already have!

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Comments (9)

asolo
15 years ago
Don't spend one penny! And make removal of old unit from your premises part of the new deal.

DON'T be confused...let alone "completely". This is the time. Don't spend one second considering repair of existing unit. It's toast. Time to upgrade.

FWIW....I've had DuetHT pair for three flawless years. Very impressed. Would recommend without hesitation except they've already been superceded. Sorry. You're on your own there.
dadoes
15 years ago
I have a 17-years-old KA that's running fine, and my parents have one 14 years old. Your problem could be as simple as a broken drive coupler ($16 to $20 for the part). I wouldn't trash the machine without first investigating what's wrong. However, I can do that myself without paying a serviceman, whereas you possibly can't.
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The water does drain, just no spin? --> that's correct. During the last part of the cycle when it should be spinning, it just sits there making a humming noise (not an unusual noise, one of its regular noises, just not the spinning sound/vibration). If you catch it in the act and stop/restart (push/pull the timer), does it spin then? --> Yep. Are you sure it's only the final spin that's failing? There's a spin after wash, before agitated rinse and it's not obvious if that's also failing unless you watch/monitor the machine for the entire cycle. --> I have monitored and the other spin periods seem to be OK. Also if I run the permanent press cycle that seems to go OK including the spin parts (but the final spin on that cycle is much shorter). When the final spin fails, when the machine stops the clothes are wetter than they should be, especially under the water outlet where the "spray rinse" just dribbled water on the clothes that happened to be situated under it. If I reset the knob to repeat the final spin, then it spins, and another couple quarts of water are removed. Assuming the lid switch is not being erratic, there's the timer (already changed by you), internal transmission components related to neutral drain and driving the clutch bell, the clutch & brake components outside the transmission (which includes the spin tube & drive block to which the basket mounts), or the reverse motor windings/wiring. --> I have tried running the machine with the lid switch jimmied shut, and that does not help. But if I open the lid to check if it's spinning, and then close it again, then it does start to spin. I do think it's either a lack of motor pause, or something worn out in the transmission as you mentioned earlier. I was wondering if the OP (corsairf4u) tried installing the neutral drain repair kit and if so whether that worked. One other idea I had. When I replaced the timer, I kept the old one, which apparently is still perfectly good. So I have one to play with. I was wondering if I could file or bend something on there to create the motor pause. P.S. Thanks for the analysis and advice
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asolo
15 years ago
If you're handy, by all means go for it. In that regard, I agree with dadoes.

However, if you're not and you have to hire it done...don't do that. Donate it, take the write-off, and move along. For non-handy folks, these things can be money-toilets.
cynic
15 years ago
Obviously if you are handy check it out but I'm assuming you're not when you posted this way so I'll assume that.

I'd suggest not spending money on a service call. Give some thought to what you liked best about it and what you didn't like about it. Was it large enough? Did the cycles serve your needs? Did you like it top loading or would you like a front loader.

I wouldn't get caught up in "energy efficient" except as a perk. You won't offset the cost of the unit. What features would you like to add that you don't have? Need a heater? Delayed start? etc. How about budget? Any issues there?

There's lots of good options in both front and top load. You'll find a lot of info and advice here.
plumbly22
15 years ago
HE payback... this is highly dependent upon where you live... my electric consumption dropped at least 1000 KW per month when I got my new laundery set (mind you my old set was 25+ years old)... I live in New England and pay ~$0.18 per KW... I also pay and extremely high rate per gallon of water on my water/sewage bill in this area of the country... that bill is harder to get a good match on as you have the summer outside watering going on differently form year to year, pool useage, etc.... but comsumption did drop there also... by a fair amount.. they just don't show the past usage on those bills, so I'd have to do some real 'research' to track those numbers down...

I figure I easily paid for at least the cost difference of chosing HE FL machine with the electric savings... we had a significant drop in that bill...
cynic
15 years ago
plumbly22, 1000kwh/month drop? Wow! That's the equivalent of running an electric dryer 8 hrs/day, every day of the month. For those estimates, I assume you must be doing a lot of laundry and heating water with electricity? Possibly a lot of hot loads, maybe even warm rinses?, and heated with electricity? I'm still not sure I can total 1000 kwh.

It's definitely difficult to draw conclusions, and I can't compare, since your stated difference from the appliance change is 2-plus to 4 times my total electric use, and I have an electric dryer, 30 year old topload washer, electric stove, etc.

Actually, water savings should be far easier to calculate than electric. Take the amount of the top load and subtract the amount of water in the frontload, and include all extra rinses, not just the wash amount. Probably about 20 gallons per load difference? (I have no idea.) Then multiply that by the number of loads you use. Then times the gallon rate for water.
plumbly22
15 years ago
cynic... yes lots of laundry and yes electric hot water, and most loads done on warm with warm rinse, now warm with cold rinse as that is the only machine choice... old washer was ~40 gallons per load, this one is ~11 per load... all I can tellyou is the billshows 13 months usage, and for the first year we owned it we watched... because we were so shocked hen the first bill arrived... and the useage was down at least 1000 per month... we were very surprised too....
dualref
15 years ago
Your Kitchenaid washer is actually a Whirlpool Direct Drive, one of the most proven designs out there.
It sounds to me more like a motor than a drive coupler. But I would think of the following before deciding on buying a new washer:

New washers are nowhere near as reliable as the old ones were.

What is your opinion on the FL washing method?
Do you think your clothing will come clean in a few cups of water? (11 gallons for an entire wash cycle?)

Check the manual on your Kitchenaid washer. My 1993 Whirlpool was an early "high efficiency" model, it uses only 29 gallons of water for an entire cycle.

Plus if you have the matching dryer, those KA/Whirlpool dryers are some of the best around, simply bulletproof.

I'd make the move to fix the one you have. Inspect the pump, drive coupler, and transmission. If all is well, I'd have it fixed. It'll probably last another 13 years.
Shelly
Original Author
15 years ago
duelref I wish I would have read your post yesterday! They just delivered my new Maytag TL Bravo today. I just didn't want to spend the $$$ on the service call to find out it couldn't be repaired.

I didn't replace my KA dryer, I figured it's still working and it's white like the new Bravo so I can keep it until it dies.

Repair or Replace 13 year old Kitchenaid Washer?

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asolo

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Repair or Replace 13 year old Kitchenaid Washer?

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