I like my deck mounted filler as it is one less thing to clean around on the floor compared to a free standing one. l notice my tub looks short in the photo. Just weird perspective and taken with a tablet. The tub is fitting in a standard 60 inch space although if you had more, the curved end could just be away from the wall. It is a tall tub as it has optional air and water jets, so I do like the ability to hang onto something. I am still pretty nimble and fit for my age, but we plan to be here for an unknown number of years. We used thin quartz as the tub surround and tiled the floor so that everything is quite waterproof and maintenance free. It doesn't show real well in the photos as the colors are a bit off. Would love to see a photo when yours is finished. You can also get a heated back on this tub and I do like it.

The only functional difference between the wash period and the rinses is that the last rinse runs some of the fill water through the softener dispenser. It could be that the leaking starts sooner, but just doesn't run out of the machine and visibly appear until later. Leaking could come from any number of places ... tub boot, rear bearing seal, drain pump, recirculation pump (if your machine has one), various hoses ... there's really no way to make a diagnosis without examination of the machine.

Have a 8 year old Neptune that I had in storage for 3 years ( when the class action was going on) didn't find out about things till my motor control board burned out. Got the conversion kit, my BIL had it installed in 45 minutes and I haven't had any problems since. One thing I did do was I UNSCREWED the light bulb that comes on when you leave the door open & removed it. [Whenever you go into a modern laundry mat that uses front loaders ALL of the machines there never close between washing & you never see any mold at those laundry mats either.] Just remove the light bulb & give the thing a chance to breath between washings. Get some Tilex (or a 30% solution of Clorox & water for us cheapskates) Chlorox is cheaper then Tilex! . Give the outer ring a good scrub and you should be good as new.

I still love my Maytag Neptune 7500 series with touchscreen. Havent had one problem with these machines yet and I purchased the extended warranty for 5 years from Maytag. The extended warranty just expired without a single problem. I did have a model 4000 purchased in 2001 that got all molded/soap scummed from pure negligent use. We only used cold water and only used liquid detergent and liquid fabric softner. That was a disastrous combination! After fixing that problem and finding out how to actually properly use them I had no more smelly machine. In 2005 Sears sold its last new in box 7500 to me for 630.00, about half price. I used Persil for the first 2 years exclusively in powder and since have used Sears Ultra Plus. Never had to leave the door open, never had to take out the bulb, never have even had a need to do the refresh cycles! We have at least one hot wash per week and whites use liquid bleach. Absolutely no problems. I wanted to switch back to Persil but the price jumped up and Sears was convenient so I stuck with it. You might find more whistles and bells on new model washers (but not many) but this set of Neptunes has been perfect so far, and for all those who snubbed the Neptunes I have seen many of those users later crying about thier new machines too. I dont think you will ever find a top loader to compare to the originals from the golden years so best to stick it out with the more dependable front loaders of today. Unfortunately that is a difficult process to find the best ones and too bad for the many who missed out on the progress Maytag made on the original Neptunes. Too bad they resorted to crappy Korean made substitutes and new top loader technology that crapped out on them too. They should have just stuck it out with the original Neptunes and by now thier reputation would have been at least as good as any others you find out there today IMHO