Thank you!

Dadoes, our resident mechanical genius, regularly recommends Fisher & Paykel's WashSmart model as a competitor for Speed Queen's toploader.

Sorry about your GE FL. We didn't have a fire, but also had a negative experience with the GE FL.

Can't recommend anything Samsung laundry related and don't think you will like the no agitator He toploaders. I wasn't impressed with either the GE lop loader with agitator or the new Maytag or Whirlpool so called "old school" washers but YMMV

Good luck.

Are you looking to get away from a control board by getting a top loader? Most top loaders have them now, too. My previous oven's control board went after a thunderstorm, incinerated the cookies, and wouldn't turn off. It just kept getting hotter and hotter, and I had to turn off at the breaker. We ended up getting a whole house surge protector. You might want to do that or at least get one for the washer.

Whirlpool told me if I use a surge protector my warranty is voided. Actually the service man told me that so I ask Whirlpool and they confirmed.

That's crazy. One of the dealers we talked to about Speed Queen said buy a surge protector. I wonder why it would be voided.

My Elux is hooked up through this.

We also have a whole house surge protector for really big electrical spikes/surges.

(RCA PSAPP1R Appliance Surge)

(Leviton Whole House Surge Protector)

Pink, I have seen things called surge suppressors and surge protectors. There might be a difference but I think Whirlpool is saying not to use something that looks like an extension cord.

> I wonder why it would be voided.

Two completely different devices - both called surge protectors. If one does not ask what it does with numbers, then one can easily be scammed.

Plug-in or adjacent protectors do not claim to protect from typically destructive surges. And typically have obscene profit margins. Some numbers. How many joules does that protector claim to absorb? Hundreds? A thousand? Destructive surges can be hundreds of thousands of joules. What happens during destructive surge? In rare cases, fire.

Destructive surges seek earth ground. How does that adjacent protector connect a surge to earth? Best path is often destructively via the adjacent appliance. The informed understand why a warranty would be and should be voided. It can give a surge even more potentially destructive paths via that appliance. Where is the protection?

It need not provide protection. Its ten cent protector parts have many dollars or ten dollar profits. Because naive consumers only think subjectively - assume the phrase 'surge protector' automatically means 'surge protection'.

Something that is completely different is called a 'whole house' protector. No protector does protection - not one. A protector is a connecting device to what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules. Single point earth ground. One can buy a world's best protector. But it not connected low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to earth ground, then that protector is almost useless.

Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector is 50,000 amps. Leviton is one example. But that Leviton is too tiny (only 10,000 amps). 50,000 amps defines protector life expectancy over many surges. Because any protector that fails is no protection - wasted money. A protector must earth even direct lightning strikes - and remain functional. These superior solutions cost about $1 per protected appliance. How expensive was that near zero, plug-in protector?

Companies of integrity provide a proven solution including Intermatic, Square D, Ditek, Siemens, Polyphaser (an industry benchmark), Syscom, Leviton, ABB, Delta, Erico, and General Electric. A Cutler-Hammer sells in Lowes and Home Depot. Not listed because spec numbers make it obvious are Belkin, Panamax, APC, Tripplite, and Monster. And because it does not have and will not even discuss what does protection: single point earth ground.

Earth ground should have most of your attention. That does the protection. Protection is always about where hundreds of thousand of joules dissipate. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.

g thom, thank you for the clarification. There are a whole range of products on the market that seem to offer surge protection so it's understandable that the less-informed, like me, would be confused. We bought out last house and found that the pool light wasn't grounded. Now THAT can be a scary thought.

That is what happened to my FL maytag. I don't even know what caused it. It was the latest of so many problems that I had with the machine, that when that happened, I just thanked God my house didn't burn down and I chunked it out the door.