Haven’t had that problem, maybe because the floor underneath the machine is tile over a concrete slab, so very flat and not prone to vibration.
Like I said, I’m very happy with the Maytag top loader that I had to buy to replace the LG front-loader whose main bearing failed (worth repeating – thanks a lot, LG!). But to be fair, in the 7 years I owned the LG, it didn’t give any trouble until then, unless you count the time it mysteriously started over-sudsing and dumping the overflow onto the floor through some outlet it had at the back. According to the manual, this can happen if you use too much detergent, but nothing had changed – neither the detergent (Tide HE) nor the water supply. It happened with other detergent brands, too. I just ended up having to use way less detergent from then on. With the new top loader, I just dump in whatever seems right. If it’s too much, it just wastes detergent, nothing bad happens.
But as I was saying, to be fair, in the 7 years I owned the LG, I did no special cleaning of it at all, though I did always keep the door open. I may have wiped down the door seal once or twice, whether it was needed or not. I also once cleaned the lint filter, a screen thingie behind a door at the bottom of the machine. There is residual water in there so you have to pull out a little hose and direct it into a small bucket or plastic container and then pull out the screen. There was, however, very little trapped in there so it wasn’t really necessary.
Front loaders are not really high maintenance, as long as you remember to leave the door open when not in use. On the LG, when it was properly leveled, the door had a natural tendency to gently swing open on its own, which when you think about it is necessary to avoid it getting in the way when you’re loading and unloading, so leaving it open is a pretty natural condition.
Ever see one of these?
Ditto the suggestion to get an extended warranty. They used to be a bad deal, perhaps a scam for the nervous nellies, but the long-term reliability of big appliances across most brands seems to have gone way down in the past decade or two. We’ve been lucky with washers, but in the last 3 years the warranties on the fridge and dishwasher have more than paid for themselves in repair bills we didn’t have to pay.
dont get one of the new agitatorless versions because there’s no small/quick wash feature or even a timer on it … it takes an hour whether your washing 3 socks or 3 dozen …and yes get the warranty … weve had the innards of ours replaced at least twice for less than what the washer costs new …
Update:
So, the machine is almost certainly too old to be worth fixing, but I thought… why don’t I run one short cycle and see what is actually leaking – maybe it’s just a hose. And I finally did that today.
And the machine isn’t leaking at all. The “u” in the drain under the sink that the washing machine drains into is leaking. And the basin we put there years ago when we first noticed a slow leak from it is full, so when my husband washed his laundry, it overflowed. And the floor is sloped such that it looked like it was coming out from under the washer.
I don’t know if the sink can be fixed. (It’s REALLY old, and a vaguely recall we put the basin under it because the plumber didn’t want to deal with it years ago) but it’s still a pretty slow leak. We will try to get the sink fixed, and we will certainly pay closer attention to that basin under it. And now I’ve done a lot of the research for when the washer does, inevitably, die.
Thanks for all your help!
Thanks for the update. IANAP, but that sounds like a pretty easy problem to fix. You might even be able to do a temporary fix with some silicone sealant during this Time of the Great Plague, or some such similar sealant found in the Home Depot plumbing dept. Since the drain pipe is not under pressure, it shouldn’t be a big deal to temporarily seal it up until it can be properly repaired.
Meanwhile we’ve all had a chance to share our washing machine experiences, and the inevitable top- vs. front-loader debate! 
Great news!
I recently had the dubious pleasure of fixing our Whirlpool top loading washing machine. My diagnostic skills were wanting and it took me three tries, but finally fixed it - all for less than it would have cost to have a real repair technician do it given the savings on labor. So bear with me for some comments on ease of repair for the DIY types.
The problem started as tub would not spin if it was loaded normally. This left soaking wet clothes at the end of the wash cycle which required wringing out by hand or even line drying.
The first repair attempt was replacing the splutch cam on the bottom of the machine. Unplug and unhook the water fill hoses, tip machine over, and easy access. A 5 minute, very easy, job.
I then sent the machine through a test cycle while unloaded… and the tub spins! Yeah! And the machine shook so violently that it starting walking across the floor! Yikes!
Next repair attempt was replacing the suspension rods. These are shock absorber-like springs in each corner of the machine that is supposed to even out any shaking. This job was a huge PITA. Take the top off the machine, flip it on its side, and work from the top and the bottom to remove and replace each suspension rod. Even had to roll the machine onto one side to finish the job. This machine (and many like it) and not well designed to easily do this relatively common repair. More than an hour of struggling and I got the job done.
I then sent the machine through a test cycle while unloaded… and the tub spins! Yeah! And the machine shook so violently that it starting walking across the floor! Unplug the machine. Curse a bit. Back to the drawing board.
Third attempt, replace the drive hub kit which is the part that connect the wash tub to the splines of the transmission. It took quite a bit of effort to remove the wash plate (the big disc at the bottom of our tub, since out model does not have an agitator. A few squirts of lime scale remover and soak time loosened it up. Once I got the wash plate off I removed the hub and found that the plastic gear-like grooves had been worn nearly smooth so the tub was not connecting well to the transmission and wasn’t getting power to spin, particularly when heavily loaded. Only then did I order the part which took several days. But once the part arrived it was a 5 minute easy job.
I then sent the machine through a test cycle while unloaded… and the tub spins! Yeah! And the machine cycled through the entire test sequence. It worked! Problem was likely caused by overloading the machine, particularly when washing blankets for the dogs.
I later looked for models that would have a metal hub kit thinking they would be more durable. There are some made by LG. The hub replacement would be a MUCH bigger PITA on an LG and you are just as likely to wreck the entire costly transmission as the cheap hub kit. But the suspension rods were a better design and would have been easier on an LG.
Overall two of these DIY projects were reasonably easy on our Whirlpool. There are excellent videos on Youtube providing stepwise instruction on a variety of repairs. And if I even think I need to replace the suspension rods again I will seriously consider suckering in someone else, a friend who likes a couple beers perhaps, to do the job, maybe even giving up and paying a pro.
And to be fair, you really do need less detergent than you think. I live alone and do a week and 1/2 load of like 11 T shirts, 2-3 pairs of jeans. I just give that load the most minimal squirt from the Tide jug (a 4.3L jug that lasts me easily a year or more) and the laundry is always clean.
USE LESS SOAP. Your laundry mostly doesn’t need as much as you thought, and you’re discharging less waste soap into the environment, and you’re saving money. Win win win.
I bought my first washing machine used when I was 20, it was a top loading Maytag. We replaced it when for my 50th year birthday. Hubs is nothing but a romantic.
Our first front loader (Kenmore) lasted about 4 months longer than the warranty, with the same issues as squeegee. I’m still loving our second front loader 9 years later. I think it cleans well and doesn’t stretch my knit stuff out.
I’m clearly hard on appliances. It seems I’m needing to or actually replacing something every year.
Not much to add, except our front-loader always seems to wad the laundry into one giant ball, and unless you really, really try to untangle it while moving to the dryer, half of it ends up on the floor as it gets dragged out. Never had that problem with the top loader.
Whatever. And don’t get me started on the stupid pedestals.
No electronics. Get one with a mechanical timer.
If you live in a low-headcount household, buy the cheapest one you can find.
Agree with Crafter-Man. You don’t need your washing machine to connect to the internet or have 256 settings.
Certainly not. I was talking about options with my husband, and I mentioned that most of the new machines have several different cycles for each of several different fabrics. He said, “you mean those setting we never change?” And I said, “yup”
Our machine has a gentle cycle, and a permanent press cycle (I think) and I dunno, maybe a pre-soak… But I can’t recall ever using anything other than “normal”. The only thing I adjust is the water temp and the size of the load. Oh, and I use “second rinse” (every single time, but I suppose it isn’t the default option) because our water is somewhat hard and I don’t want detergent residue.
We went with a Speed Queen when we had to replace the washer in our old house. I recall at the time getting a bad vibe from even the more expensive traditionally residential manufacturers (LG, Samsung, etc.) and reviews suggested that the SQ was built to be more of a no-frills, hardy machine more suited to being able to stand up to commercial use. I recall at the time we were careful to get the last year’s model because they had switched out the agitator to a cheaper version. I believe they’ve switched back to the good one now, although I’m not 100% certain about that.
It was a good buy. Did a really reliable job with the clothes. We moved out of that house last year so I can’t speak directly to longevity but I suspect it would have been good. Now we have a super fancy high efficiency LG that came with our new house. It works okay I guess but I prefer the SQ. The LG is really fussy about having a balanced load, and we have to be particularly careful about mixing heavy towels etc. with regular clothes. It’s annoying, and it isn’t uncommon to come back to it to discover that it’s given up and needs someone to move the clothes around, etc. to get it working again.