I've heard many people say that washing machines are now deliberately designed to only last  5 years. Even some sales people in shops say the same (which of course suits them very much). Unfortunately many don't even reach 5 years these days - but are they synically designed  to not last? Washers used to commonly last a minimum of 10, and often up to 20 years. I've seen many in my time as old as 30 years. The latest official stats indicate their average lifespan is just over 7 years. My Washerhelp poll (on the right colum) currently shows about 35% of washing machines have lasted 5 years or less, but surprisingly - over 40% of people said their last washer lasted 10 years or more, with almost 15% claiming it lasted over 15 years!

Due to an ever decreasing gap between the cost of repairs and the cost of purchasing a new budget washing machine there's been a major decline in the number of washing machines being repaired (to the detriment of the environment). In a nutshell, the cost of getting a washing machine repaired is often so high relative to the cost of purchasing a new one that most washing machines are scrapped because they are considered beyond economical repair (BER) - which is different to being scrapped because they have genuinely reached the end of their life. Therefore you could argue their lack of longevity is due more to their lack of repairability than the actual build quality. Having said that, these days, parts inside appliances are built for a specific average number of wash cycles and the cheaper ones have a surprisingly low wash cycle expectation, which would make them highly unsuitable for anything but light use.

People these days commonly see buying a new one as a safer bet than repairing - even when the one they have is less than halfway through its potential life span and even though they commonly unwittingly replace it with an equally poor quality washing machine that will also need replacing too soon.

Accident or design?

It's not so much that they build new washing machines specifically not to last, but they build the cheap washing machines which customers (naively) demand, a side effect of which is that they don't last very long because they are so cheap to replace, not as good quality as they used to be, and they don't support them properly out of guarantee.

Some washing machine manufacturers seem to want to make their profits by simply selling new washing machines on a massive scale. In the old days they used to sell machines and support them throughout a reasonably long life through a good (and reasonably priced) supply of spare parts, and by giving good technical support to independent repairers. These days, a washing machine can easily be uneconomical to repair once out of guarantee - even as young as 18 months old.

In order to save money on production costs, many manufacturers use techniques that make some repairs impossible, and make other repairs require the replacement of whole assemblies of parts instead of being able to strip down the old one to repair it. Examples of this are motors that are spot welded together instead of bolted, pumps that have no parts available - only a new pump - and drum bearings that can't be knocked out and replaced so a complete new tub is needed with them pre-pressed in. Needless to say the cost of fitting a new tub is uneconomical so most washers get scrapped if bearings fail.

All this is most probably a side effect of cheap washing machines rather than a deliberate attempt to stop it being repaired. However, the pricing of washing machine spares by the manufacturers appears to be deliberately designed to either make up a lot of the lost profit on selling the complete washing machine at such unrealistically cheap prices - or to deliberately make them beyond economical repair so they don't have to stock many parts or to cause excessive washing machine replacement.

Things to consider when replacing a product instead of repairing it.

The quality issues talked about on this page are not confined to washing machines. There is a hidden price to pay for our throwaway society and it isn't just the environmental price. Many new products, which are apparently so much better value for money than our existing ones are not the good value we assume.

Example : A customer I visited had bought a new video recorder for about £60 as it was cheaper than repairing her old (quality) video recorder. Only after buying and using it did she realise it was very poor quality, and most of the features she'd been used to on her old one were missing. She couldn't even see a picture when fast forwarding or rewinding because they had cut down on the amount of video heads fitted.

The moral really is to try to look into exactly why a new product is so much cheaper. Is it because of advances in technology or a worldwide drop in prices as with things like computer memory? Is it because a new product has started to sell in big enough quantities to bring prices down such as with the new iPod or hard disc recorders? Or is it because features you may find useful or even essential have been ditched and the quality has been dropped?

I'm not saying the lady with the video recorder was wrong to replace her old video recorder, and that she should have had it repaired. But she should have at least been suspicious of the new video recorder half the price she paid for her old one several years previously. She could have spent more money on a better quality video recorder so that it at least matched the features of the one she had before, which may also have been better quality.

Alternative Reviews

Although my reviews are comprehensive and very detailed, they are limited in number and may not feature all the very latest models. Which? have the resources to review many of the latest washing machines and have a specially set up test laboratory. They also have a huge database of savvy members to gain reliability and satisfaction feedback from.

You can easily obtain a 1 month trial from them, which you may find useful as they review and advise on virtually everything, not just washing machines. Why take out a 1 month trial - what's the catch?. (NOTE: The Which? reviews and consumer advice is available immediately online).

Which? Best washing machine brands (NOTE: The Which? reviews and consumer advice is available immediately online and a 1 month trial is available for just £1)