Goodbye, old friend

I can remember when the men delivering my mum's new washing machine took away her servis twin tub. She stood in the window and cried

I just said goodbye to my 'beko' washing machine, which was 28 years old and still working perfectly.
I was reluctant to see it go, but my late mums machine was just a year or so old, so common sense prevailed. Luckily the "new" one is a hotpoint, so I'm hoping for another 20 odd years of service.
The old one was put outside on the grass, with a note attached saying that it was free and working, and it was taken within a couple of hours.
I'm hoping it'll give someone a few more years. Would be interesting to find out how much longer it lasts. 160 pounds well spent, that was.

My Hotpoint was so noisy I got rid of it when we downsized because even though it was in a utility room at the back of the house you could still hear it above the TV.

DD's was just the same.

I have a Candy now and it's lovely and quiet.

I was told that the bearings are a weak point with hotpoints, but I did have them repaired once, years ago. The engineer told me to ignore the noise, and the machine 'break dancing' around the kitchen, and I got another 3 years out of it.

I had exactly the same the other week with my hotpoint, sadly ours was not yet 5 years old. The engineer came out and agreed it was the bearings, but the whole drum would need to be replaced which, with his time, would make it well over £300. We bought a Beko and have fingers crossed for this. Our choice was restricted because we need an integral machine.

Bosch dishwasher died today, 20+ good service. All those memorable dinners it washed up!

New Hotpoint was delivered by two gorgeous helpful black men. I told my daughters I had fallen in love with them and one said,"They'll be back in two years, that's the life expectancy of a washing machine now".

I feel a bit disappointed. Mine was delivered by my brother in law and sister. We'll have to check back on this thread in a couple of years time and see how they're doing. Not the black men, or my sister and bro in law; the machines!

I grew up with the memory of Monday being washing day and my mother boiling up whites on the stove. When I first married and with arrival of DD1, we had a twin-tub. I got my first automatic after second child arrived and can remember sitting on the kitchen floor, just watching it go through the first nappy-washing cycle. What liberation!

My first was a burco boiler, used every day for boiling nappies! Then a Hotpoint washing machine, a top loader with a mangle on top. It was a Hotpoint Countess. They did a bigger model called the Empress but I couldn't afford it. You had to fill it with a hose pipe. But you could do your whites first, put them through the mangle then wash the colours in the same water. Very economical, but you had to stand over it and do the work.
Now I swear by my Bosch which is very reliable and long lasting.