Well Hotpoint top loaders weren't so simple, there`s more engineering
in them (gearbox, agitator drive, clutch, much tougher bearings and
seals etc) and they were British made. People tended to be very
attached to their top loaders as they take a massive load compared to a
front loader, and at one time were very reliable. The down side - as you
say- is that they used a huge quantity of water and juice to heat it and
wouldn`t go under a work top. As time went on, the machines got
constructionally flimsier and more mechanically delicate, and individual
parts for major components like the gearbox were no longer avaiable, the
mabufacturers supplying only a complete power unit.

I used to hate working on them, but not as much as I hated Speed Queens!



I wonder if they were any different than the HotPoint top loaders here?
There's three basic designs I run into, GE/HotPoint with the centrifugal
clutch driven water pump, belt drive Whirlpool with a wig-wag used to
shift the transmission, and the modern direct drive Whirlpool with a
rubber coupler between the motor and transmission rather than a belt.
Most top load washing machines are one of those three internally
regardless of the brand slapped on the outside and not much has changed,
you can still get parts for a 30 year old machine in most cases.

The front load stuff is all different though, the early machines from
the 70's were built much more like a standard domestic top loader using
a large induction motor and transmission with belts, the newer ones are
much more European and use a DC or brushless motor with a belt drive
directly to the drum. The Neptune I picked up recently uses a 3 phase
motor of some sort, there was nothing wrong with the motor itself so I
didn't dig into it so I'm not sure if it's permanent magnet like a
brushless motor or if it's an AC induction motor but I suspect the
former. I do know that the capacity of this washer is enormous, it fits
easily as much as my extra large Whirlpool top loader I had before and
with no agitator in the middle it's a lot easier to cram big stuff like
my bedspread in there. The thing I don't like about it however is it has
the control panel along the back and the detergent hopper on the top so
you lose one of the big advantages of a conventional front loader of
being able to have a shelf or counter over it but the price was right
($0) so I can't really complain too much.