Hi Pete,

I think you make a good case that, if you're stuck out in the boonies
somewhere, electro-mechanical washers are probably the way to go, since when
they do break you'll have a pretty good shot at being able to repair them
yourself. :-) Electronically controlled machines... not so much (ok, maybe
not at all...).

"Pete Wilcox" wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.60.0704231458490.4081@squire...
Any weak solder joint in the "electronic" equivalent, subject to the same
mechanical forces, can produce an "intermittent" failure mode that can be an
absolute ******* to track down, and result in many hours of fruitless
investigation.

It just seems to me that with appropriate quality control and design
(including isolation mounting, etc.), you should be able to design a washing
machine controller board with an MTBF of, say, 100 years.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Electronically controlled washers are typiclaly a lot more water and
electiricity efficient than the old "fixed cycle" designs. This might not
rise to the level of "broken," (although Jim's leftist weenie greenies would
disagree :-) ) but it's close enough that newer machines can be considered
"valid" improvements, IMO.

---Joel