Washer repair yesterday
 

So yesterday I had 2 brothers Appliances (recommended by someone on TOTV) come and check out my broken washer (GE less than 4 years old). The guy came in, said the green light wasn't on, which meant the inline fuse was broken. He proceeded to remove the fuse (had to cut it out) and said that GE told them not to replace this fuse because it just wasn't necessary. I questioned him, saying 'why would they put a fuse in a washer if it wasn't necessary' and why not replace it? He said it would be money wasted as it wasn't needed per G.E. He put the wires back together, charged me $75. and was on his way. As he was leaving the driveway, I walked into the laundry room and smelled an electrical burning smell. My husband quickly called him and asked him to turn around and come back, which he did. He walked into the laundry room and smelled the electrical smell.... and immediately said that our waher motor was fried and would need replacing (almost $300) or I could just replace the washer. He DID give us the check back for $75. I did not know what to do at that point about putting another $300 into my washer, or know what I wanted to replace it with. I am still just stunned and puzzled as to how this all played out. The fact that right after he cut out the fuse and put the wires back together, my motor just happened to fry. Nice enough guy but I question a few things about what he said that GE told him to do about the fuse, etc. He didn't even look for another problem other than the fuse. Has this happened to anyone else?

Apparently the inline fuse problem is a common problem with GE Hydrowave washers. As per Bulletin tb09-10 GE recommends removing the inline fuse on machine with the newer style motors. Don't know if your machine had a new style motor or not...most likely the motor is the cause of the blown fuse...the technician most likely advised you correctly.
We have a 36 year old Maytag up north that's still running perfectly. My wife won't even think of replacing it! I don't think any appliance maker makes them the way they used to.:ohdear:

I agree they are NOT made anywhere near as good as they used to be. This seems so strange that kitchen appliances of all kinds have taken a nose dive where it comes to quality. I can't help but wonder why this happened, and why someone can't make dependable appliances that operate like the old ones did. I had two washers that lasted 20 years each before this GE that died in less than 4 years. All this 'energy efficient' stuff ends up costing you much more in the long run. I could spend a lot of $$ on water for a 'non efficient machine' and end up saving $$$.......rather than replace the item every 3-4 years. SOOO frustrating!

Most are now made in China...

My dad was an electrician...the business he worked for carried G.E. This was all over 40 years ago! We bought our 1st appliances through them and the washer/drier lasted 20 years. I think the drier went 1st so we just replaced the 2 of them. The 2nd set lasted another 20 years---actually the drier much longer as we still had it when we moved here 4 years ago. Sold it with the house. At that time it was going well at 25 years! Had to replace the washer though but it had gotten a good run for it's money. I agree that appliances aren't what they once were...now they give the major ones an 8 to 10 year life-span.

The motor had almost certainly seized up , causing an overcurrent surge to blow the fuse (exactly as fuses are supposed to, to protect the equipment) Removing the fuse allowed the overcurrent condition to resume as soon as power was restored and, predictably, caused the smell of burning insulation until the breaker on the main panel did its job and opened the circuit. . This guy is a lousy excuse for a service repairman. The motor may well have been toast in any event, but his actions constituted a greater risk of fire than should have existed. If he's not the owner of the company, I'd complain that the motor may not have been ruined if he had checked first. A simple resistance check with a voltmeter across the motor leads should have been the first step.