Hoover Vision Washers

I too was a big fan of Hoover washing machines. They were never the best, but for a while, in the 70s, 80s and early 90s they (for me) managed to get a good balance between cost, value for money and reliability combined with good reparability. At one time Hoover washing machines routinely lasted at least 10 years and it was common for them to last 12 - 15 years. I also saw many Hoover washing machines that lasted over 20 years - the longest lasting one I used to repair lasted 30 years.

The reason for this was simple, Hoover washing machines were made to a decent standard and were easily repaired. They were easily repaired for three reasons, first they gave independent washing machine repairers throughout the UK lots of technical support, publishing technical books easily available to the trade. Second, they were designed and built in a way that made them easy and economical to repair, and third the spare parts were reasonably priced. These three factors ensured that although they weren't a "quality" washing machine, they were well enough made, and easy enough to maintain to ensure they lasted. What's changed? Apart from being bought out by the Candy group, they are now like most other washing machines, manufactured in such a way that some future repairs will now be uneconomical to carry out. The best example of this is if the drum bearings fail they often need an entire new outer tub instead of being able to knock the old ones out.

I wouldn’t try to get a New wave washing machine second hand though on the grounds that they are old now, and some parts are obsolete.