GE Hotpoint Washing Machine - as simple as they come - about 30-yr-old.
I am a pretty decent fixer-upper guy and will tackle anything.
When new, pushing in the knob would stop the machine; pull it out and progress would proceed.
Some years ago, the "pull out the knob to turn ON" quit working and the machine just started as soon as the dial was turned to any "run" position.
Then, a year or so ago, the plastic teeth on both the knob and the timer wore down so badly that the knob would no longer turn the timer to the desired positions.
Solution = removed the knob and turned the timer hub with needle-nose pliers and a firm grip.
Now, a few weeks ago, the two little plastic "hands" inside the timer wore down so badly that they no longer advance the timer.
Everything in the timer runs as if it were ready to move on; but, it just stays and runs the machine on whichever cycle it is on.
Solution --- and not an ideal solution at all --- = manually move the timer from cycle to cycle with the needle-nose pliers; I just manually turn the timer to the next cycle, let it do it's thing for a while, and then turn it to the next cycle.
Doing thus keeps me close as if I wander off and get involved with something else, the washing machine will just continue doing whatever I had it set to do --- until doomsday if I don't show up and turn it to the next cycle.
I had searched and searched for a replacement timer and finally thought I had found two legitimate sources.
The first place, ShopJimmy, claimed they had two in stock, ready to ship; and, they accepted PayPal.
I went through the motions of placing my order and switched over to Pay Pal to complete the transaction --- this in the middle of the night when the rest of the world with any sense was asleep.
After PayPal did it's thing and shifted me back to ShopJimmy to seal the deal, I am greeted with a big notice that the timer I had chosen was not available and my order had been cancelled --- they were just a few seconds earlier claiming they had two of them in stock.
Since then, I am being bombarded with annoying e-mails from them that areas useless as the timers they claimed to have had --- I reported it as Spam so maybe I won't have to deal with them anymore.
Now, for the second source = PartsDepot; they, too, claimed they had plenty of the timers I sought, in stock and ready to ship.
This place doesn't do PayPal and I usually won't deal with any online place that doesn't do PayPal; however, I badly needed a timer and they claimed they had several.
So, against my better judgement, I placed my order and gave my debit card details.
Once I had finished finalizing the order, I received E-Mail confirmation as to the fact and was notified that my order was being processed and a tracking number was soon to follow.
Okay....., now maybe we are getting somewhere.
Not so fast.....; a day or so later, I get an e-mail telling me they had cancelled my order due to the fact that GE had discontinued the part and it was no longer available.
Why in holy hedoubleLL were they claiming to have several in stock, ready to ship, when they knew all along they didn't have a single one and could not get any ?
No matter how badly I may need something in the future, these are two companies I will not be doing business with and will steer anyone who will listen away from.
Right now, the good old workhorse Hotpoint is sitting out on the porch and a brand-shiny-new simple-as-I-could-find Amana is sitting in it's place.
Although the Amana is as simple as can be had today, it is still plenty complicated.
I just now washed a load and I already hate the thing.
I struggled to get the old Hotpoint out on the porch; it is like moving a dead car with no wheels.
The Amana is light as a feather; I can easily manhandle it around all by myself.
The lid on the old Hotpoint is like lifting the lid off a long buried concrete vault.
The lid on the Amana is flimsier than a worn-out dishrag.
The old Hotpoint beats and thrashes and agitates like something is really going on in there; and, when it spins, it is like a big jet engine taking off.
That silly Amana makes no sound at all; and, to add insult to injury, when I open the lid to see even if anything is going on at all, no matter what the thing is doing, it immediately quits before I can get the lid up --- it sure don't sound like it is washing clothes.
The water pours in the old Hotpoint like Niagra Falls and only takes a minute to be up to the top of the agitator.
The water just trickles and dribbles coming in the Amana and took forever to decide that it was ready for a "Deep Water Wash"
As I couldn't open the lid and actually watch the water coming in, I waited until it said it was "agitating" and I opened the lid to see how deep a "Deep Water Wash" was === ridiculous --- the old Hotpoint would have been swimming deep, plumb up to the top of the agitator; there wasn't six inches in the Amana; the clothes were a long way from being covered.
Ridiculous...
Thanks for staying with me this far...
Now for my questions:
After the fact, after dragging the old Hotpoint out on the porch and moving in the shiny new Amana, I am looking at Amazon and across the bottom is "Suggestions due to your recent browsing" or some-such-or-other; and, lined up across the bottom were dozens of Universal Washing Machine Timers -- the most expensive was $24.99 and most were more like $12.
I saw 3-wire, 4-wire, 5-wire and 7-wire universal fit timers.
The given information is very generic and obviously an English-challenged Chinaman's descriptions.
The reviews I did find were not really helpful at all; things like "Fixed my machine that I could not get a timer for"
One thing I noticed concerning all that I looked at is that there were no 1- or 2-Star reviews; everybody seemed to be happy.
Have any of you guys had any experience with these universal fit timers ?
I don't see why the theory wouldn't work wonderfully so long as all the wires plugged into my existing timer had mates on the universal timer to get spliced to.
I know that I would have to custom mount the thing in my control panel; that part doesn't bother me.
Topic Options
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Well,,that new fangled POS finally developed other issues and I DID NOT want another POS that made it's own mind,,SO I go to the friendly used washers and dryers store and found a model back in the cawnor that had just two knobs with only 4 functions and,,,,,,,and,,,the machine would NOT stop just cause you forgot to add that one sock on the floor,,,,!!! I LOVED that one feature,,,,!! A few years of bliss go by and the washer developed another issue that the same switch that started the machine when lid was closed went south ,,,SO,,,I had to place a "FULL" one gallon paint can on the corner of lid so switch underneath would start the washing process,,,,I'm now up to using Two cans of paint and am considering a small anvil I have,,,, I guess I could remove the top cover and get numbers off the switch and order a replacement switch but I expect it is NLA,,,or contact the friendly Used Washers and Dryers store and place an order for another of these machines of long passed times,,,,,,sigh,,,,,!!! 
DMiller wrote:
