Our Sears model 417.41142000 clothes washer has a design defect. It is a front load washer with a Sears dryer stacked on top. We paid extra for the stainless steel tubs in both appliances because we did not want stains from water or soap on our clothes. The store salseman pointed out how nice this feature would be for clean clothes.
After several years the washer failed and when I disassembled the unit to try to repair it I found that the tub is not entirely stainless steel. The bracket which holds the tub to the spindle thru the drive mechanism is a zinc die cast part. It had been corroded by soapy water and the back of the tub was covered in piles of goop. All of this corrosion is available to the wash water and to the clothes that are being washed. This hardly meets the salesman's promise of non-corrosion.
It would add very little cost to the construction to seal the bracket in epoxy or plastic, or to make an entirely stainless construction as promoted. The worst side of the problem is that a replacement part is $197. Any buyer of this product should add the cost of this part, which will fail, into the cost of the appliance making it one of the most expensive washing machines on the market.
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