How long should a washer or dryer last?

Hard water is the big one locally, and it is worth naming because it is not evenly spread. Plenty of the Christian County towns south of Springfield run on well or hard water, and a washer shows it before anything else in the house does. Sediment blocks the small screens behind the inlet valve and scale builds on a dryer element until cycles start running long.

After that: overloading, which is what wears suspension and bearings; restricted venting, which cooks a dryer from the inside; and too much detergent, which leaves residue that holds damp and grows the smell people blame on the machine.

Brand. Across the mainstream names the failure patterns are more alike than different, and platforms are shared more widely than the badges suggest. A well-treated machine of an ordinary brand outlives a hard-used premium one.

Also price, up to a point. Past a certain tier you are buying cycles and connectivity rather than mechanical life.

A rumble that rises with the spin and does not go away is usually the tub bearing, and on a sealed outer tub that is the end of the economic road. Rust breaking through the cabinet from the inside is another, because it means water has been sitting somewhere it should not for a long time.

Repeated faults in different systems inside a year is the pattern to watch. One part failing is ordinary. Three unrelated parts failing is a machine telling you it is done.

Wash smaller loads than you think you can. Use the amount of detergent the machine asks for rather than the amount the cap suggests. Leave a front loader's door ajar between washes. Clean the drain filter a few times a year.

For the dryer: clear the lint screen every load and have the vent run properly cleared out periodically, not just the first three feet of it.