WASCOMAT GENERATIONS

[LEEHUSTON]

I have some w74's and w123's and 184 giants in one of my laundries. They are abourt 14 or 15 years old and running well. They are good machines. I have a chance to buy some that are about 3 or 4 years old. I don't know the "generation" lingo that people are always talking about with regards to wascos. Which generation was suppsoedly the "problem" generation that needs to be avoided. How can I determine the exact age and "generation" of these machines. They have the tri-lobe handle and the square doors and seem to be in pretty good shape.

[Howard]

The machines you are talking about are generation 5 machines, and they are good machines. There are some very ignorant people out there that claim the gen5 machines are junk, but they are not. The issue they bring up is they are built differently than the older machines. They don't have the full frame design of the 4's and earlier, rather they have the equivalent of a unibody construction like cars do. Remember when unibody first came out and people said it was junk and they wanted cars with full frames. Well those junk new cars are a hell of alot better than the old cars with frames. I have had gen3 (123) gen4 and gen5 machines. I do almost no repairs on the gen5, they run run and run. The gen4's are very good too, but they cost more to repair than the gen5. The gen5 have water activated drain valves, no more motor and gear assembly. The gen5's are anywhere from 1-10 years old. The gen4 are between 10-20years old, and your 123 is older than 20years. You can check the age of any wasco by calling wascomat with the serial number and they will tell you the exact age. Many of them on the serial plate also show the month and year of production. If you can get a good deal on the gen5 I would go for it.

[LEEHUSTON]

I have heard that frame bull from a salesman one time. So really there are no bad generations out there, just alot of bull about machines without full frames. Thanks for the info Howard.

[Jim]

In the terms of Generations with Wasco's it is the last digit of the model #. Examples are: W 73, W 123, W 183 are all Generation "3" machines
W 74, W 124, W 184 are all Generation "4" machines
W 75, W 125, W 185 are all Generation "5" machines.
I am not sure about the new Generation "6" as there is not a lot of information available on the web.

[PeterH]

The Gen 6's have the number 6 followed by the rated capacity:
W620
W630
W640
W655
W675

-ph

[Marianne]

I heard that unibody complaint on the Gen 5's from a salesman about ten years ago. At the same time he showed me some one or two year old Gen 5's that were rusted out already.

[Howard]

Well I bought two 10 year old W125 (gen5) machines about 8 months ago. They look brand new and run like they are brand new. They work just as well as the 1yr old gen5 machines that I bought factory new. Its like anything else, you maintain a piece of equipment and it will last.

[ptdiver]

I have some gen 6 emerald,s and so far LOTS of problems, the gen 5 are fine.

[Mchale]

So ten years later how are these Wasco's holding up? Anybody upgrade?