I bought an "analog" washing machine (I can't believe I just wrote that) because of simplicity. The more complicated something is, the more difficult it is to repair, and the more potential points of failure there are.
Buy a used older model if you need a machine. Because it's cheaper, because it is more basic in its components, because those parts are probably cheaper to buy and replace yourself if need be, and mainly because someone is selling it at its age because it STILL works. Anything tied to a circuit board with a processor is a time bomb.
You will not get a washing machine without processor, let alone PCB. Processors also hardly ever fail. It is stuff like the voltage conversion which powers the logic side, the actual power switches for the motor, capacitors or simply stuff that corrodes.
Does an old school washer dryer that runs off timer relays / knobs / push buttons really have a CPU? I ask because that's how mine is and I haven't had to look at the controls but they seem dead simple to me. I get there's different cycles but some simple ladder logic should be able to handle that, no? Half the world runs on simple machines like that.
Does an old school washer dryer that runs off timer relays / knobs / push buttons really have a CPU?
Nope, it's just a timer-drive. cam triggering switches. The physical cam IS the CPU.
We have reached a point in time where there are adults who think everything that runs through multiple steps must have a microcontroller, because only really really old machines* do without.
*For the most part. I bought a brand new whirlpool dryer late last year, and it has a mechanical timer in it.
Yeah but washing machines either use a really simple micro controller or a whole load of really complex voltage based logic and control board electronics that even the guy who designed it couldn't fix without a lot of writing notes and doing maths.
There's more to go wrong on an old washing machine and each control board was unique to the machine so tracking down a replacement is hard - a nice simple raspberry pi Pico you can flash over WiFi would make it so easy to switch out one heater for another without too much thought about impedance or upgrade the turbidity sensor without desoldering resistors.
Plus it gives you infinite control over the program cycles allowing you to update up the best wash method for your detergent and lifestyle.
Of course you can only do that with an open source one. I think it's coming, year of the open source desktop kitchen work surface coming soon.
That's not really true though, the electronics is pretty complex and requires significant work to use different components - I'm sitting next to a pile of dissembled washing machines so i could talk you through a few of the complexities involved in reworking those if you like