Staber Washer- Mixed results

by Dan Ville (Danville, CA)


We’ve had the washer 6 years and generally it has worked well, though my wife says it does not get clothes as clean as she would like. We have intermittent problems with spin cycle due to unbalanced load – sometimes you just don’t have a huge amount to wash and any unbalance will cause it to stall.

It is also extremely loud; at least our 6-year old machine is. It sounds like a jet engine when it gets spinning and you can hear it several houses away. No way I would put it inside the house!

After 6 years we recently had to replace the drive belt (our only repair), but the problem is that you have to buy parts from Staber. Even a belt, which should be commonly available, is only available from them. That means time delay, and if you want it tomorrow (can you wait a week to do your next load?!) they charge astronomical amounts – far more than any other online retailer – get this: for a 34 dollar, 4-ounce drive belt, they charge 50 dollars for overnight shipping!! Completely outrageous. Then again, it costs a minimum of 50 dollars for a repairman visit in our area, plus parts, so you pay either way I guess. in any event, the “do it yourself” repair is not necessarily cheaper, at least through Staber!

To save water and energy you need a horizontal agitation and spin. When we bought ours it was 900 dollars and the only competition was 1500 dollar machines from the usual companies. Now the base machine is 1300 dollars and the other companies are comparable. For quieter machines, more features, better operation and convenience of repair, I would definitely go with the bigger, well-known companies for my next washer. I hate to say that because I like the idea of a small company doing something new and doing it well. But Staber has not really fullfilled that promise as well as it might.