Thanks for your comment, Jeff!

The resistor blow out happened exactly as you described: the tech showed me the control board with the fried resistor when he gave us the diagnosis. As for passing on word about the motor failure: well, by your comment appearing here on my blog, pretty much everyone I know now knows as well 🙂

I’m pretty happy we decided to replace the washer/dryer pair as we did, but not everyone can afford that choice. For me… I hate stuff that breaks due to bad design. If that happens, I’m prone to just junk the defective product in question and never buy from that manufacturer again. For someone else, a better option would be to work around the design flaws through ingenuity. I admire those who have the time, patience, and attitude to do so.

Anyway, right out of the starting gate I’m much happier with the LG pair that I was at the start with the Maytag. We’ll see how happy I am a decade from now- if our washer and dryer are still running and performing well, then I’ll feel satisfied with our choice.