High Efficiency Washers

rockyridgefarm · Apr 24, 2006

Bird, don't worry, if you ever have any trouble at all it will be easily fixed:

1. Post on TBN in the meetings section that you are gonna roast a goat.
2. Mention welding equipment.
3. Suggest that there are educational opportunities.

Get ready for crowd control.

RSKY · Apr 26, 2006

I have another post here somewhere about our Maytag Neptune experience. Let me just say that when we called their service people and gave our name they would look up our records and say something like "OH MY G-D". By the time the washer finally caught on fire (when the service man plugged it in) and burnt all the boards out everything except the frame, sheetmetal, motor and tub had been replaced. All electronics, switches, sensors, bearings, etc. The dryer even had the tub replaced in it. No Maytag appliance will ever be in my house again!!

If you are on a septic tank I would suggest a front loader due to the frugal water use. I built a platform to raise mine 9" and now we do not stoop to load or unload. I bought the LG from home depot. Partly because of a 10% discount card and partly because I found out that all the managers were ordering LG appliances for their own use. Figure they have access to info that I don't.

If you do purchase a front loader follow the instructions and use HE detergent, being sure to use the amount specified by the washer manufacturer. I was told by service people at two stores that most the front loader calls they had were related to problems caused by using too much detergent.

Also with the larger capacity washers and dryers be sure to not use the flexible vent hose. I have found out the hard was on this.

So far the LGs have performed flawlessly but we have had them only two months.

dmp437 · Apr 27, 2006

The Whirlpool Duet (as well as Kenmores) are made in Germany, probably by Siemens, who has an automated assembly line (many robots, few human hands) and makes many models for many customers worldwide. They are the current "benchmark". After talking to several people "in the biz" we picked up a Whirlpool 9450 last summer and have been very happy with it. All of the early frontloaders had problems due to the leap in technology they represented over the existing equipment.
As an altenative consider Staber products, www.staber.com

rockyridgefarm · Apr 27, 2006

( The Whirlpool Duet (as well as Kenmores) are made in Germany )

That's exactly what I thought, but nearly every part on mine is clearly labelled 'Made in Italy'

forgeblast · Apr 28, 2006

Any one have a staber? I keep telling my wife that as soon as this washer breaks we are going to get one of them. I would like to know first if they really do live up to their advertising.
Thanks,
forgeblast

turbo36 · Apr 28, 2006

( 2 years ago we were in your shoes. Looking for a front loader for efficiency and less water consumption. Did a ton a research and went with the Fisher Paykel toploader. We easily do 18 loads a week, it uses ~15 gallons of water and has a 1000+ rpm spin that cuts your dry time in half. Other than cleaning the cold water filter every 3 - 4 months it's been a fantastic unit. It was cheaper than the front loaders we were looking at, has a bigger capacity and you don't have to get on your knees to load/unload. No transmission or belts, it's a 24v direct drive unit. I understand folks have modified them for off the grid living. We picked ours up at Lowes, ~$600. )

We bought a FP last fall based on the published capacity and the consumer reviews however we have found it to be less then ideal. We can not wash more then 6 large size towels without getting an out of balance alarm. Perhaps we have a defective unit?

DaNag · Apr 29, 2006

( We bought a FP last fall based on the published capacity and the consumer reviews however we have found it to be less then ideal. We can not wash more then 6 large size towels without getting an out of balance alarm. Perhaps we have a defective unit? )

My guess is one of two things...

- Unit is defective/needs repair. We have dogs, and tons of blankets covering all the furniture. We wash full loads of bulky blankets in our FP 4-5 times a week - never had an out of balance problem. It's the only washer we've had that hasn't had this problem...

- It's possible it's not an out of balance alarm. Just a few weeks ago, the wash cycle was stopping with an alarm. We assumed it was our first out of balance problem, adjusted the load, and it finished. However, the problem kept occuring on virtually every load - even the light ones. Before calling for service, I pulled out the manual...turns out, FP washers have alarms for many different issues, and the configuration of the light display will let you know what is going on. On ours...it was a "excess foam" alert, and indeed, there was significant foam in the tub each time we would adjust the load. We had just picked up a different brand of detergent that was on sale, but it wasn't designed for high efficiency/low water usage washers. We ran a couple of water only cycles to flush things out, switched back to our regular soap and all has been fine.

As with the earlier posters, we're thrilled with the performace of our FP washer...my guess is, we've probably paid for the thing with the savings in energy necessary to dry laundry due to the high-speed spin. Our blanket drying time is now about 1/3 what it used to be.

RSKY · Apr 30, 2006

I talked to another dealer who sells washing machines from a small store. I had looked at some of his models before buying the LG brand. He asked if I had bought yet and I told him I had. Two things he told me:

#1 Most problems with high efficiency top loaders and all front loading washers are caused by using the wrong detergent and by using TOO MUCH detergent per load.

#2 Do not buy a Maytag appliance. And he sells them.

Dargo · Apr 30, 2006

With five active kids and two adults at my house, my wife does about 20 to 25 loads of laundry per week. We have had the Energy Star® Duet® Washer - Whirlpool Gold and matching dryer for almost three years now. It is great to have them stacked because they take up so much less room. We have had exactly zero issues with either and they seem to be at least twice as fast as our past conventional top loading washer and front loading dryer setups. The energy and water use is sooo much less, detergents last us twice as long, and they are not even half as loud as the conventional machines. With the nearly constant use, my machines have seen about 10 years worth of use in comparison to what a 'normal' family would use. I can't see myself ever going with any other brand or style.

*edit*
A quick log in to Consumer Reports shows that the most troublesome high efficiency front loaders are: Maytag, Miele (highest priced, lowest rating /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif), and Speed Queen. It looks like Whirlpool and Kenmore own all the top spots in the ratings.

JJT · Apr 30, 2006

Turbo, In 2 years I can only remember manually rebalancing 1 load of laundry. My wife regularly stuffs this washer to maximum capacity.... Is your washer perfectly level? Ours is in a utility room on a tile floor with 1.25" of plywood for subflooring and 2x10's for floor joists. The washer is perfectly level, never walks and almost never goes off balance, (maybe once a month). When it does, it self corrects 99% of the time.