New Clothes Washing Machine Day

[/pine]

I apologize in advance for this...But reading the Title made me think of the character 'Jack Reacher' in the popular Lee Child novel series...
The character Jack (no middle name) Reacher...travels around with no possessions etc...when his clothes get dirty he buys new ones and trashes what he previously was wearing...

FWIW...The character is 6'-5" 280# retired Army elite CID, West Point grad...
Good reads...

Now back to the matinee sponsored by Maytag...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Im going to get a speed queen.

 

[txdon]

I apologize in advance for this...But reading the Title made me think of the character 'Jack Reacher' in the popular Lee Child novel series...
The character Jack (no middle name) Reacher...travels around with no possessions etc...when his clothes get dirty he buys new ones and trashes what he previously was wearing...

FWIW...The character is 6'-5" 280# retired Army elite CID, West Point grad...
Good reads...



Now back to the matinee sponsored by Maytag...

Excellent reads - but he didn't have a wife to make happy like Buckeye.

 

[MarkF48]

The mechanical speed queen has a soak mode, if you didn't already know that.

It seems to be done a bit different than my old Maytag which could do a presoak and agitate for a short bit and then progress directly into the normal wash. The Speed Queen does this with a separate presoak cycle where it fills, agitates, and then spins. There also appears to be a way to manually soak the clothes for a bit playing with the timer.

 

[check]

Maybe I need to get a Speedqueen. We had to replace our top load washer a couple years ago and my wife hates the new one. She likes to be able to soak the clothes when needed, the one we got was supposed to be one that could be manually filled (instead of auto) higher but still wouldn't cover a normal load and max water. The thing also sounds like there's a bearing going when it's spinning it's max speed.

I must admit I am a bit surprised at all the problems I see listed here with the various washing machines. I have never had a problem with any of the washing machines that I have owned, and I have owned several brands.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have only owned 2 washing machines since the mid 80s, and the first one came with the house. Mine is 20 yrs old and getting louder.

 

[ultrarunner]

Folks married 60 years and only two washers and one dryer...

The washer could have been repaired but Dad surprised Mom with a new one.

I mentioned this at work the ladies let me know where they stand in no uncertain terms... I guess a major appliance no longer makes the grade of gifting.

Mom and Dad bought the Dryer as an anniversary present to each other and that Avocado 1968 Kenmore is still on the job.

 

[shaeff]

We have LG high efficiency front loaders at the city place and the country place (well water 30-40psi). They have been flawless for 5 and 2 years respectively. There is a fast wash cycle for people who are in a hurry.

We also have LG, the speed cycle is 15 minutes and with hot water gets even my nasty garage clothes clean. Spins them so fast after the rinse cycle that 20 minutes in the dryer is all it takes.

We had a NIGHTMARE with a Samsung set, dryer failed within 8 months of purchase. I was so disgusted with it that I kept climbing the chain of command until they wouldn't let me get higher. Apparently Samsung has NO repairmen in my area (the store should have told us this!!!) so even though it was under warranty, they wouldn't fix it.

Took two months, FINALLY the guy from Home Depot came though for us after I told him every detail of our story. He made them come pick up the washer, and both pedestals. (Eventually)

In the meantime, I completely disassembled the dryer, found a bad resistor, replaced it, and continued to use it until our new LG (flawless) set showed up.

In the end, they took the washer and both pedestals, told me we were responsible for getting rid of the dryer. What a load of crap. I'll NEVER buy Samsung again. I sold the dryer to help recoup some money.

/rant

 

[CountryB]

I've been looking at Speed Queen too. I thought my front loader Maytag was shot when wife called to say she heard a large explosion/bang and the unit stopped. It's been real noisy for the last year or two when in the spin cycle - we thought mostly due to washing the heavy King comforter and dog blankets. But I thought this time it was all over. Turned out just the motor just fell off. I was able to reinstall it (so good for a while more I think).

But to the Speed Queen -- my research leads me to believe it is a better built machine. It was not Consumer Reports "Recommended Buy" though because it is not as energy efficient as the others. It uses more water. The reason the new washers take so long to clean is because of the low water use. Less water = more time needed to clean. So the Speed Queen uses more water but also has a shorted cleaning cycle. That's fine in my book.

One draw back to the Speed Queen is that it has a smaller tub than the competitors. I'm concerned that it won't handle the King bedding - which is washed once a week (as my Dog sleeps on the bed). Anyways this may be a problem. The Speed Queen website claims the smaller size of the tub is not a concern - but I'm not sure if this isn't marketing speak.

Last word on appliances - I've spoken with a lot of repair people over the years and they always tell me it's the electronics that are the biggest problem (highest failure rate), so another plus for the Speed Queen is that it is available with manual controls.