I need a new washing machine!

amother

Crimson

Wed, May 03 2017, 1:20 pm

can't believe it! When we bought the house 13 yrs ago they left their machine. I think it was about 5 yrs old. Well, What should I get? I need that largest and most highly recommended.
I don't care if it's top load or front load - just that it can hold a lot and wash well.

ra_mom

Wed, May 03 2017, 1:30 pm

Did you call a repair man? The new machines don't last 18 years anymore, so if you can fix it you'll be better off in the long run.
If you do have to replace it, we've been very happy with the LG front loader. It comes in a really large size.

amother

Pink

Wed, May 03 2017, 2:19 pm

Be aware that due to a federal regulation passed in 2015, ALL new washing machines are unable to run hot loads. The dial will say hot, but the machine mixes in water from the cold tap so the water in your load will never be truly hot. We learned the hard way, replacing a machine we should have repaired. Our 20 year-old machine did a much better job of cleaning our clothes than our brand new one.

amother

Coffee

Wed, May 03 2017, 2:31 pm

Miele. That is definitely the best brand in the UK, not sure if they sell it in US.

Chayalle

Wed, May 03 2017, 2:39 pm

Definitely find out if your machine is repairable. My machine broke last year - it also came with my house, and was probably about 20 years old - and the appliance guy told me I will never get as good a machine. Alas, it could not be repaired.

I got a speed queen. It's pretty good, but my old machine was better.

sky

Wed, May 03 2017, 2:45 pm

If it can be repaired - then repair it.
New machines don't clean as well, don't last long, are expensive to repair.
I had to buy a new machin last year - got a whirlpool front loader - am very happy - but store and appliance guy said they only last 10 years and it cost a lot of $$.

JoyInTheMorning

Wed, May 03 2017, 4:54 pm

amother wrote:

Interesting. I moved in 2014 to a house with a new HE washer. I was unhappy with it from the start. It didn't clean well and it tore up my clothes. The HE washer started acting crazily a few months later, refusing to give up the clothes inside it, and having cycles that lasted for several hours. I decided to buy an old-fashioned washer rather than fix what I had. I got a basically old-fashioned-type top loading machine from Home Depot for around $400, but it's not as good as the ones I remember. The rinses are cold, and warm water is better for rinsing away detergent. Plus, it spins too much, which makes the clothes drier and thus needing less energy to dry, but shortens their lives. I use the permanent press cycle, but there is nothing like a gentle cycle. That means I have to wash my lingerie by hand. What a time sink!

But at least my 2014 washer has really hot water for the wash cycle! I'd be very unhappy without really hot water for towels, socks, underwear, and things like that.

Consumers should have the choice to have a somewhat less environmentally friendly machine that cleans well.

amother

Seashell

Wed, May 03 2017, 5:48 pm

I repaired my top loading kenmore so many times cuz everyone was telling me the new ones rnt as good. Then we moved. I bought an lg front loader cuz my mom was disappointed with her new top loading speed queen. Luv the lg. It cleans the clothes so much better and Is more energy and $ efficient.
Annoy cuz I've been talking bout this Wink

esther36

Wed, May 03 2017, 8:50 pm

I bought the Maytag Maxima front loader about four years ago. It has huge capacity and washes very well. I'm very happy with it. It has a feature that u can time a load to start just like time bake. I can fit two full sets of linen in one load-4 duvets, 4 sheets and 8 pillowcases at once and there's still more room. Call town appliance in lkwd they're extremely knowledgeable and helpful regardless if u decide to buy one elsewhere. They'll go thru all ur options with u. Good luck!

sky

Thu, May 04 2017, 10:54 am

I agree the machines are huge - I can wash tons of linen, duvets, down coats, sleeping bags, towels, clothing. That part is great. After the 9 days I get it done super fast.
I just don't think it washes as well - especially whites. my boys white shirts at the end of shabbos are grey. I wash on hottest cycle, with bleach, one hour soak with oxi clean and steam clean and extra rinse - a 3 1/2 hr wash cycle - and it still doesn't come out as white as my old machine.
And sometimes I find some clothing doesn't even get wet - I recently ran a delicate load with very few items and one sweater was partially dry.

If you do get a new washing machine some things I learned:
- top loaders with agitators work very very different then they used to. They use less water, don't get hot and you aren't getting the same machine you used to have.
- If you are used to soaking most machines no longer soak when you lift the cover. Top loaders drain when the cover is open. Some machines allow you to have a timed soak - mine is max 1 hour.
- The front loaders are air tight so if clothing is left in it smells musty. Either you can time the load, or there is something called fan fresh were the fan blows and keeps the clothing from smelling.
- Buy a warranty - both the store and my appliance guy told me they break and are expensive to repair.

I second calling town appliance. They will give you lots of information. I priced around my Whirlpool after speaking to them and they were way cheaper by far. (It was still $$$ - be prepared for sticker shock)

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, May 04 2017, 11:02 am

sky: In my 2014 top loader with agitator, I can soak clothes. I just can't soak clothes with the cover open. What I do is to push in the dial in order to stop the cycle. Then I can come back hours later and start the cycle again by pulling the dial again. It's really no different than lifting the lid. I find that unless I soak dirty, grimy clothing, it does not get clean, so I need to do this.

sky

Thu, May 04 2017, 11:05 am

JoyInTheMorning wrote:

My mother bought a top loading machine recently (that she hates) and it drains when you stop the cycle or open the cover - but I guess the clothes are still wet. Maybe its machine specific?

sky

Thu, May 04 2017, 11:09 am

How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine

The top-loading washer continues to disappear, thanks to the usual nanny state suspects.
http://online.wsj.com/article/......html
By SAM KAZMAN

It might not have been the most stylish, but for decades the top-loading laundry machine was the most affordable and dependable. Now it's ruined—and Americans have politics to thank.

In 1996, top-loaders were pretty much the only type of washer around, and they were uniformly high quality. When Consumer Reports tested 18 models, 13 were "excellent" and five were "very good." By 2007, though, not one was excellent and seven out of 21 were "fair" or "poor." This month came the death knell: Consumer Reports simply dismissed all conventional top-loaders as "often mediocre or worse."

How's that for progress?

The culprit is the federal government's obsession with energy efficiency. Efficiency standards for washing machines aren't as well-known as those for light bulbs, which will effectively prohibit 100-watt incandescent bulbs next year. Nor are they the butt of jokes as low-flow toilets are. But in their quiet destruction of a highly affordable, perfectly satisfactory appliance, washer standards demonstrate the harmfulness of the ever-growing body of efficiency mandates.

The federal government first issued energy standards for washers in the early 1990s. When the Department of Energy ratcheted them up a decade later, it was the beginning of the end for top-loaders. Their costlier and harder-to-use rivals—front-loading washing machines—were poised to dominate.

Front-loaders meet federal standards more easily than top-loaders. Because they don't fully immerse their laundry loads, they use less hot water and therefore less energy. But, as Americans are increasingly learning, front-loaders are expensive, often have mold problems, and don't let you toss in a wayward sock after they've started.

When the Department of Energy began raising the standard, it promised that "consumers will have the same range of clothes washers as they have today," and cleaning ability wouldn't be changed. That's not how it turned out.

In 2007, after the more stringent rules had kicked in, Consumer Reports noted that some top-loaders were leaving its test swatches "nearly as dirty as they were before washing." "For the first time in years," CR said, "we can't call any washer a Best Buy." Contrast that with the magazine's 1996 report that, "given warm enough water and a good detergent, any washing machine will get clothes clean." Those were the good old days.

In 2007, only one conventional top-loader was rated "very good." Front-loaders did better, as did a new type of high-efficiency top-loader that lacks a central agitator. But even though these newer types of washers cost about twice as much as conventional top-loaders, overall they didn't clean as well as the 1996 models.

The situation got so bad that the Competitive Enterprise Institute started a YouTube protest campaign, "Send Your Underwear to the Undersecretary." With the click of a mouse, you could email your choice of virtual bloomers, boxers or Underoos to the Department of Energy. Several hundred Americans did so, but it wasn't enough to stop Congress from mandating even stronger standards a few months later.

Now Congress is at it once again. On March 10, the Senate Energy Committee held hearings on a bill to make efficiency standards even more stringent. The bill claims to implement "national consensus appliance agreements," but those in this consensus are the usual suspects: politicians pushing feel-good generalities, bureaucrats seeking expanded powers, environmentalists with little regard for American pocketbooks, and industries that stand to profit from a de facto ban on low-priced appliances. And there are green tax goodies for manufacturing high-efficiency models—the kind that already give so many tax credits to Whirlpool, for example, that the company will avoid paying taxes on its $619 million profit in 2010.

Amazingly, the consensus also includes so-called consumer groups such as the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. At last week's hearing, the federation touted a survey supposedly showing overwhelming public support for higher efficiency standards. But not a single question in that survey suggested that these standards might compromise performance. Consumers Union, meanwhile, which publishes Consumer Reports, claims that new washers can't be compared to old ones—but that's belied by the very language in its articles.

We know that politics can be dirty. Who'd have guessed how literal a truth this is?

Mr. Kazman is general counsel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

studying_torah

Thu, May 04 2017, 1:22 pm

Just don't get an LG top loader with no agitator. Stains don't come out, it takes forever for a load to wash, tears my clothes, breaks often and their service is a nightmare, even with the warrantee.

amother

Wine

Thu, May 04 2017, 1:39 pm

sky wrote:

I purchase my first apartment in 1989. It had a front-load washer that was out of the purchase warranty, but had an extended warranty. I'd say it was probably at least 5 years old. After a dispute with GE relating to the extended warranty, I was given my choice of new front load machines in 1994; there were several GE models to choose from.

I don't know how many other errors are in the article, but this is glaring.

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, May 04 2017, 3:14 pm

sky wrote:

My mother bought a top loading machine recently (that she hates) and it drains when you stop the cycle or open the cover - but I guess the clothes are still wet. Maybe its machine specific?

Mine is a Hotpoint Model# HTWP1400FWW. It is 3.7 DOE cubic feet.

I don't understand why they would drain the water. That is such a waste, and I thought all the craziness was connected to saving resources, not wasting them!

(I am very pro environmentally-friendly regulations in general; it just seems to me that the washing machine regulations were written by people who do not know laundry like I know laundry!)

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, May 04 2017, 3:18 pm

studying_torah wrote:

Just don't get an LG top loader with no agitator. Stains don't come out, it takes forever for a load to wash, tears my clothes, breaks often and their service is a nightmare, even with the warrantee.

The machine I inherited with my house was a GE top loader with no agitator. It tore my bedding and nightgowns before I realized what was going on.

I am just glad I managed to get a relatively old-fashioned top-loading with-agitator washer that works well.