Clothes washing machines - any reccos of new machines and manufacturer experiences?


 
Ralph said:
I had to buy a pair of water hammer arrestors- for some reason we didn't need them with the old Amana.
Click to expand...
Without getting into the back story, modern washing machines, especially front loaders, have quite aggressive solenoid valves. I got this from a memo from Sioux Chief, eponymous manufacturer of hammer arresters. I had a small set on the LG washer here, and within a couple of years, those very aggressive valves had driven the pistons all the way to the top of the chamber and lost the air charge completely. I keep them on the shelf just to show them off. Sioux Chief recommends either a small arrester at both the washing machine and the valve, on both the hot & cold lines, or a much larger set. I went with the larger set and plumbed in one of the nice quarter turn single handle water valves.
 
I haven't kept up with all the posts here, so if this has been stated then just ignore me. In 2013 we bought an LG top loader impeller. Sometimes, we wished for a little more water in the tub but on this model back then there was no user option to add more water. But the extremely frustrating issue was that at a frequent rate it encountered an out-of-balance error during rinse/spin. To auto-correct, it would add more water and then run another spin cycle. If the error persisted it would do it all over again before giving up, ending the cycle, and requiring user intervention. I'd guess this occurred 10-15% of the time.

On Black Friday we bought the WT7900HWA. The first one was defective out of the box, lol. One week later a replacement was delivered and so far we've loved it ever since.

Given the 2013 purchase issue one key for us was the return policy and it varies widely from store-to-store. Lowe's only had a 2 day return period unless you use their credit card, which extended it to 30 days. We can pay it off early and avoid interest. So my advice is that you consider the store's return policy because in the case of something like a balance error it may not occur during some initial uses.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LG-Washer-WT7900HWA/5013193571

1706706113848.png
 
i've dialed this all down to a new set of LG's 5 cu ft washer, both electric washer and dryer.

costco is running a pretty good sale right now through Feb 7th. i just have to see if they'll delay delivery until our new place is move-in ready sometime end of march.
 
DanHoo said:
Front load or top load?
Click to expand...
FL, models lg-wm6700hba with matching electric dryer (DLEX6700B), in black steel color.

our current Maytag unit is 4.5 cu ft, MHW8200FW.

the new LGs are an upgrade from our current setup. current dryer is NG and new home is electric supply for the dryer (solar at home too), and the cost of a NG stub to the dryer was $1,000, which is the cost of a new dryer so we elected to just use electricity due to our rates with solar on the house. IIRC, fixed rate of $0.11 pr kwh.
 
Last edited:
Before we bought our first LG in 2013 we bought a GE in 2003. In 2011 the tub failed; it was almost effortless to reach GE and have them agree to ship us a free tub. It only lasted a couple years past that repair. Back then we were probably using it daily, though.

ge washing machine tub replacement.jpg
 
Reviving this thread because this is something that I rarely see. Lots of US taxpayers putting food on the table at an Ohio whirlpool factory:

IMG_8227.jpeg


CLYDE, Ohio—Ryan DeLand arrives at Whirlpool’s washing-machine factory at 6:53 a.m., not long after day-shift workers have settled into their stations.

He steps into his office and is greeted by a whiteboard that bears the motto “stable and predictable.” He will spend the day chasing that goal despite a never-ending stream of complications in a plant that is as big as 30 football fields put together.

A lot can go wrong.

The plant has more than 25 miles of conveyors and uses more than 2,000 parts. Robotic and human-piloted vehicles zip through its aisles, while an overhead crane carries huge coils of steel. Going full blast, the factory can pump out 22,000 washing machines in a day, but even a brief mishap can stop production cold.
 
Chris Allingham said:
I had a friend who bought the first-gen Maytag Neptune front loader in 1997 and he had problems with mildew (those machines had a 60% fail rate overall).

We had a Whirlpool front loader (2008-2021) and LG front loader (2021-2023 when we moved) and never had this problem with either one. I think you can avoid it if you are fastidious about doing the following:
  1. Run the cleaning cycle every month. Add it to your calendar as a task so you remember to do it! Both the Whirlpool and LG machines had a dedicated Clean Cycle in which you add 1/2 cup of bleach and the machine uses a high water level to sanitize the drum.
  2. After the cleaning cycle, use a clean dry towel to thoroughly wipe out and dry the deep gasket around the opening. The cleaning cycle does a good job of removing most of what collects on it, but a quick wipe finishes the job. Also, wipe the gasket on the inside of door itself, the door glass, and the metal surround around the door opening.
  3. When not in use, leave the detergent drawer and the door open! No one likes to do this, but this allows the machine to dry out and is probably one of the most important things you can do to prevent mildew.
  4. Occasionally clean the detergent drawer. Take it out, take it apart, rinse under warm water, dry it, reassemble and reinstall.
Loved the LG WM3900HWA washer and DLEX3900W dryer. Wish I still had them!
Click to expand...
Agree with all of your points Chris. We've had a Whirlpool Duet front loader since 2010. and we don't have a mold issue as long as the door and drawer are left open when not in use, and we clean the washer on a monthly basis. We did find that since we have very soft water, we have to use powdered HD detergent sparingly, or we would have over-sudsing issues (suds coming out of the vent in the back). Liquid HD detergents were worse for over-sudsing than powders. We also use Affresh washing machine cleaner rather than bleach, as even a 1/2 cup of bleach would result in suds coming out the back. Of course, YMMV.
 
My first house had an old set of Maytag's that just worked, so I bought a new set of Maytags when we moved in 95 and had nothing but trouble with the washing machine, the dryer was good, I fought that fight as long as I could stand it and got a Speed Queen and we love it, no bells or whistles it just works, just like my old Maytag did
 
I have the LG pair for about 10 years now, and these are of 4.6 cu ft models i beleive.
Not problems and I have moved these twice. I can do my king size blankets and comforters. So it works perfect for us. Low vibration in spin and it spins real fast so drying times are shorter.
Good machines. Had a set of Kenmores prior to this for about 15-16 years much smaller. We are happy with these would buy again.
 
Well I am about 3 months in on a new set of GE front loaders, the washer has materials to stop mold from forming and a dry cycle, working very well so far, can't believe how much water is spun out of things, our setup is in the unfinished basement and wife was leary of leaving door open and getting a bug or a mouse in the machine, not had a mouse get into the house in a long time, dryer vent was the culprit both times before, went to a metal style and good so far. I have found there is a very small pin hole for the fabric softener that needs cleaned once every few months or it won't drain the water. It's easy to take out and wash, I would suspect others might have the same system as they tend to copy each other. Time will tell how well they hold up, my top load Maytag worked well for 13 years, hated it as there was no agitator to circulate stuff, just short paddles on the bottom that worked ok with a low amount of stuff in it. I feel I am saving $$ on drying stuff, a 1 hour run with the old dryer has turned into a 35-45 minutes for most loads. Still like the sensor dry as it cuts down the stated time on the dial.
 
I understand LG has upped their game on washer quality. So far (knock wood) we're on second Samsung. First one ran almost like a commercial machine for about 10 years. With 3 teen girls in the house, then followed toward the end of it's life with a 20 something girl and her baby boy (not a baby now LOL), that poor machine had the crap beat out of it, before the bearing support at the back of the drum broke loose and filled the basement with burning rubber smoke.
We bought another Samsung. Knock wood it's been doing well for last 6 or 7 years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top