Posted on 12/16/2013 5:38:50 PM PST by mykroar
Brother and I will be moving into our house at the end of the month and have a washer question. We've heard that front loaders have issues with smell and continual cleaning, so we're looking at top loaders. Anyone have opinions on the new HE washers versus the older agitator models? Thanks up front.
My washer was about 20 years old and I got a new washer a few months ago, it is an HE even tho’ I don’t know what that stands for.
It does not have an agitator and doesn’t use as much water. It is the best washer I have ever had. It takes a little time to get used to the strange noises it makes but it is NICE!
I would never get a front loader I have heard too many bad things about them.
Would you share your recipe?
My sister has one of these smart washers—a top loader. She has a hose permanently attached to the spigot in the sink so she can add water to the washer—it’s so stingy with water the clothes don’t get wet.
I had a problem with mold when we first bought our LG front-loading washer. I began to keep the front door open and switched to powder HD detergent. Now all is well. I love them. Liquid detergent didn’t work in our dishwasher, either.
HE stands for high efficiency in that they use less water detergent and electricity than non HE washers.
That pictures reminds me of the time our cat got in the dryer. I tossed the wet clothes into it turned it on and started to walk away. I heard THUMP....... scratch....... THUMP...... scratch. When I opened the door the cat shot out like a rocket and he was completely wrapped up in clothes. LOL! I don’t think he ever went into the utility room again.
This is the front-loading model:
shave 1 bar of fels naptha soap. melt in medium sauce pan with water.
fill 5 gal bucket with hot water.
pour melted soap into bucket of hot water.
add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of arm n hammer WASHING SODA to 5 gal bucket.
stir then let sit overnight stirring ocassionally.
mixture should get thick.
then fill empty containers to half full. add remaining 50% w water.
done !!
just remember to shake before each usage.
go to youtube. many examples.
all products can be bought at wmart or ace hardwAre
We got a Frigidaire Affinity front load washer and dryer going on 3 years ago. Wifey couldn’t resist the huge discount on sale...I was a skeptic, but now have nothing but good things to say about it.
Lots of different cycles and settings for just about any kind of clothing.
Huge capacity.
Does in fact use far less water. You don’t set the size of the load...it only adds enough water to each load to saturate the clothing, and this has proven to be more than adequate.
High RPM spin cycle removes much more water from clothes, resulting in faster drying times.
Clothes get just as clean as my old top loader.
Uses less detergent.
VERY quiet.
Has a latch on the door to keep it slightly open after a wash cycle...this is key to avoiding bad smell issues.
Tells me when it needs to run a cleaning cycle (it has a separate cleaning cycle)...recommends running cleaning cycle with bleach, but I use white distilled vinegar instead—works great!
Has had ZERO mechanical issues after probably at least 1000 loads, although it may need a new door gasket soon, as I see an occasional drip of water running down the face of the machine.
I have no problem recommending this particular machine...well worth the money.
Funny you should ask: We are getting a new top loader washer and dryer delivered tomorrow.
We have the LG front loaders and hate them. The thing about front loader washers is that they do not balance very well; a common complaint. Small loads or heavy loads both are always imbalanced.
Our front loader washer smells as well. It doesn’t seem to empty the water out of the system completely and it builds up a smell from contamination. Sometimes our clothes and towels make us itch and then we know there is that problem again. We follow all the recommendations such as leaving the washer door open, using Tide washer cleaner, selecting the extra rinse, etc, but from time to time the washer simple needs an extra Chlorine rinse with no clothes in it.
The dryer also takes forever to dry. For some reason this dryer can take several cycles to dry just about anything.
Also, the capacity of both was supposed to accept and properly clean comforters. Nope. It takes about 3 wash cycles and 10 dry cycles to get the job done.
The size of these things requires the pedestals, which ran us about another $400. The pedestals also add to the imbalance issue of the washer. Without the pedestals the two sit too low.
For $2,500, we’re not happy. We’re going back to top loaders that don’t seem to have these issues.
Just my two cents.
lolol!
Throw in a few river rocks for some stone-washed jeans.
Maytag
We just bought a Maytag with the agitator. It’s great.
Your comment brought a *flash-back* to me. We were pretty young and playing in the basement at home, and my brother was fooling around with the wringer on the washing machine. His hand got caught and pulled through the wringer ....and the skin near/around his elbow got torn off pretty good.
He still has a very ugly scar of that misadventure. ;(
Thanks for that info. I will try the “delicate” setting.
Women getting their hair caught in it was a danger, too.
If it says HE, then it means it uses less water. Less water means less clean. But if you don’t mind wearing dirty clothes, then the He machines are just peachy.
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