Posted on 02/14/2023 1:02:02 PM PST by Twotone
The LG 5.8 cubic foot Capacity Top Load Washer sat in the laundry room, brand new. Maybe it was my imagination, but it looked insouciant.
Dad said it was the latest and greatest in laundering technology. Supposedly, some sort of internal sensor system (having something to do with a computer) fine-tuned water levels depending on clothing weight. Or something. I can't remember exactly what he—or was it the moving guy?—said.
I did notice the washing machine had several preset wash cycles—Allergiene, Sanitary, Bright Whites, Towels, Heavy Duty, Bedding, and more. You could select them with a shiny, space-age-looking chrome dial. (I would later discover the machine had other fancy features with names like TurboWash™ 360, ENERGY STAR® Qualified, Smart Diagnosis™, and ThinQ™ Technology [Wi-Fi Enabled]). It was expensive, Dad said. He'd just purchased it for his new home on Vancouver Island. He felt pleased. He always did like new contraptions.
I didn't think much about the machine at the time. It's not like I had any special interest in appliances. And the house was his, not mine. So I just helped him settle in and drove back to my place a half hour away. If it weren't for Covid arriving shortly thereafter, I never would have thought about Dad's washing machine ever again.
But the virus hit, and economic shutdowns vaporized all the concerts Dad and I had scheduled (we're musicians). The shutdowns also vaporized my wife's business—the one she'd built from the ground up after emigrating from Japan. Almost overnight, everything had changed. Dad—almost 80—now found himself alone in his new home with nothing to do, his projected concert revenues canceled, dealing with health challenges. Koko and I had our own new challenges, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Washing machines? I just send the women folk down to the stream to beat clothes on a rock like God intended.
We have a similar sized front loading LG set, it was top rated in Consumer Reports, and it does a great job.
My mom said the same thing about the sitcom character, "HazeL".
I always liked Hazel when she was on reruns, have no idea why mom couldn't stand that show.
I’ve considered that, but in my house it would mean hauling water a considerable distance. Easier just to stand & lift the lid.
LOL!
“You could select them with a shiny, space-age-looking chrome dial.“
So then it’s Retro?
Got a 1.1 gal last year. Works great, it better. It cost $900 installed. My 3 year-old washer and dryer work well, though the washer isn’t fast. House had expensive Bosch (sp) dishwasher when we bought, stunk. Got a new one from Home Depot, $427, Whirpool. Works good, but wife pretty much washes dishes before putting them in. It broke in 6 months, warranty guy hit the computer module and it started working. He said he didn’t know how long it would work, so turned it in as broken. We got a HD credit card with $427 on it, spent it on other HD stuff. 2.5 years later, dishwasher still working. Score!
For a moment I thought maybe you wrote this...
I’d be happy to be part of an appliance rebellion but pretty much every new appliance out there is an overpriced piece of s___t these days.
I used to have one of those terrible “energy-efficient” washers, and couldn’t stand that after a full cycle, sometimes the clothes weren’t even fully wet (and it was a front-loader). Then I found a place that sells washers to apartment complexes. It is an old-school top-loader with agitator. I think it cost me 450 plus like $15 a month for a “lifetime warranty”, where they actually send a guy to my house if the machine has a problem. If he can’t fix it, they just bring another machine. It cleans my clothes in 30 minutes.
I got astoundingly lucky on the dishwasher front, and scored a literally-unused GE PotScrubber from the 90s. It sounds like niagara falls is inside it when it’s running, but it gets my dishes clean in under 25 minutes.
Actually there was a slight “Wait…what?” When I looked at the article.
If you have a “high efficiency” washing machine, you need to was everything on the bulky + deep fill setting, plus double rinse.
Me too!
Sounds like the dishwasher that came with this starter house. It was noisy, took 4 hrs to process the dishes. My inherited electric stove takes 6 hrs to clean the oven, Hubby replaced the dishwasher with the one from our old house, silent cleaned in 2 hours. New one is 4 hrs but silent we shopped by DB. The lower the quieter. Washer/Dryer are simple dial type sm, med, lg, hot, cold, ans warm. I don’t even hear the buzzers go off, I use dryer sheets, instead of a liquid softner. They stopped cleaning when the PHOSPHATE WAS REMOVED. Fabric bleach or bleach was then needed.
I use white vinegar as a rinse agent in the dishwasher, I refuse to buy the expensive Finish Rinse agent that doesn’t work.
Buy an EV it might take days to charge. I’ll keep my Malibu.
Whirlpool are the absolute WORST appliances. Bought the 4 piece for my kitchen 5 years ago. The refrigerator ice maker stopped working 18 months in. Appliance repair guy wanted $450 to replace the main harness that Whirlpool admitted was poorly designed. The cost was in the labor. The grommet between the ice maker that is in the frig and the freezer kept falling off leading to ice particles building up that have to be cleaned periodically. The dishwasher was worse. Wheels and brackets were falling off of the dish holders from day 1 almost. We made medium size pile out of them. The dishwasher doesn’t even come close to drying the dishes, never did. NEVER BUY WHIRLPOOL.
Yeah I don’t think there are any good refridgerators. We went through the same thing with washers as the author and finally bought Speed Queen. They are a little pricey but are built like tanks and wash clothes. My wife has finally stopped bitching about doing laundry. Vacuum cleaners are about the only appliances that are better than they used to be.
So I waited until I took a planned trip to Arizona, bought one there, and drove it back to Los Angeles. Contraband shower head in my trunk. I feel like I'm smuggling drugs.
Sears was my worst appliance. Its dehumidifier ran hot and loud, and stopped working after only one year. I’m not surprised Sears went bust.
They're actually fine if you utilize courtesy flushes, which defeat the purpose of saving water, LOL!
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