As Far As Cleaner Clothes Go...

[dirtybuck]

My sister had a 10 year old Maytag that broke down on her back in '04. Instead of paying 400.00 to get it fixed, she and her husband decided to start looking at new washers. A woman that she worked with who was from England, highly recommended a front loader. She ranted and raved and said how much more dependable and economical the front loaders were (my sister bought a Kenmore, and has had it now for 5-6 years, and as far as I know, no major problems with it).

I put on here in the original post about another brand of washer they have at the laundromat that I go to. That brand is Ipso, a commercial manufacturer for front load washers. They are triple loaders and run about the same amount of time as the Maytags. But to me, they don't seem to get the clothes all that much cleaner. I will, however, use one when I have my comforter, pillows or somewhat larger loads of laundry that need to be dealt with.

 

[frigilux]

Mark---Two-and-a-half hours for the Sanitize cycle? Wow, I thought mine was long at 1 hour 47 minutes. There's a Quick Sanitize cycle as well, which comes up as 60 minutes on the screen, but I haven't tried it, yet. I'm curious to find out how it chops close to 50 minutes off the regular sanitize cycle.

Cats: I added two kittens to the household this summer, and they've grown enough to start shedding. I have inexpensive chenille couch covers on the sofas in the family room, and they'll be seeing a lot of the washer, no doubt. The female cat (Mouschi) has figured out how to turn on the TV. I woke up the other night and could hear the TV, so I went downstairs to find the cats sitting next to each other on the sofa watching an infomercial!

 

[norgeway]

JUST GET YOU A>>>>

NORGE!! it will outwash ANYTHING!

 

[amyswasher]

I was fooled!!!

I was ticked when I first got my LG washer and it took forever to fill with water, and only 2 rinses. I also thought all FL had built in heaters. After the shock, it cleaned better than my DD that was on it's last leg. My DD is still in the shed if the LG craps out.

 

[launderess]

IMHO

Have to say for generally soiled laundry, front loaders do a better job of our wash than top.

Using the Miele, set for a warm or hot wash, and allowed to fill with cold water (profile wash), gives excellent soil and stain removal. Laundry comes out clean, white, bright and with less damage over the long haul than top loading machines.

Being as all that may be, one can get decent enough results from a top loading washer, but it involves laundering the way our grandmothers did (pre-treating, soaking, pre-washing, etc...) and quite allot of other palaver. Even then results aren't always up to Miele standards.

Do like top loading washers for soaking and if one has to launder large amounts of all the same sized items (like napkins), that then to ball up in front loaders.

Am totally over laundromat front loaders however. Their wash cycles are way to short to get anything clean. That is unless one can find commercial strength laundry products designed to work with short cycles. Also their extraction is not much better than some old top loaders.

Items tend to emerge from laundromat washers almost soaking wet when compared to my Miele set at 900rpms. Suppose it doesn't matter if one is going to bung the lot into those laundromat dryers that basically bake one's laundry dry, but still. That poor extraction means lots of detergent and soil residue is being cooked into one's wash.

Took a very large load of sheets to the local laundromat as to save having to run several cycles in the Miele. Just for leffs, after the washer was finished bunged them into the Hoover spin extractor (three or four at a time). When finished there was several gallons of water extracted. Drying time went from almost an hour (laundromat dryers), to <15mins.

 

[toggleswitch]

It always amazes me that this discussion comes up time and time again.

It appears that entire societies tend to like what they are familiar with.

I can get passable results with a front-loader with an additional 3 rinses (7 in total). It is a pleasure with pillows, sneakers, large bedding items coats etc.

However for a well-washed and well-rinsed everyday laundry that is quick and deep-cleaned one can not beat a top-loader.

There is a place in my heart and my home for both styles, actually.

Personally I want to get a Euro boil-washer and condenser dryer just to see "How the other half lives"

 

[laundromat]

IMHO

I have had all types of front loading and top loading agitator and tumble washers from the original FRIGIDAIRES,Westinghouses,Bendixes,Whirlpools..., etc.

The top loaders may have taken less time but,used a hell of a lot more water,detergent,bleach,fabric softener and energy. I've owned the old Westinghouse laundromat half hour units,Whirlpool Duets,KitchenAid Ensombles,Askos, LGs,Frigidaire (Gallery and Affinities) and the front loaders,hands down, do a much better job in uniformly cleaning,rinsing and extraction of water than any type of top loading agitator washers I ever owned.Once in a while,I use the heavy duty 58 minute long cycle but,usually use the quick cycle (28 minutes) that has a wash and two deep rinses.I have gotten out more stains,some thought to be permanent because they had been washed numerous times before in a top loading agitator type washer.If I see stains that look difficult,I pre-treat them with Spray-9 and set the cycle on heavy duty. Once the wash water has mixed for a few minutes,I rest the same cycle but set the delay from 30 minutes to three hours.Once the time is up,the unit proceeds through the wash program I already set it for.I'm never in such a rush that I watch my clock.My clothes always smell fresher and are cleaner than they ever were in any top loading,agitator washer.