Asko - What's the Story?

[pulltostart]

The seller claims to have paid $2200 for these new, but does not say how long ago. Now they are selling the pair for $600. What is the quality of these units? Does the low price indicate that they are old or that maybe they weren't all that they cracked up to be?

lawrence

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/app/4045178162.html

 

[launderess]

Asko Is All Over The Place

In terms of consumer ratings. Some love them, others curse the day units set foot in their homes.

The company has been purchased and sold a few times over the years and that may have some relation to the complaints about quality you see on the Internet. Sites like Garden Web's "Laundry Room" forum are full of persons either singing praises of their Askos or condemning them to Hell.

Bottom line seems to be modern units do not have the quality of Asko/Sweden of old. Things start going wrong often and repeatedly. From circuit boards, motor brushes, and so forth.

Oddly Asko sold in parts of EU are made by Maytag, go figure. Here in the USA there was and or still is a company in Texas handling Asko. You contact them for sales and service including parts.

Older Asko washers could do traditional >200F boil washes, which is one of the reasons persons loved them.

 

[wringingwet]

like laundress said

it is either a love hate relationship with these ... ASKOUSA in Texas is awful to deal with. Some people think the bigger the washer the better. They cannot fathom that these little puppies can hold a lot. Or they want the laundry done in 15 minutes which is not gonna happen with these since a few of these models are cold water inlet only. In Atlanta you might have better service than here in SC were it is nonexistent in the whole state of SC. These are still built like tanks on the inside they do not have the balancing issue of other machines these can take off to a full spin in no time flat ... I love mine for the sake of the boil wash on it and there is no mildew smell ever in these since the door seal is solid

My two cents but love mine offer them five and if you wait long enough they might take four hundred

 

[mrb627]

Asko's

These are not for the individual that prefers to have a single wash day per week. Laundry becomes an ongoing process. While there were several things I liked about the Asko set that I owned, the two things I disliked the most were 1)time spent doing laundry, and 2) wrinkles. Oh, I also began to shorten the life of my clothing from choosing the default long wash program and usually washing in higher than needed temps. I remember a pair of black slacks that got the color partially washed out of them to the extent they were no longer wearable.

Approach the Asko's with caution, IMO.

Malcolm

 

[tomturbomatic]

We visited the Asko booth at a Kitchen & Bath show in 2001 and already Asko had some dishwashers made by an Italian firm and the difference between the original Asko and the stuff from the Italian firm was glaring and sad; sad because it had the Asko name on it, but was not Asko made. If they continued down that path, it was not going to be good for them.

One thing I did not like about the original Asko washers wsa that the machines only extracted between every two rinses. That was not the most efficient method of rinsing.

I have a white Asko dryer that I am using as a TV stand. It works well for that and the nice stainless steel drum is good storage. It, too, has the "Butterfly" drying terminology on the front. I think it dates from the late 80s to early 90s. After trying it a bit, we determined that the term "Butterfly" was used to describe the airflow through the machine. To say that the airflow was the lightest breeze generated by a butterfly's wings and that the drying was slow was an understatement. Like with many of these European dryers that are paired with 220 volt washers, they can both operate on a single 30 amp circuit. That means that the dryer has a much lower wattage heating element than a regular domestic electric dryer like a stacked Westinghouse dryer. The reason mine is a TV stand is because the electronic controls were either NLA or hideously expensive and the dryer's performance was not worth any investment.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Oh...Ouch...

Ive had my set 12yrs and going strong, these machines do offer flexibility in their programming, such as variable time, temperature and 1600rpm spin speed, unless its for a mega sized family choosing "One Day Washday" they could be your ideal machines for a good price!!

Mine are badged Maytag - Maytag UK took the best of appliances and badged them to gain UK entry for their brand along with the existing top loaders and refrigeration etc...

Laundry from Asko
Cookers from Rangemaster

 

[launderess]

Just In Case You Needed Light Weekend Reading

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[laundromat]

ASKO

I had numerous sets and only one piece, a condenser type dryer that came with the matching washer was a dud. The problem was it kept overheating tricking the overheating switch to activate turning both units off.As far as performance, cycles, capacity and dependability, they rocked!! I had no issues with cycle time or capacity. The only time I was upset wasn't the machines fault, Orma, my room mate at the time, had never used it and assumed the water temperature selector was set for degrees in F not C. She washed her dainty items and they shrunk small enough from boiling for about a half an hour for Barbie to enjoy!!!LOL! She was not at all amused.