technigeek
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- Sep 18, 2007
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When I was a teenager in the 1960’s, I worked as a maintenance man in an apartment building and I’ve always been interested in fixing appliances and how they work. Since then, I‘ve acquired a lot of knowledge on the subject of mechanical engineering, and I was contacted to be an expert witness in a class action lawsuit against the makers of the new “High Efficiency” (HE) washers. These class actions provided part of the information in the following article in Consumer Reports:
The main complaint about these HE washers is that they don’t use enough water to get the clothes clean after going through the cycle once. In many cases, the clothes have to be run through twice and sometimes the rinse cycle has to be repeated. It’s the same problem as experienced with the low flow toilets – they don’t use enough water to get the job done the first time. The laundry just gets rolled up like a cinnamon roll then the drum reverses and rolls it up in the opposite direction.
In addition, the lack of enough water and the “damp washing” technique causes excessive abrasion between the clothes which generates a huge amount of lint which forms a sludge that is not completely flushed out of the machine during the spin-drain cycle. This sludge gradually builds up between the drum and the outer tub and it forms mold and mildew.
Among other models, we tested the Whirlpool Calypso HE washer (now discontinued) for an equivalent of one year of use and it eventually quit working altogether to due to the pump becoming clogged up. We disassembled the machine and when we pulled out the basket (the drum which holds the clothes) we found about 7 pounds of caked sludge had accumulated in the bottom. The problem with sludge build up is common to both the front and top loading HE washers regardless of the manufacturer and it is directly attributed to the lack of filling with an adequate amount of water.
In addition to the sludge problem, most of the front loaders have problems with the front bearings (around the door) which causes the drum to break loose during the spin cycle – which is usually 1000 RPM or faster. If the front bearing goes out when the drum is spinning at 1000 RPM, the whole machine is smashed beyond repair. In fact, on another project I was working on, I took a trip to a large scrap metal yard and I noticed that there were two of the new front loading washers in the pile waiting to go through the steel shredder and magnetic separating process. The cabinet was not significantly damaged by being dumped off the recycling truck. However I was able to open the door and found the drum was completely seized up and distorted by what appeared to be a catastrophic bearing failure.
In the class action against Whirlpool and their Calypso machine, we got a $5 Million judgment and a $ 1-1/2 Million against Maytag because of the poor washing ability, build up of sludge and mold inside the machine, and catastrophic mechanical failures. The only thing that’s impressive about the HE washers is their fancy appearance over the old fashioned “box with a lid of the top”. Beyond their techy appearance, they are not worth paying over $400 for. Accordingly, given the high cost and poor reliability of these HE washers, consumers are very hesitant to buy them.
However, the appliance industry has organized a lobby which has given tons of “campaign contributions” to federal and state lawmakers in return for legislation which mandates that only HE washers can be sold. The rational being sold to the public is that the new washers are for water and energy conservation, they are supposedly “environmentally friendly”, and reduce greenhouse gases.
However, based on the experience California has gained with the low flow toilets, consumers are going to be forced to deal with these not-so-great washers for many years to come.
The main complaint about these HE washers is that they don’t use enough water to get the clothes clean after going through the cycle once. In many cases, the clothes have to be run through twice and sometimes the rinse cycle has to be repeated. It’s the same problem as experienced with the low flow toilets – they don’t use enough water to get the job done the first time. The laundry just gets rolled up like a cinnamon roll then the drum reverses and rolls it up in the opposite direction.
In addition, the lack of enough water and the “damp washing” technique causes excessive abrasion between the clothes which generates a huge amount of lint which forms a sludge that is not completely flushed out of the machine during the spin-drain cycle. This sludge gradually builds up between the drum and the outer tub and it forms mold and mildew.
Among other models, we tested the Whirlpool Calypso HE washer (now discontinued) for an equivalent of one year of use and it eventually quit working altogether to due to the pump becoming clogged up. We disassembled the machine and when we pulled out the basket (the drum which holds the clothes) we found about 7 pounds of caked sludge had accumulated in the bottom. The problem with sludge build up is common to both the front and top loading HE washers regardless of the manufacturer and it is directly attributed to the lack of filling with an adequate amount of water.
In addition to the sludge problem, most of the front loaders have problems with the front bearings (around the door) which causes the drum to break loose during the spin cycle – which is usually 1000 RPM or faster. If the front bearing goes out when the drum is spinning at 1000 RPM, the whole machine is smashed beyond repair. In fact, on another project I was working on, I took a trip to a large scrap metal yard and I noticed that there were two of the new front loading washers in the pile waiting to go through the steel shredder and magnetic separating process. The cabinet was not significantly damaged by being dumped off the recycling truck. However I was able to open the door and found the drum was completely seized up and distorted by what appeared to be a catastrophic bearing failure.
In the class action against Whirlpool and their Calypso machine, we got a $5 Million judgment and a $ 1-1/2 Million against Maytag because of the poor washing ability, build up of sludge and mold inside the machine, and catastrophic mechanical failures. The only thing that’s impressive about the HE washers is their fancy appearance over the old fashioned “box with a lid of the top”. Beyond their techy appearance, they are not worth paying over $400 for. Accordingly, given the high cost and poor reliability of these HE washers, consumers are very hesitant to buy them.
However, the appliance industry has organized a lobby which has given tons of “campaign contributions” to federal and state lawmakers in return for legislation which mandates that only HE washers can be sold. The rational being sold to the public is that the new washers are for water and energy conservation, they are supposedly “environmentally friendly”, and reduce greenhouse gases.
However, based on the experience California has gained with the low flow toilets, consumers are going to be forced to deal with these not-so-great washers for many years to come.
