Hello everyone. I'd like to apologize in advance for the long post, but it has been a bit of a journey for me, but I thought I'd share it with you all.
I've decided to get rid of my 2004-vintage GE Profile WPRE6280 (Canadian Model, comes with cycles in French) Top Loader and replace it with a front loader instead. The machine works fine, except it makes a "Crunk Crunk Crunk" noise when it's agitating. It is worse with cold water than with hot water and eventually goes away after about 5-10 minutes of agitation. It happens again when the rinse cycle starts, but goes away after a minute. I suspect it is the tub brake or a something to do with the suspension. (Maybe something needs oiling?)
I've decided I'd like something I can shove a double comforter into and not have to worry about the agitator ripping everything up. (As much as I like the wash action of top loaders.) Not to mention, 180 Litres of water per load doesn't do wonders for the utilities bill or the water heater....
So, I knew I wanted something with a high-quality commercial-grade build, yet had a support network in case something broke. My budget for the washer was around $1500-$2000.
My contenders were (In no particular order - Note, Model #'s are Canadian!):
- Samsung WF520ABP
- LG WM3875HVCA
- Miele IntelliQ 100
- Huebsch ZFN50R (Equivalent to the Speed Queen AFN50R)
I'm not even considering GE/Whirlpool/Frigidaire/Kenmore... There are a lot of videos out there on youtube with people complaining about bearing failures, corroded and broken spiders, electronic malfunctions, etc.
It seemed to me that the Samsung and LG washers had a lot of bells and whistles, but realistically, we probably wouldn't use a lot of them. The Powerfoam option for the Samsung seemed like a good idea, but it seems like a gimmick and since we have very hard water here, I bet it would fail within a year or two anyway. The LG looked nice and had interesting wash action (ie. 1/2 turns) but seemed as gimmicky as the Samsung to some degree.
Miele washers are horrendously expensive in comparison to everything else on the market. The salesperson insisted that Miele had the highest quality of any washer ever made and he highly recommended it for the reliability. This was the only washer which actually exceeded my budget. (Note it's not even the high end one!)
Then I saw this video on youtube:
I noticed the washers in the background and thought, "I MUST HAVE ONE!". After doing some research, I found Huebsch's website. The attached PDF sold me even moreso. It seems almost absolutely disgusting to me to use a washing machine with a plastic tub, after all, would you use a plastic toilet?
I was kind of amazed at the PDF. (Included below) It appears they are comparing their front load washers to a Whirlpool washer. The salesguy at the store I bought it from (They also sell commercial laundry equipment) mentioned that they use the exact same components in their home laundry as they do in their commercial laundry.
I also figure, if they can run special "Slime" through their machines, they must also be able to use conventional detergent without everything clogging up, buggering up and so forth. (I've always used regular detergent in commercial machines in laundromats, how would this be any different?) I once had a salesperson tell me that if I used non-HE detergent, it would mess up the bearings on the machine. (WTF?)
So, Last week I ordered the Huebsch. I haven't seen any negative reviews other than people complaining about the spin speed or the capacity. There are the some videos on youtube of really noisy Speed Queens, but those appear to be used commercially anyway.
Everything I've read seems to indicate that these washers should last just as long as the Miele, if not longer. (Would you believe that for a $2000 washer, The US Miele still has a plastic outer tub, but they're metal in Europe? That surprised me!) I'm guessing why the Huebsch is $300 cheaper is because it doesn't have as much computer electronics in it, if any at all. It was a little short of $1900 all in, As opposed to the Miele which would have been a little short of $2200.
I guess now, there's two things I'm wondering about,
- The Huebsch only has a 1000 RPM spin speed, while everyone else offers 1200 or even 1400 RPM. Why is that? My only guess is that the lower spin speed is there to protect the machine and to reduce the wear and tear on the bearings. Either that, or they designed the machine to make laundromat owners richer by forcing people to spend more on the dryers.
- The Huebsch offers a modest 3.3 cu.ft capacity, While Samsung and LG are offering 5.0 and 4.8 cu.ft of washtub capacities. Now, my GE (I believe) has a 4.1 cu.ft capacity, but they should both hold as much laundry per load, right? My guess is that the reason why they sell their machine with the smaller tub is because of durability. Maybe they expected that for commercial use, the machine must fit in a standard washing machine sized space, but be durable enough for commercial use?
What do you guys/gals think? I'm expecting it to arrive in 7 weeks from now. (It is on backorder because the front control ones are much more popular)
Opinions? Flames? Suggestions? Did I make a good decision?
home.huebsch.com
I've decided to get rid of my 2004-vintage GE Profile WPRE6280 (Canadian Model, comes with cycles in French) Top Loader and replace it with a front loader instead. The machine works fine, except it makes a "Crunk Crunk Crunk" noise when it's agitating. It is worse with cold water than with hot water and eventually goes away after about 5-10 minutes of agitation. It happens again when the rinse cycle starts, but goes away after a minute. I suspect it is the tub brake or a something to do with the suspension. (Maybe something needs oiling?)
I've decided I'd like something I can shove a double comforter into and not have to worry about the agitator ripping everything up. (As much as I like the wash action of top loaders.) Not to mention, 180 Litres of water per load doesn't do wonders for the utilities bill or the water heater....
So, I knew I wanted something with a high-quality commercial-grade build, yet had a support network in case something broke. My budget for the washer was around $1500-$2000.
My contenders were (In no particular order - Note, Model #'s are Canadian!):
- Samsung WF520ABP
- LG WM3875HVCA
- Miele IntelliQ 100
- Huebsch ZFN50R (Equivalent to the Speed Queen AFN50R)
I'm not even considering GE/Whirlpool/Frigidaire/Kenmore... There are a lot of videos out there on youtube with people complaining about bearing failures, corroded and broken spiders, electronic malfunctions, etc.
It seemed to me that the Samsung and LG washers had a lot of bells and whistles, but realistically, we probably wouldn't use a lot of them. The Powerfoam option for the Samsung seemed like a good idea, but it seems like a gimmick and since we have very hard water here, I bet it would fail within a year or two anyway. The LG looked nice and had interesting wash action (ie. 1/2 turns) but seemed as gimmicky as the Samsung to some degree.
Miele washers are horrendously expensive in comparison to everything else on the market. The salesperson insisted that Miele had the highest quality of any washer ever made and he highly recommended it for the reliability. This was the only washer which actually exceeded my budget. (Note it's not even the high end one!)
Then I saw this video on youtube:
I noticed the washers in the background and thought, "I MUST HAVE ONE!". After doing some research, I found Huebsch's website. The attached PDF sold me even moreso. It seems almost absolutely disgusting to me to use a washing machine with a plastic tub, after all, would you use a plastic toilet?
I was kind of amazed at the PDF. (Included below) It appears they are comparing their front load washers to a Whirlpool washer. The salesguy at the store I bought it from (They also sell commercial laundry equipment) mentioned that they use the exact same components in their home laundry as they do in their commercial laundry.
I also figure, if they can run special "Slime" through their machines, they must also be able to use conventional detergent without everything clogging up, buggering up and so forth. (I've always used regular detergent in commercial machines in laundromats, how would this be any different?) I once had a salesperson tell me that if I used non-HE detergent, it would mess up the bearings on the machine. (WTF?)
So, Last week I ordered the Huebsch. I haven't seen any negative reviews other than people complaining about the spin speed or the capacity. There are the some videos on youtube of really noisy Speed Queens, but those appear to be used commercially anyway.
Everything I've read seems to indicate that these washers should last just as long as the Miele, if not longer. (Would you believe that for a $2000 washer, The US Miele still has a plastic outer tub, but they're metal in Europe? That surprised me!) I'm guessing why the Huebsch is $300 cheaper is because it doesn't have as much computer electronics in it, if any at all. It was a little short of $1900 all in, As opposed to the Miele which would have been a little short of $2200.
I guess now, there's two things I'm wondering about,
- The Huebsch only has a 1000 RPM spin speed, while everyone else offers 1200 or even 1400 RPM. Why is that? My only guess is that the lower spin speed is there to protect the machine and to reduce the wear and tear on the bearings. Either that, or they designed the machine to make laundromat owners richer by forcing people to spend more on the dryers.
- The Huebsch offers a modest 3.3 cu.ft capacity, While Samsung and LG are offering 5.0 and 4.8 cu.ft of washtub capacities. Now, my GE (I believe) has a 4.1 cu.ft capacity, but they should both hold as much laundry per load, right? My guess is that the reason why they sell their machine with the smaller tub is because of durability. Maybe they expected that for commercial use, the machine must fit in a standard washing machine sized space, but be durable enough for commercial use?
What do you guys/gals think? I'm expecting it to arrive in 7 weeks from now. (It is on backorder because the front control ones are much more popular)
Opinions? Flames? Suggestions? Did I make a good decision?
Huebsch Home Products
home.huebsch.com
