Frigidaire FL'ers Leap To Upper Rungs At CR

[frigilux]

The latest washer tests at Consumer Reports find the new Frigidaire front-loaders with an 80-minute Normal Cycle leaping to near the top of their ratings. The 4073 and top-of-the-line 4174 scored an 84 overall (top scoring LG model had an 88). Cleaning, capacity, energy use, and gentleness scores are now all Excellent.

The first of the "new generation" Affinity machines (which I have) has a Normal cycle of 43 minutes, which is just too short for the capacity and low water usage of these machines. The new 80-minute cycle brings their times in line with other top contenders like LG (and their Kenmore rebadges), Whirlpool, and Samsung.

And at prices under $1,000, the Frigidaires are also rated as "best buys".

 

[frigilux]

Here's the control panel for the new top-of-the-line 4174. A couple of cycles have been renamed: 'Bulky' (on my 2010) has become 'Bedding'; 'Whitest Whites' has become simply 'Whites'. The extra rinse option is called 'Freshwater Rinse' on mine; it's called 'Fresh Rinse' on this one.

My manual lists the wash/tumble times for each cycle. The new one, with longer cycles, does not. The Specialty Cycles appear to be the same. I tried the 60-minute 'Quick Sanitize' cycle once, just to see how it differed from the regular 96-minute 'Sanitize' cycle (48-minute tumble/wash with only one rinse); otherwise, I've never used any of the Specialty Cycles.

 

[golittlesport]

I wonder when Frigidaire is going to introduce their new impeller top loader?

 

[laundromat]

Frigidaire-itus

I found a similar model here at the Sears outlet store for $499 and got it for my brother. His "Norgetag" he claims was only 3 years old, took a dump (bad trans and berrings)and I got him and his wife, Renie, this great washer. It has an interior drum light that will stay on 3 minutes as well as a recirculating jet spray. If I could afford to have one shipped to Hawaii, I would buy two more. Does a great job and spins around 1300 RPMS.

 

[frigilux]

Rich-- I've called Frigidaire twice in the past year asking about the Immersion Care top-loaders. I was told both times the machines are still in development and testing. They were not able to give an estimate of when these HE top-loaders would hit the market.

Laundromat-- I've lived with the first version of these resdesigned Frigidaires for two years, and have only two quibbles:

1) Although the machine says it has a steam feature, there is no dedicated steam generator as there is on a Whirlpool or LG. It produces ambient steam by utilizing a hot first rinse. If you washed in warm or cold water, the injection of hot water will produce a wisp or two of steam--as would any washer. It's the extra 20 minutes of tumbling time (in the first rinse, when it says "Adding Steam") that improves cleaning.

2) The cycle times are too short. I always add either the Allergy option (available only on the Heavy Cycle; heats water to about 130 degrees during wash tumble) or the Steam option for moderate-to-heavily soiled loads. The Steam option is available on Casual, Normal, Heavy, Bulky, and Sanitize cycles. If you choose both the Allergy and Steam options (available only on Heavy and Sanitize cycles) the additional 20 minutes of tumble time happens during the wash, rather than the first rinse.

The cycle-time problem has been solved with the 2012 update, and the huge improvement in cleaning scores at CR makes the machine a real contender, at relative bargain prices. Frigidaire rocketed from near the bottom of the ranks to near the top simply by adding more wash time to their Normal cycle. I'd bet Speed Queen front-loaders would get a similar boost at CR if they did the same.

 

[logixx]

Whirlpool and LG have also removed steam generators from their washers. Well, LG still has them on some but the newest 5 cu.ft. washer shows no sign of a steam-anything on searspartsdirect.com.

More:

 

[glenfieldmathk1]

Steam generating in Electrolux is nothing new

Hotpoint in there Aqualtis machines, have since Steam has been available on them, use that method to produce steam. Their Ultima's follow the same pattern. Also VZug machines also use that method, and have done for years now. In fact I will link my Hotpoint Aqualtis video to this thread.
Aqualtis steam models with this method have been used since September 2009, Electrolux introduced it during 2010, and copied Hotpoint or VZug.

 

[glenfieldmathk1]

Looking into it, they never launched a Steam Model Electrolux here.
I now seem to remember it appeared on the German Electrolux website in 2011.