GE Hydrowave!

[frigilux]

I love it! Judging from the video I've seen, the vertical ribbed tub really helps 'scrub' the clothes during agitation. Judging from your towel-load photo, it fills to the top row of holes (an obsession of mine, since my Frigidaire only fills about 2/3 of the way).

How was the rollover with your full load of towels?

Congrats, Jamie, on the new addition to your ever-growing collection!

 

[frigilux]

I love it! Judging from the video I've seen, the vertical ribbed tub really helps 'scrub' the clothes during agitation. Judging from your towel-load photo, it fills to the top row of holes (an obsession of mine, since my Frigidaire only fills about 2/3 of the way).

How was the rollover with your full load of towels? How much slower is the gentle speed agitation? I'm a little surprised the speeds aren't fast agitation and slow spin for the Easy Care cycle.

I really want one of these, now!

Congrats, Jamie, on the new addition to your ever-growing collection!

 

[funguy10]

I wish that it had a single piece agitator though

What is wrong withe the Dual-Action Agitator? It actually cleans better then a straight-ribbed one. Also I guess you haven't disabled the lidswitch yet huh?

 

[mihi]

The hydro-wave is pretty awesome.

Question - if it has no transmission the motor must be directly connected to the shaft. How is it different from the Fisher-Paykel? Also, does it use a diverter valve (a bit of a weak point on the F-P, but easy to fix)
or two pumps?

Very nice machine there.

 

[jeff_adelphi]

This washer has a belt to connect the motor to the main drive shaft and give a speed reduction. It only has one pump for draining, no recirculation. It is a very simple design. I did have replace a motor just this week for a customer because the electronic controller failed. It was just under 2 years old.

 

[tuthill]

That's pretty cool Jamie, thanks for the pictures. Maybe if GE started making these right after the Filter-Flo's the appliance unit would still be in business.

You should do a video but do it better than the lame-wad who felt the need to narrate the fact that people who enjoy this are weird.

 

[nmaineman36]

Nice machines. According to GE those ribs in the wash basket are called ExtrAction ribs...they are more or less designed to give more area to extract the laundry and squeeze out more water. To me they do look like scrubbing ribs. I did notice that they made the holes smaller than the previous flat tub design. I had a Hotpoint version and i would always catch a knuckle on the holes and those suckers were sharp and I always bled. I learned fast not to get too close to them.

 

[frigilux]

If you look at the video linked above---the one with the guy washing 50 sheets in one load---the items are definitely scrubbing back and forth on those ribs. I wonder how much extra water is being extracted? That's interesting.

 

[vintagesearch]

why on some cycles its has no rinse or spin label?

 

[swestoyz]

Jamie - this is a very cool GE! I do like the 'ExtrAction' basket. It reminds me the basket in Robert's 1947 1140 RPM GE - I would imagine that it would be helpful in extraction.

Thanks for sharing ~

Ben

 

[washboy2005]

"the one with the guy washing 50 sheets in one load&quo

50 sheets in one load? Is that too much? LOL

I love your new machine. I do like american toploaders!
Was at my friends the other day and he has a Whirlpool American Set!

Fantastic machines. The washer is very quiet, and the dryer just rumbles pleasantly along!

Thanks for taking the time to post pictures.
I hope you have many happy years washing with this machine!

P.S Love the Mieles :-D

 

[bestcleaning]

GE is wonderful

Thank you for the pictures.
Does your washer has some spray rince on spin cycle?

 

[pulsator]

Vintagesearch- Not sure why the rinse and spin aren't labeled on some of the cycle, nonetheless, I know right where they are!

Bestcleaning- There is no spray rinse.

 

[frigilux]

Jamie--- I went to CR Online and read a bunch of user reviews for GE toploaders (which I believe are Hydrowaves). Quite a few people complained that clothes were left very wet at the end of the cycle, sometimes with about 1/2-inch of water left in the bottom of the tub.

Have you noticed a problem? I was taken aback at how many complaints there were about this.

I have been bouncing around the idea of sellling my Frigidaire TL'er and dryer, and getting a GE pair (I'd love to have a 7-cu. ft. dryer drum). I'd keep my Frigi FL'er.

How has your Hydrowave been behaving for you?

 

[pulsator]

I have had absolutely no problems with the Hydrowave when loaded properly, I imagine that it struggles wth balancing when it's overloaded. After the maiden towels load, I did a GIGANTIC load of jeans and cargo pants with a few left over towels, it did a prety good job washing but had trouble spinning because it was so off balance, I just stopped it and redistributed the load and didn't really think about it. It seems to struggle with pants and bulky things like blankets quite a bit, they get tangled and ball up on one side thus the off balance issue. I bet all those complaints were caused by overloading of trying to wash bulky things like big heavy blankets.

 

[estesguy]

No problems spinnig

I've had mine for almost a year, and have never had any water left in the tub, and the clothes come out as dry as can be expected for a 650-700 RPM spin. Only recently was there one time I noticed it started banging from an off balance load, and I think it shut itself down momentarily, then tries to start again, but it didn't seem to help. I went in and found my son had tried to do a load with only 2 bath towels and one sheet. The towels had both gotten on one side of the tub, and were throwing the balance off. I redistributed the towels and the machine finished the spin just fine. That is the ONLY time I've ever noticed an off balance problem. I think if you load the machine properly, by not overloading or underloading, it does a good job. I'm always amazed how many people think a normal load involves whatever is in your laundry basket, just push it down in the tub and MAKE it fit, lol. The clothes won't come clean, and its hard on the machine, but I've seen it happen over and over with other people doing laundry.
BTW I have the TOL Hydrowave, and love the "Speed Cycle" setting for doing a load of towels that aren't that dirty to start with. The total time is 28 minutes, 31 with extended spin selected.

 

[frigilux]

Thanks for the info, guys. That puts my mind at ease about purchasing a Hydrowave.

The one thing my Frigidaire TL'er has going for it is this: It's nearly impossible to create an unbalance situation that causes the spin speed to slow down or the tub to hit the cabinet.

Whenever I have a small load that I know will trip-up the front-loader when it comes time to spin, I use the TL'er. You can wash two pairs of jeans or two big bath towels, ball them up in one tiny area of the tub and the darn thing will spin like a champ (at 625 rpm, I recently learned).

It's frightening to watch how wildly the tub oscillates under those circumstances, but the machine doesn't walk or vibrate (it's on cement). It just takes a little longer to get up to full speed. I once had a load of sheets get tangled into a ball and when I innocently opened the lid during the final spin, I almost freaked when I saw how crazy it looked, wobbling around, not quite hitting the cabinet, at top speed. And it wasn't even making any distressedl sounds.

 

[appliancelover]

This guy's second video is even more exciting.

I liked the way he showed the agitation close up, allowing us to see the dual-action agitator giving those clothes a PROPER CLEANING for once.

It made me very happy

GE ROCKS!