Inital review
Well, I've done about six loads of laundry in this washer today. So, I thought I'd at least give an informal review of my experiences so far.
- This washer is incredibly easy to use. There's absolutely nothing to the controls. Simply set the water temperatures you want, whether or not you want an extra rinse, set the cycle and press start. Done. Couldn't be any easier. What did surprise me was the warm/warm wash/rinse selection, which you really don't see much of anymore on modern machines.
- I noticed that this machine produces a noticeable hum, even when the cycle selector is set to Off. This could just be a transformer or something. It's not a big deal, but I do wonder if it'll get noisier over time. Every other machine I've had in the past has been completely quiet otherwise when it's off.
- It's incredibly quiet when it's washing, it's even quieter than my GE toploader. Even on the rinse cycle with the sloshing, it's quieter, instead of the "Chug Chug Chug" noises of the GE. The spin cycle isn't as loud as I thought it would be, considering my past experiences with late 60's era White-Westinghouse front loaders at the laundromat. I was half expecting loud motor noises, but not quite.
- The washer is very reluctant go to into a 1000 RPM spin unless the load is perfectly balanced. Most of my loads resulted in a 650 RPM final spin. Despite that, the clothes came out moist, but not dripping wet. I also found that after washing some sheets, the washer became unbalanced and started walking across the floor during the final spin. Fortunately, Alliance was nice enough to include two rubber feet to put over the metal feet for "Slippery" floors. After I lifted up the washer and put on the rubber feet over the metal ones, the washer hasn't moved since. I can't blame them for this, it sits on a concrete floor after all.
- I do wish it did wash with more water, but the comforter which I washed earlier was completely wet after the final spin, which is a good sign. When I was younger, I used to stuff double loaders so hard that the clothes in the middle were dry even after the final spin. I learned my lesson there.
- I like how the instruction manuals tell you that you can wash with regular detergent, just don't use as much. Other washers I've seen explicitly say that you can ONLY use HE detergent, anything else voids warranties. (WTF?) I have to use up the rest of the Kirkland and Tide detergent we have. HE detergents are usually more expensive around here than the regular stuff.
- The one thing I have noticed that bothers me is how the door taps against the cabinet during the spin cycle. If I press on the plastic, the tapping stops. Everything looks aligned, so maybe this is normal.
- A small part of me wishes this machine had an LED drum light or something. Then again, that wouldn't make it "commercial" anymore.
- I like the textured feel of the control panel. It's a little unusual in comparison to the straight flat printed control panels on my TOL GE's. I'm not sure why they did that, but it looks nice.
So, those are my observations so far. If any of you want extreme close up pictures of the control panel, let me know. I thought I'd stop here for now.
I'm very happy to share this with you all, even though in a lot of ways, this is just a "Plain Jane" machine. My GE's are much more interesting to look at.
