I think I'm going to finally buy a front loading washer and I have many questions

[ryner1988]

I've done a lot of thinking over the past couple days about my washer situation (see my last thread for reference) and have also spoken to a few people. Without going into too much personal detail, we will be getting quite a bit of extra money over Christmas, so with that, coupled with my newly acquired Lowes gift card, I'm in the best position I could ever be to finally buy myself a front loading washer. So, I believe it's time. I've heard the arguments both for and against them for years, and I've always wanted to try one but never have had the funds. Well, now I do, and I think I'm going to pull the trigger.

I've done some research and I'm not sure the Whirlpool/Maytag machines will fit in my 40" deep laundry closet, but I believe machines by LG and Samsung will, as long as I stay within the 4.5 cu. ft. models.

Here are the machines I'm considering:

LG 4.5 cu. ft. washer in white, model WM3400CW

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LG-4-5-cu-...2544016?idProductFound=false&idExtracted=true

LG 4.5 cu. ft. washer in white, model WM4000HWA

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LG-High-Ef...3203118?idProductFound=false&idExtracted=true

Samsung 4.5 cu. ft. washer in white, model WF45T6000AW

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-Hi...2890950?idProductFound=false&idExtracted=true

Samsung 4.5 cu. ft. washer in white, model WF45B6300AW

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-4-...3150247?idProductFound=false&idExtracted=true

With that out of the way, here are my list of questions for all you front-loader heads out there. Please excuse my ignorance as I've been a top loader user literally all my life.

1. LG's machines measure just over 30" deep, and Samsung's come in at just over 31" deep. Will these fit in my laundry closet with approx. 40" depth?

2. Are the editions of Turbowash and Superspeed on the LG and Samsung machines, respectively, worth the price jump? The budget machines in both brands seem to have everything I need, although many people complain about long cycle times with those entry level models. Also, the Turbowash/Superspeed models come with other add-ons that I don't care about at all, like WiFi. But, if there really is an argument for the editions of the recirculation in order to cut cycle time, I'm certainly willing to take it into consideration.

3. Is Samsung really, truly, honestly that much worse than LG? I've heard this over and over, but there's a glaring, obvious, compelling reason for me in particular to choose a Samsung over the LG. Both have touch controls, but Samsung has made them accessible out of the box. There are dots underneath key cycle buttons, as well as variable tones for choosing temperature, spin speed, etc. To my knowledge, LG does not have this. There are no raised dots on the control panel, and it's just the same beep no matter what button is pressed. No matter how poor Samsung's reliability allegedly is, this is a big plus in their collumn, and I simply can't ignore it. However, I'm sure that an LG's controls could be made usable for me with modifications. I could put my own bump dots on the control panel to find key buttons like temp and soil level. Here's my question though. Do LG's FL's default to a default state every time they are powered on? What I mean by that is, does it always return to, say, the normal cycle every time? If so, I could easily learn to count how many clicks of the dial it would take to get to the cycle I want, provided this acts the same way every time the dial is used. I could also learn how many times, for instance, to press the temp button to get to hot if a cycle always starts at warm, or how many times to press the rinse button if a cycle always starts witha default number of rinses. So, is me learning those work-arounds worth it for the LG's alleged better reliability, or should I get a Samsung with accessibility pretty much built in so that I could use it straight out of the box?

4. I understand that front loadres require a bit more maintenance than top loaders, i.e., leaving the door slightly ajar between uses, wiping out the gasket, etc. The problem with leaving the door open is that the laundry closet is in the hallway, and Stacye has to get through there in her wheelchair to access the bedroom and back door. As I don't do laundry every day, would it be okay to leave the washer door open for a day or so so it can dry out, and then close it for the rest of the week or until the machine is used again? I can't see how this would hurt anything or cause the machine to get gross, but more experienced folks can chime in.

I think that's everything. LOL! I would really appreciate some thoughtful answers to my questions, as this is a big investment for me. It's also possible I may just wimp out, have my basic TL repaired, and stay in my comfy bubble. We'll see. But I really think I'm going to jump it. I'd just like to go into it armed with some good information.

So, front loader peeps, feel free to chime in below with any advice you have.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Ryne

 

[mark_wpduet]

I can't answer all your questions... HOWEVER, I will say this about Samsung so take it for what it's worth. MANY MANY people have those machines. I've watched youtube videos of a tech shopping at lowes showing the different makes and models that he recommends and he's always bashing samsung the most... and there's just something so holier than thou about his voice... as if what he says is gospel... at any rate, scrolling through the comments I've seen so many people say things like "Well, my FL washer is 7 years old. No issues"... "Or my fridge is 5 years old. No issues".. and on and on... I mean, anyone can make a comment but I tend to feel like they're mostly real people with Samsungs making those comments.... Just be aware that anything can happen with any modern appliance... even LG... You can end up being in the same boat you are now...Or you could get really lucky and everything goes smoothly for years.

There's a youtuber who videos cycles of her Samsung. She calls it "Sammy the Samsung"... I asked her if she had any issues.. She said they've probably done at least 1000 loads in it and she loves it. So there's that.

But... I believe they do get one of the lower scores in terms of reliability... but I've read they've made some changes with past issues. I don't know.

it's such a HUGE deal buying a washer when you know it's important and going to be something you're gonna live with for a long time...

I too would have to stick with 4.5 cubic feet as I need a no more than 27 inch width...

getting a FL for the first time is a learning curve. I hated mine for the first 2 months...

 

[ryner1988]

Mark, I believe I know the Youtube channel you're referring to. If it's the one I'm thinking of, yes that guy is always bashing on Samsung and also LG. He calls LG "looks good." If we're thinking of the same dude, yeah he really comes off as arrogant.

I've had the same thoughts as you about Samsung and just appliances in general. Lots of people like the washer I have now, yet here I am with a faulty control board. Some people really diss on Samsung, but the Samsungs belonging to other people just seem to run and run. So I guess I'm reluctant to just count one brand out completely, when they all have electronic control boards and water sensors and so many things that could go wrong, or there are no issues for years. It's all kind of a crap shoot.

Be honest, what did you hate about your FL when you first got it? I imagine a lot of that stuff I'm already aware of -- way less water, less detergent is to be used, etc. I already am aware I'd probably have to give up my pods as they would produce a lot of suds in an FL. Would I have to revamp the way I separate laundry? For now, I just separate by towels, bedding, and clothes. We have very, very few whites, and no delicates to speak of so I just put all clothes together usually.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Well honestly, I was expecting a home laundromat front loader. This was 2005... so there weren't many that had them.. so it was totally NEW to me and there were no videos to watch or anything like that...That's about the time I joined garden web laundry forum and this forum after that...and I slowly started to learn how they actually worked...trying different dosages of detergent (but never too much), learning how much of a load to put in where it could lift/drop... which is about 60 to 70% full... which is still a big load compared to a TL washer... and my duet's only 3.8 cubic feet.....

Another thing I noticed immediately was less lint in the dryer screen...I would go so far as to say 30% less lint... It wasn't that I hated it.. maybe that was too harsh... I just wasn't sure if I was loving it the first couple of months until exchanging questions and answers back and forth on garden web... front loaders were new to a lot of us back then but a few on those forums had them... I think back then LG's were Tromm or something... So as time went on I just got more used to the machine and clothes were clean and rinsed... and I became much happier with it.... One other thing was the time...although times on my Duet are really NOT that bad at all..It defaults to two rinses on every cycle... so normal is 40 min's with 2 rinses. Heavy duty/whitest whites is 50 min's with 2 rinses... but I always use extra rinse and that adds ten minutes to those times...still longer than a TL washer... but I realized it was no big deal because what would have been 5 loads in a 3.2 cubic foot old school TL washer is only 3 loads in my duet

and over all of these almost 20 years of owning it...all of the washer explosions, mold horror stories and smelly washers... and I've dealt with NONE of that....I escaped all of the front load DRAMA for the most part.

 

[petek]

We have the WM3700 model which is I believe is pretty much the same as the WM3400 model but with a few more features that I couldn't say what they are. It has wifi but I never use it. No reason to. When the power button is pressed it always reverts to the normal cycle which is warm wash, high speed spin, and medium soil level. If those are fine then all you have to do is press the start button. However if you want to change any of those parameters you must move the cycle dial one click left or right and that allows to modify them. If you click the cycle dial more than once to the right or to the left then you move to the next cycle choice. The next cycle position to the left, after two click beeps, is heavy duty and that gives you again a warm wash but an extra high speed spin and a heavy soil level. And so on and so forth they change as you rotate the dial. THe tones are always the same and there is nothing physical you could feel.

reg brites perm delicate towels

Regular is the default and going clockwise you then have brights, perma press, delicates then towels. There are more cycles but here is how you would access towels cycle.

Press start then click clockwise five times and press start. Before pressing start you could modify things a little if you want by pressing the extra rinses button, or the soil level etc .

It's do-able if you put some dots in key areas and have a chart listing what the defaults are for each cycle.

There is no need to get a fancier model. Not sure if the wm3400 has the steam setting and the allergy cycle like mine does. I don't use them. I use the regular cycle, the heavy duty cycle and the quick wash and that is pretty much it. It works great.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

lg

I can tell you that the lg defaults to the normal cycle which is considered the home position. Believe me, I've used them.

 

[geoff]

I can chime in on the Samsung side...

Hi Ryne.

Everytime you turn the washer on it defaults to the Normal cycle, warm wash, medium high spin and normal soil level. You are right about the tones being different for each option except the cycle selection. The cycle dial uses all the same tones. The braille symbols are for power and start/pause. There is just one dot under each option, but once you figure out which is which from right to left, you can adjust each by tone. From left to right it's Temp, Rinse, Spin, Soil. I hope that helps you with your decision. I can only tell you this, I love my Samsungs. My mother has an LG wash tower. She really likes my Samsungs because they are far more flexible. She does like her LG but finds mine easier to use and understand. Do with that information what you wish and best of luck!

Geoff

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #4: PeteK, this is very helpful and exactly the sort of thing I wanted to know. So you find that you don't regret not having the Turbowash on yours? What are cycle times like? So do you think if I learned where towels was, I could use that and normal and that would suffice? What are the default parameters if the towels cycle? Does normal do an extra rinse by default, and if not, should I learn how to enable that feature so that I can use it? My three main loads are clothes (not separated because no whites or delicates), towels, and bedding.

Reply #5: Jerome, thank you. I figured as much about the home position, but I wanted to double-check.

Reply #6: Geoff, thank you, this helps a lot. Which model of Samsung do you have?

 

[geoff]

Hi Ryne.

My model number is WF45R6100AC/US. The build date is 3/5/19 and I have the mid-level model with steam.

 

[petek]

Ryner. I'm a realist and most of these cycles and stuff are just window dressing and marketing schlock. Including things in my opinion turbowash. The clothes are in there, they get soaked within a few minutes and are tumbling around in detergent laden water so having something spray down on top of those tumbling soaked clothes is going to do diddly squat more to them. My clothes always come out super clean without it so I don't see how it could possibly improve on that.

You have to select extra rinses before you press start. You can choose up to three.

You don't need any more cycles other than regular or heavy duty to be honest, even for towels. I generally don't have a lot of towels to do at one time so mostly put them in the regular cycle. I've tried the towels cycle and while it does act differently it didn't make any difference I could see,,everything always comes out clean

I do use the speed wash cycle more in the summer when sometimes I have to switch clothes more often because of sweating and want one or two particular items quick to wear again . It does a quick wash rinse in 15 minutes though you can even lengthen that by choosing a different soil cycle, and you can add an extra rinse to it. It's pretty flexible.

So basically what you do is write a list of all the cycles (12 on my machine) starting with Regular on the top. Towels happens to be the fifth down the list so turn the dial clockwise for five dings and press start. Press it six times for the quick wash. Since Heavy Duty would be at the bottom of the list number 12 you could either turn it clockwise twelve dings, or turn it counter clockwise two dings. Remember the first ding in either directionafter starting the machine is to activate the modifier buttons, it doen't move it to the next cycle.

As for leaving the door open. The door doesn't need to be left fully open. You just close it up to the point of locking it closed, it has a detent where it stays open a crack to let air circulate, but looks closed [this post was last edited: 12/15/2024-17:16]

 

[geoff]

I have to agree with Petek

Pretty much the only cycles I use on my Samsung are Normal, Permanent Press (for more water) and Whites. Whites uses straight hot water with no tempering. I occasionally use Bulky for larger items and things that need max water level (which uses a LOT of water) I use Delicates rarely ( which also uses a ton of water) my main cycles are Normal and Whites.

 

[ea56]

Re:#9

I too agree with Pete! You really only need a couple of basic cycles on any washer along with the ability to select different temps, an extra rinse if desired and an extended wash time for heavier soiled loads. All the rest of the multitude of cycles offered on many of todays washers are mainly just so the manufacturer can demand a premium price for nonsense that will seldom, if ever be used.

Eddie

 

[appnut]

Heere I come I'm all completely opposit to most here. Iw won't settle for a front load wasshre iwthout an onboard heater so the WM3400CW is totally out. CW stands for cold water NO HEATER. As far as I'm cocerned, TurboWash 360 makes a big difference. Given I do BobLoads. Quick saturation is excellent. And when I do large towel loads, it still takes the first 4 to 5 minutes before full saturation and no added water is needed. The recirulating helps. And I love the spray spins with Tubrowash. After having my washer 4 years, and given what I wear, there aer only two cycles I use and it's because they're straighforward. Rember Normal is th estingy cycle. I use Perm Press for all my clothes that the public seees. I always add an extra rinse except for smaller loads and select high speed spin. I use towels for said items ass well as cotton underwear. Towels is great with Turbowash. It give a default 3 rinses. Towels are hard to get all the suds out cosidering my washclothes have added soap from showers. And select extra high spin speed. I find the delicate cycle reminds me of the hand wash on my Duet, it's that gentle.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #12

Hey Bob, I was wondering when you would be along on this thread.

I've been researching much of the day, and it would seem that the 3400 would present an issue with my tankless water heater. Since those are on-demand, I feel like the pulse fills that LG's washers do might cause a problem where the hot water doesn't even reach the washer, because the tankless hasn't yet purged the cold water from the line. So, I'm guessing a washer with a heater would solve this. This is one reason I've always stuck to TL's, I knew my tankless heater would trigger properly, being that TL's usually fill continuously.

One thing of note that you touched on, I do not like small loads. I avoid doing those when I can. Sounds like Turbowash works well for people who like to slightly overload, guilty as charged. Is this correct?

And the Turbowash model is only $150 more, so why the heck not?

If I get the 4000 model, which is essentially the same as yours if I remember right, I'll likely be pestering you with questions, so be prepared. LOL

 

[appnut]

Ryne, I was pleasantly surprised when I got my 4200 because I'd seenso many YT videos of LG front loaders with intense pulsing of water for fills. This was not the ase in my experience. I've got a couple of loads of towels to do tomorrow and maybe another load or two later in theweek and I"ll be very observant. I'll tyr and time each fill interval as it goes through the process of filling for wash with war, water.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Oh crap. I totally FORGOT about that the lower model LG didn't have a heater! Also I didn't know you had on demand water. Do you have built in water hammer arrestors? If not you might think about getting some of those too

I went to AJ madison last night looking at it because I could NOT see the panel with options on any pictures from Lowes, home depot, so I thought AJ madison might have a zoom in that I could see. They had the same pictures as lowes..while there I was curiously reading reviews...

It's really amazing to me to read an excellent review and a horrible review right under it... One review like.. It needs more water, clothes come out not completely having gotten wet... and they stink... In fact, I remember reading those same types of reviews on my duet back in the day.. It's like WHAT are you doing? I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see them do laundry for myself to come to that conclusion. I mean, I guess it's possible the machine is faulty...but I read several of those types of reviews across almost all FL brands

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/WM3400CW.html

 

[appnut]

Ryne, I just finished thoroughly observing the fill process for wash with warm water. There is an initial "burst" of water that is like beginning to flush the detergent dispenser and it's about 5 to 15 seconds then stops and then resumes filling after about 5 to 10 seconds. Then the fill is quite long until fill level is close to being satisfied. After that point each successive fill is shorter and shorter as fil level/saturation is fuklly satisfied. At the end of this process, that final bursts could be one to three seconds.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #16: Thanks Bob for that information. I imagine they all fill like that, so sounds like a model without internal heater would be a no-go in my situation. Since the tankless water heater only turns on when hot water is called for, it takes a while to purge the line of cold water. I noticed when I didn't have a dishwasher and was washing dishes by hand, I had to leave the water running at least a little bit. Otherwise, I'd have to wait for the water to reach maximum temperature again, even if it was only a few minutes since I last used the tap. So, I'm betting the same issue would present in a washer that pulse fills. Do you think the internal heater would help with this?

 

[appnut]

Ryne, warm temperature fill is targeted at 90F. I can observe the temperature increase as the line purges from cold water until a mixed temperature of 90F is reached and consistently held there. Target temp for hot is 112F. My water tank is set at 120F. Initially after I discovered warm was 90F, I was ocd that warm had to be 100F to 104F and I'd pause thee machine, select hot, and reduce soil level tolightest so final wash period would have a chance to raise temp to 100F to 110F. I never really tried to "live" with hot of 112F. I always selected extra hot so the heater would kick on and heat to higher temps of 130F and upward. But since using Tide Professional powder, I simply live with 90F wrm all the time thus far without any issues.