LG top loader added to my collection

[liberator1509]

load sensing

Hi Steve and all

Nice to see the LG machine in action. Just a thought on watching the Load Sensing part of the cycle - from even the couple of turns it makes at that point, it would appear that the pulsator is capable of rolling over the load when dry.

I wonder how that sort of action would work rolling over a wet load in low (i.e. EU front loader) levels of water? It strikes me that some enterprising company might work on this so we get top loader convenience with AAA rating. For my money the roll-over is unlikely to be harsher on clothes than tumbling action.

The F&P/Whirlpool Cabrio design is a move in this direction - using less water than conventional US machines, but still more than EU FLs. I wonder if this is because the action requires this amount of water or because the US market would be uncomfortable with extremely low water levels?

Comments would be appreciated, though as Top Loaders represent less than 7% of the EU market, we are unlikely to see even AAA rated vertical axis TL introduced even if they were technologically possible - what d'ya all think?

David

 

[hoovermatic]

Regarding the UK machines expecting hot water, I think that may be correct. I am no expert in that regard - I have ALWAYS used a 'Y' piece to convert such machines that I have had to cold fill only as in my opinion, the hot water fill was always a waste of time and totally ineffective - by the time the pipes were purged, the flow had stopped. My mother's first auto had hot and cold but only on the 95 degree wash did the machine use only hot water and it took forever to fill from a gravity system. Unlike today, when so many people have combi boilers that can easily fill a TL in next to no time.

 

[liberator1509]

I think my point might have been mis-understood!

I was suggesting that perhaps a low-water level wash action might be possible with a variation on the LG pulsator - crucially achieving water consumption of about 10L per Kg (which is about that required to achieve AAA rating). If this were possible, such a top loader would be no different to a Front Loader in terms of water or energy consumption even with cold fill only.

With regards to cold fill, practically all Front Loaders marketed in the UK and Ireland are cold fill only - the assumption being that self-heating cold fill machines will be generally more efficient than hot and cold fill. Not entirely true (if you have solar water heating for example), but generally the case - so no different from the rest of Europe. Hot and cold fill machines dropped out of general circulation in the British Isles a couple of years ago.

Cold fill traditional top-loaders would be hopelessly slow of course - the instruction manual for our 1968 Hotpoint Automatic 1502 stated that if converted to cold fill only, the machine could take up to FIVE hours to reach the 'Very Hot' (95 degree) temperature - hence it used was designed to fill with hot!

I'd be up to buy an energy efficient H-axis top loader

David

 

[sparkcymru]

Nearly all UK current FL machines on sale are now cold fill only as the reduction in water usage makes it pretty pointless having a hot fill inlet. Certainly the machines i've tried recently hoover candy servis etc fill for just a few seconds at a time and the boiler or tank would not have managed any hot water reaching the machine in that time. Also Biological powders need cold water to work at first hence Miele machines always used to cold wash before heating up much later in the wash cycle. The LG is now up for sale on ebay by the way. I've had my fun and it is huge so it has to go now `and i'll continue with my beloved hoover vision.
Steve

 

[liberator1509]

a mistake...

I meant to say, in the last line of the previous message, that I'd be up to buy an energy efficient V-axis top loader!!

Silly me....

David

 

[sparkcymru]

David i'd certianly be up for one of those too. I'd love the smaller Lg top loaders they do which wouldn't take up as much space as this beast does but alas they don't sell them here.
Steve

 

[liberator1509]

I wonder how far the US market will develop energy efficient top loaders - after a few false starts (the Neptune TL and the Calypso) there is at least one machine that seems to be working - the Oasis/Cabrio. Fisher and Paykel have released a similar model for their home market - reading the available info, it appears that in 'HE' mode, the F&P model uses the magic 10L per Kg required for EU AAA rating.

The cabrio concept seems to use about half the amount of water of a conventional TL machine, but I wonder if even this much is strictly necessary? Perhaps they will get even more efficient as time goes on...if they do, there is an off chance we will see them in Europe.

Serious subject drift now; I have service books for Hotpoint Top Loaders (1504 and 1509 series machines), and a quick glance at these would suggest that even if we hadn't had EU ratings, these machines would have eventually been dropped. Their construction was far more complex than Front Loader design (specifically the gearbox and brake) and I'm sure they had become economically unviable by the end of production....as ever Mammon would have ruled if Europe hadn't got there first - shame though as they were great washers....

 

[richie]

off on a tangent

Sorry to go off on a tagent, but liberator1509 are you from Bristol Engalnd? only asking as I am as well. Tried to email you but keeps coming back as failed.Once again folks sorry for changing the subject. Regards Rich

 

[liberator1509]

off on another tangent

I sure am...and emails on here don't seem to work....

 

[richie]

off on one last tangent

Well small world. We both seem to have a thing for top loaders. I have an American Whirlpool and Zanussi If you fancy a chat, my email is [email protected]. Once again sorry for hijacking the thread over and out. Rich