my first week with the mini washer in the pedestal

[tablefor9]

I've run about twenty loads through our new little twin wash pedestal washer. It's much more functional than I thought it would be. This morning I washed five size small women's lightweight sweaters with a bit of room to spare then two large fleece jackets, followed by a handful of brand new kids clothes items I wanted to wash separately first. During the week I've done everything from delicates to car seat covers to baby carriers and they've all come out nice and clean.

It had several cycles but I've found the delicate and hand wash cycles don't spin enough water out. The normal cycle seems placenta delicate for most otherwise delicate items and it gets the most water out. The normal cycle is 37 minutes, handwash slightly more. There's a sport wash cycle too which seems to work well for a single set of gym clothes or other random stinky items like the toddler clothes we had a diaper leak on.

The buttons are the flat, light touch type ones. Just one to select the cycle and one to turn it on, it starts as soon as you slide the drawer back in place. The little half circle door has a latch built into the handle and is attached to the wash drum itself. There's a 27" one ans well as a 30" version. We have the bigger one but I'm not sure if there's any real difference besides the outer pedestal it goes in and the price.

Overall I'm thrilled with it. We have lots of 'fussy' laundry and I often have to wash things by themselves because of kid messes I'd rather not leave sitting around or because someone needs a single item right away. The first thing the kids looked for was a tiny dryer under the main one. I've been putting everything from the mini washer on the drying rack or tossing it in with other loads to dry.

I'll try to get a few pictures when it's done running.

 

[tablefor9]

Sorry for the autocorrect typo, it won't let me edit!

Anyway, in the last picture there are two large bath towels in there to give an idea of what can fit.

 

[whatsername]

Thanks for posting--I'd been interested in seeing some real-world experiences with these machines!

 

[rapunzel]

It won't run when the drawer is extended out?

 

[frigilux]

Glad to read about your experiences with the mini twin! I don't have many very small, 'fussy' loads to wash, but I love the idea of the mini washer below the big front-loader. My money is on them becoming major collectors' items in the future.

 

[tablefor9]

Rapunzel, that's correct that it will not run with the drawer pulled out. It has a nice glass lid but you can't watch it wash. All I can think was that it wasn't stable enough or as prone to breaking the drawer slides. I do have it pulled out quite a bit just to air it out.

Forgot to mention that there's no designated spot to put the detergent, you just drizzle a little bit onto the laundry. There's also no way to select the wash temp. I assume it chooses automatically. It does have both hot and cold water lines (as well as its own plug, the drain is shared with a special divided hose) so I'm guessing it's a warm wash for normal, cold for delicate and handwash, and possibly hot for sport wash. I'd be nearly certain the tub clean setting is hot.

 

[logixx]

There's a Warm Water button next to the Start button to select between warm or cold water.

 

[tablefor9]

Hey, look at that! Thanks! The one thing I can't stand about this set is the impossible to read buttons. The ones on the front of the big machine are even worse - black print on a charcoal grey background. Getting the nice light grey background means ponying up for the all grey machines.

 

[maytagbear]

My suggestion

.keep a flashlight handy.

Thank you for your experience/impressions!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[whitetub]

If it comes as a pedestal, then there must be a way to disconnect it and install it seperately, on a counter top, or table. Then we can watch how it works. Seems like a fun thing to play with. Not sure if it's worth the extra cost. One can easily use the big washer to do delicate loads. But it sure looks like fun. Almost like a toy.

 

[tablefor9]

For me it's not so much that I don't want to do delicate or small loads in the main machine but that I like being able to do both at once. The machine we replaced was a 4 cu ft maytag front loader. I was doing at least 25 loads a week, many of them small or delicate 'fussy' laundry. Now I can do ten loads a week in the big (5.2cuft) machine with another ten or so small loads in the mini washer at the same time. What was four 70+ minute loads every single day is now around ten hours all the same day. For the first time in years I can have a laundry day rather than endless, constant laundry. I really wanted two full size machines but between our small laundry room, lack of a basement, and single drain/electric/water hookups it just didn't make sense to set up in a house that we will not be in long term. Now I get to have two washers, just not full size which is ok by me since so much of our laundry were small loads anyway.

 

[whitetub]

Wow !! Now I get it... That's a lot of loads! The folding part would just kill me.

 

[johnb300m]

fascinating.
Thanks for your experience.
I thought this was going to be more of silly gimmick.
Looks like you're really getting good use out of it!

 

[mark_wpduet]

I'm a whirlpool/maytag fan

but those LG's are so tempting. I just love the looks of them. The drawer washer is cool but for me I don't think I would want that, especially if you can never see it in action....but those washers look like tanks!

 

[logixx]

Liz

You weren't the only one to hear the noise from the Direct Drive motor, it seems.https://youtu.be/WpZBx9Gvq0k

 

[tablefor9]

logixx- I haven't noticed any weird noise from the mini washer. I did have a noise problem with an he top loader made by lg but lowes was great about honoring their 30 day 'satisfaction guarantee' and took it as a return no problem.

mark - the machines are very sturdy with the exception of the doors on the main machines which feel a bit flimsy to me. They look solid but they're rather light weight and have a tinny sound when being opened or closed. I bought them sight unseen purely for the combined 6.2 cu ft capacity and while I'd like sturdier and heavier weight doors it's not that big a deal.

 

[tablefor9]

Wanted to add the fabric softener system. There's no dispenser so as long as you have the cycle complete signal on it alerts you when it's ready to start the rinse cycle so you can come add it. If you select an extra rinse it sounds the alert twice, two and three extra rinses get you extra alerts as well. It's a bit annoying and I wish that feature could be turned off.

I'm going to try pausing it during a cycle to see how much water is in the tomorrow. It rinses very well and I can hear water sloshing around so I feel like it uses more water per garment than the main machine.

 

[logixx]

Fabric softener alert off

Fast-forward to 2:40

 

[vacerator]

just my opinion

I think it's a dumb gimmick. More to go wrong. If you need two machines, buy two.
They stack.
Save two or three items for the next load.
Monday, yuck wash day. Then I have to go shopping for a new range. Mine burned up last week. GE is paying me almost 90% for a new one.
Will it be a Jenn Air, or a Kitchen Aid?