New AEG L76685 1600rpm Washer

[pedro]

Hi!

Its been a while since i've posted but, i have news that's worthy of adding!

After about 4 years my LG gave up the ghost. The wash pump was making one hell of a racket and we found out the heating element had blown but had no idea when that had happened. We were lucky enough to get given some John Lewis vouchers so decided to get a new machine. Having chose the Aeg L76685, it was £484 at the time and with the addition of the vouchers we only paid £44! Bargain!

I've had the machine for about a month now and i'm really pleased with it. I was a little worried it wouldn't have the build quality that the LG did but i've not been disappointed.

Pros:
-Great range of wash cycles and flexible programming.

-Near silent when washing (I don't miss the hum of the wash jet on the LG cycling on and off constantly, especially in its final days when it sounded like a jack-hammer )

-I can now actually SEE the wash cycle instead of trying to peer through a blacked out door on the LG!

-Fantastic water levels. The wash water foams up and the rinses are great too.

-Not at all fussy on the spins. I used to get frustrated with the LG distributing, spinning, then distributing, then spinning and so on...the AEG distributes, spins, slows but holds the distribution speed before spinning again and when it ramps up, it REALLY ramps up!

-The 20min wash is great, high water levels, great splashy wash action and an impressive 1200rpm spin at the end.

-The steam refresh and anti-crease cycles are great and, IMO, a lot better than the LG's steam refresh.

Cons:
-The cycle times are quite long. Although the machine recalculates the wash time after around 10 minutes of the cycle starting, and it more often than not will drop quite significantly, it's a little annoying having to go back and check the revised cycle time after i've started the machine though.

The LG would sense the load and give the complete cycle time before it started the wash. This isn't really a huge deal though but just a slight niggle and if i really need something in a rush then i just use the 'Time Save' feature (you can press the button once to reduce the time, then a second time to reduce it even more. This then omits interim spins and increases the water level on the rinses)

-The anti-tumbles at the end of the cycle don't get the clothing completely loose. I've had a lot of lost socks reappearing in a following wash.

I'd be interested to hear from any of you guys who have one of the machines from this AEG range. How have you found the machines? Any niggles that have appeared over time? How have they held up? Any hints and tips?

 

[henene4]

We have a L71670. It does not have the more silent inverter motor yours has and comes without the steam cycles. Further its the slimmer depth (55cm, yours is 63cm, isn't it?).

It is great in the past few years we have it. The jeans cycle is verry nice. Up to 7 rinses, slightly higher water levels then the cotton cycle. Only 1200rpm though. I use it for bedding and pillows quite frequently. And even though the Eco cycle is pretty damn long, I use it sometimes for lighter soil loads, but always with the extra rinse selected.
After some time you can estimate pretty exactly how long the cycle will take.
I rarely ever use the time saver step one. Its just 20 minutes difference on the Cotton cycle, so I don't see the reason to use it.
A lot of the speciality cycles are just adapted main cycles. Delicate with super short is pretty damn simmilar to the 20 minutes cycles.

 

[pedro]

Hey,

That's right, my model is the 63cm deep version.

I'm going to give that jeans cycle a go, sounds interesting!

 

[sbond22]

AEG build quality

If the LG only lasted 4 years I'd be worried if the AEG DID have build the quality of the LG.

 

[aquacycle]

I love the styling on these, but the long wash times put me off a little. How long would an average cottons 40 or 60 take?

 

[henene4]

Depends on your load and what you think is long.

First, if you should ever think about getting one: Read the manual first. Some models of the same capacity and same actual size have two verry different cycle times. One version is beyond 3 hours, one is less the 3 hours.
The ÖkoMix ones take almost 4 hours. On the non-eco cycle.

If you have one of the shorter cycled versions, the times for the Cotton 60 and 40 are both are at about 2 hours and 40 minutes, either above or lower. Again, verry different by model and rated capacity.
Extra rinse adds about 10 minutes per rinse, so the one-line display models like the one pictured above adds 20 minutes if extra rinse is selected as 2 rinses are added automaticly.
Stains adds not more then 15 minutes if I remember correctly. That depends on temperature.
Time saver is pretty consisten throughout models. The first time saver step saves 10-30 minutes, the second cuts the washtime in half or such, depending on cycle. The first timesaver seems to only affect the main wash while the second really changes wash profile, rinsing and spinning.

And then, OptiSense kicks in. Seriously, these load sensing systems are precise AF. Have you ever seen a load sensing cut off 3 minutes or add only 1? That's the range these machines work at.
Generally, everything below half capacity cuts of one rinse on ours. At least on cotton. The other times are verry flexibel. A common loosely packed drum of mixed laundry might take off about 20 minutes, give or take. I managed to get it to extend its washtime with a fully packed load of towels, but normal loads, it will barely ever not cut down its washtime.

 

[pedro]

AquaCycle, mine takes an average of 1hr40 mins to complete a 40c wash and around 1hr58 to complete a 60c.

Wehen you start the machine it states the full time of 3hr42 but this always cuts down once the load is sensed.

 

[aeg03]

Hi,

That machine looks great. I'm glad that its not fussy with spinning, I always remember the AEG my parents had was not fussy at all with the wash loads, causing the drum to 'bash' the glass door. 9 years later my parents got a terrible Zanussi Flexi Dose that was rubbish, the suspension was cheap and creaky, it hardly ever spun as it was overly sensitive. The Zanussi Jetsystem that was purchased a year later is much better and the suspension didn't creak and it would just spin and get on with it. I think the design was based on the older design of Electrolux - AEG - Zanussi.

My parents had an AEG OKO Lavamat 72640 back in 2002 and it lasted until 2011. It failed due to the computer controller getting confused and the machine started to freeze mid cycle and also, the machine would 'burst' into a violent spin during the wash when it was supposed to turn the drum. It caused the machine to bang and the body jumped forward - this machine was very heavy, so imagine how bad this situation got. Other than that, the mechanics were in perfect condition and the machine was donated to someone who put their own PCB programmer inside. I never got to found out if it worked and if so, how long the machine was running for. I would not be surprised to hear the machine is still going strong.

The machine was lovely, it had a 'JetSystem' that allowed the machine to use less water, it did 'dual speed' tumbles on the wash cycle and also it used to do 'Spin Rinses' - would carry out 3 spins full of water when the machine was on the rinse cycle when washing absorbent loads at 60 degrees or above. It was a lot of fun to watch. I don't think the machine used to cut the wash time down depending on the wash load, but it would adapt the rinse on 60 degrees or above, it would do the 'Spin rinses' if the load was not absorbant, it would not do the 'Spin Rinses'. Its a shame the latest AEG's do not have this feature. The Zanussi Jetsystem machine I purchased when living at home in Sept 2012 does not do any of these exciting things and has simple logic, no clever sensors.

I now have my own place and got a Hotpoint Smart 9KG WMFUG942. Don't ask me why I decided to get a Hotpoint as I never would have touched one with a barge pole years ago.

It did let me down 4 months after purchase by breaking down with the F05 error and not responding - advised caused by overloading my washing machine, I'm not gonna lie, I did overload it, but I overloaded the AEG and Zanussi machines and never had problems with those.

The Hotpoint machine has sensors that are not quite as precise as the AEG by the sounds of it, it cuts off 1 hour, 10 minutes, 2 minutes and adds on 10 minutes, 20 minutes and so on. I notice sometimes when washing machine starts, it will say 3 hours 4 minutes, it then shaves time off to say 2 hours 5 minutes, then the machine will wash, do the first spin and start the first rinse, it says 16 minutes left, then jumps up to 45 minutes, then sometimes at the end of the last rinse, it will cut off 5 minutes or on an occasion I saw it cut off 8 or 9 minutes. On the Hotpoint, the timer display is never accurate. Its very frustrating. The machine is similar to the LG with its starting and stopping the spin, distributing and starting the spin again, can take 10 minutes. Its also sensitive to unbalanced loads as well, with continuously tumbling and attempting spins again.

The Hotpoint also isn't as sophisticated with adding more rinses or removing them. On a 40 degree programme, it would a full 2 hours 55 mins and not cut the cycle time down if its a full absorbent, it will do 2 deep water level rinses with the water reaching halfway up the glass door. On less absorbent loads or loads that are not 9kg, it cuts time down to 1 hour 55 mins (5kg I think) or possibly 1 hour 16 mins for 3 kg loads, it does do 2 medium water level rinses and on a full 9kg load absorbent items, I've not had any issues with skin irritation when using this machine so I assume its ok with removing detergent.

I will also put a video of my Hotpoint and its timer display adding lots of time on.

I wish they still made them like this today. I hope you have many happy years with your AEG machine, well done on getting a good quality machine. I apologise for the very long post.

Please do see the video I posted of the AEG 72640 doing SPIN RINSE, here the machine did an unbalanced one and the glass door got hit, but it only gashed the glass a few times through the 9 years and never smashed - a sign of the quality of the machine.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=knnCgnZ4Jpc

 

[aeg03]

Another video, but of the Hotpoint and the timer countdown timer and its inaccuracy - after the wash and first spin and starting the first rinse, at least your AEG doesn't do this and you know when it will finish.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSa_cYH4F0

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Re: Reply #7

Naive question: 

 

I checked the link. I assume the machine was trying to balance with its stop,tumble, stop, tumble, etc. So why didn't it reverse direction until around 1:45? It would seem to me that reversing direction would be one of the key components of balancing. Or am I missing something?

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

 

[aeg03]

Hi Warmsecindrinse,

If you are referring to my video. The machine is not supposed to balance the load. It's doing a rinse cycle. The purpose of my video is to show how the machine performed it rinses with the spin bursts and jet stream on. It's not a spin cycle. The system for rinsing is unlike other systems employed today.

 

[pedro]

Update...

...well, three months in and the heater has blown

I put a couple of pieces in this morning to steam and they came out bone-dry and still as creased as when they went in, i put them in again this afternoon and noticed after a while the the glass hadn't steamed up as it usually does so switched it off and checked...nothing, no heat, no moisture.

I put the machine on a test wash and the same thing, water stayed completely cold.

I've called John Lewis and their advisor took the details before telling me "Hmmm, i don't think there's anything i can suggest over the phone to fix it" before giving me the details of the local AEG approved engineer, they should be coming out Friday to take a look at it.

I've been really pleased with the machine so far so i'm more than a little disappointed that this has happened within a few months of having it, the heater also went on my old LG so i'm not sure if it's something i'm doing wrong-i mostly do 40c washes, 60c washes and a couple of 95c washes a week which i don't think is overuse or abuse so maybe i'm just unlucky.

 

[aeg03]

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like you are just a bit unlucky there. Heaters going wrong are not really common faults from what I know of.

My Hotpoint Smart 9KG machine went wrong after only 4 months due to my contant overloading it, I busted the pressure switch in it. I got it repaired under warranty. That was last year July. 40 degree washes or hotter should not cause an issue. I always do all my mixed colours on 40 degrees and bedding on 60 degrees. Occasionally I may run the Auto Clean cycle to maintain the machine.

I'm sure once its been repaired it will be back to full working order again

 

[sbond22]

Once it's been repaired...

...after 3 months? Now I finally understand why Pedro was hoping it would be as reliable as the LG which lasted (queue the drum roll) 4 years. Wow!

 

[ozzie908]

Heater issues

Are more often than not due to hard water and scale building up on the heater thus causing it to overheat and go kapput.

Austin

 

[aeg03]

I live in a very hard water area - South East of England. Thames Water. Never had a washing machine fail or heard of anyone I know having a machine fail due to the water hardness. I think its just happens that the machine is faulty on this machine.

 

[pedro]

Well the engineer came today and ran a diagnostic. The heater was blown. He had it swapped out in no time at all but what came out of the machine surprised me. I regularly use Calgon and also run maintenance washes but the heating element was wrecked.

The pics show it after i'd scraped a large quantity of the crap off of it, it looks like something thats been in a washing machine that's 5 years old or more, not one that's only 3 months old!

 

[logixx]

I wonder if there's water-insoluble Zeolite residue mixed in there?

Knock on wood, 30 grams of store brand water softener per wash has kept my heating element clean since 2012 - I'd still love to get my hands on phosphate.

 

[joe_in_philly]

That is something! Is it not common where you live to have a whole-house water softener when your water is very hard?