NEW Frigidaire AGITATOR top load washer??

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pulsator

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I went to my local family owned appliance store and saw THIS! I was quite confused when I saw it. It says "Made in Thailand" but I'm wondering if it has Australian roots? Th top, lid, and control panel are all plastic.

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The controls up close... No water level switch 
smiley-frown.gif


 

I wonder what the differences between Normal, Normal/Heavy, and Heavy Duty are?

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AAARRGH!

Its the ghost of our old Simpson back to haunt me! 

 

If you look up the thread I made about our Simpson ("Machines of Ill Repute Volume 4 or 5"), then you'll see the resemblance. The cycles and water temperatures are not all identical, but the agitator sure is Simpson!

Normal/Heavy is just an extended Normal cycle. On our model, there was no soak, just some more washing. You only got a 5 minute soak on the Heavy Duty cycle, which was just over an hour. 

 

These things are absolute garbage, honestly. They make all sorts of weird sensor noises, hiss and take a good 15 - 20 minutes to actually fill before washing ("Sensing."). After having a Daughter-Board fitted as part of a recall, our machine seemed to go through a "Getting Stuck" phase of the cycle where it would stop filling and sit for around 5 minutes. My theory was it was trying to run the recirculation pump during that time - but ours didn't seem to work and the machine didn't even realise. 

Then there is the drainage and spin. It drains, then locks the lid and slowly spins for around 5-10 minutes a few times. Finally, it will slowly ramp up to speed. 

 

Spin Rinsing is pretty pathetic on these, they STOP spinning to spray then start again - so the clothes don't get properly rinsed. We got far better results with Deep Rinse (Fabric Softener option), which ironically saved around 2-3 minutes of time. 
 
Wow, who knew? Obviously has spray rinses with the option for a deep rinse via the fabric softener option. I'm guessing this also means no 1st spin, as with the Immersion Care. My two gripes with that machine were its lack of a 1st spin and the dumbed-down hot water.

Such machines only confirm my preference for front-load format.
 
I like the modified ramps on the bottom of the otherwise F & P style agitator.

In Leon's link, there is mention of a water re-use function but no explanation available.

Anyone have the skinny on the water re-use?

Interesting machine.

Last second illumination: Linked text mentions an Eco rinse. Might that be a clone of the Whirlpool Resourse Saver rinse which "re-uses" the sprayed water through recirculation before pumping it out?
 
I have played with one of these!

I have been using one of these for the last 12 months. I bought one after my old Hootag finally ended it's useful life.

In all honestly I have not had any of the problems Washer111 has had. It starts about thirty seconds after pressing start, fills a quarter of the way, agitates back and forth for several strokes to sense the resistance of the wash load, and then fills to the sensed level. I have found no problems with the spin rinse either, mine rotates like it should and even though my mind says it shouldn't work - it does. Of course for loads like towels I use the deep rinse.

There is a lint filter in the bottom of the agitator post that works well.

My only gripe is it could be a bit more generous with the water level but it is not that bad in all honesty. If I wasn't standing over it watching it I would pull the load out clean and be happy with it.

I have found that the heavy duty cycle works best - it soaks for a short period but overall it is better than the normal cycle - which for some reason washes for 35 minutes. The colour cycle works well too - which probably matches the casuals cycle on this machine.

Fabric softer switch will select the deep rinse.

Here is a picture of my machine.

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This is the lower level model. It has a cycle knob that turns and capacative touch buttons to select temp, soil level and water level. It doesn't have the soft close lid or detergent dispenser.

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I am glad to see an alternate plan from Frigidaire. What is the spin RPM please? Thanks alr2903

oops
Thanks for the link with the answer Leon, 850 rpm. Arthur
 
Well, at least *someone* is getting good use out of theirs! Then again, yours is almost new, whereas ours was a 2008 model (bought early 2009 after our Hoover died). Our model went through a recall, and was slammed for producing "Simpson-Snot," due to the wash recirculation and poor lint filtering (and also because of the drum with almost no drainage holes in it!)

Our one would sometimes start filling straight away, or would start sensing straight away. It would fill a quarter of the way then "Get stuck," as I put it. Sometimes, Auto water level wouldn't put enough in, as it was probably expecting the Water recirculation system to kick in and help things along. It actually worked properly in Heavy Duty as far as filling goes. 

 

The other issue is if it had *somehow* sensed there was enough water in when it had only just started, switch to agitation and make some thumping and banging. Oh the pain! It also did this when going out of balance to "Redistribute" the load. 

 

Our neighbours had the smaller 6.5KG model without recirculation and the regular tub. That thing sounded more like our old Hoover and was far better in my opinion. It lasted 5-6 years before new owners came in and bought the place and had their own better FL machine and replaced it. It withstood being a Rental House unit - which was the ultimate test. That machine actually had PROPER spray rinses: Machine would make a clunk after spinning, then would pulse-spin for a while with the water on before quickly ramping back up to speed. Of course, if there was lots of water to extract, it would hold off for a bit before truly spinning again, but still an improvement over our one stopping (slowly ramping down), then barely moving the tub will it dumped a little water into the tub. I added water myself a few times and the machine compensated by not spinning as fast so soon. Not out of balance, but I suppose it knew the limits. 

I consider a PROPER Spray-Rinse to be one where the water is sprayed on during the spinning phase with the machine at the designated spin speed for that cycle - for however long its supposed to take. That way, the machine is already balanced and isn't wearing itself out Stopping/Restarting over and over. You also get better rinsing as the water is flung out of the clothes much quicker, removing debris and detergent quickly. 

 

Just my Two-Cents! 

But arrrooohhh, I am glad you've gotten better usage out of your machine than we ever did, LOL. I suppose the main reason is the redesigned Tub and LACK of recirculation system. Your cycles may also be altered slightly too, which is good. 

I hope your machine serves you better than ours did :-)

 
 
SOOooo, "Frigidaire" means something different depending who's reading it on what continent. Might have seen that coming. I've got one (from 1998, no complaints at all) but bears absolutely no resemblance in form or function. At the time, White owned the US rights to the name and the machine was actually an Electrolux. Also sold as GE and one other badge (Whirlmore/Kenpool).
 
The machine Jamie found is not listed at the US Frigidaire website. Wonder if it's being marketed only by specific retailers?

Thanks for posting your find, Jamie! There are so many surprises out there in the world of appliances.
 
Video

It would be cool if there were a video or two of the machine in action.  I couldn't locate anything on YT.  

 

I like the Simpson version with the screen on the panel.

 

Malcolm
 

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