New Front Loader Quest

[bajaespuma]

I need to buy a new daily driver but nothing that I've seen in the stores or on line looks promising. Even the Mieles have been dumbed-down for the American market and look like playhouse toys in the showrooms. I've been looking at a couple of GE front-loaders so the first question I want to ask is who makes them? Second, are they any good? I've looked at Maytag FL's; they look incredibly cheap and tinny. The best looking machines remain the LG's but after my wonderful LG Front Loader left me high and dry after 10 years of service and the LG company didn't stock the circuit board that would have but it back in service, I told LG to go F itself and that I would never buy another LG product again.

Whirlpools come well recommended by the laity but they also look cheap. Any suggestions would be appreciated. A high-end Appliance dealer from a well-known store in Norwalk CT told me that Speed Queen is supposed to be coming out with some new FL models soon but I have yet to see them.

 

[appnut]

Ken, you cannot expect any modern washer to last long, except for SQ.  I refuse to have an SQ because it doesn't have an onboard heater.  You did really well getting 10 years of service out of the LG.  See my comment in the top load vs front load thread about my Duet's cleaning of extreme stain of blood and other stains setting for over a week before it got washed. With results such as it was, I could care less how long the cycle runs.   If SQ did offer a washer with an onboard heater in their new line, I would consider it next time, but they damn well won't.  

 

[agiflow3]

The metal used in the Whirlpool and Maytag is the same as anyone elses. I think the SS tubs actually feel better made than the Samsung or LG washers.

It's your money but i can tell you the Whirlpool front loaders are fine washers.

 

[pierreandreply4]

bajaespuma

have you considered looking at the new ge front load washer here the link of the website so that way you can compare model before going to your local store?

Shop All Washing Machines | GE Appliances

Shop all washing machines from GE & GE profile. Our washers are designed with innovative features and come in a range of colors and sizes.

products.geappliances.com

 

[nmassman44]

One washer you might be very happy with is an Electrolux. I have the 527 and a year in and zero issues with it. It cleans better , in my opinion , than LG , and I also have an LG 3570 washer, so that’s saying something. The Electrolux washer has a Pods slot and works quite well I might add. Cycle times are very reasonable as well.

 

[agiflow3]

Bob. Being that Speed Queen uses more water do you think a heater is really necessary? That was one of the other things about the Whirlpool i wasn't crazy about.

In order to get truly hot water i had to use the sanitize setting which for a Normal cycle at lowest soil level is still around 1hr.40 minutes with extra rinse selected. I always used the extra rinse. The rinse water levels are low and the rinse cycles quick.

 

[agiflow3]

nmassman44 do you find the pump loud on the Electrolux ? I have heard others say it could be an annoyance in close quarters.

 

[appnut]

Agiflow, I would have never used Normal cycle for daily loads, may very small loads, as that the cycle that the energy star rating is based upon.  I'd probably select the Towels cycle and adjust soil level accordingly.  Heavy Duty "how to" probably turns the heater on automatically, and maybe even Towels or Whites.  I predominantly use cycles whereby the heater turns on as default.  For mine, that's Bulky Items as well as Whites and Heavy Duty.  On Normal, and its comparable "Specialty Cycle", in order for heater to maintain or heat the water, I have to select Steam option.  Also, rinse cycles on Normal are only about 2 minutes after it finishes adding water.  Other cycles the rinses are more like 4-5 minutes after water is through being added.  

 

[nmassman44]

On my Electrolux washer , the pump isn’t that loud at all compared to the Frigidaire built GE that I had. I can hear it when it does cycle to drain and also when the recirculating pump kicks on with a low hum. My machines are in the basement so I am sure if they were in closed quarters the sound might be different.
I do enjoy using both Electrolux washer and the dryer as well. They both keep up with each other time wise and the washer does not do what the LG does when it comes to spin cycles where the LG can be very fussy about balancing, Electrolux washer, not so much. The other thing with Electrolux washer is when I use a Hot water temp and Heavy soil setting, it will engage the onboard water heater and bring the temp up. The Sanitize temp can be selected in the Normal cycle if needed. The Electrolux pair is in my opinion very good performance wise. I can’t say enough about them.

 

[agiflow3]

nmassman44 that is good to know. When I was looking for a front loader last year I was going to get a Speed Queen but the salesman thought I was talking about a commercial laundromat washer.

It seems he wasn't aware that Speed Queen made residential models and this was a place that sold Speed Queen top loaders. I could have ordered one but I want see and touch the machine before I buy.

I went to another dealer here in the NE U.S.and saw the Whirlpool and just bought it after seeing it on the sales floor. I was going to go for an Electrolux but settled with Whirlpool as I have had good fortune with their appliances.

 

[agiflow3]

I actually like the regular cycle Bob as You can use steam or sanitize or a combo of the 2.

These new Whirlpools behave like LG in that they spin the load while running the pump to wet down the inside of the load at the beginning of the cycle.

These washers are very miserly with water. I'm thankful they put a pump in these. The water level is a small puddle but they wash very well.

I haven't seen a big difference in water levels using Bulky cycle or if there is any at all.

If there are Whirlpool engineers on this site could you folks please put a glass door back on these ? Stop cheapening everything you make. Or else LG and Samsung will overtake you if they haven't already.

 

[bajaespuma]

I agree.

I would buy a SQ washer today if it had an internal water heater and,even better, ran on 220V.

And I'm not talking about the SS tubs with the Whirlpools and the Maytags,it's the cheap feeling of the doors and other parts.

 

[nmassman44]

The thing with Whirlpool built front loaders is that when I was researching and shopping around to check prices, a dealer here and she is a Maytag Home dealer when Maytag was , well, Maytag...she told me that she will not stock their frontloaders since they have had way too many issues with control boards frying out at just 6 months of usage. That might be different now with the new crop of front loaders that they introduced recently. I do agree that Whirlpool built front loaders do have this cheap feel to them. I was looking at them last weekend at Lowes and I thought that it just looked cheap all around from the spiral drum hole pattern to the way the door felt when I opened the door to the drum.

The other thing on my Electrolux washer is the drum light. I never thought having a drum light would come in so handy, but it does. My Miele washer had one that had a yellowish hue to the light. The Electrolux is a cool bright white light.
I will have to agree that while SQ washers are built like a tank and the cost can make most people say no to especially when there is no onboard water heating to maintain or raise the wash water temp. Thats ok for people that just want a washer to do its thing and hope for the best. I like having a washer that does have the heater since I dont have to use an oxy based product to just attempt to give me some sanitization. Just my opinion.

 

[gizmo]

Back to your dead LG...

I'd be scouring the internet for the circuit board to fix your current machine.
Surely some parts supplier would have one sitting on a shelf?
Failing that, look for a dead one of the same model with broken bearings/spider/whatever to salvage a good circuit board.

Don't just search for the part by make/model, if you can find the part number of the board, put that into a search engine. At worst you will be able to come up with a list of models that use the same board, then you have a wider pool to choose from to find a scrapper. You might find an independent parts supplier has a new one on the shelf.

I often find that parts I need are NLA from the manufacturer, but are still available from a third party supplier - even genuine branded parts. If you're lucky it will even be discounted as a "discontinued" line.

It happened to me very recently. I have a BRAND NEW gas stove, major brand, and I have been very disappointed with its performance. (I don't want to name the brand.) My much loved 30 year old Modern Maid stove was getting a bit temperamental and I found rust holes in the griller burner (broiler in US language) and in the back wall of the oven, so I decided to retire it.
The oven of the new stove is very slow to heat up, and when you add a heap of cold food to the preheated oven, the temperature plummets and takes ages - up to an hour - to get back up to temp. I did some checking and found that the back wall of the oven has no insulation. The base, top and sides have a glass wool blanket but the back wall of the oven has no insulation. Chased up with manufacturer - it is no longer fitted to current models. It used to be, and the oven shell is the same part. I looked it up on mfr website, it lists as NLA - no replacement. I found it online at an independent parts supplier, clearance price $9.90. SOLD. I now have it in stock and I will fit it myself once the warranty has expired. My gasfitter has fitted the next size up gas injector in the oven so it is working better but loses a lot of heat to the room - using the oven really warms up the room so I am keen to insulate it better. The bigger injector is an approved part so no problem there, no idea why it isn't fitted at the factory.

Which again raises the point - if you have an appliance you have been happy with, repair it! I could have spent about $300 to $500 having my old stove reconditioned and it would have been a much better stove than my shiny new one that cost $1500. Parts NLA after 10 years is standard for the industry these days.

 

[jerrod6]

Look dumbed down but.....

You said the Miele models looked dumbed down. I thought so too until I went to the Miele web site and looked at each model. I downloaded the owner’s manual for each one and looked it over.

Read the first half which explains how to use it, then go to the Program cycle section. This section will give you a list of each cycle the machine has and the water temperature it uses. Look at the Options table which will give you all the options available to each cycle. Look at the Spin speed chart which lists the spin speeds selectable in each cycle.

Next, read the Setting section to find out what setting options are available. One thing I didn’t like just by looking at it was that the spin speeds and temperatures were in words since I was used to numbers. It turns out that in the setting section I found out that most of the models give you the option of displaying spin speeds and temperatures in words or numbers. Many models also have the option to set a max rinse level which sets all rinses to use high-level rinses.

I have the W1 860 model and it has many cycles listed under other programs on the selector dial. The one I use for most cotton is named Baby Clothes. It would not seem like the one to use, but this cycle is more intense than the Normal cycle in that it heats through most of the cycle until the last 9 minutes of the wash. It defaults to 3 rinses, so an extra rinse will give you 4. There are other cycles that also do 3 rinses by default. The rest of them will give 2 rinses, so an extra rinse gives 3.

After I bought it I tried every cycle on it and found that some cycles are good for other things; such as the curtains and table cloth cycle- does a good job on bedsheets as it defaults to 3 rinses.

You can select temperatures from 85F to 140F in most cycles, sanitize is 168F, Extra white is 140F, and clean-machine is 185F.

With the Corona Virus going on now I don't do any wash temperature less than 120F, and whites get 140F or 167F.

 

[littlegreeny]

New SQ FL'ers?

Ken, did your dealer say what SQ was changing in their front loaders?

They would be the absolute best in the market if they'd added a heater and had sanitize and boil wash options.

 

[agiflow3]

If they added heaters and boil washes it would defeat the whole purpose of the name Speed Queen, no ?

 

[combo52]

Best New FL Washer

Speed Queen, for durability, ease of repair and fast performance 

 

Even though my 15 YO SQFL has a heater I have not used the feature in years, you simply do not need to wash clothing in hotter than 120F water with modern detergents and even a 150F does not disinfect as well as 1/4 cup of bleach added to the dispenser.

 

Next best machines are WP + MT FL washers even though a SQ will outlast at least two Was probably three.

 

Keep in mind that all of these are Union Built in the US, given the choice I NEVER buy Non-Union products. LG and SS are almost entirely Chinese with most of them being entirely assembled in China, Look at the tag.

 

John L.

 

[littlegreeny]

Not necessarily agiflow3

If the heating element was powerful enough, it could be very fast. Look at how fast the Miele Little Giant is. IIRC, it has a 5000-watt heater.