New GE Hydrowave

[johnflausa]

I bought a new GE Hydrowave topload washer a couple weeks ago from Sam's Club and so far I'm very impressed with how well it washes. One thing that surprised me in a good way is that when set on hot it fills with 100% hot water. Also warm is actually warm! My brother's new Whirlpool starts off with hot and then warm with quick shots of hot. And his warm setting is barely lukewarm.

Also it does a great job washing. Some of my T shirts had stains that even my friend's Duet couldn't remove are campletely gone after a little pretreating with liquid Tide then washed in Hot water in the GE.

I hope it turns out to be a reliable machine. For the price of $369.00 its a great washing machine!

 

[johnb300m]

cool! I have been interested in these as a top loader alternative to the DD machines.
Keep us posted.

 

[dirtybuck]

Is it a top loader or a front loader? I looked on the GE website and couldn't find a Hydrowave model...but I did find some that do HydroWASH.

 

[dirtybuck]

OOOPS..

Found it. PLEASE...take a video! I'd love (and I'm sure others would too) to see how this machine washes! It sounds pretty neat.

Does it also use HE detergent?

 

[johnflausa]

It is a top loader. I tried to post a couple pics but wasn't able to. I like the slow 360 degree stroke agitation compared to the fast short stroke that the direct drive Whirlpools have.

 

[thor]

GE press release

Quite interesting...

http://www.geconsumerproducts.com/pressroom/press_releases/appliances/washers_and_dryers/HydroWave2007.htm

 

[frigilux]

I'm a fan of slow-stroke agitation and choices are few---Frigidaire, (post GM, which is heresy to most, here), the newly-introduced Speed Queen (dealers are few and far between) and now the GE Hydrowave.

While my Frigidiare sports a very entertaining indexing tub, it only fills about 2/3 full of water at maximum setting, due to stupid manufacturing decisions on how to deal with mandated energy/water usage. And it has a non-adjustable pressure dome. Bah humbug!

I don't have access to a Speed Queen dealer in my tiny town, but I do have a GE dealer.

Tell me: Does the GE fill to the top of the tub at the maximum water setting? And does it have an easily-fooled magnetic safety lid switch, as do most GE toploaders of recent vintage?

Congrats on your new purchase and welcome back to the world of s-l-o-w-e-r agitation.

 

[johnb300m]

GE Steam Dishwasher

On another note....look at this cool new GE Steam dishwasher.
AND.....

you yesteryear folks will love...........THE BIG BLUE WASH ARM

 

[appnut]

John, where did you find that picture and where is there other info on that DW? I looked on the GE appliances web site and dint' see anything.

 

[johnb300m]

It's in the press releases section. Here's the link:

http://www.geconsumerproducts.com/pressroom/press_releases/appliances/dishwashers/SD2dish.htm

 

[johnflausa]

when I set the water level to super it fills up to the top row of holes. I'd say it is about an inch below the very top of the tub. Also the safety switch is magnetic and easily fooled so you can watch the machine do it's thing!

I sure wish I had a video camera so I could show everyone how it works...

 

[estesguy]

GE Hydrowave video

I've posted this before, but its worth a second look for those who haven't seen it. I own this machine, and the noises that you hear in the video are much louder than the real machine makes. Maybe they did that just to make sure you could recognize the sounds, I don't know, but they aren't that loud in real life.

http://gei.portals.streamos.com/cc/channel.php?emcid=1024&empid=4573&packageid=4573

 

[tuthill]

What's the point of the corkscrew agitator, seems pretty pointless to me as it pulls up just as often as it goes down.

 

[johnb300m]

corkscrew

I'm going to guess that the auger was not acting properly due to the low water level. I think they did that to visually show the 360 deg. arc.

I've noticed on a Whirlpool DD where the water was not filled all the way that the auger doesn't do much either.
The augers are turned by a one way ratchet. And without any resistance in the "neutral" direction, the auger may turn the opposite direction, therefore going back and forth.

If that makes sense.....

 

[frigilux]

The Auger: You'll also notice the blade of the auger slants downward a bit; That helps it pull the clothes down on the clockwise stroke. When the auger unwinds during the clockwise stroke, the clothes slip off it and aren't pulled back up.

The same is true of my Frigidaire's "dual-action" agitator. It unwinds on the longer counterclockwise stroke, but doesn't seem to pull the clothes it has just pushed down into the water back up.

Due to the indexing tub mechanism, the counterclockwise stroke of my agitator is much longer than the clockwise stroke so the auger actually travels further in reverse than it does forward. Go figure!

 

[frigilux]

Thanks for link to the GE video of the Hydrowave in action. Did you notice there's no 'e' at the end of the word PAUSE in the console shot (on the START/PAUS button)?

 

[washabear]

And why is there a big picture of Patricia Heaton in it?

 

[dirtybuck]

Something Else in the Video

LOL!! I liked the part where it said, "DO NOT LIFT THE LID!" Yeah, right! Like that's really gonna happen with a member of this group owning that washer.

 

[stainfighter]

if I wanted to go modern...

this would be the TL to buy...the actor in the video is not Patricia Heaton but I do notice a (very) slight resemblence. Don't know why they felt the need to put a smiling woman in the vid. Would have preferred more wash action shots, perhaps showing a full water level with rinse/spin action instead.