new SQ 82 model coming tomorrow

[thefisch]

So we decided to replace our 12yo Maytag (with failed transmission) with the SQ TL 82 model. Looking forward to getting caught up on laundry. Would have like for the specs on the 2018 models to be out and decide if the 2017 or 2018 would be better for us, but we don't have the luxury of waiting. Price was $900 before taxes which seemed pretty typical from what I saw online.

Wanted to see if there were any installation tips for the SQ. From what I read, we need to adjust the level, pour a liter of water in the tub to prime the drain pump and wipe down the inside of the basket to remove any dust. Any other setup tips?

Planning to let them haul away the old washer. With the busted transmission and motor with failed slow speed windings, it didn't seem to be worth much.

 

[mrsalvo]

Make sure it's leveled well, side to side and front to back. If you see the tub tilting some during wash agitation, that is normal. I have the 432 model, don't overload it and don't use a lot of detergent, and it should hold you in good stead for many years. Also separate dark colored clothes from anything that will throw lint. I always use the Normal to Light setting for most loads, to lessen fabric wear, and it cleans pretty good. You'll get caught up quickly, as it is fast. I can do two full loads of laundry in about an hour.

 

[gusherb]

Stick a clothespin in the lid switch if you wanna open the lid with it running. I wiped mine down with some household cleaner and ran a hot cycle with some detergent before putting anything in it. The tub will index for approx. 6 months into ownership.
I don't think you'll regret going with the current model vs the 2018.

 

[thefisch]

Thanks all for the tips. What do you mean by 'the tub will index' for the first 6 months? Does indexing refer to the tub moving slightly during agitation like the brake is slipping? Am I supposed to do something to correct this or will it resolve itself?

Also, I recall reading drawbacks about the normal ECO cycle - perhaps it was only about water usage. Does that cycle not work well? The Perm Press and Delicate cycles are obvious to me, but for towels, sheets and regular cottons I would assume to use normal.

 

[frigilux]

Indexing: The tub on my series 9 Speed Queen indexes a full quarter-turn on large/heavy loads. Several here have said this will stop or at least be reduced over time. I've had mine since August 1st; still indexing like crazy. Time will tell. No reason to take action, at any rate.

Normal Eco: I am one of the few who uses this cycle regularly. However, you get what amounts to a cold fill no matter which wash temp is selected. For instance, if one chooses hot water, it fills with a few inches of hot water, then defaults to cold for the remainder of the fill.

Here's how I get around that: Choose the Heavy Duty cycle and let it fill with the water temp of your choice. When agitation begins, press the Power pad twice (control panel will go blank). Press Power again, and choose the Normal Eco cycle. Machine will sense it has already filled with water and go right into agitation. I find the spray rinses do an adequate job on many loads. I generally use a traditional cycle for big loads of bath towels, any load in which liquid chlorine bleach has been added, or loads requiring slow agitation (Delicate or Bulky cycles).

Most people purchase a Speed Queen to avoid spray-rinsing Eco-type cycles, but it helps conserve my softened water. A softener tank is replaced each week by Culligan and if I wash all six or seven of my weekly loads using a traditional cycle, I run out of soft water by day five or six. Frankly, I don't notice much difference in the quality of rinsing using Normal/Eco. I suggest a HE detergent which is formulated for use in both HE and (like ours) non-HE washers. Liquid Persil ProClean 2 in 1 does an excellent job.

The Heavy Duty cycle on your washer is actually what nearly everyone else considers a traditional 'Normal' cycle: Fast agitation and spin speeds.[this post was last edited: 11/7/2017-10:36]

 

[agiflow2]

Frigilux,, if I could ask. How much of Persil 2in1 do you use for a full load of fairly dirty loads ? I just recently purchased Persil 2in1 for the Speed Queen. I find it rinses a little better than tide. Do you use a whole cap ?

 

[frigilux]

Patrick-- I use a full cap of Persil for loads of heavily-stained kitchen whites. Those loads also receive 3/4-cup of Clorox + a 2nd rinse. Otherwise I fill the cap to either the 2nd or 3rd line which works great in softened water in conjunction with the Normal-Eco spray-rinse cycle.

I really like Tide Ultra Stain Release Turbo, but I found it doesn't clean as well in the SQ top-loader as it did in my previous washer (a front-loading Maytag). I use it for small-to-medium lightly soiled loads. My experience is the opposite of yours; I find Tide rinses out better than Persil, LOL! Having said that, my next jug of Persil ProClean 2 In 1 is the new '10 Dimensions of Clean' formula. Several here have said it rinses out better than the prior version.

Just goes to show that factors like the hardness or the particular chemical make-up of one's water can lead to differing results.

 

[agiflow2]

Thanks Eugene. Our water is fairly hard, don't know the grain level but have had to replace the kitchen sink faucet because of mineral buildups.

So I have become studious for keeping the faucets in check lol. I was considering ordering a commercial detergent with phosphates but I don't know if it is allowed by law.

I have been experimenting with different dosages of regular Tide powder and the Persil 2in1. One thing I notice with liquids is that they don't make the water "slippery" where even the Tide powder in fairly small doses can. Does that matter ? Or is it just water softeners the detergent makers use ?

Just a weird thing I guess. I have the mindset if the water has a slick feeling then all is well and the laundry will get properly cleaned .LOL.

 

[thefisch]

So the install went well and we are on our third load. You were right - it is fast and we should catch up quickly. Each load has taken 30 minutes or less.

There were only two issues from the install. First was they did not use or leave the standpipe adapter. Our drain pipe is in wall cutout. The instructions say to use the standpipe adapter (cone like end). I pulled out the drain hose and it is only the narrow pipe that is going down the drain. It seems to be draining fine, but without the adapter it is not a tight fit and it could allow odors to escape. Mine was supposed to come with one, right?

Second install issue was the leveling. This is probably OK but the guy just set a torpedo level on the lid and said it was fine. I checked after with my 2 foot level by lifting the lid to get it out of the way. That way the level could span the cabinet and touch both sides and front and back without the lid interfering. The bubble is just within the lines so I suppose it should be fine. Not a perfect bubble with even space on either side between the lines. Hopefully this will be close enough.

The tub was dirtier than I expected and it took a few rags before there was no dirt/smudges left to pick up. I suppose that's just how the finish the SS baskets.

Only one small nick on the cabinet probably from their handtruck. Otherwise, all seems to be in good shape.

We noticed the end chime isn't that loud even on the high settings. Better than our old one that didn't have a chime though.

 

[DADoES]

 
The drain hose should not be airtight to the standpipe to avoid possible siphoning.

Absolute bubble-level is not as important as equally/evenly supported at all four corners.

 

[frigilux]

Glad you're enjoying your new Speed Queen. I wouldn't worry about the cone-shaped adapter on the drain hose. Pretty sure my dealer took it off before he stuck the hose into the standpipe. And, come to think of it, the darn thing pulled right off and was stuck in the standpipe back when I had a AWN542. In fact, it's still probably stuck down there, LOL.

Don't know what to advise about powder vs. liquid with your hard water. I've always had softened water[this post was last edited: 11/7/2017-16:35]

 

[Marky_Mark]

Congratulations on your new machine! 

 

Regarding the drain:

Here's a photo I took of suds backing up out of the drain of a SQ TL that I was using.  The machine drained the water away with no problem but during the normal-eco cycle's spray rinse, these suds were coming out.  If this happens to you, I've heard that you can alleviate this by surrounding the drain hose with foam.  This will stop suds coming out but will allow air to pass as normal

 

[gusherb]

I've used Normal Eco probably once since I've had my machine. Guests will unknowingly use it though. I don't like using it because it starts and stops the motor more times than I like and probably puts undue wear on the belt. I also almost never wash in cold either, which is all it allows. I've been thinking about giving it a try lately, but there's really nothing I want to do that with. I'm more concerned about clean laundry than conserving water (which we have no shortage of).

As for detergents, our water is 8 gpg. I mainly use P&G (Tide & Gain) liquid or powder, but also use Persil. Our water is really not hard nor soft (8 gpg is the low end of "hard" water). I never have an issue with over sudsing even if I do use too much detergent, other people have complained about those same detergents way over sudsing and claim to have hard water as well. So YMMV on detergent use. We have good water for just about every detergent it seems.

The standpipe adapter doesn't even fit in my drain. I believe those were meant for installs where there's an actual freestanding pipe the hose is going into and not your typical drain in the wall setup.

 

[johnrk]

Detergent/Drain

I got my new model 432 a month or so ago. My drain pipe in the utility room comes out of the wall and is attached, it's about 2 ft long. My last washer, a front load Frigidaire Affinity, just had a hose coming out of the washer draped into the drain hose with no surround. If I were standing there when it drained I could hear the water going down. After reading this e-mail, I went in there and looked at it behind my w/d. On this SQ there's a white hose with some type of white plastic adapter that's plugged into the end of the drain hose so it's not just open to the air as was my old one.

When it was installed the guys used a short bubble level to level it and it appears level enough now, definitely no spin balance problems, etc.

I always used liquid detergent with my last two front loaders after Fresh Start disappeared (started using that in the 90's when it came out, still miss it). I've used Arm & Hammer for many years and have been happy with it, as I don't get really dirty clothes. I do use lots of kitchen towels to avoid paper towel waste, and a load of those gets fully hot water along with some Biz or Oxy-Clean and a little Clorox and they do beautifully with white vinegar in the fabric softener cup. I got adventurous after I bought this TL and went to Wal-Mart and bought some of every brand I'd never used. Right now I'm using some 'Roma' Mexican powder in the machine, about 1/2 of what it recommends, and it's doing fine at cleaning. I can beat the price on the Mexican 'Roma' and 'Ariel', though, when my local H-E-B marks down A&H. I'm really enjoying not having to clean the damn drawer for detergent and bleach and softener that the FL's had. I had to run mine through the dishwasher at least monthly, and of course there's no way to clean the moldy crap out of the cave where the drawer goes...

I do hope you enjoy your new SQ washer as much as I have. No, I don't use 'eco mode', but then, I don't do as many loads as others here. Most of my loads don't fill up the washer at all, like those kitchen towels...

 

[thefisch]

Thanks for all the feedback. I attached a photo of the drain hookup from before I move the drain under the cold water hose, but you can see the space around the hose without the adapter in the first photo.

We also have a water softener and use Tide liquid and have been happy so far. No reason to expect that will change with our new SQ.

After reading the manual (love the cycle times) and reading advice you all posted, I think we will mainly use Heavy Duty for cottons, towels, etc. and then permanent press and delicate for the rest of the stuff. Eco mode only saves 3 minutes according to the manual and you lose water temperature control which is important to use since we use the warm option for most things except delicate. Sure it saves on water but that's not top of mind for us. I suppose the longer spin makes the clothes easier to dry though.

A question on water temperature, does the washer regulate the hot and cold inputs until the right temperate is reached for warm or hot settings (outside of eco mode) or is it just based on a preset time for each input to be open?

Another question, if the only difference in the soil settings is another minute to two of wash time, do you all typically start on light soil and move up to medium only if needed? So far we have used light soil on work and school clothes and it seems to be fine. Love getting it done in under 30 minutes.

On the subject of water levels, we have tested the medium and large settings but haven't tried small yet. I was pleased to see the large setting fill the tub to the top of the SS tub(see second photo). On my softener control, I tracked the usage at 22 gallons. When we tried the medium setting, I was surprised though at how much it filled the tub. See the third photo of the same load but filled to medium. According to my softener control, medium load used 20 gallons. That was more than I expected. Is that typical for medium?

By the way, since we don't use liquid fabric softener, I removed the softener cap as you can see if the photos. It makes it a little easier to load and unload and should be easier to keep clean this way.

 

[frigilux]

My series 9 has four water level settings: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large.

Your series 8 appears to have three.

Your Large fills to the same level as my Extra Large.

Your Medium fills to the same level as my Large.

My Medium fills the tub about half-way.

My Small fills the tub about one-quarter of the way (guesstimating, here).

So, it's 22 gallons to fill the tub; interesting!

Most of my loads require the use of Medium or Large settings. Loads of bath linens tend to be huge, so Extra Large for those.

 

[gusherb]

The specs say somewhere around 44-46 gallons per cycle on Heavy Duty with the highest level setting. If it counts the 50 second spray rinse it would be closer to 46 I believe, since the tub takes 22 gallons to fill bringing it to 44 before the spray rinse. Fun to think about how much water one uses on wash day doing 6 loads of laundry in one of these machines. Interestingly enough our total water usage isn't much higher than when we had the Samsung Neptune. 

 

 

 

 

Since you don't use the softener dispenser you may replace it with a blank agitator cap. 

http://https//www.partsmadness.com/appliance-parts/36515-speed-queen-cap-agitator-home/

 

[thefisch]

I compared the operator manuals for the 9 and 8 series and based on their description of load sizes you are correct that large=extra large and so on. So the 8 series is missing a true medium load size.

In filling the washer for another load this evening, I took the opportunity to fill to small, then cancel and set to medium and so on so I could measure each setting from the same starting point. Here are my readings on just the initial fill (not any spray or fill rinse).

Small - 9 gallons (about 1/3 of the tub)
Medium - 19 gallons (a couple of inches from top of tub)
Large - 21 gallons (top of tub)

Since the softener control does not use decimal points, I expect some rounding affected whether medium is 19 or 20 gallons and large is 21 or 22. Regardless of rounding, the incremental gallons are consistent.

I compared these results to tub fill measurements on my old Maytag MAV 3.2 capacity with 'infinite water level'. Those were mini 6g, small 8g, medium 11g, large 14g and super 17 gallons. I didn't expect the same 3.2cf capacity tub to use 4 more gallons on the largest setting. If I set my 8 series on medium, the 19 gallon fill will still exceed the largest setting on my old one. I guess this speaks to the SQ claim that you can fit up to 4.3cf of laundry into the 3.2cf tub.

 

[DADoES]

 
Can you manually set an in-between level by filling on Medium or High to between low and medium, then pressing Low to start agitation?  Of course, you'd have to do that again for the agitated rinse.