New Whirlpool Front-loaders

[tolivac]

appliance mess

After reading all the entries on this matter-both consumers and appliance builders are getting caught in the middle-the consumer wants reasonable prices-a durable made is USA product--the manufactuerers want to make a reasonable profit to benefit themselves(their employees gotta eat and buy appliances too!)and make their stockholders happy.At this point some have pointed out that appliances are "given away" by the biig box stores-They sell them as "loss leaders" as I have heard it called-they sell those at a lower profit margin-but sell more of them to make up for it.For instance-Dyson vacuum cleaners-the Dyson company strictly controls the pricing the seller can put on the machine-You VERY SELDOM see them put on sale.Yet other vacuum builders are more free to the seller on pricing of the machine-DTD machines especially-the salesman can sell at whatever price to close the sale.Some customers may agree to the full price(usually after a long exhousting demo)or they talk you down--and succeeed to close the sale.I see this with Kirby,TriStar,Rainbow,Filter Queen-but not with Dyson.And its sort of interesting-do you think the factory employee in Malasia building the Dyson really puts any pride into a product he or she MAY NEVER own?Something to think about.The factory employee that builds Kirbys,Filter Queens,Rainbows,TriStars at least has a chance to buy and own the machine he is building.Hope this is other food for thought.

 

[tolivac]

Samsung and Maytag

Royal:-the vac company most of us know-was bought up by a company based in Taiwain:-TechCom I beleive it is.Now all of their machines will be made there-including "Dirt Devil"They are going to make Dirt Devil appeal to a more upscale cleintele.I have a few new Royals-and the last made in US.The other new ones are marked "Plant Y" means made in Taiwain.Their workmanship is excellent though.I have two "powercast" models and an "Everlast" model that was built at "plant Y"

 

[jmirawm]

Whirlpool not a whirlpool ?

My sister is thinking about purchasing a smaller Kenmore Frontloader.....Is this not made by whirlpool ? should she wait a year ? She does not want the larger Elite or duets....for the life of me I dont know why. GO FOR THE GUSTO !

 

[partscounterman]

finally saw one

I was at bLowes on friday and they did not have the little whirlpool front load, went again this am and they had the little washer there (no drya' yet). So this things been on the sales floor for, like, less that 2 days and the detergent dispenser door is already busted! Sad thing is they can probably sell a ton of those machines here as there are a billion condos in Kihei and out the west side that were built with tiny laundry closets and a 24" front loader would be perfect-the only other choice here is the whirlpool thin twin, which is a decent machine has a capacity like my Swoosie Homemaker....
I woulda liked to go out to the Home Despot, but can only handle 1 horrible big-box store per day, so I don't know if we have Danbys here yet

 

[christd1]

Smaller Kenmore Washer

jmirawm- The smaller Kenmore frontloaders are made by Electrolux (Frigidaire). They are made in Iowa and have been around since 1996. I have owned one for 5 years and love it. Its a great machine at the right price to step out of a top loader.

 

[HQOTS]

Those silly things are made by merloni. Very simple machines. Lowes has the exclusive for 6 months. In 6 to 12 months these machines are going to be replaced with real WPL built machines.

 

[Lokimonkey]

I was interested in the whirlpool LHW0050 because it was the most energy efficient machine on the 'energy star list'. I was horrified on coming to the USA and finding these water guzzling top loaders that eat clothes! If the LHW0050 is not good could can anyone offer an alternative that is well made and not too expensive?

 

[Linda]

Lowe's isn't exclusive...

Lowe's does NOT have the exclusive rights to this washer, as I bought one at American TV & Applicance today (I'm in Wisconsin). I bought it for the SUPERB EnergyStar rating, and because it's small. There are just two of us, and one of the biggest reasons for vibration and noise in the front-loaders is loads that are not full. We should be better able to fill a smaller basket -- we don't even *own* 32 bath towels to fill a load on, say, a Kenmore HE4t!

 

[Designgeek]

Linda, re. "loads that are not full...." I have a Really Dumb Question.

Are you saying that a proper full load is 100% of the volume of the drum, uncompressed?

When I've used FLs in laundromats (I don't own one, though when I buy a house I'll get one), I've always used a large one and loaded it to about 2/3 full with dry uncompressed laundry. The load compresses to about 1/2 full when it's wet, and doesn't vibrate excessively during spin cycles.

My reasoning is that at 50% full when wet, there's better mixing action, similar to mixing concrete in a portable electric mixer. The clothes get lifted and dropped into the water repeatedly, and get some rubbing/scrubbing action against each other. The way I figured it, if the wet load were above the centerline of the drum, it would roll as a mass and the clothes at the center of the mass would get less relative movement.

Was I under-loading the machines?, or was my reasoning correct?

(If I had one I could guinea-pig test it under varying conditions to see what works, the goal being to maximize efficiency and minimize wear on the machine.)

Lokimonkey, what country did you come here from?, and what types of machines are in widest use there?

Re. recommendation on relatively inexpensive FLs, there's a Danby DWM 5500 W available at Home Depot (some of us jokingly call it Home Despot because big-box stores tend to put smaller locally owned stores out of business, reducing the degree of diversity in the market). It might also be available via other dealers if you look around a bit. The Danby unit is made in Eastern Europe and has gotten good reviews on some of the consumer opinion websites, along with the matching dryer. About $400 and $300 respectively, total $700 for the pair.

Danby also has a twin-tub for about $250 with a full-length agitator and 1600 rpm spin-dry compartment. This could be a viable solution for water/electricity efficiency without spending so much, though it does require manual intervention at various points in the cycle. Widely available on the internet, difficult to find in the stores.

 

[doityrselfguy]

designgeek,

With my FL, I've found the load type makes a difference. For lighter fabrics, like cotton/polyester dress shirts, you can loosely load the drum to 100%. For heavier (and typically dirtier) loads such as cotton t-shirts and jeans, filling loosely to 2/3 full works best - for washing results and smooth spinning. My two cents.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Looking at Jafrogg's Whirlpool photos, the dryer interior does look like my Malber TD700 and I can say that it is somewhat loud and the noise can be reduced if the dryer was vented to the outside.

There is only one thing I like to do with the washer?
I want to increase the water level!
The auto sensor just does not fill enough when doing large loads causing decrease performance in washing. It has a weird tumble pattern but I must say it does a good job of getting the clothes from the center to outer part of the tub that the clothes in the center does not get locked in that one spot not getting a chance to make it to the 4 & 8 o-clock position. But one thing I really like about this machine is the 1000 RPM spin speed that is used through out each rinse spin phase!

Now that's boss!

 

[Designgeek]

doityrselfguy: Re. load characteristics: jeans, exactly, looks like we're convergent on the 2/3 loose rule. Thanks.