Question for Jason (OASIS)

[todde]

Jason, you have had your Oasis for a while now, can you give a review of it. I really want to get one, but don't want to make a mistake. How does it do with cleaning,and mostly how about wrinkles. I rarely dry any clothing except jeans and towels. Everything else is put on drying racks. Mostly cotton sports shirts that don't get ironed, just don't want a bunch of wrinkles set in. I cuurrently have an LG, and it causes a lot of vibration, and I've had it about 4 years, and would like something new. Also, any repair issues? Thanks so much!

 

[jonv112]

I've had my Oasis HE for a little over a year now. It gets all of my dingy whites clean, without bleach, and there is minimal wrinkling as long as you shake out the clothes after the cycle is done. In the whole time I have owned it, it has only a had 3 balancing issues, and it sorted itself out. The suspension system is great, as minimal vibration is transfered to the cabinet, and the high spin speed helps cut drying time considerably. So far no repair issues with mine at the moment.

Hope this helps!

 

[bobbyd32l]

I have the Cabrio, which is the identical machine to the Oasis. Its a great machine, spins fast, cleans very well, and is energy efficient. Its exceptionally quiet, and has huge capacity. I have had the Cabrio since August 2006 and it has not given one hint of trouble, unlike our norgetag that lasted a little over a year... The Cabrio/Oasis is a great machine

here is a link to a video I took of mine, and I know that Jon has a few on youtube!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=977346913539657855&q=whirlpool+cabrio

 

[decodriveboy]

Cool

I like the reverse turnover.

How does the impeller at the bottom create the wash effect? Why did it shower water in the middle of the cycle?

What are the differences of each cycle?

 

[MrX]

It looks very violent!

What concerns me about that wash action are the following:

1) the agitator is rubbing the clothes under that pile of laundry
and 2) it looks like it would tangle everything into a complete mess also it looks like it's still using quite a lot of water compared to an equvilant front loader.

Are you using a higher water level than normal?

The ones I've seen before looked even more violent than that due to the low level water.

See video below:

 

[MrX]

Here's a Hoover Vision - European 8KG Front loader

Just to give you a comparision ...

Here's a European 8KG (17.63lbs) Hoover Vision with up to 1600RPM spin doing its "power jet" action

Wash in this link
Similar concept of spraying the laundry, just a different axis!

 

[MrX]

Here's the rinse

Here's a slightly more modern model of the same machine doing a distribution rinse - spraying .. it'll then tumble through the water as normal.

(purely for comparision to the OASIS)

 

[bobbyd32l]

The Cabrio has 14 cycles:

Whitest Whites
Heavy Duty
Bulky Items
Towels/Sheets
Normal
Perm Press/Casual
Darks/Colors
Quick Wash
Wool
Handwash/Delicate
Clean Washer
Soak
Rinse/Sping
Drain/Spin

That Video was on Sheets and Towels which uses more water to prevent the towels from tangling. I don't think this machine is very harsh to clothes at all. Compared to other top load washers its delicate! The impeller works just like an agitator model spinning back and forth about 360-720 degrees for each stroke. The washer continually recirculates the wash water to trap the lint into the "Self cleaning" lint filter beneath the wash tub, and it uses that same recirculation pump to mix the detergent and perform the "Catalyst" wash function. You can't compare a top loader to a front loader, as the washing action is completely different, and more water isn't needed. A top loader needs more water to move the clothes through it... If it used less water the clothes would barely turn over and clothes wouldn't get clean. But the less water that the Cabrio/Oasis uses compared to a conventional top loader is more then 50%!

 

[rchris]

Is this really HE?

Ive watched all Jon's videos. The Cabrio/Oasis is definitely a great machine for a techno geek like me: totally as much fun as the old Ca. I think I may have found my next washing machine if these babies turn out to be reliable.

One thing I noticed is that the thing spins between each rinse and for a veeeeery long time. The pump cycles off intermittently during spin, but nothing like my Neptune MAH5500, in which the pump shuts off for a full minute and comes back to life for only 10 seconds before it cuts off for the next one minute interval. With such long, fast spins, it's hard to call the Cabrio HE but for the 50% less water that bobbyd32l mentioned.

What's the Clean Washer cycle? What's the difference between sheets/towels and bulky items? Is that self-cleaning filter effective enough at removing lint?

 

[rchris]

Whoops

totally as much fun as the old Calypso.

 

[bobbyd32l]

Yes, The Cabrio/Oasis Qualifies for Energy Star. The machine senses the load and determines water level which is usually just above the impeller.

Clean washer cycle is a cycle that fill to the very top and sanitizes the washer. You only use bleach and the agitation is VERY powerful. The water currents and bleach clean it very well. Most new machines use a Polypropylene outer tub, and mold loves it... Alot of the newer front load machines have a cycle like this as well.

Sheets and Towels fills higher to prevent tangling
Bulky items spins slower to prevent damage to items like pillows and comforters, while using a lower water level and intermittent agitation speeds.

I would say that the lint filter works fairly well. Every time the pump recirculates, it traps more and more lint in the filter.... then when the machine drains it pumps its down the drain

 

[liberator1509]

violent?

MRX

I wouldn't worry too much about the apparent violence of the wash action or tangling.

In my experience, front loaders are far worse at tangling loads than agitator top loaders - put a mixed length load into a FL, start the washer, come back many, many hours later and find sleeves, pants (in the UK sense), towels etc in a complete tangle - this happens in all the FLs I've used. Wash a duvet cover with other sheets/pillow-cases in a FL and you can pretty much guarantee that the entire load will find its way inside the duvet cover - my experience of the Hotpoint and Whirlpool TLs is that, although like all machines they tangle to some extent, they are far better than FLs

I can't imagine that the action of the Oasis invisible-agitator would cause much more wear than front loader action. In both cases the washing action is caused by the fabrics rubbing against each other. The whole TL-agitator-cause-wear claim strikes me as a case of marketing spin - all washing action will stress fabrics, which is exacerbated if the machine is over loaded. Some TL actions like the Frigidaire pulsator and the older UK Hotpoint Gyrator were particularly gentle.

I imagine that the Oasis action would work well with an even lower water level - prehaps with continuous re-circulation in the manner of the Calypso. I really hope that Whirlpool or Fisher and Paykel will bring it to Europe. The F&P version uses the magic 1 litre per kg required of AAA machines, so no real reason why not - apart from the bean counters....

David

 

[MrX]

FL wash action is not primarily clothes rubbing against eachother.

The drum turns, the clothes tumble with it. The main wash action is water flow through the clothes driven by gravity as the machine turns.

I never find my clothes come out of a front loader tangled. They might be compressed against the side of the drum, but certainly not twisted around eachother in the way i've seen with agitator toploaders (traditional types).

There is no twisting action in a front loader, it's just churning the clothes around in a drum.

As for the things ending up inside a douvet case during the wash. It shouldn't actually really have that big an impact on the performance of the wash as the clothes are not really washed by rubbing them around. It's a water flow through the laundry process!

It's generally advisable to close the buttons / zip on a douvet cover before washing!

I know from experience of using both traditional US style toploaders and European front loaders that the TLs do most definitely wear clothes much more heavily. That's why they produce so much lint during the wash.

 

[liberator1509]

beg to differ

Well MRX it is good to see that there is diversity of opinion, and here is my counter...

I'd say that low water FLs work by tumbling the clothes at relatively high speed (higher than the FLs of say 20 years ago) creating mechanical friction to rub the dirt from the fibres. This 'mechanical' element is the flexing of the fibres as the fabric hits the bottom of the drum and as the various garments are rubbed against each other. In mechanical engineering terms, there is a considerable amount of torsion in this process. Water flow is not a particularly major part of the process - there is minimal water current in a front loader (even those with recirculation like the Zanussi), and the 'spray' of the drum lifters is far too weak to have any mechnical effect. If you doubt this, find a piece of dirty laundry and gently spray it with water (from a shower say on moderate/low pressure) to see if any of the dirt comes out - you will find that unless you are using a power washer, very little will shift other than large solids!

Water in a FL acts as a carrier for the chemical process of the detergents - ensuring the detergent is distributed through the load. The detergents break down the dirt allowing them to be rubbed out by the mechanical action of the drum movement. In addition, the water suspends dirt broken down through the chemical process and rubbed out in the mechanical process.

Top loaders work on a somewhat different principle - in fact far closer to the idea of the water cleaning the clothes. The agitator is principally designed to create strong water currents which drive through the garments to loosen and wash away dirt - with the aid of detergents again, of course. The agitator will of course move the laundry to an extent, but being suspended in a large quantity of water, the clothing is freer to move in a fluid sense than laundry bunched together in a horizontal drum.

Linting is not a reliable indication of wear and tear - it depends on the fabric, the washing time etc. All washing machines will produce lint - it is just that most of it gets washed away without being noticed - unless of course the machine has a consumer cleaned lint trap. Front loaders can score badly on this front in fact being much more sucessful at redistributing the lint amongst the other items of clothing - less water means there is less to rinse the lint away with. Try adding a shredded Kleenex to a load in a FL and a smiliar set of garments in a a TL and see which does better - I'd put money on a TL doing better, especially if it is a GE Fliter-flo or Hotpoint Filter-clean. On a similar note, large quantities of water are better where colours can bleed or run...

Without a clear understanding of the engineering principles involved it is easy to see why front loaders seems gentler, but dig a little deeper and you'll see there is more involved. It is worth remembering that most people run TLs for longer than is actually necessary to clean the clothes - on average 5-6 minutes of agitation is sufficient to clean a load of moderately dirty laundry.

David

PS - some duvets don't have buttons or zips...