Reply from SQ on their facebook page

[washman]

Conversation started today
Speed Queen Home Laundry
11:28am
Speed Queen Home Laundry

Hi Ben,

First, I would like to thank you for your advocacy and participation on our Speed Queen Facebook page. We appreciate your input. We have been working to develop a washer that meets the 2015 DOE requirements. We take the quality and wash performance of our equipment very seriously. Our development process takes several years; we first test it by computer, then in our world-class testing lab and we finish with extensive field testing in a commercial environment.

You will be happy to hear that there is essentially no change in the topload washer line. It will be the same great machine with the same features, the same commercial quality, and the same (if not better) wash performance. Speed Queen is known in the commercial industry for unmatched reliability and superior wash performance – we are determined to keep it that way. Of course, we’ll continue to offer our commercial quality machines to the residential market through independent dealers.

Last, if you would provide your mailing address, we would like to send you a small token of our appreciation as a thank-you for your advocacy.

Susan Miller Associate Brand Manager - Speed Queen

 

[scrubflex]

Where or who did you send thw email to? I sent an email also but, I did not get a reply.

 

[washman]

on their FB page, I did

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[strongenough78]

I want one of those!

 

[Rebeccah]

Hmm.

"Same features" should mean keeping the ability to override the water limitations, at least for 2015.

If you think things are going to get bad in 2015, though, take a look at 2018 (see link).

Taking my 3.3 cu ft top-loading AWN432 as an example, today's standards mandate
minimum "Modified Energy Factor" of 1.26 ft3/kWh/cycle (= max 2.62 kWh/cycle)
maximum "Modified Water Factor" of 9.5 gal/cycle/ft3 (= max 31.35 gal/cycle)

2015 standards mandate
minimum "Integrated Modified Energy Factor" of 1.29 ft3/kWh/cycle (= max 2.55 kWh/cycle)
maximum "Integrated Water Factor" of 8.4 gal/cycle/ft3 (= max 27.72 gal/cycle)

2018 standards mandate
minimum "Integrated Modified Energy Factor" of 1.57 ft3/kWh/cycle (= max 2.10 kWh/cycle)
maximum "Integrated Water Factor" of 6.5 gal/cycle/ft3 (= max 21.45 gal/cycle)

Ugh. Well, if they can actually manage to get the clothes clean with only 2/3 the water, more power to them. And if not, I hope they will continue to support enabling the user to override through the mechanical controls.

Anyway, I'm glad I already bought mine.

Rebeccah

Appliance Standards Rulemakings and Notices

www1.eere.energy.gov

 

[henene4]

Well...

Though I don't know if these include the energieusage of the washer (or water heater) heating up the water, I don't know which washers they are selling in the USA as a FL that should not meet the ratings...
So for example, out Panasonic NA148VG4, labeld A+++ minus 35%:

On a warm (40°C)wash (loaded 8 kg; 2,47cuft³; should work well, but is not mentioned in the US standards, so..):
Modified Energy Factor (ft³/kWh/cycle): 2,80 WITHOUT Eco-Mode; 3,69 with Eco-Mode on
Water Factor (gal/cycle/ft³): 7,7 without Eco-Mode; 5,3 with Eco-Mode

This shows that EU washers are using way more water than US FLs, but yet are more than efficent on energy usage EVEN THOUGH these include heating up the water. On the other hand, a FL washer in the US takeing a 17-18 lbs load would have a drum being about 3 cuft³ or more which means an even better energie rating and probably meating the water ratings. And keep in mind, this washer rinses twice "deep"!

Furthermore, on a hot wash (60°C), the water usage stays the same, the energy usage is higher with 1.67 (without Eco-Mode the usage from 40° to 60° increases dramaticly) but still only roud about 3,8 (yeah, the enrgy usage is lower on 60° Eco than on 40° with Eco-Mode, I dont know why).

Now some may say this says nothing as US FLs are not compareable with EU FLs, but on this point it still makes me think where all the enrgy is used by a 4,5cuft³ washer that does not even heat a bit in the cycle?

 

[joe_in_philly]

The modified energy factor includes the energy used to dry the load - since the majority of Americans user dryers. So a washer that is better at extracting moisture would require less energy to dry.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=clotheswash.pr_crit_clothes_washers

 

[henene4]

Oh, Ok, didn't get this out of the first post.
But even though, the comparison is bad I think. I mean, where is mentioned how much laundry has to fit in a washer of the size x? I mean, I could build a 5 cuft³ washer, but define it's energy usage for only 5 punds of clothing. I would have a lower energy usage and could still use any amount of water/hot water for a load
above or below that weigth...

 

[joe_in_philly]

The letter C in the formula represents Capacity. So the formula takes into account a particular washer's capacity, although I don't know how they determine the load size.

From the ENERGY STAR website:

Modified Energy Factor, MEF, is the energy performance metric for ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washers and all clothes washers as of February 1, 2013.

This metric has the same units as the energy factor (EF): ft3/kWh/cycle. MEF is the quotient of the capacity of the clothes container, C, divided by the total clothes washer energy consumption per cycle, with such energy consumption expressed as the sum of the machine electrical energy consumption, M, the hot water energy consumption, E, and the energy required for removal of the remaining moisture in the wash load, D. The higher the value, the more efficient the clothes washer is. The equation is shown below:

MEF = C / (M + E + D)

 

[ryanm]

I'm surprised you got a response from FB. Speed Queen customer service is one of the worst I have ever encountered. It was a nightmare trying to reach any person by phone, voice mail hell. I finally had to get my dealer involved. Website was no help. Once I did get a representative from customer service, they were so indifferent to the issue I had with my machine and said sorry there was nothing they can do....they didn't even try to find a resolution to my dryer drum actually splitting open which was clearly a manufacturing defect on a machine that was only 4 years old. I was extremely disappointing to me to find out that it was almost impossible to escalate to anyone at that company who could help. I won't be buying their product or recommending the product again due to this experience with their poor customer service. My service guy said he never saw anything like this in all his years of service. Even though warranty says drum has warranty for life, they only cover it if it rusts..... but you don't see that unless you drill down to the fine print of the warranty, so it appears this company is no better than the rest from a customer service standpoint. If you buy their product, you best hope it will last, because if it does not, they don't want to hear about it.

 

[mtn1584]

I have never had a prblem with Alliance

I have even spoken to the North American Sales Rep....when I had a problem with my machine which was quickly resolved I got an Alliance tech on the phone in Ripon at the factory. They have also responded to my e-mails and facebook messages as well. Sorry for your troubles though, I highly recommend them (Speed Queen) to anyone who asks, but I can also understand your trouble and frustration. My suggestion to try again, write, e-mail, and call, be pleasant, and I guarantee you will get help. Good luck, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Mike

 

[ryanm]

Mike, thanks for your advice. Believe it or not I tried all of what you suggested, I got no where with anyone I spoke to, they all acted like they couldn't care less, which is why I had to turn to the dealer I bought the machines from. The spokes people I talked with a Speed Queen could not have been any more indifferent to the issue, every person I spoke to was nice but said 'nothing we can do about it'.... they made absolutely no effort what so ever to keep me as a happy customer. To me this type of response says alot about a company. I have a feeling they don't like to cater to home laundry, only commercial. Just my opinion from my experience.

 

[frigilux]

Ryan, I think you should call them back and mess with them a bit: Say, "I was drying my two bowling balls and the damn drum split at the seam. I've dried them at least a dozen times on the very same cycle and there's never been a problem before!" Then tell them, "And while I have you on the phone, I have a complaint about a broken agitator vane on the washer, too."

 

[mtn1584]

Ryan

make a pest of yourself, be nice, be pleasant, but do not give up!! Call everyday if you have to, email everyday if you have to, express your dissapointment, explain how much you love your machines...yada yada yada....the queaky wheel gets the grease, do not stop until you get a satisfactory response.
Mike

 

[combo52]

Split Dryer Drum

So what did you do with the dryer? I drum is not that expensive and not at all difficult to replace, when you consider how much money you saved when you bought this dryer compared to other overpriced dryers you still probably did not come out that far behind.

Don't get me wrong, and as a SQ dealer I do think it would have been nice if they had at least provided a free drum, but things do go wrong in life.

If you really wanted to get their attention tell SQ that you decided to go with WP commercial laundry equipment for the 500 unit apartment complex that you manage because of the poor service you got on your dryer at home, because you are correct SQs main business is commercial laundry.

 

[ryanm]

Enjoyed reading all the posts here. I will be having the dryer fixed this time, waiting for the part to come in (new drum). It remains to be seen how much the cost of repair will be, the drum is an expensive part. I was torn on the decision to fix it, wondering what else might go wrong after putting yet more money into a dryer that already cost me more than any other dryer I ever bought. Funny how the other dryers I had were much cheaper in cost, yet lasted much longer without any repair. As you say, things can go wrong with anything we buy, it does happen, so my hope is the rest of the machine has better quality than the drum did, and I will have a good dryer for a long time, I hope.... and we are so far very much pleased with the washer too, it does a great job, is gentle on everything, and quick yet thourough in it's cycles. I hope to have many more years of service from it, as it does seem to be built well.