Thanks for your support MTN1584
Going against "trends" can be a tough, thankless job but someone has to do it. Since I have no wife or kids, I figured might as well!
Speaking of trends, I see more and more youtube vids of extremely pissed off consumers venting over their HE TL or FL broken after 1-3 years of use. While this is anecdotal at best as far as pure research goes, it is refreshing to see posters on u tube stating they are looking for a used old school TL or a new SQ. It is just a shame they bought the hype about "new" technology and the supposedly "feel good" miniscule water use only to discover a rash of problems they never even thought of. And the fact a great many are acting as unpaid development engineers after paying upwards of 4 figures is really an insult.
Nevertheless, I do appreciate advances in technology.........when it makes sense. I have been in IT for nearly 20 years now so I know a thing or two about technology. And some of the advancements are almost mind boggling.
But in the laundry room, I am not at all convinced that steam, eco wash, sani-wash, and the like are of any useful value. Nor do I believe we need to "sanitize" our laundry lest we risk bacterial contamination and sickness. After all, Granny used her Maytag wringer washer on the front porch or on the back of the house with wood stove heated water. My dad grew up in S. Indiana this way and with 5 kids in the family, no one got sick from laundry. In fact, he knows what a "2 holer" means. I will leave it to the reader to figure that one out!
When one looks at the constuct of garments that are machine washable, what is the most common component?
Cotton. And has been for years as we moved away from the "polyester palace" of the 1970's. Mercerized cotton dress shirts or polo shirts are a bit like poly as they can and do wrinkle severely but they are still all cotton.
So why are bath and kitchen towels constructed from cotton? Because it absorbs water! Even an elementary school kid can figure this one out. So, following along here, if the vast majority of garments are cotton and cotton absorbs water (how much in relation to the weight of the garment I have no idea) then why oh why are we being force fed this absurd notion that we can use less water and somehow, due to the mis application of technology, STILL have clean laundry?
We can't. As are many youtubers figuring out albeit the hard way.
Then add the longer cycles along with special "cleaning" cycles and I really do wonder what in the world is going on here? Never, in 14 years of use, did I "clean" my GE profile, plastic basket and all, and nor do I plan to "clean" the SQ. Well the outside and top of course but I will never buy some Affresh or whatnot and waste time and water "cleaning" the SQ. Never.
Now I could accept all of this if either of two conditions were met:
1. the free market demanded it...........or
2. It was put to a voter referendum.
In either case, it is an example of the people wanting this change, not a collection of pencil pushing, unelected, never held accountable bureaucrats pushing this nonsense on us with no recourse. Throw in some rather dubious marketing and you really have the makings of a thought control situation here and a lot of unhappy launderers.
But there are benefits. SQ contacted me privately via FB asking for my mailing addy. I wrote back, asking why. Well, due to my positive affirmations of their product, they wanted to send me some branded merchandise. Along with that, I also got a handwritten thank you card from their VP of sales for advocating their lineup of TL machines. I posted some pix in a thread, can't recall which one though.
So is SQ the best TL ever? That naturally is up for debate. Is it the best machine out there now? I believe so when one applies logical criteria with regard to laundering. Notice I said "logical". Not feel good wishy washy (no pun intended) feelings about saving the planet. Not because GMA and CR told you so. Not because you feel compelled because the government, for reasons that defy logic, mandates you use less water when there is no credible evidence to support such a claim in the first place. But when you come right down to it, SQ is simply the last of the old school machines that served us quite well for decades and no one bitched about hour long cycles or having to use special HE detergent when cheaper Rinso or Oxydol was still available. And those machines were built to last. I'm talking about the old Maytags, GE, Frigidaires, Norges, Kelvinators and the like. I get a real kick watching one of those oldies on youtube sloshing away, doing justice to dirty laundry. I really feel proud of the chaps on here that salvaged an old horse from the junk pile and restored it to pristine condition and use them on a daily basis. And I dig spin drains!
Now if I can only find out where the missing 30 degrees of agitation stroke is on my AWN542, all will be right with the world.
Below is one of the first vids I took of the SQ in action. Check out that massive tub indexing action!
Does this model also have the steam feature? What does it do?
