Videos: 2013 Frigidaire Immersion Care Washer

[frigilux]

Load: 4 large, heavy bath towels; 4 large hand towels; one grimy bar mop
Cycle: Heavy Duty; actual cycle time is 58 minutes
Options: Warm water; Normal Soil; Fabric Softener (a deep rinse); Max Spin; Max water level
Detergent: powdered Tide With Bleach HE; manufacturer's suggested dose for normal load

This was recorded with an iPad 2. It can only record about 49 minutes of video at a time, so the cycle is not complete. I wanted to throw one grimy item in the load to see how it would play out. I went out to the patio and took a few swipes at my grimy glass-topped table with a bar mop. At the deep rinse, you'll hear some water flowing into the fabric softener dispenser, then the trickling sound of it entering the tub. That happens several times before the agitation begins.

Should you tire of watching paint dry, the wash water begins draining at 34:10; the load-balancing slow agitation at 32:00. Fill for deep rinse begins at 41:00.

Check back for additional videos (a load of dress shirts; the uber-stained kitchen whites) tomorrow!

I tried to transfer the video in HD, but it froze mid-process, so I began again and used standard quality.
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 [this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-00:05]

 

[frigilux]

Here's a photo of the grimy bar mop fresh from the washer: Clean and white without bleach.

 

[westie2]

Eugene thanks for the video Great to see and looks like it will do a good job.  Wish the spin speed was greater for extract.  Looks like a winner for a TL.

 

[gansky1]

Do you just get one deep rinse with softener selection made - no shower rinsing? Other than the lower spin speeds between wash and rinse, it's very similar to the cabrio action.

 

[launderess]

Great Vid!

Thanks all to pieces for posting it!

L.

 

[frigilux]

CHARLES: This was the first time I used the deep rinse option, and I was hoping for a full-speed first spin; but no. The slow spin makes sense when you use the default spray rinses, as you wouldn't want to compact the clothes; that would hamper the sprays getting completely through the items in the load. But, yes, that pokey excuse for a first spin grates on me, too, LOL! The machine seems to do its job, though, so who am I to argue?

GANSKY: No spray rinses when the deep rinse is selected. You can request both the Fabric Softener and Freshwater Rinse options at the same time, if I recall correctly. I may have to try that to see if it provides a spray rinse before the deep rinse. Or...what if it provides two deep rinses?!  Nah, that's impossible.  Right?

LAUNDERESS: Your are most welcome, my dear.

 

[mickeyd]

You edited the first post while I was viewing, so now I know

I could not for the life of me figure out what the spray rinse noises were during the rinse fill, complete with the pipe bangs, so much like a WP/KM. No water was flowing out of the flume or the jets. What sleight of hand is Eugene up to, I wondered. So glad to know what it was.

LOOK: this is a lot more dramatic than you let on, and somewhere early on, there was a view of the grimy mop, and it was noticeably soiled. And your photo shows the proof in the pudding--spotless and no more pudding.

I am impressed and thanks for filming.

The long contact of the laundry with the detergent, and the near-constant movement and immersion must be the secret to the soil removal.

And by the way, the jets were kind of cute.

 

[frigilux]

MICKEYD: I put this video up first because it has the most action/clothes movement. Wait 'til you see the load of shirts.

As for the waterfall jets, I think they should be pressurized, like the "circle of spray" or whatever it was called on my 1986 Frigidaire top-loader. That feature was a holdover from the 1-18 machines. These are so wimpy. It's akin to expecting fireworks but, instead, getting an old man riding past on a squeaking bicycle with a couple of sparklers, LOL.

 

[appliancelou]

HEY EUGENE THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT TO MAKE THIS VIDIEO FOR ALL US

TO ENJOY!!! LOOKING FORWARD TO OTHER VIDIEOS OF THIS MACHINE LOVE IT, I BEEN DYING

FOR A NEW TOY THIS WILL DO IT LOL!! THANKS AGAIN LOU

 

[toploader1984]

frigidaire TL

thank you so much for posting the video! i know what my next machine is going to be;-) i can't wait so see her rev up to 800 rpm!

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

Eugene thanks so much for the great video. I work selling appliances for who knows how much longer and I am Happy to see for a long time comming something that uses a decent amount of water! We have not carried these machines as of yet but I hope they get them real soon!

Peter

 

[frigilux]

Load: 10 dress shirts
Cycle: Normal
Options: Light soil; warm water; low spin speed; auto water level
Detergent: powdered Tide With Bleach HE; manufacturer's suggested dose for normal load

I dropped the shirts into the tub and it filled loosely to the top. You'll notice the clothes shift positions far more slowly compared to the load of bath linens. I think the impeller finds it easier to grab heavier, textured fabrics. The light soil-level selection shortened the cycle time by a whopping 12 minutes compared to normal soil. It performs a couple of 120 rpm spins at various points during agitation; something I've never seen it do, before. I'm assuming it's to aid cleaning in exchange for the shortened wash period.

You'll see the machine's spray rinsing feature (the default rinsing process for all cycles) in lieu of a traditional deep rinse.

Sequence: Slow, load-balancing agitation at 18:32
Wash water drains at 20:37
Rinsing procedure begins at 27.05
Final spin at 34.00

The scraping sound you hear during agitation is a shirt button in contact with the spinning tub.

My dress shirts always have noticeable ring-around-the-collar, so they always receive a shot of Amway classic stain-pretreat. The right sleeve of dark blue shirt which spends the entire wash period languishing at the top of the load was covered with dust/dirt from my reaching around the top of a closet in the garage. Despite minimal movement, everything emerged clean---including the collars.

This was actually the first video I made. By the second (the load of bath linens), I'd learned to angle the iPad differently to get a slightly better view of the tub. The iPad, by the way, is teetering precariously at the edge of a fully-raised music stand, which, in turn, is perched atop a cardboard box. I believe these no-budget accoutrements place me squarely in the "indie filmmaker" category, LOL.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[this post was last edited: 1/12/2013-23:49]

 

[pdub]

Great video Eugene. Thanks for sharing. It really is quite entertaining and I agree the machine is doing a great job on this particular load. I am looking forward to more reviews and videos.

Thanks again!

Patrick

 

[mark_wpduet]

Thanks! Looks good. This is one of the better HE TL washers I've seen in action. I like the way it uses a little more water and really tried to move things around. I like the way it spins with water both ways a few times then immediately starts agitating again.

 

[launderess]

If You Think About It

This washer tries to create the water movements of an agiator toploader without the beater.

Between both the tub and impeller movements currents of water are pushed through the laundry. This is done without the usual tangling and other problems associated with impeller washers because the machine is not creating the normal vortex water action. Because of this in theory washing action is almost equal throughout the tub rather than just underwater/towards the impeller/beater. Also because while there is enough water to get the job done, it is just enough so the machine can make the powerful currents required to do the cleaning.

 

[georgect]

Just watching the first video now.
LOVE the sounds...this machine gets down to business fast.

It doesn't sound like it's straining like Whirlpool and the wash action beats LG hands down.

Damn...I love how fast it scenes the load and how it stops before changing all it's steps.

Now I'm a fan of this Frigidaire Top Loader, although I'm a bigger fan of the Electrolux Front Loader.

 

[vintagesearch]

Aaaaaand the proof is in the pudding! It's neat a little different than what's out there. I want one now!

 

[frigilux]

Glad you're enjoying the videos, gang!

I don't have experience with other impeller machines, and perhaps the top-rated ones at CR (by Samsung, LG, Maytag) do a better job than this one. The selling point here is that you can choose the water level manually; and I haven't had a single problem with unbalanced loads, which is a frequent complaint about impeller machines in user reviews.

Using auto sensing, the machine would have used less water for the load of bath linens. The reduction of total water used comes courtesy of the spray rinse procedure, which actually does a great job. In fact, I think I prefer the multiple spray/extract rinses to a single deep rinse.

The machine uses just as much water as a traditional top-loader if you manually select the MAX water level coupled with the deep rinse option. Best of both worlds: I can choose to be a bit more extravagant with the wash water by manually selecting the water level, but still save a substantial amount of the total water used by taking advantage of the spray rinsing procedure.

I do feel I need to restate this: While I'm having great fun putting the Immersion Care through its paces, the list of reasons I far prefer the Frigidaire front-loader would be as long as my arm.

Again, check back later today for one or two more videos; the kitchen whites---wait 'til you see the stains, LOL!---and maybe a load of jeans or sheets or something like that.

 

[kimball455]

Thanks for posting. And thanks for the after picture. It looks really clean.
Harry

 

[mrb627]

Centrifuge Wash

Unlike most of the competitors, I like that the centrifugal wash action does not coast to a stop before changing directions. Just goes ahead and reverses from high speed CW to high speed CCW! That is cool.

I also like that the machine never sits idle for any length of time. It is always in motion.

I do wonder why during agitation, it seems to pause and the resume the same action. Do you think it is trying to sense something about the load?

All in all, a very nice machine indeed. Is there a basket clean cycle?

Malcolm

 

[frigilux]

MALCOLM: You'll notice that the first movement after the pause really winds up a lot counterclockwise, then thrusts in the other direction to help the items in the load shift position. There is no "Clean" cycle, probably because it uses more water in the wash cycle than most other impeller machines.

 

[georgect]

Temps...

Eugene, can you tell us what temps your getting for hot, warm & cold washes?

Does this washer have a internal heater to hold temps?

 

[golittlesport]

Thanks for the videos!

Like you, Eugene, I am a fan of front-load machines, but this machine is very interesting. I especially like the few fast, spin-like strokes it takes with water in the tub. I bet those really surge the sudsy water through the load. Although this machine does not look to create as much movement of the clothes as other impeller machines, it still seems to do a good job of cleaning. Since previous impeller top loaders have been dinged for tangling and wear on clothing, maybe this action of moving water through clothing is better.

How much water does it use when you set the water level on "auto"?

 

[frontloaderfan]

Thoroughly enjoying the videos of your new toy! Very entertaining to watch and listen to! Like you, I think this is a nice diversion but I think I would still prefer my Frigidaire FL as a daily driver.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't see the impeller doing anything. It looks to me like the wash action comes from the tub itself, no?

 

[frigilux]

Here's about one-third of the very heavily-stained load of kitchen whites, shown before it went into the machine. Most of the other items had some stains, but not quite this spectacular. All the usual suspects are here: Ketchup; mustard; spaghetti sauce; barbecue sauce; Worcestershire sauce; picante sauce; A-1 steak sauce; coffee; blueberries; chocolate cake batter; chocolate frosting; Hershey's chocolate syrup; strawberry syrup (the kind for snow cones and Italian sodas, not pancakes); and finally just some plain old dirt.

This collection of horrors started Wednesday, so most of them were dried into the fabric.

I started with the Presoak cycle and a full scoop of powdered Tide With Bleach HE. The cycle is about 25 minutes long. Selecting warm water and auto-sensing, it filled to the maximum level, then did some long whirls in each direction followed by a 5-minute soak. This process is repeated several more times. It drains but does not spin. The manual says to add some more detergent and continue on to the next cycle. I decided to go with the Drain & Spin cycle. I pulled the load out and looked it over; most stains were still very visible.

[this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-22:04]

 

[frigilux]

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I added yet another full scoop of Tide, plus one-half cup of liquid chlorine bleach and selected the Heavy Duty cycle with these options: Heavy soil, max fill, max spin speed, and an extra spray rinse. Since the iPad can only record about 49 minutes at a time, I divided the video into two parts so you can view the entire cycle.

Here's part one, which shows the fill and wash agitation. [this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-18:48]

 

[frigilux]

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Here's part two, showing the drain, five spray rinses, and the final spin. I don't think the final spin is 800 rpm; more like standard-issue 625 rpm.[this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-18:45]

 

[frigilux]

When the cycle was complete, I pulled each item out one at a time and inspected it. Only four items had stains remaining: A chef's apron (barbecue sauce); a bar mop (strawberry syrup); and two poly-blend dinner napkins (both spaghetti sauce). Only one napkin is seen here because the stain on the other one was so light the camera wasn't picking it up.

These will go into the front-loader, later.

[this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-18:39]

 

[frigilux]

Per request of Launderess, I threw the clean load (minus the four items that flunked the test) into the front-loader on the Sanitize cycle to see if and how much detergent was left behind by the Immersion Care. This photo was taken about 45 minutes into the wash period, so the water was really hot.

Yup! There is a little detergent left behind. Not much, but enough to show at the bottom of the glass. I stopped the cycle, spun the load, and chose Rinse & Spin. Only a few bubbles.

To be fair, I used two full-to-the-top scoops of Tide for that load, and there was no rinse between the Presoak and the main cycle. That's a hell of a lot of detergent, so I still have no complaints about the machine's rinsing ability.[this post was last edited: 1/13/2013-18:47]

 

[combo52]

New FD TL Washers

Eugene, thanks so much for making and posting these videos and all your test comments. This is the reason that I enjoy this site so much as even though I work with appliances everyday and dispense information to thousands of our customers every year it is always good to get this type of information from people on this site.

 

While I had posted about this machine before after I saw it in operation at a trade show early last fall it is good to see it in the hands of a member here. And while your videos have not changed my opinion of this washer at least I can report to potential buyers what to expect. I believe the majority of users will be fairly happy with this washer just as most people have been happy other less than great washers, one tends to get used to a machine and use it accordingly, look how many people bought MTs over the last 50 years and after the initial disappointments they got used to the limitations in performance and it usually went on to be a long happy marriage.

 

This new Frigidaire TL washer certainly is not large in capacity frugal with water usage and it sure doesn't look like it will clean my standard test load of at least 8 pairs of very dirty blue jeans. Unfortunately IMEO their has been only three good US designed and built Hi Efficiency TL washers, the Calypso, the MT Neptune TL and the longest built and only surviving Staber TL tumbler washer.