Hi guys,
Well as some as you may have already known my mum's so-called reliable brand Bosch washer died after 3 and a bit years a couple of weeks ago - suspected fault was that the PCB had blown as it kept getting stuck on the extra rinse if you used it, and also it wouldn't always spin. Not to mention the fact that the Bosch had been knocked about a lot when the builders were here doing renovations when we had the kitchen moved & the back porch converted to the utility, so rather than a huge repair bill mum and I decided that it would be more economical to buy a new machine.
Well, I have to admit I first went out with Miele in my mind, was very interested in the new W1000 series Miele's; however reality soon sunk in when I was given a budget of £300 maximum. Looked at a variety of machines, but the final shortlist included a Hoover HNL6146, for £260 from the local Co-Op department store, a Zanussi ZWF1421, £250 at the local Co-Op department store, and the Zanussi ZWF1437W which is currently on offer at Curry's for £300 reduced from about £400-450 IIRC. Although the ZWF1437 was the cheapest option, it was by far the best value as we have literally got a £400 washing machine for £100 or so less.
Anyway - we bought the Zanussi last Thursday, whilst Dan (washboy2005) was staying with us for the week, unfortunately it wasn't in stock on Thursday so Dan missed out just on installing the Zanussi. That aside, mum & I drove to Curry's yesterday and picked it up, brought it home & I was left to install it. First thing I noticed was how heavy the machine was - much heavier than the old Bosch, and for a £300 machine the quality is superb - far better than equivalent priced machines including Bosch. Anyway, finally got the machine in place & whirred it away on a 95*C cottons wash with extra quick pressed, with a small measure of detergent of course to rinse out any residues left in the drum from the manufacturing process.
Did 5 loads yesterday - 2 with the help of Darren who just had to come round and share the excitement! First load was a load of synthetic whites, which were washed on Synthetics 40*C with Extra Quick and Super Rinse. 1 hour exactly cycle, usual dose of 100ml Persil Biological for lightly soiled whites, & I have to say I am very impressed. Even though the Extra Quick option was selected it performed miles better than the Bosch did on the same Synthetics 40*C cycle - also seems to spin better too than the Bosch and didn't set in creases.
2nd load was 3 quite heavy coats washed on Cottons 40*C with Extra Quick selected - 1.03 cycle. These 3 jackets would have filled the Bosch to capacity, but there was still plenty of room to spare in the Zanussi for an extra coat. A good thorough 40*C wash, a fast spin after the wash and rinses, and 2 very deep rinses, and a full speed 1400rpm spin at the end. Have to say that the 2 rinses on the Zanussi does plenty good enough a job, again better than the Bosch and equivalent to my Miele, which is a very difficult machien to beat in terms of rinsing.
3rd load was a HUGE 7 kilo load of darks. Cottons Daily 40*C, 1.49 cycle with super rinse selected. To explain how big the load was - usually a darks load took less than a week to make a load up for the Bosch, and would take up 3/4 of one of the lines in the side garden. The Zanussi, on the other hand, managed to take 2 weeks worth of darks with ease, and there was so much in the load that I had to overflow onto the second washing line in the garden! The rinse cycles were interesting with Super Rinse selected. Instead of doing 3 rinses with fast spins after the drains, it does Asko-style rinsing, 5 rinses with only a drain after the wash, rinse 1 and rinse 2, and only spins after rinse 3 onwards. And the spins at that are only at slow speed - 500rpm or so, but for longer than the faster interim spins, and the usual 1400rpm spin at the end. Rinse levels were again impressive - up to the flat part of the door glass which is a 1/3 up the drum - not bad by modern standards! There wasn't a single piece of lint left on the darks at the end of the cycle - which was my main niggle with the Bosch as it would leave lint all over dark loads when you unloaded it. Everything came out clean too - so I think that next time I will probably just use the Cottons 40*C Extra Quick cycle for darks rather than Cottons Daily.
4th load of the day was the dog blankets, which got a Cottons Daily 60*C wash with a prewash - cycle time 1.54. Have to say the Zanussi did incredibly well with removing the dog hair, which was another thing the Bosch wasn't too grand at. After being washed in the Bosch washer, the dog blankets would leave a huge blanket of dog hair on the dryer filter - whereas with this Zanussi there wasn't much dog hair at all on the fluff filter.
Last load was a load of blue towels, 5 bath sheets, 3 bath towels, and 4 handtowels along with 1 flannel. This would have crammed the Bosch to the seams, but again with the huge drum in the Zanussi there was room for perhaps 3 or 4 more actual bath sheets without exaggeration. Again only used the 2 rinses, and it rinsed extremely well although I must admit I do use Persil Non Bio, which is possibly the most easiest to rinse detergent available on the UK market.
I think that especially for the money this Zanussi beats the old Bosch by far. Washing is on par for the cottons cycles (one thing the Bosch was good at was washing on a cottons cycle), better on the synthetics cycle, and even though the spinning cycle is the same speed (1400rpm), the Zanussi seems to spin a lot more water out and things are almost dry out of the machine as they are out of my 1600rpm AEG; I'm thinking that this is probably due to the larger drum on the Zanussi; although the Bosch was struggling to get to speed in the last 6 months of it's use so the Bosch could have not been getting to 1400 properly. Rinsing is much better - on par with my Miele. Cycle selection is a lot more flexible - rather than having 15 set-in-stone programmes, there are umpteen different progamme combinations, plus on the Zanussi you can have a prewash or an intensive wash on any programme, rather than on just one set programme on the dial as with the Bosch. You can do a prewash on delicates too which I like, should be handy when washing net curtains & mum won't have to use the Rinse cycle first to get effectively an extra prewash like she did with the Bosch. Talking of rinse options, you can also have a separate rinse and final spin of your choice of fabric, rather than just having one separate rinse and one separate spin cycle for all fabrics.
In terms of noise the machine is definitely not whisper quiet, but at the same time it doesn't wake the dead either and is of an acceptable level, and would be on par with the Bosch. One thing I do like though is that the Zanussi doesn't have as high a pitch spin as the Bosch did so even though the spin noise is the same, you can't hear the Zanussi at the other end of the house like you could with the Bosch because of it's high pitched spin. I also like the Jetsystem on this Zanussi, and it has to be the best yet. Like Saj's Zanussi in his thread, it has a 3-way jet rather than just a single jet into the middle of the tub, and the water is fanned into the load in a V-shape instead - similar to when you place your thumb at the end of a garden hose.
In conclusion - I think we've landed ourselves on a workhorse here. Miele style features without the Miele price, good reliability as you would expect from Zanussi, solid build quality, and most importantly good washing, rinsing & spinning performance. This is definitely how a washing machine should be, thank god some manufacturers liek Electrolux & Miele still care about quality & performance rather than soley cost-cutting and energy efficiency.
Anyway - that's enough of me blabbering on. Have posted a few pictures, and videos will come shortly although it is more or less identical in operation to Saj's Zanussi in his videos.
Take care guys - any comments welcome! Enjoy the pics in the link.
Jon
Well as some as you may have already known my mum's so-called reliable brand Bosch washer died after 3 and a bit years a couple of weeks ago - suspected fault was that the PCB had blown as it kept getting stuck on the extra rinse if you used it, and also it wouldn't always spin. Not to mention the fact that the Bosch had been knocked about a lot when the builders were here doing renovations when we had the kitchen moved & the back porch converted to the utility, so rather than a huge repair bill mum and I decided that it would be more economical to buy a new machine.
Well, I have to admit I first went out with Miele in my mind, was very interested in the new W1000 series Miele's; however reality soon sunk in when I was given a budget of £300 maximum. Looked at a variety of machines, but the final shortlist included a Hoover HNL6146, for £260 from the local Co-Op department store, a Zanussi ZWF1421, £250 at the local Co-Op department store, and the Zanussi ZWF1437W which is currently on offer at Curry's for £300 reduced from about £400-450 IIRC. Although the ZWF1437 was the cheapest option, it was by far the best value as we have literally got a £400 washing machine for £100 or so less.
Anyway - we bought the Zanussi last Thursday, whilst Dan (washboy2005) was staying with us for the week, unfortunately it wasn't in stock on Thursday so Dan missed out just on installing the Zanussi. That aside, mum & I drove to Curry's yesterday and picked it up, brought it home & I was left to install it. First thing I noticed was how heavy the machine was - much heavier than the old Bosch, and for a £300 machine the quality is superb - far better than equivalent priced machines including Bosch. Anyway, finally got the machine in place & whirred it away on a 95*C cottons wash with extra quick pressed, with a small measure of detergent of course to rinse out any residues left in the drum from the manufacturing process.
Did 5 loads yesterday - 2 with the help of Darren who just had to come round and share the excitement! First load was a load of synthetic whites, which were washed on Synthetics 40*C with Extra Quick and Super Rinse. 1 hour exactly cycle, usual dose of 100ml Persil Biological for lightly soiled whites, & I have to say I am very impressed. Even though the Extra Quick option was selected it performed miles better than the Bosch did on the same Synthetics 40*C cycle - also seems to spin better too than the Bosch and didn't set in creases.
2nd load was 3 quite heavy coats washed on Cottons 40*C with Extra Quick selected - 1.03 cycle. These 3 jackets would have filled the Bosch to capacity, but there was still plenty of room to spare in the Zanussi for an extra coat. A good thorough 40*C wash, a fast spin after the wash and rinses, and 2 very deep rinses, and a full speed 1400rpm spin at the end. Have to say that the 2 rinses on the Zanussi does plenty good enough a job, again better than the Bosch and equivalent to my Miele, which is a very difficult machien to beat in terms of rinsing.
3rd load was a HUGE 7 kilo load of darks. Cottons Daily 40*C, 1.49 cycle with super rinse selected. To explain how big the load was - usually a darks load took less than a week to make a load up for the Bosch, and would take up 3/4 of one of the lines in the side garden. The Zanussi, on the other hand, managed to take 2 weeks worth of darks with ease, and there was so much in the load that I had to overflow onto the second washing line in the garden! The rinse cycles were interesting with Super Rinse selected. Instead of doing 3 rinses with fast spins after the drains, it does Asko-style rinsing, 5 rinses with only a drain after the wash, rinse 1 and rinse 2, and only spins after rinse 3 onwards. And the spins at that are only at slow speed - 500rpm or so, but for longer than the faster interim spins, and the usual 1400rpm spin at the end. Rinse levels were again impressive - up to the flat part of the door glass which is a 1/3 up the drum - not bad by modern standards! There wasn't a single piece of lint left on the darks at the end of the cycle - which was my main niggle with the Bosch as it would leave lint all over dark loads when you unloaded it. Everything came out clean too - so I think that next time I will probably just use the Cottons 40*C Extra Quick cycle for darks rather than Cottons Daily.
4th load of the day was the dog blankets, which got a Cottons Daily 60*C wash with a prewash - cycle time 1.54. Have to say the Zanussi did incredibly well with removing the dog hair, which was another thing the Bosch wasn't too grand at. After being washed in the Bosch washer, the dog blankets would leave a huge blanket of dog hair on the dryer filter - whereas with this Zanussi there wasn't much dog hair at all on the fluff filter.
Last load was a load of blue towels, 5 bath sheets, 3 bath towels, and 4 handtowels along with 1 flannel. This would have crammed the Bosch to the seams, but again with the huge drum in the Zanussi there was room for perhaps 3 or 4 more actual bath sheets without exaggeration. Again only used the 2 rinses, and it rinsed extremely well although I must admit I do use Persil Non Bio, which is possibly the most easiest to rinse detergent available on the UK market.
I think that especially for the money this Zanussi beats the old Bosch by far. Washing is on par for the cottons cycles (one thing the Bosch was good at was washing on a cottons cycle), better on the synthetics cycle, and even though the spinning cycle is the same speed (1400rpm), the Zanussi seems to spin a lot more water out and things are almost dry out of the machine as they are out of my 1600rpm AEG; I'm thinking that this is probably due to the larger drum on the Zanussi; although the Bosch was struggling to get to speed in the last 6 months of it's use so the Bosch could have not been getting to 1400 properly. Rinsing is much better - on par with my Miele. Cycle selection is a lot more flexible - rather than having 15 set-in-stone programmes, there are umpteen different progamme combinations, plus on the Zanussi you can have a prewash or an intensive wash on any programme, rather than on just one set programme on the dial as with the Bosch. You can do a prewash on delicates too which I like, should be handy when washing net curtains & mum won't have to use the Rinse cycle first to get effectively an extra prewash like she did with the Bosch. Talking of rinse options, you can also have a separate rinse and final spin of your choice of fabric, rather than just having one separate rinse and one separate spin cycle for all fabrics.
In terms of noise the machine is definitely not whisper quiet, but at the same time it doesn't wake the dead either and is of an acceptable level, and would be on par with the Bosch. One thing I do like though is that the Zanussi doesn't have as high a pitch spin as the Bosch did so even though the spin noise is the same, you can't hear the Zanussi at the other end of the house like you could with the Bosch because of it's high pitched spin. I also like the Jetsystem on this Zanussi, and it has to be the best yet. Like Saj's Zanussi in his thread, it has a 3-way jet rather than just a single jet into the middle of the tub, and the water is fanned into the load in a V-shape instead - similar to when you place your thumb at the end of a garden hose.
In conclusion - I think we've landed ourselves on a workhorse here. Miele style features without the Miele price, good reliability as you would expect from Zanussi, solid build quality, and most importantly good washing, rinsing & spinning performance. This is definitely how a washing machine should be, thank god some manufacturers liek Electrolux & Miele still care about quality & performance rather than soley cost-cutting and energy efficiency.
Anyway - that's enough of me blabbering on. Have posted a few pictures, and videos will come shortly although it is more or less identical in operation to Saj's Zanussi in his videos.
Take care guys - any comments welcome! Enjoy the pics in the link.
Jon
now i can concerntrate on gettin an old zanussi lol.
