New Washing Machine.

[worth1]

Yep a new washing machine for Christmas.
The other one locked up and the part's aren't available.
The appliance insurance company is just going to replace it.
I've been washing my clothes by hand for Lord only knows how long.
Don't ask why but probably depression.
What ticks me off it they sent an email saying the parts were on order for the old one.
It's been a week.
I looked in my email and found another one saying they were going to replace it.
The one they picked was out of stock.
The other options were top loaders.
They had a cash buy out where I could get what I wanted from who I wanted.
I ordered it today and it will be delivered tomorrow.
4.5 cubic foot top load whirlpool that was going off sale today.
Now I gotta go home and move stuff so they can get it in.

[ddsack]

Glad you got a top loader. I got a big side loader when I needed to replace my washing machine about 10 years ago. I know they are supposed to save on water, but they are so miserly with water that there is not enough loose swishing action in the rinse to get all the soap out, so I end up opening it up and adding two or three ice cream buckets of water after the rinse cycle starts. Or run several extra rinse cycles if I'm not around. So doesn't save me water. When it dies, I will replace with a top loader.

[worth1]

Glad you got a top loader. I got a big side loader when I needed to replace my washing machine about 10 years ago. I know they are supposed to save on water, but they are so miserly with water that there is not enough loose swishing action in the rinse to get all the soap out, so I end up opening it up and adding two or three ice cream buckets of water after the rinse cycle starts. Or run several extra rinse cycles if I'm not around. So doesn't save me water. When it dies, I will replace with a top loader.

I didn't get a top loader I got a front loader so I could do blankets.
My wife said you couldn't do blankets in a top loader.
I looked back and I said top loader.

[bower]

New washer is high on my list. I have an old Kenmore over 30 years old. It still works fine, but the hinges on the lid are completely rusted, to the point that flakes of rust have been falling in the machine and making stains on things. The biggest problem I have with it, is that it doesn't spin out enough moisture to make it easy to dry the clothes.
The new top loaders aka 'high efficiency' are supposed to have a pretty good spin, and they're set up to add an extra spin cycle if you need to. Ones I looked at had 5 to 7 different water levels, which would be a boon, since the old machine only has three and it's a ton of water for a small load. But when people complain about the new top loaders, they say that the 'impeller' doesn't move the clothes around enough to get them clean, so IDK. I did read also reviews that complained about not enough water in the front loader as you said @ddsack, it's helpful to hear your comments too.
I looked at a bunch of machines and tried to read up on it the week before Black Friday, hoping for a deal, but in the end I was undecided.. will have to wait until after Christmas.

Congrats on the new machine @worth1 !
No matter what it does, I bet it'll be so much easier than the ol hand washing.

[worth1]

New washer is high on my list. I have an old Kenmore over 30 years old. It still works fine, but the hinges on the lid are completely rusted, to the point that flakes of rust have been falling in the machine and making stains on things. The biggest problem I have with it, is that it doesn't spin out enough moisture to make it easy to dry the clothes.
The new top loaders aka 'high efficiency' are supposed to have a pretty good spin, and they're set up to add an extra spin cycle if you need to. Ones I looked at had 5 to 7 different water levels, which would be a boon, since the old machine only has three and it's a ton of water for a small load. But when people complain about the new top loaders, they say that the 'impeller' doesn't move the clothes around enough to get them clean, so IDK. I did read also reviews that complained about not enough water in the front loader as you said @ddsack, it's helpful to hear your comments too.
I looked at a bunch of machines and tried to read up on it the week before Black Friday, hoping for a deal, but in the end I was undecided.. will have to wait until after Christmas.

Congrats on the new machine @worth1 !
No matter what it does, I bet it'll be so much easier than the ol hand washing.

The front loader dumps out and adds water during the cycles.
Like washing in a river instead of a bucket.
It actually gets clothes cleaner without wearing them out.
Different fabrics have different bend back and forth breaking points.
The less you flop then around the longer they last.

[pondgardener]

@bower It has been said that the best time to buy a large appliance is before the old one breaks down. Presidents Day here(mid February) is supposed to be one of the better times to buy either online or in stores. And there are other times that are mentioned in the linked article. I too have a Kenmore which is going strong after 22 years or more of use, but possibly because of our drier climate, I haven't seen any rust. But as @worth1 mentioned, washing large blankets, bedspreads or comforters just doesn't seem to work well in top loaders in my experience. I usually take those items to the local laundromat and use their front loading machines.

https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement ... her-dryer/

[zeuspaul]

I wasn't happy with our front loader. Water leaked out of the front seal and trickled down to the mechanism at the bottom of the entry door eventually causing it to not function properly.

[Sue_CT]

You can do blankets in top loaders now. They don’t have the center post that would cause the blankets to sit on one side of the basket and make it go off balance. The drum and the top loaders now are large and just as open as the front loader. My washer is only maybe five years old and it has a separate button you can push to add more water during the wash you just push it along with all the other settings when you start it and it will add more water to the load from the beginning. As a matter of fact, the instructions say for better results, use the ad water button. But if they just made it so we use that much water all the time they wouldn’t get the energy saver label that they want because people look for that now anyway, I can put several blankets in my top loader. The problem is that my dryer now can’t fit everything that my washer can lol. So I have to be careful or do a large washing load and a couple of drying loads.

[worth1]

The old washing machine looks brand new, what a waste.
I know good and well it can be fixed but I ain't gonna do it.
The dashboard alone costs over 600 dollars.
Off to the junkyard it goes.

[pondgardener]

@Sue_CT Who manufactured your washer?

[worth1]

I had no idea whirlpool had factories in the US.
Rest assured it wasn't going to be another LG.
The repair guy said they broke down more than any of them.

[Labradors]

DD Sack, did you know that front loaders need less soap powder (or whatever you use)? (I still search out the powder because I feel it is more earth friendly ).

[Gardadore]

A few years ago I got fed up with constantly replacing Whirlpool machines. My local appliance center recommended Speed Queen as being the only truly American made machine. I didn’t even know they were still around! I always remember that brand being given out to the winner of the old TV show Queen For A Day. That dates me. But very satisfied with my Speed Queen (top loader) and added the dryer when the old Whirlpool also failed. So far so good! Since then I see there are others manufactured in the States as well but are all the parts American? Will stick with Speed Queen for the time being.

[Sue_CT]

Mine is an LG. Actually from Consumer Reports, based on their surveys every year they said that LG was one of the most reliable. That is just based on >68000 readers responses. That is a pretty good sampling though. Anyway, I love it and haven’t had any problems. Sometimes views can be skewed a bit. It’s possible he fixes more LGs just because so many more people have them. Just a thought.

[Paulf]

Whirlpool is manufactured in Iowa...very reliable. We purchased a Samsung because of the good ratings. Worked great for about a year and then began leaking from underneath. No one and I mean no one would repair Samsung or LG in our area. We were able to get a repairman to finally visit. He discovered that a design flaw had hoses rubbing against each other causing leaks. It was very expensive but the machine works well other than the leaks.

To do over I would choose a Whirlpool...every other appliance in our house IS Whirpool.

[wykvlvr]

Our washer also decided the holidays was the prefect time to stop working. Of course it died on a Monday with all the clothes I needed for the trip on Friday inside.... Son suggested we look at renting one. I would never have thought of doing that. Called around got prices and types of washers available. Long story short the rented washer was installed on Thursday, we managed to get the clothes out of the old washer and I ran them through the deep clean cycle on the new washer. So my trip was saved, new puppy is home safe and we are enjoying how quite the new washer is... plus it is doing a great job getting our clothes clean. We hadn't realized just how poor a job the old washer was doing until it locked up.

New washer is a top load with an agitator but I think it is also an HE so really interesting compared to most I have seen on the market. The best part is we have a functioning washer, free service if required and a lower monthly payment then if we had tried to finance a new washer at this time. AND we have breathing room to actually research and decide what features we do or don't want in the next one we buy...

[worth1]

My washing machine showed up and Im washing a load as we speak.
Spin cycle is quite.
The other one sounded like an A10 Wart hog.

[ddsack]

DD Sack, did you know that front loaders need less soap powder (or whatever you use)? (I still search out the powder because I feel it is more earth friendly ).

Yes, I know they take less detergent. But I think the recommended amounts are for normal city people usage who don't have really dirty clothes saturated in real dirt and oily stuff. I can keep light loads separate, but both my husband and I wear work clothes multiple times, so the ground in stuff is not going to wash clean with a tiny bit of soap. I probably do use more soap than I need to, but I'm too old to change my ways now! But regardless of the amount of soap used, mine just doesn't program enough water to get a good swishy rinse, all you get is water to dampen the clothes and then the water gets spun out. If you have a big load of entangled items, I'm not sure that the packed stuff inside the ball even gets much of the clean water. I always use the two extra rinse cycle options after the original wash and rinse is finished. My Maytag is at least 10-15 years old, don't remember what year I got it. It may be there are other front loader brands that do better.

@worth1 washing my own big blankets was why I originally wanted the front loader. I hate going to the laundromat, had to do that too many years before we owned a house and got a washer and dryer. I still have my original dryer, a Sears Kenmore electric that we bought in about 1975/76 - looks like a square box, but still going strong at around 48 years old.

[worth1]

@ddsack
I glad someone else doesn't wash work clothes after one use.
I was raised on a farm and my Mom would have killed us for that.
Sometimes we would go swimming in the creek and wash the sweat out and let them dry.

[Yak54]

A couple of years ago when our 30 year old washing machine died our local service and repair man told me that Speed Queen was about the most reliable brand out there these days especially if you ever have to do any work on it for anything. He based that on his 25 years of experience of service for many different brands of washing machines. So based on that we bought a new Speed Queen machine. So far we are very happy.