Washing Machine Advice - Fuelly Forums

Click here to see important news regarding the aCar App

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 03-11-2008, 03:37 PM   #1
Registered Member
 
bowtieguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,873
Country: United States
Location: orlando, florida
Washing Machine Advice

my washer bit the dust last night. never bought one, not new at least. with a growing family, a new and larger one is in order.

any help w/ what brand, where to buy, energy star(or not), etc would be greatly appreciated. btw, price IS a concern, but i could charge it on my sears card @ no interest for 12 months. then, pay it off when the gov't charity(i mean eco stimulus) rebate arrives.

thanks.
__________________

bowtieguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 04:03 PM   #2
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_Erik's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,027
Country: United States
I bought a Frigidaire washing machine 10 years ago and its still running fine- which surprises me because it was the cheapest model I could find. I only wash with cold water and still it always gets everything clean.

I doubt that it conserves much water though.

The front loaders are the ones to look at if you want to save water- but expect to spend a lot of money...
__________________

GasSavers_Erik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 04:43 PM   #3
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_RoadWarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,652
IMO, from what I've heard about available US market front loaders on various forums, i) only get one if you really, really, really want a front loader. ii) buy one from a store that has extended warranties, and get the longest you can afford.
__________________
I remember The RoadWarrior..To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time..the world was powered by the black fuel & the desert sprouted great cities..Gone now, swept away..two mighty warrior tribes went to war & touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing..thundering machines sputtered & stopped..Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice
GasSavers_RoadWarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 06:45 PM   #4
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 62
Country: United States
I always check with ConsumerReports.org when I make an appliance purchase. (I think it was $30 to subscribe online.) Here's some of what they had to say:

"Quick Picks

For fine performance and efficiency:

? LG WM0642H[W] , $900
? Frigidaire Gallery GLTF2940F[S] , $650, CR Best Buy


Both washing machines cleaned clothes very well. The LG holds more clothes and was gentler on them, but the Frigidaire is faster, taking 30 minutes less than the LG to wash a load on similar cycles. The Frigidaire can be stacked with the tested dryer models LEQ2152E[S] and Affinity AEQ6000E[S].

Best if your budget is tight:

? GE WJRE5500G[WW] , $480, CR Best Buy
? Estate ETW4400T[Q] , $400


For hundreds less than the best high-efficiency top-loaders, these two top loaders were very good at washing and were reasonably efficient. The GE has a stainless-steel tub and a fabric-softener dispenser. The Estate was a bit gentler on clothes. We lack repair-history data for Estate, though it is made by Whirlpool, a reliable brand. Both the GE and Estate were relatively noisy. "

As an aside, for my money, I never buy an extended warranty.

Regards,
Bill
Nrggeek is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 06:47 PM   #5
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_RoadWarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,652
yeah, you wouldn't need an extended warranty with a top loader and on a great majority of products it's a waste of money.
__________________
I remember The RoadWarrior..To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time..the world was powered by the black fuel & the desert sprouted great cities..Gone now, swept away..two mighty warrior tribes went to war & touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing..thundering machines sputtered & stopped..Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice
GasSavers_RoadWarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 08:10 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
101mpg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 736
Country: United States
Get a front loader. It gets your clothes cleaner (way it spins), uses less water, and your clothes last longer. If you can get one with a second rinse cycle, by all means get it.

I had a top-loader with stainless steel basket (they DO get clothes cleaner) with a second rinse cycle. My clothes wore longer, and felt SO much cleaner. It got sold when we moved. I WILL buy a new one when the one we were given bites the dust - with 2nd rinse cycle.
__________________
Looking to trade for an early 1988 Honda CRX HF (Pillar mounted seat belts)
101mpg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 09:11 PM   #7
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_Ryland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,325
Country: United States
Send a message via AIM to GasSavers_Ryland
I go to the laundromat, for about $5 I can wash everything I wore in 3 weeks time, in some nice front loading washing machines, and dry it all, fold it, read the news paper, use their wireless internet, and when the machine brakes someone else fixes it while I use the one next to it.
Anyone know how much they spend on water and electricity to wash and dry a load of cloths? or time spent doing small loads, one load at a time? I can get that 3 week load washed, dried and folded in less then an hour and a half, and an hour of that I spent reading.
GasSavers_Ryland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2008, 01:31 PM   #8
Registered Member
 
bowtieguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,873
Country: United States
Location: orlando, florida
a big thanks to all of you!
bowtieguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2008, 02:11 PM   #9
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_RoadWarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,652
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland View Post
I go to the laundromat, for about $5 I can wash everything I wore in 3 weeks time, in some nice front loading washing machines, and dry it all, fold it, read the news paper, use their wireless internet, and when the machine brakes someone else fixes it while I use the one next to it.
Anyone know how much they spend on water and electricity to wash and dry a load of cloths? or time spent doing small loads, one load at a time? I can get that 3 week load washed, dried and folded in less then an hour and a half, and an hour of that I spent reading.
I hear what you're saying, I've tried figuring out how much we actually pay per load at home, and it comes damn close to laundromat prices in winter. In summer it's half price 'coz I can hang everything out to dry (and uses less energy to warm wash in summer). If I was faced with paying about $25 a month for a washer and drier financed over 5 years and only lasting 5 years on top of that*, I'd probably go to the laundromat instead. However, when a family needs 3 or 4 loads a week, it starts to look better, since the extra trips out and time out of the house would be adding up to too much. One hint though in a family sitch, buy everyone their "own" towels, make them responsible for them, and hide all the rest until you get guests... otherwise you get the bathroom knee deep in sodden towels that nobody knows who put there, and you end up doing two or three loads of towels a week. This way everyone hangs their towel up to dry after using it, and it can just go in the wash with their clothes every week.

(* I don't by the way, I've had good luck with $10 used ones and the odd minor fix)
__________________
I remember The RoadWarrior..To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time..the world was powered by the black fuel & the desert sprouted great cities..Gone now, swept away..two mighty warrior tribes went to war & touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing..thundering machines sputtered & stopped..Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice
GasSavers_RoadWarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2008, 05:29 PM   #10
Registered Member
 
Snax's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 758
Country: United States
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadWarrior View Post
. . . One hint though in a family sitch, buy everyone their "own" towels, make them responsible for them, and hide all the rest until you get guests... otherwise you get the bathroom knee deep in sodden towels that nobody knows who put there, and you end up doing two or three loads of towels a week. This way everyone hangs their towel up to dry after using it, and it can just go in the wash with their clothes every week.
In a dream world . . <sigh>

The problem here is that nobody in this house seems to want to bother with doing laundry until everything is dirty!

Child: "I don't have any clean clothes!"

Parent: "Seems like taking that huge pile of dirty clothes out to the laundry would be a good start."

So anyway, we have been around and around the question of front loaders, and every time we have to conclude that we could save more money by keeping the top-loader or replacing it with another inexpensive one when it breaks. It's just one of those terrific new technologies that really doesn't save anybody any money if they are just frugal about it to begin with.
__________________

__________________
LiberalImage.com

I think, therefore I doubt.
Snax is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Suggestions from a Newbie juha Fuelly Web Support and Community News 6 10-03-2012 07:03 AM
Tracking Distance Using the Odometer PTH Fuelly Web Support and Community News 0 08-26-2010 11:32 AM
Another contest Sludgy Diesels 25 06-30-2007 01:39 PM
Interesting article about aerodynamics McPatrick General Fuel Topics 0 06-23-2007 06:11 PM
Yeah wont be driveing for a while Hockey4mnhs General Discussion (Off-Topic) 29 04-09-2007 06:29 PM

» Fuelly iOS Apps
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:44 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.