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Old 01-26-2016, 09:55 AM
 
Location: Bothell, Washington
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My house has the laundry room on the 2nd floor and we currently have a front load washing machine. It is stable and does not shake or move as if it's off balance, but it has always concerned us how the vibration during the spin cycle goes into the floor and throughout the house- pictures on walls even several rooms away will be slightly shaking, a glass of water sitting on the counter even downstairs in the kitchen will show slight movement. I worry about the long term effects of this vibration on the floor immediately under the laundry room and to a lesser extent on the frame of the house around that area.

I also have read warnings that these types of washers really are not supposed to be on second floor locations.

So my question is, what do you all think about the new high efficiency top loader machines? (the ones without the agitator post in the middle) Will the spin cycle on those- since the force is side to side instead of up and down- be much easier on the floor in that room and not send as much vibration throughout the structure of the house? Anybody have a set like this on the second floor that can share their experience?

I ask because the machines we have are only a couple years old- came with the house- so we could sell them and buy a new set at very little net cost to us due to the current machines being a rather expensive set.
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Old 01-26-2016, 10:38 AM
 
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I don't think that a top loader will vibrate any less. I think the concern with having a front loader upstairs is that the door can leak, leaving water on the floor. However, they use so little water that even if all of it leaked out (which is kind of impossible), it wouldn't do any real damage, especially if it is on tile.

I think the bigger problem is that whoever constructed the house / laundry room did a poor job or used insufficient materials.

I personally prefer front loaders. First, I am short, so I can't easily reach the bottom of them. Also, a common complaint I hear from people that have them is that clothes tend to get more twisted and wrinkled.
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Old 01-26-2016, 10:53 AM
 
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This may not help, but I thought it worth mentioning. We had a regular top loader on the second floor at our last place. It gave us no problems.

When we went looking for new machines for our new (current) house, we decided there were way too many reliability problems with all of the consumer brands. We ended up buying a Speed Queen commercial set with a top loading washer. We have had them for six years now with no issues whatsoever.
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Old 01-26-2016, 11:00 AM
 
Location: Berkeley Neighborhood, Denver, CO USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jm31828 View Post
I worry about the long term effects of this vibration on the floor immediately under the laundry room and to a lesser extent on the frame of the house around that area....
what do you all think about the new high efficiency top loader machines?
1. Wood will easily absorb the vibration with zero damage. It has decent compressive and tensile strength.
2. Consumer Reports rates the highest front loader at 85 while the highest top loader is 73. 33 front loaders are rated better than the best rated top loader.
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Old 01-26-2016, 11:01 AM
 
Location: New Orleans, LA
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I have a top loader HE washer, but it's in a one story house with a slab foundation. It does seem to be pretty powerful and vibrate a lot, but of course on the slab it's hard to tell. Still, I would be reluctant to put it on the second floor of a house unless I was confident that the house was very solidly built and sturdy.

CarnivalGal brings up a good point. If you are short, some HE top loader machines such as mine would be difficult to unload without some sort of assistive device. Mine is very deep and oversized. Although it is not a problem for me at 5'9", I think it would be difficult and scary to try to reach inside to the bottom of it if I was shorter.

What might or might not help shorter people with a big HE toploader is a reaching aid, like the 36" grip'n'grab that I use. I use it to reach the very last items way inside at the back of my oversized front loading dryer. Even though I'm tall it helps me to minimize contortions, bending over, and resulting arthritis pain.
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Old 01-26-2016, 11:06 AM
 
Location: Bothell, Washington
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes View Post
1. Wood will easily absorb the vibration with zero damage. It has decent compressive and tensile strength.
2. Consumer Reports rates the highest front loader at 85 while the highest top loader is 73. 33 front loaders are rated better than the best rated top loader.
Thanks for the info regarding consumer reports- I looked at the specific reviews on the one top loader set we had been interested in, but didn't do any comparison compared to all of the front loaders. Maybe I will consider just looking at vibration absorbing pads to put under the washer. Also it's up on a pedestal that came with the unit- would it help with the vibration to remove the pedestal? Again the machine itself really doesn't move or shake at all, it's just the vibration is going straight into the floor and can be felt throughout much of the house.
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Old 01-26-2016, 11:08 AM
 
Location: Denver CO
24,204 posts, read 19,014,407 times
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If you prefer a front loader, I have a Samsung with VRT - vibration reduction technology. I can hear the washer spinning but do not feel anything except if I'm standing right in front of it, even with it on the second floor.
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Old 01-26-2016, 11:10 AM
 
Location: Bothell, Washington
2,813 posts, read 5,597,620 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
If you prefer a front loader, I have a Samsung with VRT - vibration reduction technology. I can hear the washer spinning but do not feel anything except if I'm standing right in front of it, even with it on the second floor.
Mine is a GE, and it also has vibration reduction technology- and it really doesn't move or shake or even give off too much vibration if touching the unit itself, but it sends that vibration down into the floor, as it is noisy and can be felt throughout the second floor and even just a bit on the first floor. My old LG set in my old house also had VRT and was the same way.
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Old 01-26-2016, 12:17 PM
 
1,054 posts, read 1,415,372 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
If you prefer a front loader, I have a Samsung with VRT - vibration reduction technology. I can hear the washer spinning but do not feel anything except if I'm standing right in front of it, even with it on the second floor.
We have one of these Samsung HE washers as well on the second floor except that ours is a top loader and you don't feel much of anything unless you're right next to it. I think the new generation of HE washers vibrate much less than the older generation. I think the top load machines also are less prone to the mold/stinking issues that the front load HE washers can have.

We got a top loader because for some reason the top loader machines were about half the price of the front load.
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Old 01-26-2016, 12:30 PM
 
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,640 posts, read 11,867,325 times
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I have an LG HE top loader that's only a year old. It's downstairs, but I haven't noticed any vibration at all. My old machine vibrated like crazy and was always un-balanced. This washer, however, self-balances or it will just stop and give an error message to manually balance. Maybe that's why there's no vibration.
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