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I have a friend who cleans houses and at one house, they have the Whirlpool series of front loading washers and dryers. She says that it takes a very long time to wash a load of clothes, anyone tell me about the additional times if any for these types washers, I am seriously considering front loader with my next purchase but do not want to have a washer that takes up a long time to wash.
Just like my "Favorite" Mod Figment 07, I had the Maytag Neptune front loader from it's first debut (~1997). Nothing but problems galore with mold, smell, vibrations and the circuit board. Maytag was very embarrassed and definitely tried to make 'us' happy, but I have since learned not to buy a product until all the bugs are out . My Maytag washer was on the first level of my previous home, in the space between the garage and the house, and at times could be extremely loud !
Fast forward to 2005 and now I buy the top of the line LG front loader and dryer . These are so wonderful in my basement . So far, I have had no problems with my LG front loader, but I did notice from day 1 that there is no light inside this washer like my previous Maytag front loader. This makes it more practical to leave the door open all the time to keep it from being smelly and growing large amounts of mold . The location in my new home makes it 'okay' to leave the door ajar without it getting in the way and having no light means that - well, no light bulb to burn out .
I love my new LG's, but I do notice the same type of issue with mold growing in the flap. It's just not as bad of an issue because I can keep the door ajar . Maybe someone will state otherwise, but I think the 'mold' issue will always be a problem with front loaders, but the benefits for me far outweigh any of the negatives ! Happy laundering to one and all - LOL!!!
I bought a Whirlpool front loader washer in 1999 and have not had any mold issues. It drains very well except for the time I put it in a basement location and did not properly configure the drain line. It has been in 4 houses in this time (no second floors though) and I am very pleased with it. It does not take much more time (if any) than a top loader and cleans much better.
I regret that I did not take the plunge and get the front load dryer, but instead scrimped and bought a standard heavy duty dryer. I can do two wash loads in the time it takes to dry one load with the dryer.
His are not stackable--they are full-size front load washer and dryer. I just bought a new house and I upgraded to a front load washer and dryer because I love his so much! My house is pre-construction, though, so I won't find out how good they are until next year.
I'm just excited by how gentle the washer is on the clothes--I can put dry-clean only clothes in there and they come out great!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KittensPurr
Anu -
I was just curious, is your dad's washer a stackable w/d? I was wondering if separate machines made a difference, too & actually would assume that the stackables are heavier, thus less likely to bounce around? Not true with mine, however.
Mine is stackable & thanks to all who mentioned percision leveling, as my house is on a steep hill & everything in the house is just slightly askew & on a slight slant, so I'm sure it will be a bit of fanagling to get the machine level.
I have a friend who cleans houses and at one house, they have the Whirlpool series of front loading washers and dryers. She says that it takes a very long time to wash a load of clothes, anyone tell me about the additional times if any for these types washers, I am seriously considering front loader with my next purchase but do not want to have a washer that takes up a long time to wash.
Depends on the cycle chosen. Some cycles on my Whirlpool Duet takes 2 hours. I think that's 'sanitary wash' or 'whitest whites'. Regular cycle is 40 minutes. There's a 'quick wash' which is 24 minutes, I think.
Very good machines. I agree with all who've mentioned leveling. A machine should not "walk" if it's leveled correctly.
I think there are Duet "Sport" machines that were made after people wanted to put them on second floors for less vibrations. I think I remember something like that. I stopped researching after i purchased my Duets. Maybe it's worth looking into the Sport for 2nd floor applications.
I have a friend who cleans houses and at one house, they have the Whirlpool series of front loading washers and dryers. She says that it takes a very long time to wash a load of clothes, anyone tell me about the additional times if any for these types washers, I am seriously considering front loader with my next purchase but do not want to have a washer that takes up a long time to wash.
My Kenmore Elite HE5t takes about 40 mins to wash almost any load, that includes towels, jeans, etc. The companion dryer takes AT most 45 mins to dry, jeans/towels included.
Part of the reason it takes so little time is the spin speed of the drum. The HE5 spins at 1300 rpm. The HE3 spins at 1050 rpm. Maytag Neptune at 800 rpm. LG w/ steam wash 1200 rpm. Frigidaire at 900 rpm. All that means is that it gets more water out to decrease dryer time. When you decrease dryer time, you save energy.
My Maytag that I left behind in MI took about 55 mins to wash but it took an hour to 90 mins to dry almost any load. Liz
We are in the process of buying a condo where the w/d hookups are in a closet area on the 2nd floor. I had no idea it would be such an issue to have them there! The builder recommends their apartment style stackable, which my husband and I have in our apartment now and do NOT want for our new home. I have spoken with associates at Home Depot on two occasions regarding washers/dryers on the 2nd floor. One told me that for most manufacturers the warranty would be void if the w/d were used on the second floor, and that the only option was the Maytag Epic series. The online HD associate I spoke to wasn't sure about the voiding of warranties part for the other manufacturers, but confirmed that the Epics are recommended for the 2nd floor. The store associate mentioned that these units have 8 shock absorbers compared to the standard 4 in most w/d's, although online it looked like 6 to me. I kind of like some of the fancier features of the LG's and so on, but given the circumstances I think I would prefer the better performance and keeping the warranty over little niceties, so at this point I'm planning on buying the Maytag Epics. I was also informed that Whirlpool now owns Maytag, and basically is trying to save the Maytag name from all the problem units they were producing for a while. Whirlpool has been a good brand in my experience. My mom just bought a new set of frontloaders in December (on the ground level) and she loves them. Will try to remember to update this once we get moved in at the end of July
If you are getting a front loader do yourselves a break and get the storage underneath. It raises hte machine so its easier to put the clothes inside ; esp for a taller person like me.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HDL
I love my new LG's, but I do notice the same type of issue with mold growing in the flap. It's just not as bad of an issue because I can keep the door ajar . Maybe someone will state otherwise, but I think the 'mold' issue will always be a problem with front loaders, but the benefits for me far outweigh any of the negatives ! Happy laundering to one and all - LOL!!!
My wife and I have the stackable LG's and absolutely love them. While mine are on the 1st floor and I'm not a structural engineer, it is difficult for me to imagine that my washer would be more of a problem for the joists than my kids are. A previous poster mentioned that the washer can spin in excess of 1100 RPM's? My kids do that too and worse. We keep them upstairs and the house hasn't fallen down (yet). Seriously, standing next to the washer at peak RPM's the vibration is almost imperceptible and probably would not be problematic in an upstairs utility room.
I did notice the same mildew problem referenced previously but it is easy enough to remedy. A splash of bleach in an empty cycle every so often and leaving the door open for a while to air-dry after a load does the trick.
As far as I can tell there is not an appreciable difference in quality between LG's and the American name brands apart from the price.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,776,945 times
Reputation: 7185
Quote:
Originally Posted by okaydorothy
If you are getting a front loader do yourselves a break and get the storage underneath. It raises hte machine so its easier to put the clothes inside ; esp for a taller person like me.
d
Where were you when I bought my front-loader??? I'm 6'5" and have probably degraded my knees about 10% doing laundry.
I saw this problem of front load vibrations being unacceptable several times when looking at pre-owned homes. Although the number one recommendation is to only use them on solid footing (slab?), I saw two solutions that may be workable... one person bought heavy rubber matting (about an inch thick) from a gym supply and covered the laundry room floor to solve the problem, an other put down a 3/4 inch piece of particle board under both washer and dryer claiming it damped vibrations well enough.
I have a front load Samsung on a 2nd floor. I think that my entire house is falling apart. Can you tell me if the rubber matting helped you at all?
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. My Maytag washer was on the first level of my previous home, in the space between the garage and the house, and at times could be extremely loud 
!
and now I buy the top of the line LG front loader and dryer 
. These are so wonderful in my basement 
. So far, I have had no problems with my LG front loader, but I did notice from day 1 that there is no light inside this washer like my previous Maytag front loader. This makes it more practical to leave the door open all the time to keep it from being smelly and growing large amounts of mold 
. The location in my new home makes it 'okay' to leave the door ajar without it getting in the way and having no light means that - well, no light bulb to burn out 
.
. Maybe someone will state otherwise, but I think the 'mold' issue will always be a problem with front loaders, but the benefits for me far outweigh any of the negatives 
2nd floor W/D
