We bought our first set of high-efficiency washer-dryer appliances 18 years ago and are now on our 4th set. My wife and I have never been happy with any of them (? Sears, GE, Whirlpool, Maytag ?), all for the same reason - the washers clean poorly. I have found that to clean normal dirty clothes – office or around the house level dirty – I have to run my clothes twice, a single wash consisting of prewash, wash, rinse and 2nd extra rinse, with appropriate spins. And I have to do this twice. If I have really dirty clothes (worked on the car level), a third wash is required. All of this takes a lot of time and I doubt that any energy or water is being conserved. Aaand, occasionally an additional wash is necessary to get all of the soap out, as the rinse cycles often use inadequate water to flush all of the soap out. This was driven home as one of our kids had sensitivity to soap. Plus, the equipment seems to have more repair work required. We long for the old washer, the one that cleaned our clothes in one wash.
let me tell you about our extended warranty program.
just buy some basic $300 units without all of the bullshit and dont give a shit about energy efficiency or water conservation. for fuck sake if your washing things 2 or 3 times thats already out the window to begin with.
appliances dont need wifi or an app or 15 fluff settings or whatever. this is how the toasters took over Caprica!
Try LG. The wife and I bought a washer/dryer from them 2-3 years ago, barely any bells and whistles, and they do a great job on a family of four's clothes, including two teenage girls who wash their stuff daily.
The old style washers with agitators clean clothes much better but they do wear down clothes over time.
Let me tell you about our dryer.
The conservation issue with the washer was never a primary concern to us. As an engineer, I always considered it to most likely be a false argument, but for a long time the "conservation" washers were the only ones available new. We are now starting to see some machines on the market that have more practicality than dogma in their design. I hope that trend is not reversed since our experience is that the "conservation" machines actually cost more energy and water AND time to actually achieve their purpose....unless almost clean clothes are OK with you. And your boss. And your customers. And especially your girlfriend. Boyfriends often don't care that much.
All the machines in this review are front loaders.
My first efficiency washer and dryer set was by Samsung. Total piece of crap. Broke down a after a little over 2 years of ownership. Extended warranty from Lowes didn't cover us at all because they claimed that since the main gear or whatever broke on the washer that it couldn't be fixed in the field. Because it couldn't be fixed in the field no replacement for the washing machine was offered.
Took me 6 weeks of constant phone calling and emailing until Lowe's finally gave me 200 bucks for my trouble.
That was back in 2015. So I then bought an Electrolux from a mom and pop hardware store and that thing has been running like a champ ever since. I eventually threw out the Samsung dryer, even though there was nothing wrong with it, and bought the matching Electrolux dryer.
So the washing machine cleans clothes in 1 wash. The dryer however takes two 45 minute cycles to dry clothes. Nothing is wrong with the ventilation of the dryer and the filter is never clogged when I start a new job. Wish I had my old Kenmore top loader dryer.
I didn't even know that Electrolux made dryers! A couple of years ago we finally got rid of a canister vacuum from Electrolux that was running in one family house or another for the last 40 years :ThumbsUp:
Haha! I didn't know either that they made washer/dryers. My wife is friends with one of the owners of that mom and pop store and the lady there highly recommended Electrolux.
My mom still has our Electrolux vacuum cleaner from when I was a kid!! It's a good brand. :Nerd:
Whenever my hand me down was here when I bought the house Kenmore dies I plan to replace it with an as mechanical as possible Speed Queen. Buy once, cry once.
I've reached the point that I don't trust and refuse to buy most things from the Korean brands. I personally haven't had good luck with them. YMMV.