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Front Load Washer?

alb52

alb52

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Apr 11, 2007
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do you have a front loader?? if so, which kind and what do you like about? what do you not like?

have been wondering (as i find myself doing this more often than not) - how do you add more clothes to a load if it is already started?
 
You can add more clothes only at the beginning of the cycle (press cancel once and it will pause once it has stopped spinning and the water has settled in the bottom of the machine).

I love our front-loader washer and dryer. Instead of being stacked we bought the optional drawers, so we don't need to stoop over to load/unload. We have a Kenmore, which is Sear's brand, not sure if you have Sears in the States?
 
I love love love mine...the hardest part to me, was not being able to go oops and throw that sock that was in the hallway in...cause I was so used to starting it and letting my washer fill...but I admit to running an empty washer more times than I want to admit
we had the drawers, but changed them to stack because we got a water softner and needed the room in laundry room. I like it stacked just fine, cause my kids do the laundry...hahha
 
Love our front loads generally. We have LG, which we haven't been thrilled with. We'll go back to Whirlpool when we have to replace these
 
We have a front-loader, I want to say it's a Whirlpool? I'm too tired to run downstairs and look. (Lazy! Lazy!)

It's been a long time since I've done laundry, but I think there's a cancel button that will drain the tub and let you throw additional items in. The door locks once the tub starts filling with water, though, so you can't get it open without canceling.

What I love about the front loader is that it uses so little water, the delicates cycle is truly delicate, and it gets a ton of water out in the spin cycle so things dry more quickly. And you can fit big bulky things in it like quilts and puffy winter jackets. Do those things exist out in CA? Probably not.

What I don't like about it is that it sounds like a jet engine starting up when the spin cycle begins - but ours is 8 years old and there are probably quieter models out there. When I lived in Indianapolis our laundry room was near our family room and that was annoying if we were watching TV. In this house our laundry is in the basement so it's not noticeable. It's something to consider if you have laundry next to bedrooms. Our top loader wasn't quiet as a mouse, either, but it had nothing on the noise the front loader makes.

Also I don't like the repair bills when the brakes go out on it. Ours seems to burn through brakes every 2-3 years, probably because it takes a powerful brake system to stop the jet engine powered tub when it starts spinning.

First world problems. :)
 
We have a Maytag. You just have to learn to put everything in there when you start a cycle rather than being able to do the "Oops, let me throw this in" thing. However, it holds so much more than my old top loader (which we bought when I was in grad school and we had 2 kids under 2 and not much money, so it was small) that I get laundry done in half the time. I used to be doing laundry for 12 hours straight and now I'm done by mid-afternoon. The dryer also doesn't have to work as hard because the spin is better and gets more water out of the clothes. I puffy heart love my front loader. Best gift I ever got.
 
What they said. I think mine is Whirlpool Duet, and yes we have the pedestals. I was pregnant when we bought them so my husband thought it would be nice to make me not have to bend over. Ahh young love. I use the drawers for odd socks, each kid has their own "section". Although, I mostly buy them 20 pair of the same, so I don't have that many odd socks, somehow it still happens.

They do a big enough load that missing an item doesn't seem to be a big deal. Either that, or I've always got another load I can do. Not sure, but only once or twice have I been like OOOOH CRAP, but even then I've gotten there early enough to pause it.

The gasket on our washer has broken a few times. Cost $140 for the guy to fix it (the part is $80). Eventually my dh looked on YouTube and fixed it himself the last time. Not sure if that's a common thing or what, but it's really irritating to discover my odd sock drawer full of water.

We've had them almost 9 years, though, and that's the only problem we've had, so I guess it's a success. The guy says it's my fault for not zipping up the pants before I put them in (?), for whatever that's worth.
 
We have the Kenmore's from Sears with the pedestals as well. We keep all of our soap/softeners/etc in the drawers. We love ours! I love that I can shove a bunch of clothes in those puppies.
 
Angie4b1g said:
We've had them almost 9 years, though, and that's the only problem we've had, so I guess it's a success. The guy says it's my fault for not zipping up the pants before I put them in (?), for whatever that's worth.
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The guy who fixed the brakes on ours said the same thing once! Although we hadn't had a gasket problem. He was just talking about the things front-loaders need repaired that top loaders don't.

So Tom has zipped and buttoned all pants ever since before washing them.

Dude had no advice on the brakes, though. I guess it's just a problem with our model.
 
We had one that we bought used (which may have been the problem, I can't remember the maker at the moment), but we had multiple issues-some of which we apparently brought on ourselves by not collecting all the boys socks (who at the time were like 2-3 and so small socks) and putting them in a delicates washing bag so they would get caught in the drain which was very small and would get clogged causing major leakage and breaking of something or other--my memory isn't so good these days :)

So, when the repairman had been there for the third time and was going to have to replace the seal around the door, we ended up buying a new washer dryer set. They are Whirlpool and the washer is a top loader HE washer and we LOVE it. It has all the benefits of the front loader high efficiency, but seems to have fewer issues and it is fairly quiet.
 
We just got a high efficiency top loader as well when our front loader died. We had to go this route b/c the new front loaders don't fit in our laundry closet, but I really like it - uses the same amount of water and spins the clothes just as dry/drier than our front loader did. They're supposed to last longer too.
 
Angie4b1g said:
I have 5 children. I ain't got time to be zipping all those pants.
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I don't have time for that either! I have 4 kids and my husband wears 3 sets of clothes nearly every day (one to work out...one to go to work...one to work on stuff around the house and/or lounge about in) and I am doing laundry ALL THE TIME. Why on earth would not zipping your pants lead to a gasket failure?
 
I think the theory is that the zipper 'cuts' the gasket? It's rubber or whatever. IDK. I'll pay $80 every 18 months or whatever for a new gasket. My time is money. LOL
 
Weird. We've had ours for 7 years, and no problems with the gasket. And I don't zip pants. Although I do hook together my bras and put them in a laundry bag - helps prevent the bra hooks from snagging other clothing. We also put anything with long ties (apron, etc) in laundry mesh bags to prevent tangling with other clothing.

I do agree though, my machine is loud. And it would be much quieter if we had it on cement pad in the basement instead of on the main floor. But the previous owners built the house, and decided to finish the entire basement with carpet. Sigh.
 
Here in Germany we have to I would say 90% front loaders, but I know the other machines from our USA vacations. So I used both and wouldn't change to a top loader...
In comparison the front loader needs much more time, is louder, but washes much more effective.
I don't stop it after it's started, because it takes some time to stop...
Because we are a 5 person household I have a big front loader for 8 kg (about 17,6 lbs).
 
Also, it always says it has one minute left, but it means 13 or something. I'll see 1 minute on there and figure I'll just putz around the basement until it's done. Next thing you know, I've done all the ironing, tidied up the playroom, did a hybrid project and pulled weeds in the backyard. THEN it beeps.
 
Angie4b1g said:
Also, it always says it has one minute left, but it means 13 or something. I'll see 1 minute on there and figure I'll just putz around the basement until it's done. Next thing you know, I've done all the ironing, tidied up the playroom, did a hybrid project and pulled weeds in the backyard. THEN it beeps.
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This. This is the biggest drawback about front loaders. :)
 
Speak of the devil... I *just* got back from Sears. We bought a Kenmore front loader & matching dryer today. No matter what it'll be better than what we've had! We were holding out until one or the other died and the dryer finally did - I was so happy! LOL
 
We have LG that was purchased from Sears. No problems with them. I do button and zip everything though.

My Physical Therapist has been pushing me to get the pedestals for our machines. She thinks all the crouching and bending is so bad for my back.
 
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