Washing Machine

[Gomez]

Our washing machine is ready to be replaced. I'm doing some research before we need to replace it at the last minute. I've heard the new Neptune has some problems. At over $1000, is it worth it? Or is this similar to buying a compact diesel for the price of three MTD's?
Thanks for any feedback.

 

[DocHeb]

We purchased the Frigidare Gallery Washer and Dryer and my wife is very happy. If she's happy - I'm happy. They are both front loaders, and I made a wide counter for them to go under. They work very well, and the front load washer uses less water - so much less I can see a ~20% decrease on my water bill. We had a GE front loader before, and it made an incredible amount of noise and vibration, and despite levelling it multiple times, it would still vibrate and "walk" across the floor. The Frigidare is very quiet. The set cost $1150 - make sure you get the panels to let them go under the counter if you're installing them in that fashion.

 

[MossRoad]

THAT is a beautiful laundry area.

 

[RJohnson]

We too bought the Frigidare washer and are extremely happy with it. Not only does it use less water but the first time we used it the instructions said not to use any soap as the conventional agitator washers do not get all of the soap out of the clothes. I didn't believe it but when we tried it, sure enough the washer foamed up just like we had put soap in it. Now we use less soap, less water and the clothes are spun drier and it has been a win-win situation all around.

Randy

 

[blurrybill]

We will receive the Sears Elite washer/dryer tomorrow. I'm a big researcher and we compared everything. I was impressed with Maytag, but the new Sears had better stats and will allow huge loads (rugs, King Sized comforters, etc.) with the best energy efficiency. Our power co. will rebate $100 because it meets the Energy Star classification.

Be careful with the Whirlpool Duet -- Whirlpool makes the Sears models, but we learned that Sears maintains patents on the exterior, hinges, etc. The Sears (I was surprised) is made better than the Whirlpool, even though the guts are exactly the same. Water use and energy use are around 68% less than traditional machines.

Read my bio, I don't sell them. Our old Whirlpool died and we decided to spring for these for the new house. Knew that in the country we'll be washing lots of heavy stuff (hopefully my workclothes associated with tractor operation --still dreaming).

They are pricey, but we calculated that they will pay for themselves in savings over about 5 years. Let me know if you need other info. We'll be testing this weekend.

Bill

 

[Thomas]

My better half Whirlpool die a couple years ago and she went out and bought a Maytag $$ /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
You ought to see this thing /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif for I thought I might have to go to night school to learn the basic. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif
This model Maytag has a tools,screws etc..indacator built in..yep..that heavy duty stainless steel barrel makes a heck of a noise if anything left in your pockets during the wash.
Okay..whats a wool cycle..must be for a women..not for hunting clothes. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[PhilNH5]

We have a Neptune we purchased in January of 1999. I brought it to save water. Glad about that feature as we are in a drought now and the pond out front is all dried up.
We paid $1,000 minus $100 rebate from electric company = $900 out of pocket. It does an OK job. My wife doesn't like it though. Two major points. One is the seal around the front loading door holds water. We used to get a terrible musty/moldy smell from the washer. Now my wife tugs at the seal to drain the water back into the tub and leaves the door open till next wash day. Light burnt out long time ago. I hear the newer models have a hole in the seal to combat this problem. Sounds like an oxymoron - a drain in the seal. Second is a microprocessor to control an unbalanced tub during spin cycles. The tub will reverse direction repeatedly as it tries to balance a load. My wife says that similar size loads can have up to 20 minutes difference in time to finish. She hates walking downstairs to find the washer still running.
Another problem was sometimes water was left in the tub and clothes. Eventually it stopped pumping out the water at all. Still under warranty. They replaced the water pump with a bigger one. I asked the service guy about this. He said Maytag was "upgrading" all the Neptunes "as needed". Sounds like they knew there was an undersized pump in there.

Payback on the premium price over a conventional washer is supposed to be 5 years. But maytag calculated that at 9 loads a week. We only do 3. So I don't think I will ever recoup my money. Though as I said in the beginning I am really grateful for the low water consumption. If I had it to do over I would buy another FL but not a neptune. I think kenmores are nice and less expensive.

PS. If you want more opinions on FL washers than you can possibly digest go to www.thathomesite.com and visit the appliance forum. Thousands of threads.

Phil

 

[blurrybill]

Phil,

In doing our research, we heard that Maytag was willing to upgrade any of the problems on the originals -- they should still be willing to do this; check it out.

Bill

 

[Boondox]

Bill -- How did the Frigidaire stack up in your comparison? Our water-guzzling Kenmore is on its last leg and we're looking for something that takes less water. Also, as unreliable as our power supply is, are all those bells and whistles on the Neptune immune to power surges, etc?

Pete

 

[blurrybill]

Peter,

We heard that the Frigidaire had a good energy star model that was a good value for the money. The thing that steered us away from it was the small capacity. We really liked the Bosch -- European design and very clean, but too small.

Don't know about energy surges, but would guess that they all are comparable in that regard. Weird if we had to treat these new expensive monsters like our computers!

Bill