Suggestions on new washing machine

[me]

Any advice on what drum coating to get?

I'm single and live alone....so minimal use/stress on a washer

[me]

Id like to have the LG unit that is BOTH a washer/dryer in one machine... but cant afford it.

[me]

Agree

That's what happened to my Kenmore front loader that I bought new in 2000.

The main seal and bearing failed after 7 yrs light use. Would have had to replace the ENTIRE inner drum unit as the bearing itself can not be replaced alone. Took unit to steel scrap yard where it is now setting. Never again

[AZ Nomad]

But then you couldn't start the next load in the washer while the previous load is drying. I suppose one could always buy two of them. :-p That would also counter the inevitable reduced reliability.

[ChrisJ]

We have two front loaders (one for us, one for our tenants) - one is a Maytag Neptune and the other a Whirlpool. Both have been workhorses. The Whirlpool is roughly 9 years old and has never needed a repair (knock on wood). The Neptune is about 5 years old and has had only one repair (blew an internal fuse last summer - took the repair guy about 5 minutes to find and fix. Since he was there, he gave the rest of the machine a quick check and said it looked fine). We like the Neptune the best as it does a very good job spinning the excess water out of the clothes resulting in less time in the dryer.

Chris

[KLS]

Me, too, and we have the Frigidaire Gallery. Works great, washes a lot of clothes, and cleans the big comforters, too. In fact, I need to go check the laundry right now!

[nick]

Hello,

Thanks for everyones input on this...However the suggestions have been all over the place! I'm looking for something which won't tear my clothes. I'm sure that it was a defect in My Maytag Atlantis washing machine that was causing the problem but don't want to get a top loader unless the suggestion from the forum agrees I should give it a try. There was also suggestions on getting a Whirlpool so I'll start looking into that as well.

I'm looking into possibly getting this one:

Nick

[me]

That's the same model I've been looking at as well!

I'm single..... so don't think Id put a lot of "stress" on a washing machine so hopefully a cheap one will do OK

[larry moe 'n curly]

I just got the new Consumer Reports Buying Guide, and it ranks Fisher & Paykel next to the bottom among top loaders:

Percentage of failures for top loaders bought from 2002-2006::

Roper (by Whirlpool): 7% General Electric: 9% Frigidaire: 10% Sears Kenmore (mostly Whirlpool): 10% Whirlpool: 10% Maytag: 12% Fisher & Paykel: 15% Amana: 15% Kitchenaid: 18%

Percentage of failures for front loaders bought from 2002-2006:

Whirlpool: 9% General Electric: 10% Sears Kenmore: 10% Frigidaire: 12% Maytag: 19%

[larry moe 'n curly]

You may want to check the June 2007 Consumer Reports or their 2008 Buying Guide to see how bad some conventional top loaders have become. They rated the Whirlpool WTW 5840S(W) and similar Sears Kenmore models as being poor at getting clothes clean. OTOH the Whirlpool WTW5300Q rated average for washing, and it may be similar to the WTW5320S that you're considering.

has appliance forums where you can find out from the technicians themselves what are the best, worst, and most reliable products.

[gfretwell]

I have always been a bit skeptical about CU and their repair stats. They will take 3 machines that are clones (Roper is a Whirlpool as is Kenmore) and come up with significantly different results. I think it may be more of a commetary about the respondents than the machine. Roper buyers may have lower expectations and don't call for service when trivial things happen and Sears buyers may have jobs that get their clothes dirtier. Until you can remove factors like that, a few percent in the statistic may be well below the margin of error.

[me]

I saw that in CR as well.... strange as there should be less parts in an FP top loader so less problems?

But maybe not. Anyway it gave me pause abt buying an FP unit!!

[me]

Yep....saw that as well..... but I just cant afford a front loader even tho Id like one..... cant spend almost $1000 on one right now

So.... guess will just have to live with less clean clothes from top ,loader.

[salty]

Sounds extremely like CR fudge to me. How did they arrive at these numbers? What was the source of the data? I can remember CR rating two VCR's that were completely identical (and off the same assembly line) except for some minor cosmetics. One was rated best and one was rated worst. They even praised certain features on one and panned them on the other.

Fisher Paykel is not some "new kid on the block" except maybe in the US. They have been around for a long time, and are highly regarded worldwide.

[me]

Yep saw that in CR's Buying Guide

Strange thing tho... CR recommends the Whirlpool 5540 as an even better "cheap" top loader but I've not been able to find that model anywhere!! Is it discontinued?

Ok thanks