Washing machines - Australia

[Viviane]

Does anyone have any comments (good or bad) on front loaders? We're after one that's a reasonable size and doesn't take half the day to do a load. There's 2 adults and 1 child.

TIA.

Viviane

[Phisherman]

Front loaders are more gentle on the clothes, use less water, use low suds soap, can handle uneven loads and (generally) have larger capacities than top loaders. Front loaders are more expensive. Either type should wash a load in about an hour, although some front loaders might beat top loaders by 10 minutes. Get the largest capacity tub you can find, and wash large loads to save time and energy. However, never ever overload a washer.

[0tterbot]

i'm not the world's biggest fan of front-loaders, but i've not found them to be _slower_ than top loaders (?). each kind takes about 1/2 hour to do a load, in my experience. front loaders use less water, but then again you can now get top-loaders with all that bizarre sensing paraphenalia that use less water too - so look at them both & at the energy & water stickers for comparison.

we inherited a fisher & paykel intuitive-eco top loader recently, which is aaa-rated for water use & rates very highly for energy use too, so there you are; standard wash (which includes 2 rinses) isn't any longer than any other machine i've come across (i.e., about 1/2 hour). afaik, these are wildly expensive new (& therefore not something i'd have actually _purchased_ myself :-) but i must say, i find it rather marvellous.

it's also very gentle with clothes, which is the other argument for front loaders. it's my impression that top-loaders are slowly gaining the advantages front-loaders have traditionally had, though at some expense & via the use of computerised technology rather than physical technology (which imo means it could all go bung at any time ;-). kylie

[Sweep]

is two rinses enough? I like at least four. these top loaders. how are they integrated into a kitchen? how would they go under the worktops or are they stand alone?

[0tterbot]

lmao. i'd rather six, but what can you do ;-)

this marvellous machine doesn't do 2 ordinary rinses. it IS aaa-rated for water usage, you know!

don't ask me, mine's in the bathroom. nobody has their washing machine in the kitchen round here that i know of. (until i lived here, i always had a _laundry!_ luxury!!!)

how would they go

you want a front-loader to go under a bench top. a top-loader needs to be close to a sink (preferably with a dedicated hose hole) for the water that comes out to go into, & needs to be fairly close to taps with screw attachments (but i'm sure this all applies to front-loaders too). as you load from the top, you can't have anything too close above it. (are you serious?!) kylie

[Sweep]

mine does 3 minimum and there's an extra rinse button. sometimes I turn the dial back and rinse more.

i'm not sure what that means

sounds as though the plumbing is the same. I'd like my machine out of the kitchen. when houses are built here that's the intended place, next to the sink in the kitchen. it's rare to see it anywhere else unless it's a fancy house. If it was a top loader I guess dirt and dust would get down the back and make extra work unless there was a top cover of some sort.

[0tterbot]

oh! i thought you were joking cos 2 seemed excessive, or something :-)

it means it doesn't use too much water (hence it gets a triple-a rating). i realise in blighty this is probably the least of your concerns, but it's important here. :-)

i don't blame you. (!) anyway, you could do this easily - put it anywhere there's 2 taps you can alter to the screw kind, an electrical outlet & a sink.

when houses are built here that's the intended place, next to the

not really. most of them aren't very heavy these days, & many have rear wheels to move them with. at the end of the day, if you can't see all the fluff underneath, you don't worry too much (like a fridge). if you are worried, you move it & clean underneath. kylie

[Sweep]

For me that is the kitchen. it's against regs to have electrical outlets in the bathroom except shaver so that's out. cloakroom is too small. I need a new place to live

I found when i had free standing appliances that the backs and sides ,not the floor, got dusty and greasy and full of bits and i was always pulling out and cleaning. now I never clean there because no dust/dirt can get down and it looks better from the side, no wires and elements showing.