Score one for top loading washers

[Tony]

Yes I know. On my old washer I adjusted the load size sensor so it filled as high as it could without overflowing (it takes one overflow to learn the limit). All three load sizes then used more water but I very seldom did small loads. On my current washer that adjustment doesn't work as well, so if doing a load larger then it is supposed to handle, I'll hold the "load size" knob between medium and super and let it fill as high as it can without overflowing. Again, it takes on overflow to know it's limit. Has always worked great for me.

[Jules]

Yeah, top-loaders will always be cheaper - but I've seen a lot of front-loaders for sale at the $800-$1000 mark even though they run to the equivalent of $400-$600 in other countries. I don't know if US manufacturers are trying to do the right thing and build US ones locally and hence there are high start-up costs, or if they're building 'em all in China nad puttting a high mark-up on the tag because people are prepared to pay it.

Either way I think they'll drop a few hundred bucks in the next few years as they become more accepted here.

I can imagine.

That's one braindead thing I've found about most front-loaders; they don't let you choose* which side you want the door hinges on - and the drier and washer hinges are usually on the same side for a given set by the same manufacturer, so there's always a door getting in the way when you just want to transfer clothes across.

• either at ordering time, or just by drilling the necessary mount points for either so that a repairman or DIYer could order any necessary release cables etc. and do the job "in the field".

[Existential Angst]

Consumers Reports reviewed front loaders a while back. iirc, Frigidaire was top rated, at about half the price of kenmore, LG, etc.

Front loaders, compared to traditional top loaders, are extraordinary money/resource savers, from every point of view -- seals notwithstanding. I overpaid for a Miele, and thought it was defective, it uses so little water -- I'd be surprised if it used 5 gal. A top-loader can use 80 gal, and flood out septic systems. I didn't find out about CR's Frigidaire review until after I bought the Miele.... of course.

A major part of the FL economy, as someone alluded to, is the spin cycle, which leaves the clothes near-dry, drastically reducing the drying time --

1/2 to 1/4 -- which is the major consumption of raw energy in the laundering process.

[Existential Angst]

"Panic Prose" -- a keeper!!

Who originated that phrase?

"Panic Narrative"?? All these cop/chase/rescue videos, where every effing moment verges on catastrophe -- effing Stacy Keach's new vocation, apparently, after jail/coke rehab.

Really, so tedious after a while.

[salty]

>

Sorry to keep repeating this, but the Fisher & Paykel top loader, just like a FL, uses far less water than other top loaders, has far fewer moving parts, uses half as much soap, doesn't require special soap like a FL, Has the high speed spin cycle just like a FL and costs HALF as much as a typical FL. I paid just over $600 for mine.

The Fisher & Paykel is also very "smart" about how much water to use and even how to use exactly as little hot water as possible without hindering the washing quality.

Typical top loaders use between 30 and 40 gallons of water per wash, not 80, and your Miele, uses about 15, not 5.

[DerbyDad03]

Not that it matters, but my question wasn't for you...it was for Jim who claimed his front loader did smaller loads than his top loader.

Anyway, my washer is next to my utility sink. I keep a 4' length of garden hose with a spray nozzle near the sink for washing coolers, the dogs, etc.

When we had a top loader and I wanted to overfill it, I just ran more water into it from the hose. Yes, I had to be there for the rinse cycle also, but that was rarely an issue.

P.S. The short garden hose also goes camping with us. You can fill the

5 gallon water containers while they're on the ground instead of trying to hold them up under the gushing output of the campground spigots.

[DerbyDad03]

re: ""Panic Prose" -- a keeper!! Who originated that phrase?"

As far as I know, it was me.

At least I can say that I've never heard it before so if somebody has used it before me, I didn't willfully steal it.

[Jules]

Heck, that one triggered a memory of doing that at campsites when I was aged around 7 or 8. Good tip, as it was a right pain in the butt (I used to return with as much water on me as I got in the container I think :-)

[Jules]

I start to suspect that the guy who wrote it was paid a handsome amount for writing exactly what he did, to be honest.

The gaskets seem to run to about $100, so maybe he'll learn to do it himself and then he can do it three times as often.

[DerbyDad03]

You could carry 5 gallons of water when you were 7?

Were you the school yard bully or the protector of all things meeker?

[Jules]

Yeah, just, with both hands...

These were Imperial (not US) gallons, so 50 pounds, which was about the same as a standard sack of potatoes, and we used to be able to move them around on the farm (just for the sake of trying, not because we were told to - funny the crap you see adults doing and try and emulate as a kid)

I'd never really thought about it being anything special before. Maybe it was just one of those mind over matter things... :-)

No, I was usually the one bending the rules, or getting in trouble when I got found out ;-)

Y'know I think I only ever got in a real fight once, and we both came out about even. Other than that, never got myself beaten up and never did any beating up either...

cheers

Jules

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

My old one was a Whirlpool LSR7133KQO. My frontloader is a Frigidaire 6000 or 7000 series. I can't get to the washer- and though I have an ownersguide, a repair manual, an operating manual, and 3 other pdf's on my computer- the best I can do on a model is "6000 &

7000".

My comparison of load size is because I do the 'dump and wash'. The old washer could take my entire large hamper in a single gulp. I have to drag all the clothes up out of the hamper and into the door of the front loader. If the hamper is more than 3/4 full I can't cram all those clothes in there no matter what I do.

They both take up the same space- Actually the front loader takes up more because I put it on a pedestal to try to save some back-aches.

If I was a little more agile I'd stomp the clothes down-- trust me, I fill it.

Jim

[DerbyDad03]

I have a Frigidaire GLTF2940ES, 3.5 cu ft capacity. It's my understanding that that's a true 3.5 cu ft since there is no agitator, as opposed to a 3.5 top loader where the agitator volume is not subtracted from the capacity specs.

But that doesn't address my comment. Unless you are doing 2 - 3 times the number of loads as before you have to be saving water since each load uses 1/3 to 1/2 less.

In fact, since you said earlier "If the hamper is more than 3/4 full..." which means that you're doing roughly 4 loads for every 3 that you used to do. At 1/3 to 1/2 the water savings per load, you are definitely saving water.

Now that's a sight I'd like to see! :-)