Is there such a thing out there as a very basic washing machine?
Variable heat and two spin speeds - simples!
An elderly relative needs a new one and they all look like Spock's control panel ... There's just got to be a bog standard one out there.
Many thanks,
Neil
We've got one of those super, does everything ones. It is however dead easy to use, as almost everything these days can be washed on the one setting, so press one button twice and then start. We rarely use the other settings.
SteveW
Thanks Steve. Something simple to use is what I'm looking for. Could you give me that make and model of that one please.
Many thanks Neil
Argos
ProAction A105Q Washing Machine
1 rotary knob and 3 buttons
Many can be left set to the same prog and simply switched on and off. That's pretty well what I do with mine all the time.
Well if there is I've not seen one but the turn knowb panasonics seem pretty simple to me. the buttons can be safely ignored bar one as that switches it on!
Brian
I've got a Bosch Classix 1200 express machine, with one rotary knob to change the program, one to change the spin speed, and three buttons, one to start, one to extend the rinse time, and the final one to extend the wash time. It's got a 1200rpm spin, too, so stuff somes out almost dry.
I don't think they come much simpler nowadays, and it does a good job, too.
Sure, the machine is not at all simple, it's a Hotpoint Ultima (I can't remember the exact model, probably a WM71 1600) and it's actually pretty complex (LED display, loads of pushbuttons, etc.).
For just about everything though, you just chuck it in, press the Acrylics button twice (the first press wakes the display from sleep) and the seconds selects the program (subsequent presses alter the temperature if you really want to) then press start - with modern, low temperature detergents, that's fine for most stuff.
The spin speed can be cycled through its options with a separate spin button before starting.
They look very complex (and are), but accessing basic washing programmes is simpler (one dedicated button for each) than the old-fashioned rotary selectors where you have to get the number or letter and colour right. Most of the other complex machines are probably as easy if you don't bother using all the bells and whistles.
We mainly use just the Acrylics wash or the Fast wash and rarely use the other options.
SteveW
Eric - thanks for that. Looks just ideal for her.
Thanks to all who answered. At the moment the ProAction A105Q looks appealing. Anybody know how reliable or not they are (as if any are these days).
Neil
Best avoided. Hotpoint was a good brand once, now its bottom end with dressing.
NT
This has been fine with large quantities of washing (3 kids) for a number of years now - unlike the Hoover that went faulty, boiled the water and melted the soap drawer the second time it was used!
SteveW
But things have moved on since you bought it...Hotpoint are now rubbish.
Two Zanussi washing machines over the last forty years. Only got the second one because I got tired replacing the Perspex catch on the first one every five years.
Really? Its name has always been synonymous with "unreliable s**te" as far as I can recall. Of course my memory of white goods only goes back to the
1960s, so perhaps you were talking about an earlier decade?Where it has always been.
+1
The old "numbers in a bucket" with at least two different "standards" for the numbers between machines and wash labels was awful. Yes, this machine has lot's of buttons but you just push the button coresponding to what you've just shoved in it...
Also have a Hotpoint Ultima something. It works, a number of years old now, still works.
The most basic washing machine I have ever used is a small screw top barrel with no buttons knobs or dials, no electricity either. Just fill with water, soap powder and clothes, then strap to roof rack of Land Rover and drive over rough African tracks for a few hours. I'm told other country's rough tracks work just as well.
Mike
Sounds extremely fuel inefficient.
Also the rinse and spin cycle could be slightly problematic
Not if you're going that way anyway...
Combine the shopping trip to the nearest town and the laundry.
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