Washer recommendations

[TheHealingRoomChir]

I am in the market for a new washer (and dryer) My 20 year old Kenmore is on it's last leg! So, wondering if anyone had any input? I was thinking about another Kenmore and am looking at both front loaders and top loaders, preferable a High efficiency. I would appreciate any input. (And if this isn't the best place for this, please let me know!)

Thanks!
Carolin

[smudge]

LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kenmore He2t. It is a FL machine and it rocks! Does a great job on my dipes and all the other laundry as well, and you can really load that puppy! It spins the clothes so fast they come out of the machine practically dry. Here is a BIG vote for a high efficiency FL machine!!!
Good Luck in your search!

[TheHealingRoomChir]

Thanks so much for your input! Anyone else have any feedback?

BTW, I currently use a wet pail for dipes... are you doing that? I'm wondering about dumpability (is that a word?!)

[rebeccalizzie]

I just got a Kenmore front loader and I really love it. However, the one big drawback is dipes--I can't dump the dipes into the washer anymore. I dry pail, and I have to pull the dipes out of the pail and load them into the washer. There is no way I could do it (IMO) if I used a wet pail.

I agree with the pp though--instead of needing two drying cycles, I only need one for my dipes, there is less lint in the dryer lint thing because the washer is easier on my clothes, and I'm using half the detergent for a load that is a third bigger (I use Charlies, which is safe for FL machines). I also love the energy efficiency, and since my drying times are decreased and I can do larger loads, that makes it even more efficient.

[smudge]

I don't wet pail, I use a dry pail/pail liner system. On wash day I can take the liner out of the pail, put the opening in the FL and then just turn the whole thing inside out so that the dipes are now in the washer and the liner is inside out (hope that makes sense). That seems to work well, and I try and do dipes every other day.

[oneKnight]

I highly recomend the HE front-loaders! I got so spoiled using my mom's!
You can use less detergent and they spin better so the clothes come out already drier, plus you can cram a LOT in there!

[nicandboys]

I have a Kenmore He4t, I have 4 kids and wanted to be able to run bigger loads. After about 15 mos of owning it, we started getting a ton of error code messages, first, one indicating there was a door lock error. So dh replaced the door lock. Then we were getting curcuit failure mesages, it would only work sometimes, we never knew when it would start and when it wouldn't. Quite frusturating when you have a potty training toddler and another kid who is a bed wetter.

So finally dh replaced the curcuit board and now it works great. But it was irritating to go through all of that after spending so much on a washing machine in the first place. When we were having problems, I did some internet research and found that the curcuit board failure was common and seemed to happen after about a year and a half of ownership.

[oneKnight]

I can't recall what brand mom's is, but we did have a problem with the ball bearings in the spinning parts - turned out that it was a design problem and had been recalled and re-designed so we got a new washer for free. Other than that there haven't been any problems.