What kind of front loading washer?

[mahdokht]

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[NoHiddenFees]

We have one of the bottom of the line Kenmore/Frigidares. Picked it up on sale (there's always one "on sale" at Sears) a couple years ago. After the tax credit, I think we paid something like $450 for it. Love it. I would have prefered one of the European ones with the high temperature wash (we would have been able to pick up a Bosch for about $800), but were renting a house at the time and couldn't get permission to add another 220/240V outlet for the washer. All the North American models are 110/120V.

No complaints with this model... our clothes are clean using next to no detergent (very soft water in Portland) and dd's diapers look practically brand new. It's so gentle I can even wash wool.

[momto l&a]

T Front loaders loaders love to break down when they have water in them, thus when trying to retrieve clothes one get water all over.

[cielle]

We just bought one of the Kenmore's and it's great. We'll get $100 back from NYS for buying an HE washer so it was about 550 I think. My MIL has one of the fabulous $1K neptune ones. It's really nice but out of the price range!

[MamaOui]

We have a GE and when it needed repair, it took two different people to figure out what was wrong with it. Both guys told me that they are tough to work on and expensive to fix, but I still love mine...when it is working.

[cielle]

My inlaws got rid of their GE, it broke so often. Actually, they've gotten rid of ALL their expensive GE stuff, it all broke down a lot. Their GE dishwasher ruined their hardwood kitchen floor!

[spero]

Stay away from the Staber System 2000 (a top-loading horizontal-axis washer)!

We bought one in '96 for big $$$...I loved the way it cleaned, and it used very little water; BUT it caught fire 2 years later and could have destroyed our home. When we called the company to report it, they admitted that ours was not the first to catch fire...something like 5 others had been reported. They offered to replace our machine for free; needless to say, I never want one in my house again.

[Quirky]

nakking

run a search in the diapering forum

there have been some long threads on front-loading washers

[chevy974]

IU have a maytag Neptune and LOVE IT. It uses next to no detergent and little water again i LOVE it the only complaint i had was couldnt soak diapers in it but not a big deal.

[jordmoder]

We've had a Frigidare Galleria for 4+ years now and LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! No problems whatsoever. A lot of front loaders have been merchandized in this time, so I can't compare other models - although my mom has a Kenmore and seems to like it very much.

[catcher2]

front loaders

i have a sears kennmore front loader the largest one they make .. i love it .. about a tablespoon of soap and a little softener.. i add a little borax type stuff right in the drum for really dirty stuff.... diapers and hubbys work clothes are always clean...15 gals a wash is awesome for our well...best thing ive ever bought

[blessed2bamommie]

what detergents are yall using in them

I'm in the market, right now, in my top with the apt, I use Seventh Free & Clear Liquid! Want to use an eco detergent, are there any HE ones?

[runningmomma]

We have a Maytag neptune and it is great. It is 6 years old now and has needed one repair which unfortunately was 200 + dollars, but still I am happy with it. It needs very little soap and water and does a great job. Maytag makes good quality appliances. I forget what we paid for it.

[halah]

I bought a Kenmore Elite Calypso, which is top-loading but acts like a front loader (no agitator, uses very little water + detergent). I bought it with the matching dryer at Sears outlet for half the price (came out to about 500 apiece). The first washer didn't work right but they sent out another within a day or so. If you have a Sears outlet nearby look for one that is "NEW/scratched" instead of "used/scratched" because they really don't test all of the ones that come back, no matter what they say. Having said that, our dryer was used (they're all under 30 days old) and works brilliantly.

I like the top-loading H.E.'s because you don't have problems with the door seal getting moldy (a common problem with the front loaders), and if you have a last minute item you can still throw it in even if the wash is started. The washer and dryer capacities are HUGE with no agitator to get stuck on. The clothes come out beautiful and there's lots of options for washing, even a custom program which I like to adjust for my diapers.

Anyway, I bought them because of what other people on this board told me (at the diaper forum) so you're a smart person to come looking for experienced opinions before you purchase!

p.s. I recommend getting the extended warranties with the money you save. All of the H.E.'s are a new concept of w.machine and are bound to have little problems to be worked out.

[Inwe Surion]

Gotta love the Neptune with a five year warranty for $125.00 to boot!


edited to say: That's $125 for the 5 yr warranty.

[boobear]

We just replaced our front-loader When I tried to get it repaired I was told the same about it being so difficult and time consuming that unless you have a service contract just buy a new one.

Hesitant to buy it again, I kept questioning the service guy and was told that the occurance of what we had (broken drum seal and worn out ball-bearings after 3 years!) was not common and most don't have such problems.... he suspected we ran lots of unbalanced loads (I didn't think so but no use debating it).

Also, had we had a service contract, Sears would have had to replace any floor damage as well.

Kenmore Frontloader (Frigidaire model) plus a 3 year service contract (just slightly under $1k!).

[Jazmommie]

anyone heard of the LIFES GOOD brand of front loaders?

about $900 here.
Any good ?

I have 3 other kinds to choose from but they tell me that kind is the best .

[Peppamint]

I have the $629 Kenmore and love it! We use cloth diapers and it works well for them as well. I admit to using Tide he, we can't seem to use natural detergents (hard, hard limestone water) without getting tons of build-up and stinkies. I do one wash cycle for regular clothes and two wash cycles for diapers (still uses less than one load in our old machine not counting the extra rinse!).

It works quite well and our water bill went from $50/month to $35-$40/month for a savings of $10-15/month. That's worth the $129 more we paid for it vs. the 55 gallons/load top loader they had at Sears.

[Peppamint]

Check this out for lots of helpful info: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/laundry/

[shannon0218]

I LOVE my Maytag Neptune, had it for 7 yrs, only had one problem, but it was cheap to fix and the guy didn't mention them being hard to work on, but who knows. The extra cost of the machine has been more than payed off in savings on detergent. We have VERY hard water and stil only use a half a capfull of detergent.