Best washer and dryer?

[Pariah]

What are some really energy efficient washers and dryers? I think our dryer is about to go, so we should probably start planning on getting a new one in the near future. I'm sure good dryers can get super expensive, but I don't have any experience in this area (our current, first set were purchased on craigslist).

Thanks!

[vm9799]

we have the Bosch Nexxt 500 series front load washer & dryer set and we LOVE LOVE LOVE them! we've had them about 1.5 years now and i don't have enough good things to say about them. they were pricey, but we did a bunch of research online and printed out the best price we could find, took it into lowes and they matched it with an additional 10% off! so it was an even better deal! we also got the pedestals as well.

you can find a bunch of info on them at: http://www.boschappliances.com/appli...ers_Nexxt.html

[alysmommy2004]

We have the LG Tromm. We went with the larger machine, but not the one with the steam capability. I LOVE the washer!!! I only like the dryer. The washer is excellent, I swear our clothes are coming out cleaner, it uses very little detergent. The only thing is that it takes a little longer to run a load than a top loader does. Now I don't mind, but at first it took a little getting used to. I have mixed feelings on the dryer. It has sensors to tell if the clothes are dry before time is up and end the cycle early. The only problem is that sometimes a particular item of clothing will dry faster than the rest of the load and it will stop. We really only have the problem with synthetics. If you choose to dry by time it will run the full cycle. Oh, and we did get the pedestals and I'm soooo glad we did. I was going to skip them b/c I was being cheap, but DH insisted (and he never does laundry!) and I am sooo grateful. I didn't realize how lucky I was until I used a top loader on vacation and it killed my back lifting cold, wet, heavy clothes up and out of it and then bending down to put them in a dryer.

[gibas23]

I have a maytag ones and kind of meh about them.

we have been hearing our friends and neighbors raving about the Bosch ones, so we may go with that ones when it's time to replace ours.

[Pariah]

Thanks!

[Salema]

Whirlpool Duet!

We have the Whirlpool Duet, they were a wedding gift 5+ years ago and I still LOVE THEM!!! I cloth diapered my son with them, the washer has a sanitary cycle with a hot water booster (so your regular water heater doesn't have to be set too high).

I love them! The washer is a front loader with a huge opening, so it's no trouble to get twisted clothes/sheets out. Both washer and dryer are high capacity, so very large.

But the washer has a sensor and only uses as much water as the load needs, so I never worry about using more water or detergent than I need. And it uses so little detergent! I use less than 1/2 of a regular Tide scoop (it ends up being about 1/4 cup). And when I have better detergent, such as Country Save, I only use 1/8 cup detergent for each large load (think queen sheets plus twin sheets plus an armful of clothes!)

I LOVE THEM! I should be a sales rep for them (but I'm not!)

edited to add: I also have the pedestals/drawers that go under the washer and dryer and really, really, really like having the washer and dryer a little higher up. I also like that I can keep my detergent, oxyclean, borax, vinegar, etc in the drawers, so the stuff is easy to reach and out of sight!

[loralieva]

I have the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer and hate them.

The washer tears up clothes if you use the fastest spin or if you have items of different weights in the same load. Plus the gasket gets moldy, even though I always leave the door open.

We've had the repair people out here many times and they just say we must be overloading it. So now I'm doing teeny loads to avoid losing clothes. We bought this set since we have a septic and wanted to save water - but it has been a complete waste of money.

[lithigin]

We have the Bosch/Siemens (same thing) front loader set. LOVE them; paid $800-$900 each at Best Buy in 2004; one was open-box, so we got a discount. They do take a lot longer, like an hour or so to wash. However, you can easily fit a full king set of sheets & duvet cover plus a load of clothes. As long as it crams in, it will get good and clean. No lightly loaded top-loader! DH is a soldier, so we can put dirty nasty field gear in there and it still gets al lclean.

My only trouble is that for cloth dipes, a cold rinse takes 39 minutes. And if I have to strip them, it's a cold rinse (39 mins), a hot wash (1:03) and then another wash with Dawn + bleach (50 mins). Then air dry my BumGenius covers; I have to plan ahead or do them at night so they're all ready for the morning.

[Summerset]

Green washer/dryer

We have a full bathroom large enough to accommodate our washing machine. Many times we bucket our used bath water to use in the washer. Then, when the laundry cycle is complete, the wash water (gray water) is piped to a barrel in the back yard where we keep a hose which siphons the barrel and waters our 3 large gardens and our backyard orchard. We only use homemade and/or nontoxic shampoo, soap and laundry soap.

In the summer I hang dry my laundry on a looong 4 line clothes line in the back yard. In the winter I hang dry my laundry on (up to 3) drying racks inside the house, placed wherever I have room. http://www.lehmans.com (search floor dryers) Each drying rack holds a full load of laundry. They are heavy duty.

We reuse our gray water, eliminate positive ion hazards from the dryer, use no dryer electricity, use sun/air to dry laundry.

I have two manual wash tubs with wringers for when we don't use the wash machine.
Summerset<><
Love living green

[LeslieintheKeys]

We have the GE energy-star front-loader washing machine and dryer and love them. Less water and less detergent used. We use cloth diapers so at first I couldn't figure out how to easily get the dirty diapers into the front-loading washing machine. We solved our problem with putting the diapers into a mesh bag in the diaper pail. I pull out the mesh bag and throw it all into the washing machine. Works great!

[sunma]

washer for cloth diapers

Some cloth diapers tell you not to use the sanitize cycle, but I think if I had one, I would have used it. I had a really hard time with our duet front loader (not the one with the sanitize cycle) washing cloth diapers. I wonder what other people think. We live in the desert, so low water makes sense for us, but I sometimes had to run it 8 times (and the cycles are NOT short) to get diapers clean - wasn't overloading it, used a soak cycle, etc. I'd be curious to know what people thought about cloth diapers and front loaders (even though we've been done with diapers for a while).

[glowan1]

Has any tried the all-in-one units? They wash and then dry in the same machine.

[alysmommy2004]

Originally Posted by sunma

Some cloth diapers tell you not to use the sanitize cycle, but I think if I had one, I would have used it. I had a really hard time with our duet front loader (not the one with the sanitize cycle) washing cloth diapers. I wonder what other people think. We live in the desert, so low water makes sense for us, but I sometimes had to run it 8 times (and the cycles are NOT short) to get diapers clean - wasn't overloading it, used a soak cycle, etc. I'd be curious to know what people thought about cloth diapers and front loaders (even though we've been done with diapers for a while).

I use the sanitize cycle. : I was washing in hot and then having to do an extra rinse and I still had bubbles so I added a second rinse and that didn't solve the problem. So I threw my dipes in on sanitize and all that hot water really got them rinsed well. So I tried to go back to doing hot, thinking I'd just do the sanitize cycle every few washes, but that didn't work either. The best thing that has worked for me has been to just run the santize cycle and then I don't need to do any extra rinsing. So far, so good.