Front loader vs. top loader wash machine

[NAB]

Frigidaire here. Have heard good things about Samsung and GE.

I have a G.E set and have had them repaired already and only had them a year. It is the low end one though but it shouldn't make a difference. Both dryer and washer....had to replace the whole board in the dryer.

I find too that it does not drain all the time and have to do an extra drain, especially when I am doing towels because it goes off balance all the time. Had a new motor put in because of this but it still does it once and while.

I agree I hate it takes forever to do a load. What took me the morning to wash now takes me all day it seems. Plus mine you can't open the door after it starts and that is when I find something else that should have went in.

Plus I find it does not get my whites as white because it doesn't take much bleach because there isn't much water. So my socks and dish clothes don't look white anymore.

 

[doxdogy]

I have the LG front loader and I am very happy with the washer. No mold issues and I do not have to run through an extra rinse cycle due to detergent residue. I have noticed that the clothes do come cleaner then my old Sears top loader. I do leave the door opened and wipe down the rubber molding after each time it is used.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Would you be able to give more details on which model LG you have???
Do you notice too much vibration or 'walking'?
Is it fairly quiet?

Thanks!

 

[Wishing on a star]

I just found an interesting site that rates the water and energy usage of these front load washers. The least energy is the HIGHEST energy rating... The least water used is the LOWER 'water factor'.

It is a PDF file, from the CEE (Consortium of Energy Efficiency)

Here is the link:

www.cee1.org/resid/seha/rwsh/rwsh-prod.pdf

And, yes, according to their information, the Bosch washers I am looking at, the new VISION line, use the least water.
Maybe I should measure detergent by the teaspoons?????

I guess it is up to other factors to choose between the Bosch, Samsung, Electrolux...

I need to look closer at the LG models.

 

[ZPT1022]

DO NOT BUY A GE WASHER!

We bought a nice, relatively high end (over $1000 for just the washer) GE washer. About a year after purchasing, it no longer worked. Had a service call and the guy said it's beyond repair. I have a family of five to do laundry for, 4 beds, three kids, my clothes, DH's clothes, DH's work clothes, etc.... and I was stuck at the laundromat for over three months while I argued with GE to get it replaced. THey kept sending the same guy who kept saying it couldn't be fixed. They sent parts, but it still was not able to be fixed. I kid you not when I say that my entire laundry room/downstairs bathroom was filled with parts. So I was down a bathroom, no washer, and spending $70 + per week at the laundromat before they FINALLY replaced it.

We've had the new one (with no warranty now, they consider my five year extended warranty that I paid for to not transfer to the new one) for less than a year and it seems to be giving me crap already. I can't wash anything heavy without it going all crazy. I can't have a washer that doesn't do towels, and it doesn't seem to matter - I do a small load- problems, I do a medium load- problems, I do a large load- problems. It just cannot handle heavy fabrics.

I hate this thing so much right now, I feel like I have to babysit my washer and always be around it in case it goes wacky and I have to run in and stop it and reset it.

And yes, like others have mentioned, it takes FOREVER. I didn't mind so much at first because it took longer but it held a lot more than my prior washer, but it just randomly adds more time to the cycle so the cycle may initially be set to take an hour but wind up taking an hour and a half, which I find annoying.


I have no idea what I'm going to buy when this thing dies (sooner, rather than later if my prediction is accurate) but it will not be a GE and it likely will not be a front loader. I'm really angry that I bought a $1000 washer and paid an extra $100 to extend the warranty and in less than two years of ownership I've been without one for over three months and will probably soon be without one personally. I feel like I threw my money away, and so much for paying more to get better quality.


FWIW, I haven't had the mold problem but I leave the door open when the machine is not in use

 

[nexttrip4us]

We just got our front loaders after having our same Amana top loading set for 16 years without ever having a problem...but with our family size I wanted something bigger and more efficient. Amana does make a front loader, which gets awesome reviews which I was all ready to buy (great price too), however it is 3.5 cu feet...our old top loader was about 3.0 usable cu feet. So..after much research (and crossing our fingers!) we bought a higher-end Whirlpool (did not read good things about the Whirlpool Sport Duets)...so far, so good. It's been about a month. No mold/stinky problems, but we do leave the washer door ajar and the little soap drawer. No need for extra rinsing, but we use, at most 2 tablespoons of soap. Avg wash cycle is around 50 minutes and dry time is about 40. I dry my clothes on LOW temperature though so that affects the dry time.

Overall, very happy we upgraded to the big 4.4 cu foot model. We did buy the extended warranty...looking at these things, there are just a lot of points of failure. And now I'm hooked--with 6 people, i can do a lot of laundry in less time, that comes out dry and ready to be folded and put away. Life is good!

HTH!

 

[NAB]

DO NOT BUY A GE WASHER!

We bought a nice, relatively high end (over $1000 for just the washer) GE washer. About a year after purchasing, it no longer worked. Had a service call and the guy said it's beyond repair. I have a family of five to do laundry for, 4 beds, three kids, my clothes, DH's clothes, DH's work clothes, etc.... and I was stuck at the laundromat for over three months while I argued with GE to get it replaced. THey kept sending the same guy who kept saying it couldn't be fixed. They sent parts, but it still was not able to be fixed. I kid you not when I say that my entire laundry room/downstairs bathroom was filled with parts. So I was down a bathroom, no washer, and spending $70 + per week at the laundromat before they FINALLY replaced it.

We've had the new one (with no warranty now, they consider my five year extended warranty that I paid for to not transfer to the new one) for less than a year and it seems to be giving me crap already. I can't wash anything heavy without it going all crazy. I can't have a washer that doesn't do towels, and it doesn't seem to matter - I do a small load- problems, I do a medium load- problems, I do a large load- problems. It just cannot handle heavy fabrics.

I hate this thing so much right now, I feel like I have to babysit my washer and always be around it in case it goes wacky and I have to run in and stop it and reset it.

And yes, like others have mentioned, it takes FOREVER. I didn't mind so much at first because it took longer but it held a lot more than my prior washer, but it just randomly adds more time to the cycle so the cycle may initially be set to take an hour but wind up taking an hour and a half, which I find annoying.


I have no idea what I'm going to buy when this thing dies (sooner, rather than later if my prediction is accurate) but it will not be a GE and it likely will not be a front loader. I'm really angry that I bought a $1000 washer and paid an extra $100 to extend the warranty and in less than two years of ownership I've been without one for over three months and will probably soon be without one personally. I feel like I threw my money away, and so much for paying more to get better quality.


FWIW, I haven't had the mold problem but I leave the door open when the machine is not in use

My next set will not be a front loader either. I hate waiting for the loads to be done...especially if I want to hang it out to dry.

Wish I would have read your post last summer.....I have the same problems. They pretty well changed everything in my set too but the problems started two months after I bought it.

 

[Bluestars]

We have a Kenmore HE3t Elite front loader and I will never go back to a top loader again. There is just no comparison. It is superior to our previous top loader in every way.

I use regular detergent and have never had a problem with mold or suds. I am able to wash more clothes and they spin out dryer than my top loader. We also have the same brand dryer.

 

[ms.yt]

Granted we haven't had our front loader very long, but I absolutely love it! We got a Samsung set. I don't have any issues with it whatsoever. The amount of time is the same or maybe even less than our old top loading washer. A big thumbs up from me!

 

[mrodgers]

We have had the LG by Tromm for the past 6 years, a front loader----and are THRILLED that the drain pump has gone out and we can replace it with a top loader! Followed all the instructions over the years---leave the door open, wipe out the seal, unload the wet clothes right away--and the moldy smell still gets in there. Have used the HE detergent, followed the manuacturer's instructions for getting out the smell---still had problems. Happy to be going back to an old-fashioned top loader this week!

My wife threw a load in the 8 year old front loader washer on Saturday before leaving for work. About 2 and a half hours later (that's how long it takes in our front loader) we hear a big bang, and then it sounded like the house was shaking apart. It literally sounded like a helicopter landing in our living room (washer and dryer is down in the basement.)

The brace inside the drum that holds all the bearings and shaft broke. Should be pretty simple, I have it all tore apart on the floor. It's a simple aluminum brace bolted to the inner drum. Simple you would think. I can't buy the aluminum brace separately. I have to buy the whole inner stainless steel drum with the brace mounted for $270. On top of that, the brace also smashed out a large 4-5 inch hole in the outer drum, so that needs replaced. That is $200. So $470 plus a $20-30 gasket to fix the washer.

For that price, we can buy a whole new washer. So that's what I was doing after work, looking at washers. We are going with a top load. We are tired of wearing stinky clothes. Our clothes come out of the front load washer smellier than they went in.

Old front loader used 2.7 gallon of water. Wifey wanted that because we are on a well. We've had stinky clothes for 8 years. New top load uses 30 gallon of water. You can't wash clothes and expect them to be clean in 2.7 gallons of water.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The only other complaint I have heard for a front loader--is the ability to do a long soak in the washing machine (I.e. say you were oxycleaning something exceptionally filthy.)

I have a top loader with a modified agitator--not sure what it is called. Maybe no-agitator? I HATE it. Things are constantly getting tangled in the thing a ma bob in the middle. So anything that is thin--or has strings...I end up with a lovely mess to untangle before I can remove it from teh machine. I have yet to figure out why this happens but it is very much annoying when it does.

It is a Kenmore Elite and says oasis on it--has a see through lid.

The rest of the features are great--but that one flaw just really kills it for me on this washing machine.

 

[SaraJayne]

I'm shocked that loads in the washers are taking over two hours! That's crazy!

Depending on what setting I have my washer on, the longest cycle is 52 mins.

 

[ZPT1022]

I'm shocked that loads in the washers are taking over two hours! That's crazy!

Depending on what setting I have my washer on, the longest cycle is 52 mins.

The absolute shortest cycle on mine is 40 minutes, more if it is heavily soiled and more if you want an extra rinse or prewash. 40 minutes is shortest, 3 hours is the longest (stain wash with an extra rinse)

 

[Bluestars]

Mine has several options:
Express - 30 minutes
Delicates - 35 minutes
Regular - 50 minutes
Heavy Duty - 120 minutes
Whitest Whites - 130 minutes
Sanitary - 2 hours

I almost always use the regular cycle. If I need to wash something in a hurry, I use the express.

 

[doxdogy]

I have the LG WM2016CW, doesn't have many bells and whistles. We have no problems with it walking across the floor or any vibration. It is quiet, and has a beep when it is finished. When it was delivered, DH said they did a good job of installing the machine. It does have the technology, where it actually determines the size of the load. Another advantage is that there is no belt, it is direct driven. Here is the link below:

http://www.lge.com/us/appliances/washers/LG-WM2016CW.jsp

Would you be able to give more details on which model LG you have???
Do you notice too much vibration or 'walking'?
Is it fairly quiet?

Thanks!

 

[deva]

Looks like I am in the minority on this thread, but I have a top loader, Maytag Bravos, that I love.

Although a top loader, it is an HE machine. It has no agitator so the drum is huge. I have kids and did not want to have to leave the door ajar. Also, I did not want to spend money on the risers (a must with front loaders). Finally I wanted to be able to add things during a wash without worrying about water/suds coming out.

I would definitely get the extended warrantly with an HE machine. The cost of one repair will likely make it worth it.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Adore, adore my Electrolux front loaders. They are fabulous in every way. My normal wash loads are finished in 40 minutes. Same as the dry time. I can do extra soak times for heavily soiled items. I can do pre-soaks. It was worth every dime.

For the record, I had mold issues with my Whirlpool top loader that we just replaced. I could not get the nasty smell out of that thing and it was only 7 years old!

 

[clh2]

Looks like I am in the minority on this thread, but I have a top loader, Maytag Bravos, that I love.

Although a top loader, it is an HE machine. It has no agitator so the drum is huge. I have kids and did not want to have to leave the door ajar. Also, I did not want to spend money on the risers (a must with front loaders). Finally I wanted to be able to add things during a wash without worrying about water/suds coming out.

I would definitely get the extended warrantly with an HE machine. The cost of one repair will likely make it worth it.

We also have a top-loading Maytag HE...but not a Bravos...so I'm thinking mine is older than yours. Ours is 5 years old...and still working great. I really like ours. We have a well and septic at our house, so anything we can do to help conserve our water and waste is great!

My favorite feature on this washer is the "delay start". We probably use this feature 2 or 3 times per week. I can toss in a load on Friday or Saturday night, delay start it so the wash is done right about when our dog gets up in the morning.

 

[Sabeking]

Wow; I didn't know this would be a popular topic but I really appreciate all the feedback! The big thing that I seem to have gotten from this is that if you get the front loader it is best to leave the door open to avoid the "smell." Unfortunately my laundry room is not a room but a closet in the upstairs hall; so I think leaving the door open would be impossible. The way my kids move down the hall they would take the door off in in one swoop I have heard good things about the Maytag Bravo (top loader) that somebody mentioned and that may be the route I'll take. Does anyone know if the Maytag Bravo is noisy??

 

[Sabeking]

Looks like I am in the minority on this thread, but I have a top loader, Maytag Bravos, that I love.

Although a top loader, it is an HE machine. It has no agitator so the drum is huge. I have kids and did not want to have to leave the door ajar. Also, I did not want to spend money on the risers (a must with front loaders). Finally I wanted to be able to add things during a wash without worrying about water/suds coming out.

I would definitely get the extended warrantly with an HE machine. The cost of one repair will likely make it worth it.

Is it noisy or does it vibrate a lot?