Front Loading Washers?

[Two Fister]

We're upgrading the washer/dryer to a front loaders. Anybody have any feedback (good, bad, ugly) on brands, what features are nice to have and what features are unnecessary. It needs to be able to handle lots of very dirty clothing generated by 5 and 7 year old boys whose favorite past time is digging bunkers and a dad that spends about as much time getting dirty as well. I'm leaning toward a Whirlpool Duet because it has a big capacity, enough features to get things clean, and a top rating from Consumer Reports.

And no, it's not going to be my wife's christmas present....

TF

[Rock Hopper]

We've had our GE set bought at Sears for nearly 2 years now. Works well. Seems to hold more clothes which is nice.

[chummer]

We have a 9 year old set of Maytag Neptune series frontload washer and dryer. They carry a High efficency rating and gave us a $200 Oregon tax write-off when we bought them. Have never had any problems with ours. Hope this does'nt jinx me

[trap50]

We have a Samsung from Lowes. It's great how much water come out of the clothes during the hig speed spin. the only bad thing is sometimes it take a little to get the load balance so it will spin.

[Boats]

I have the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer.
(Top of the line a few years ago).
No problem and well worth the money. They sip just enough water to wash cloths and the spin cycle is incredible. Not sure how many RPM, but it's really fast. I can put in a full load of thick terry cloth towels and they come out of the washer almost dry!! Made me wonder why I bought the dryer.

What's more.. there is no control for load size. It automatically knows just how much water and soap to use. It also has a ultra hot water cycle for sanitizing cloths. It takes your regular hot water and super heats it.

They have saved me on the water and electric bill.

I would make the purchase again in a second.

[anglingaddict]

I bought our first new set when we got our house in '97 and it was a Frigidaire front loader set from Sears (Frigidaire has now been "consolidated" into Kenmore). We are just now having our first problem and I'm guessing it is going to be minor. The dryer squeals like crazy when you first start it until it warms up. Other than that there hasn't been anything wrong at all and they have handled our family of 8 wonderfully! :Christmas:
I know my wife wouldn't go back to the top loaders now if you paid her to!

[STGRule]

I LOVE how quiet they are. You can kinda hear the jet engine when in the spin cycle, but it is a quiet jet engine. I don't even have to close the laundry room door.

[luckyr]

Bought a LG two years ago. At first it leaked called store they said "Call repairman". I looked underneath and the drain hose was crimped under clamp reclamped and have had no toubles since. I thought my old style machine cleaned better.

[weekender]

Happy owners of the Magtag Neptune series. They've been great and ditto on the hoping this isnt a jinx.

[nobrownline]

Why does a bride wear white? Cause you want your clothes washer to match the rest of your appliances. Just a little levity

[trollin4trout]

Whirlpool front loader last year- it's great! Hi capacity- could never do a sleeping bag or bed comforter in the top loader with that center post in the way. It's quiet and yes the spin cycle nearly dries the clothes!

As far as features- they don't seem to make a panel of "simple" controls- they all have a million buttons/features and you couldn't buy one without them. Luckily for me- I select a "normal" load setting and push start- nothing like me stting up a VCR to record a program(3 hours)it's easy to operate.

[WoundedTuna]

Originally Posted by luckyr

Bought a LG two years ago. At first it leaked called store they said "Call repairman". I looked underneath and the drain hose was crimped under clamp reclamped and have had no toubles since. I thought my old style machine cleaned better.

I recently bought an LG set. The drain hose is nice because all of the big dirt chunks get caught there instead of staying with the clothes, but you do have to check it once in awhile. I like my set alot. The use very little water and also get you the rebates and tax cut.

Although LG is fairly new here, they have been making washers and dryers in Europe for a long time, 50+ years. Very reliable and well made product.

[Lured In]

We have the LG Tromm series (washer and dryer), its been about 2 years now and my wife loves them. No issues with any leaks or other problems. We liked them so much we bought an LG diswasher and have been equally pleased with it.

[pdxkevin]

Originally Posted by chummer

We have a 9 year old set of Maytag Neptune series frontload washer and dryer...

We bought a pair back +5 years ago now. The only thing we have had to change was one door 'O' ring/gasket.. and that was this last summer.

We love them as they really get the close clean with minimal soap needed. They only thing I would warn you about is not to put anything on top of the drier. They spin at such a high speed that things tend to walk off the top and fall to the floor when your drying a large load of jeans.

I'd get the front loaders again. It makes loading, going from washer to drier, and unloading very easy.

[lostboy]

Whirlpool is good product. The Maytag Epic is built Whirlpool and is good. GE's front load is also good. I personally like Frigidaire due to the lower cost of the product. The difference between 3.5 and 3.8 is only 2 fullsize bath towels.

[fish_on]

We had Neptune's and had the mold problem they were recalled for and that broke the company. Our last search lead us to 2 brands, Bosch and Fisher & Paykel. Those 2 brands use 2 large support bearings where most other brands use only 1. We have been really happy with our Bosch set.

[Small Fry]

We bought the upper end GE model last year. The washer holds more then our old style large capacity top loader did. We are on a well and these new front loader really help 12 to 20 gallons total water usage compared to 30 to 40 gallons on top loaders. We only use about two tablespoons of detergent compare to ¾ cup on the old style. One thing I noticed it my jeans aren’t wearing out nearly as quickly. The ones we bought stack nicely as well. Really helped in our small laundry room. We have not had any problem with them be off balanced like to old ones. The dryer sounds like a jet engine when it spins at 1100 RPM. Drying time is lees since it spins more water out.

We are extremely happy with ours.

[jvp]

they don't do huge loads like a topend loader will so you end up doing a few more load if you have children. other than that no problems

[MikeN]

Bought our's at Sears about 5 years ago. Wife loves them. They are quiet and the clothes seem cleaner!

Highly recommend them.

[cheyenne10]

TTT for latest input.

Our washer just gave out. Down looking at front loaders. More money this time for sure. We would like a realiable pair with good reputation.

[Thunnus]

I too have a Maytag Neptune. I bought about 10 years ago. Got it due to the water savings and state/Fed energy rebate. It works great but a few years ago I had a problem w/ the control panel. Called a repair guy he came and said to call a 800 number to Maytag, I did and got it repaired for free. I the guy didn't tell me that he said it could have run as much as $300-400!!!

It was something that was posted on Maytag's website.

But it is a great machine.

[Swift Fly Guy]

I have the GE Profile front loaders and they have not been very good. About year and a half into the use of them the washer smelled of mold. We always keep the door open as other have suggested. They look to be hit and miss as my friends and mother-in-law have the same units with no issues.
I would suggest a search online for issues prior to purchasing.

[Danno]

While I was waiting to exchange something at sLowes, I saw two recall notices on Washing machines. Surprisingly, one was for a Maytag. Well, I know Maytag is not the Maytag of old but that's how tough it is to give up on a great brand image. It was for water intrusion that gets to the circuit board (see Thunnus' post).

The second was an identical recall notice but with Samsung on the title. I think that Maytag must be rebranding under Samsung.

[greenbuttskunk]

Dan, Maytag Neptune is what we have. We have the stacked set. Love it!
The washer spins so fast the clothes are almost dry when done. Amazing.
We've had them for about 1 year or more. so far so good!

[Go_Getter]

We have the Whirlpool duet, it has a Little bigger drum than some of the others. These are the best. Cut my water bill by 20% and power bill by about the same. They get the clothes cleaner, use less soap, save money and less loads. I would buy the set again in a second! Have had them for about 2 1/2 years and no trouble!

[Chrome Bumper]

We have a Neptune we got used maybe 4 years ago. A little small, but saves water big tme, the gas bill went way down. Get the high speed spin, all the companies makes one now.

[lostboy]

DannoRe: Front Loading Washers?
While I was waiting to exchange something at sLowes, I saw two recall notices on Washing machines. Surprisingly, one was for a Maytag. Well, I know Maytag is not the Maytag of old but that's how tough it is to give up on a great brand image. It was for water intrusion that gets to the circuit board (see Thunnus' post).

The second was an identical recall notice but with Samsung on the title. I think that Maytag must be rebranding under Samsung.


This washer was made by Samsung before Whirlpool bought Maytag out. The new Maytag Epic is basically the same washer as the Whirlpool Duet just has the Maytag name on it.

[ICHTHYDEMON]

We've got a set from GE that we bought about 6-7 years ago. Our set gets ALOT of use. With a couple kids under 7,we do about 2-3 loads a day.

They've been absolutely (knock on wood) trouble free. I'd buy another set in a second.