Front Load Washer Recommendations ?
 

Have a Kenmore HE3 front load washer 3 years old. We have had many problems with it, It's a large POS.

It finally burned in tonight. The price to repair will surpass the cost of a new one. I am going to replace it. Any Recommendations. I have heard LG Brand is good. I will not buy another Kenmore. I must stick with a front load due to the configuration of our laundry room.

Like to keep it under $1000.00

I would rather buy Porsche parts!

Help

I just bought a Bosch set and love them.

The first apartment my wife and I had was equipped with new Kenmore model 417 front loading/ stackable washer and dryer. They are quiet and use little water. You can stack them, or place them side by side. When we bought our first condo, we bought a new set in '03. We ended up keeping them when we moved into our house - we haven't had any problems and they really do work great and quiet too. We paid approx a grand for the pair.

I have a Whilpool and it's a troublesome piece of crap... very dissapointed

Hmm ... We've had the Kenmore HE3 for 3 years with no issues.
Luck of the draw I guess.

Maytag. Our washer/dryer have been going non-stop...well more like 2 loads a day...for 8 years now. Not a single problem. Same for the Maytag set that preceeded them. I'd also look into Bosch but given my experience with Maytag I would be insane to consider anything else.

Scaring me here.....just sank close to $3000 in a pair of HE5s..... :(

Just bought the LG's.

Only had them a month so not much I can say about reliability.

We do like the set very much.

Sings to you when done instead if that annoying buzzer that most units have.

We have a Gibson front loader and gas dryer. They are stackable or can be side-by side. Run 3 or so loads thru them a day with the kids, work and sports. Absolutely bomb-proof. We've had the set about 5 years.

angela

I just need the washer the drier works fine so far.

I can't remember what I spent on both right now. I don't what to remember. The guy that came out to fix it, said I'm not going to BS you, these suck. We have had problems with many of them and lawsuit's you are better off starting new than pouring money in to one of these POS. It was counter to his interests, he could of kept the clock running on me. I appreciate that.

The washer is the critical thing (in terms of saving electricity aka pennies) - b/c it gets out more water if it's good before the clothes go to the drier.

Cons. Reports just did a comparison on the various ones - they publish repair frequencies also.

We have a basic GE (was around $700) for 7 years w/o trouble now and it washes great. GE must re-label someone else's, as all our other GE appliances are crap. I am sure you can't get the same model any more, so no sense in looking it up, but my recommendation is to keep it basic. Less to break.

George

Ditto.

We've had our Maytag Neptune for 10 yrs and it only needed service once which was covered under the warranty. I'd like to get newer machines but I can't justify it.

We've had the LG steam something or other for about a year. No issues so far, other than they are a royal pain to balance, and at least for me, they seem to never stay perfectly level. I'm always messing with them. Part of the problem I think is my floor gives a little...anyway, no repair issues so far, they do a great job

We bought the GE Adora washer and dryer last summer because they can handle a king-size comforter. We're very happy with the set and we would recommend them to others. We bought our set at Home Depot for about $2000.

We bought Whirlpool while in our appartment and sold them with the appartment a year later. We really liked them so we bought new ones when we got into the house four years ago. Still going strong.

We replaced an early Maytag front loader (failed very early) with a Frigidaire..it has functioned well for 5 years now. Only complaint? When it's running, lots of interference on every radio tuned to an AM station...

circuit board went on ours...

I've had a set of the Whirlpool Duet HE front loaders for 5 yrs with zero problems.

Many companies don't make their own appliances. See Who Makes What? for a breakdown.

Ian

That's the one I have.

It kept shutting itself off mid-cycle. You'd restart it, sometimes it would work, sometimes not. Kept getting it fixed under warrantee, but it kept happening again. replaced switches, relays, and eventually the computer/board.

It only had a 1 year warrantee, so a few weeks before that it was up it was still giving me grief. I got so frustrated that I logged onto a forum for appliance repairmen, created an account "Jake's Appliances". Posted the problem and turned out there was a whirlpool service bulletin about the whole front door being built off-spec. It was just slightly twisted and would not seat 100%, which would shut the machine down.

I called the place I bought it from, gave them the service bulletin, and they brought me a door off a machine they had in stock.

It's worked OK since then, but it was a very frustrating experience considering it was the first NEW washer & dryer I had ever owned.

Just checked GE's site. And sure enough, the electromechanical dial knob is replaced by circuit board. I like those old school dials. They never break. Our washer only has the dial and a single switch. A circuit board unfortunately is cheaper, so that's all we'll see in the future.

George

Thanks All

I went with a LG they had a good rating and direct drive transmission.
(The drive and pump are the acillihes heal of the Kenmore/ Whirlpool unit I am replacing).

Shopped by phone with all the big box guys and local appliance stores.

High price of $1100 low price of $630.00/ free delivery at Sears same unit.

Sears was any easy choice.

I get a BJ every time my wife washes clothes for buying her the Maytag Neptune set. She says that the only way they could be better would be if they loaded and folded the clothes themselves. ( I guess that would mean I would do laundry)

Quote:
Originally Posted by wrecktech View Post
I just bought a Bosch set and love them.

+1 Ditto

We've had our Bosch set since August 07, so far it really is nice.

Anybody heard whether installing them over a basement was not good because of the weight?

what is the rationale for a front loading washer? Seems like a stupid design to me.

Fun to watch. Come on...you've done it, remember those days?

I spent a year in the commercial laundry biz & used up to 800lb washers. They are ALL front load in the biz. The action of the clothes falling back into the water aids in soil removal. And you use less heated water which is a huge expense in laundry.

Ian

I can't speak for the other Bosch owners, but both washer and dryer seem quiet.

We also went with the Bosch gas stove, very nice.

Easier on the clothes and uses much less water than top loaders - very environmentally friendly. At least that what I'm told...

Here's a great Web site for troubleshooting problems and pre-purchase research...www.fixya.com.

We recently bought (~6 months ago) a Kenmore Elite Oasis HE and have just started getting a fatal error (F51).

A quick Google search found this site which provided me a list of error codes, DIY solutions, problem causes, and how other owners dealt with the problem -- all for my specific model. A Sears rep even responded and said he sees 5 of these each week.

Luckily for us we bought the extended Sears warranty. :D

I have the Axxis set and have them stacked in the 2nd floor bathroom. Works great for us.

The difference is the horizontal drum. The horizontal drum works a lot better due to the reasons mentioned above. Usually the horizontal drum is loaded from the front. I have had a top loader with a horizontal drum before too. (They make those for very small spaces and the drum has a hatch that you open.)

You want to spin at 1500 rpm or more to get as much water out of the clothes as possible. There is a limit to spin speed at which the clothes will get very wrinkled though. A lot of the modern washers will stop and reposition the clothes until the drum is balanced enough to spin at high speeds.

George

I am not sure if we have the same. Mine is Kenmore Elite HE3t. I've had mine for many many years and no single issue.

We got the Whirlpool Duet a few weeks ago with the storage. Love it so far.

bought the last year of the stacking Mayag Neptune washer/dryer. Excellent machines.

I bought an LG front loader for my wife. She LOVES it. To me it's just a washer, but I like making her happy when I can. We have small children and she uses the sanitary cycles quite a bit. It has washed 1-2 loads per day average over the last year or so. I heard from one person that the 1-800 service customer service center was located here in the Huntsville/Madison AL area.

I managed to buy it while it was on sale at a local appliance store and Lowes matched that price and then dropped it another 10%. Then I got a $50 gift card also.

BTW, with front-loading washers, you get 2 rebates to somewhat offset the cost:

1. From the Water Company
2. From the Gas Company

At least I did!




The only minus of having this unit is looking for the HE detergent. It is somewhat easier nowadays, but initially it was tough!

you'll save a fair amount on your water & gas / elec. bills too - over the years it really adds up.