Tips on buying washer dryer?

[FearoftheNight]

Hey guys. Anyone have some knowledge about this? I'm buying this kind of thing for the first time. I want a 2 in 1 washer dryer...and also separate washer and dryer. Any good websites to buy this from? Brands/models? Thanks in advance!

 

[Newbian]

Why do you want both?

My only suggestion is since most home washers are front loaders these days stay away from ones with glass windows.

It looks nice but my parents one has had the glass broke twice on it.

 

[FearoftheNight]

Why do you want both?

My only suggestion is since most home washers are front loaders these days stay away from ones with glass windows.

It looks nice but my parents one has had the glass broke twice on it.

Remodeling a big house. Want to rent out part of it as separate unit. One of the areas is pretty tight on space though.

 

[The_Dude8]

i would would a top loader washer. Try homedepot, or lowes. if you want a simple top loader, get a speed queen.

 

[FearoftheNight]

Thought side load was better?

 

[Sephire]

HE

 

[Poulsonator]

We just bought this LG top loader 2 weeks ago:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_452003-49317-WT4870CW_4294857976__?productId=4484030&Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1

It's amazing. Granted, our old washer was 15 years old, so the upgrade was gonna be epic regardless. Still, we wanted to stick with a top loader, and this one has been phenomenal so far.

Our dryer is still going strong at this time, so I can't offer any advice there.

 

[Meghan54]

We've owned front loaders for the last 10 years and are replacing them right now (buying in 2 weeks), but only because we agreed to leave the old ones in the house we just sold--buyer wanted them.

And we're buying front loaders again. Granted, the HE top loaders are much better than what was on the market the last time we bought, but HE top loaders still do not extract as much water from your clothes as front loading machines, and they still use more water than front loaders, although much less than regular top loaders.

But go with a choice from either style of HE washers and don't waste your money on a regular top loader.

LG, Samsung, Whirlpool are excellent choices for brands, although we've been reading and hearing about problems getting competent service on the Korean brands in some areas, and sometimes lack of close by trained techs for the brands.

 

[allisolm]

Check with local utilities to see if they are offering any incentives. My city is currently giving $200 in rebates for buying an Energy Star washer.

 

[jaedaliu]

It's probably cheapest to buy from Sears or Best Buy or whatever big box store, but consider taking a look at a smaller appliance shop. One that also services the hardware. If nothing else, you'll get great sales service from people who actually know a thing or two about the things they're selling.

 

[Spungo]

Might as well check out a drying rack at the same time. I was getting pissed off because my dryer would run for hours and stuff would still come out damp and wrinkled. Now I just hang dry everything. I haven't used my electric dryer in months. It's amazing how quickly things can dry when they are hung up with a big ass fan blowing on them. The cool thing is that shirts don't need to be ironed because they dried while hanging.

 

[velillen]

Check with local utilities to see if they are offering any incentives. My city is currently giving $200 in rebates for buying an Energy Star washer.

Think thats pretty common with most utility companies. I know mine was doing it when i got mine.


Watch for sales at places like Lowes/Home Depot. They have washer/dryers go on sale all the time. I bought mine as a labor day sale and it included something like sale prices on each unit (i went LG), plus 10% off for buying a "set", plus free in home installation. Was a pretty nice deal but had ot wait a week or so for the installation.

 

[jupiter57]

If you wanna be "Hip" & spend more money to do so, get a front-loader. It doesn't matter what brand, they all will be more trouble than they're worth, in my experience.

If you want dependable & cheap, go with LG or Roper.(Typically re-branded Whirlpool & GE)
If you want dependable & longer lasting, go with a mid-range brand like Whirlpool, GE, etc., the warranty may be longer/ better.

 

[Zstream]

I haven't heard anything bad about front loaders... well when they first came to market there were rumors of the seal breaking but that was it. The glass only breaks when you leave keys, coins, belts in the washer/dryer.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Stick to the old/proven technology that has been around for MANY years. There is SO much knowledge and information about these. They are easy to troubleshoot and fix (if you are willing to learn).

No front loader bs with unnecessary electronics and motherboards etc......I wouldn't touch those things with a 100ft pole. No Thanks

 

[gorcorps]

If you wanna be "Hip" & spend more money to do so, get a front-loader. It doesn't matter what brand, they all will be more trouble than they're worth, in my experience.

If you want dependable & cheap, go with LG or Roper.(Typically re-branded Whirlpool & GE)
If you want dependable & longer lasting, go with a mid-range brand like Whirlpool, GE, etc., the warranty may be longer/ better.

Hah... "cheap" and LG in the same sentence. While they're one of the better ones, they certainly seem to know it because they were on the top end when I was looking.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Take it from someone who is currently using a stacked washer dryer:

Don't you dare put your tenant through the pain of having to use one of those pieces of crap. They're tiny and constantly have issues.

 

[dbk]

go with the traditional top loader with an agitator.. i don't trust HE ones. I'm prob wrong though

 

[DrPizza]

Top loaders are generally pretty trivial to repair. No one uses the million extra features and settings that most washing machines have. I have no experience repairing front loaders, so I can't comment on that.

 

[nehalem256]

go with the traditional top loader with an agitator.. i don't trust HE ones. I'm prob wrong though

My mom bought a new washer last month. After reading comments I told her to go with the agitator one.

There were too many stories of people having issues with clothes not getting properly washed in the HE ones.

I believe there was one comment to the effect of "How do you wash 3 feet of clothes with 2 inches of water?", the answer was not well

 

[gorcorps]

go with the traditional top loader with an agitator.. i don't trust HE ones. I'm prob wrong though

Why wouldn't you trust them? They take the easy to fix and proven mechanical system of a top load washer and decrease water usage which is the big drawback of old top loads. It essentially gives you the best of both worlds, so I would say at least think about it. There's no reason NOT to get an HE if you go top load these days, as they exist on the lower-end of the price scale.

 

[NFS4]

I'd go for the most efficient one with the LEAST amount of computers/electronics/gizmos. That shit is just an expensive repair waiting to happen.

The washer/dryer that we currently have was given to me by dad 5 years ago for doing his taxes. They had it for 10 years prior to that. Both still work fine and I'm gonna run 'em until they turn into a pile of dust.

But when I do have to replace them, the simpler, the better.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I love my LG front loaders. Even makes a nice little song when clothes are done. I fit huge loads of clothes in there. How they wash those clothes with such little water I don't know and don't care. After having used quality washer and dryer set for a few years I'll never go back. A minimum you should spend is $1500 for a pair IMO and that's sale prices.

 

[PatrickBateman]

I have had a fridgidaire front load for about 5 years now, noticed a difference in water bill (I have 4 kids) and cleans clothes well.

So far I have had to replace the door lock, and clean the coin trap (wasn't draining correctly and had a baby sock and $2.15 in it). The door lock cost $70 and about 45 minutes. The coin trap cost $2 for a new hose clamp and $600 for the swear jar. It was 4 hours of trying to get one of the hoses reclamped using the type that came with it. I had to do it all by feel because I couldn't get both hands behind it and see at same time.

One thing about it was that I found the way to have it run all cycles and throw an error code which told me exactly what was wrong.

Door hinges starting to rust and I have to push bottom of door in while starting( I think my little one was swinging on the door and caused it to bend slightly) but other than that, it is not bad for sub $500 FL.

%95 of the time I use Cold water>Quick clean..clothes are fine

 

[Spungo]

I'd go for the most efficient one with the LEAST amount of computers/electronics/gizmos. That shit is just an expensive repair waiting to happen.

Things with intelligence might handle overloading a bit better. I overloaded my small apartment washing machine (it connects to the faucet, drains in the sink) and it screwed up the motor. Now the spin circle doesn't work and I need to manually wring clothes before drying them. It would have been nice to have a computer sense overloading and stop the thing before it screwed up the motor.

I can picture myself destroying a larger machine too. I've put a large blanket in a full size washer before without destroying it but I might still find a way to break one in the future.