washer/Dryer Recommendations?

[samclem]

I'm in the market for a new washer and dryer.

Another thing I wonder about: Why do so many people replace both the washer and the dryer? Dryers are very simple devices, and in my experience they require fewer repairs than washers and can be kept alive with infrequent and economical fixes for a lot longer than a washer can (no pumps, no gaskets or hoses to leak). It would be like replacing your stove because your dishwasher crumped out. Maybe even more unfathomable (to me), because a kitchen is a "public" space, and the laundry area usually isn't. I wouldn't expect my guests to notice (or care) that I have "mismatched" laundry appliances.

I guess when people move to a new house and there are no appliances they have buy both a washer and dryer.

 

[bUU]

Agree, it's just in the front versus top loader, it seems to me I see a much more divided response than most other products.

I haven't seen an unusual amount of diversity of responses for washing machines, despite looking for it when we made our purchase.

Post #20 for one.

Post #20 was a poster who preferred a front loader and said that the overall time for them was the same.

But DW claims she rarely waits for the dryer, so this would seem to extend total time for us.

That's not logical. The statement you're referring to said that we noted no change, so if DW rarely waits for the dryer now then our experience would indicate that DW would rarely wait for the dryer then.

I guess when people move to a new house and there are no appliances they have buy both a washer and dryer.

That was our situation. We left behind a relatively new washer and a relatively old dryer. It just worked out that way.

 

[Buckeye]

We splurged on a new set of front loaders when we moved into our new house. We were so sick of the awful ones in the apartment laundry room.

We bought the front loaders below that come with 15" pedestals (and delivery, install, and haulaway) which means no bending over. I regularly go into the laundry room and give them a hug I love them so much! The clothes come out clean, clean, clean and the washer uses very little water. Did I tell you I love them?

The Maytag Maxima is on Consumer Reports recommended list for front loaders. The review mentions the washer is noisy but I have not found that to be the case. Costco also adds another year to the one year warranty although some of the parts have 10-year warranties. I do not find the wash cycle to be abnormally long. About 40 minutes.

We owned front loaders that we sold with the OH house, we had front loaders at the apartment for 6 years, and we have front loaders again in the new house. I think the clothes come out cleaner and the spin cycle gets out so much water the dryer cycle is relatively short. Also, they seem to barely use any water.

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Maytag Maxima® High Efficiency 4.2CuFt Washer Maxima® X™ 7.4CuFt ELECTRIC Dryer with Pedestals in White | MHW4100DW, MED4000BW
Maytag Maxima® High Efficiency 4.2CuFt Washer Maxima® X™ 7.4CuFt ELECTRIC Dryer with Pedestals in White | MHW4100DW, MED4000BW

 

[Bestwifeever]

We have some random Maytags we bought earlier this year, in our basement, where nobody sees them. They were on sale at Abt, whose website abt.com is for me a good source of information and reviews of appliances, wherever we might end up buying something.

Our main criterion was a top loader, followed by the ratings and how long the standard wash cycle is. I am sure I would have been happy with a front loader but they don't really appeal to me for some reason.

We replaced the dryer at the same time because the current dryer had been a cheap replacement for a broken dryer itself and I always hated it--slow to dry, no interior light, ineffective lint catcher design, but had no reason to replace it until the washer died. The new dryer is amazingly fast.

 

[ERD50]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
Agree, it's just in the front versus top loader, it seems to me I see a much more divided response than most other products.

I haven't seen an unusual amount of diversity of responses for washing machines, despite looking for it when we made our purchase..

And I have!

Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
Post #20 for one.

Post #20 was a poster who preferred a front loader and said that the overall time for them was the same.

I guess you edited out ""Emphasis on "for one"." before I quoted you - were you expecting a comprehensive all-inclusive list of any/all occurrences on the interent?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
But DW claims she rarely waits for the dryer, so this would seem to extend total time for us.

That's not logical. The statement you're referring to said that we noted no change, so if DW rarely waits for the dryer now then our experience would indicate that DW would rarely wait for the dryer then.

It is perfectly logical, and correct for the situation I described. I stated : "But DW claims she rarely waits for the dryer, so this would seem to extend total time for us. I can't comment on others."

So since we rarely wait for the dryer, the dryer is not the critical resource, the washer is. So if washing time is extended, it makes no difference to us in overall clock time start-to-finish if the dryer time is shortened. The shorter dryer time would come into play only on the time for last load to dry, and we typically do multiple loads in a day, so that has less of an impact overall. Also, nothing is waiting on the last load to dry, so it isn't an issue anyhow. So under that scenario, a longer wash time extends the wash day.

You don't need to wait for the dryer to finish before you start the next wash load - those go in parallel. Maybe you need to map this out on paper to see the effect of a longer wash time when the dry time is not the limiting resource?

A lot of my career was involved with process optimization - I understand bottleneck analysis . And as I made abundantly clear, this is for our conditions, other people may have different scenarios and may make different decisions based on that.

At any rate, I'm not trying to attempt to convince you of anything (well, other than you were wrong to say my statement was illogical ), I've been doing my research and applying it to our situation so I can try to convince myself of the proper path for us, and I will continue along those lines. You'll have to decide what is best for you.

-ERD50

 

[bUU]

You'll have to decide what is best for you.

Indeed, based on the broadest set of experiences you can gain insights from.