New washer? take it for a spin. (General Comments / Advice)

Member Name: Talker

Product:	General Comments / Advice
Date:	07/10/02 (593 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: n.a

Disadvantages: n.a.

When our trusty Hotpoint washing machine died after almost 10 years of service, we were faced with a rather daunting range of choices for a replacement. We relied a lot on personal recommendation of friends and opinions here at DooYoo. we also looked carefully over the specifications of the alternatives to make an informed decision. The purpose of this essay is simply to explain the considerations we took into account when making our decision. The point is that the technology had changed a lot since our previous purchase, and we wanted to know what features we had to consider, what the options were, even before thinking about brands and models.

Wash time:
For us, this was extremely important. Many modern machines improve their energy efficiency rating by washing for longer at lower temperatures. Since we often cram our family of five's washing into a single day, the longer washing times reduce our throughput. If you're better organized, then this may not be as much of a problem. Also, many washing machines have some sort of "reduced wash" button that will be faster and use less water and that are fine for lightly soiled clothes such as shirts that may have been for a day at the office.

Water capacity:
The less water the machine uses the better for us, because we're on a water meter, and the better environmentally too. The differences can be fairly substantial.

Timer:
Again, this depends on your needs, but our electricity tariff gives cheaper prices midnight-7 a.m., so we want to be able to set the washing machine to work in that period whenever possible. For us it was, therefore, essential to have a machine that allowed us to set the start or end time, or a delay period.
In the old days, you could plug a washing machine into a timer, and it would start when the timer let the electricity through. That's no longer true. Many home appliances (including ovens and dishwashers) require YOU to push
a button or something before they'll start functioning. It is very irritating and one reason we ended paying a fortune for a top-of-the line Bosch washer.

Spin speed:
The faster the spin, the more water is extracted from the clothes. That means they'll dry faster, whether in a dryer or in the air. We plumped for a high speed of 1600, but note that many of the wash programs -- including the one we use the most -- don't operate at that speed because the force it generates may damage some fabrics. This sort of detail isn't usually pointed out in the sales literature, you need the operating manual for that.

Irritating buzzer or horrible chime:
Essential if you want to know when the wash is finished. Has to be loud enough to cover the sound of arguing children, rock music or blaring television programs with canned laughter. We don't need it for overnight washes, but for those one-after-another all-day-Sunday times, it's an absolute necessity. In any case, it should be possible to turn the noise off if you don't want it.

Clever ideas:
Our Bosch's timer works by letting you say when you want the wash to end. So you need to be able to set the time, otherwise how would it know when to start. One of the nicest touches is a quick menu switch to change between GMT and BST. It's not too fiddly to change the time twice a year, but this is a neat touch.

Price:
You've probably already identified this as a consideration.

Summary: