My faithful Hotpoint Aquarius (Hotpoint WM62)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Hotpoint WM62
Date:	23/10/01 (1451 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets the washing clean, Good value, Kind to the environment

Disadvantages: None so far

I originally received this washing machine back in 1991 as a prize in a competition run by our local newspaper - but what a prize! My ex boyfriend was the one who won it for me so I suppose he was good for something!

It has been the most reliable washing machine that I have ever owned. As the machine was free to me I decided to pay for the extended warranty and then I continued the insurance for another few years finally stopping about 3 years ago. By that time the cost had become so high that it would be better to scrap the machine and buy and new one if it should go seriously wrong.

I only called the engineer out once during the time that I had the warranty and insurance and that was only for something minor as I found out to my amusement. The drum was making a very strange noise and the engineer immediately diagnosed a wire from an underwired bra! He was right and removed it from the mechanism for me. Before you ask I hadn’t worn the bra since I’d washed it so I hadn’t noticed the lop sided look!!

Since I stopped the insurance I have had one repair, which was to the door catch that had broken, and I used a local firm at a very reasonable price.

But what about the actual washing machine I hear you cry – OK I’ll tell you about it.

It is a Hotpoint Aquarius and it was available to me in either white or beige – I chose beige to match my kitchen in case you’re interested.

It has a wide variety of wash programmes for white cotton, colourfast cotton, polyester, non-colourfast cotton, wool blends and wool itself. These standard programmes take from an hour and a quarter to three-quarters of an hour to complete.

There is also a quick wash programme lasting just under half an hour for lightly soiled items and a pre wash soak for heavily soiled items.

The machine has four buttons providing extra facilities that can be set independently of the main wash programme
s to give you a more comprehensive range of settings.

There is a rinse hold button, which I find extremely useful. When set this holds the clothes in the final rinse water until you are ready to unload the machine. You then release the button, let the machine go through the final spin and then you can unload the machine. It means that you don’t leave damp washing in the machine for the time between the cycle finishing and you unloading the machine, which would make for very creased clothes.

There is also a button to depress if you want to use the super rinse facility. This merely increases the volume of water in each rinse so that the clothes are rinsed more fully. I have never used this particular facility, as the ordinary rinses are fine for my needs.

The next button allows for a slow spin. I find that this one is really useful for the items that I need to iron as it means that they don’t come out of the washing machine as creased as they normally would on a faster spin. The only problem with this is of course that the clothes are not as dry as they would otherwise have been.

The final button is used to set the economy wash feature. This means that the washing machine’s own heating system is not used and the wash is done with the water at the temperature entering the machine from your hot and cold water tanks. This of course means a cooler wash so it’s only suitable for lightly soiled items.

The door remains locked during the wash programmes so that it cannot be opened accidentally and it can be locked when not in use too if you have small children who might get into mischief!

The other big selling point for this particular model is that it gauges the size of the load and uses the correct amount of water needed eliminating the need for the half-wash programme. This also means that it is both water and energy efficient.

When it finally is beyond repair I would definitely buy an
other one. That is if they are still available when it finally packs in – the way it’s going it may not be for a long time yet – or is that tempting fate?

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