Love in a spin (Indesit W123)

Member Name: sleepytigercub

Product:	Indesit W123
Date:	20/12/02 (1070 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: washes well, spins thoroughly, almost silent spinning

Disadvantages: length of programmes

The Indesit W123 is the first brand new washer I've ever owned. I previously had a reconditioned Hoover Logic, which was wonderful when it worked, but was proving more and more unreliable as the years went on. My washer is shared with a working archaeologist, so it needs to be reliable. Believe me, you don't want to be washing Iron Age mud out of overalls by hand. My main criteria were healthy spin speed, quiet operation, energy efficiency, and price.

The Indesit W123 has a maximum spin speed of 1200rpm. This was the minimum I was prepared to accept, since I live in a small flat with no drying facilities other than a pulley over the bath. The drier I can get the clothes before hanging them up, the better, otherwise heavier items like denims can take more than a day to dry and start to smell less than fresh. I have been very pleasantly surprised by the performance of the 1200rpm spinning compared to the 1300rpm of the Hoover Logic. The Indesit gets clothes drier and I've yet to find any item that fails to dry completely overnight. Spinning is remarkably quiet, and the machine doesn't jump all over the floor, much to the relief of my downstairs neighbour. I now have no qualms about putting a wash on late at night whereas, even in the glory days of my Hoover Logic, I wouldn't have dared after 9pm.

The maximum load it will take is 5kg, which is very respectable, and one of its features is that it automatically adjusts the amount of water it takes in for the size of the load. It will also remember where it was in a cycle if power is temporarily cut off, and resume when power is restored. However, in other features you are firmly in control.

There are 2 dials and 3 buttons on the front of the machine. The dials allow you to select a washing programme, and a temperature. Using these combined allows you to choose anything from a pre-wash, wash, soften at 90C to the "everyday" setting of 30C wash and soft

en. The latter is designed for ligtly soiled items which need little more than freshening up. And now the bad news. The programme for heavily soiled items takes a whopping 2 hours and 45 minutes. OK, I rarely need this programme. A more realistic timing for normal usage is the 40C wash and soften, which comes out at 1 hour and 35 mins. This is still much longer than the Hoover, but I understand the longer timings are down to the energy efficiency of the newer machines. The everday setting brings the time down to 30mins if something just needs a quick freshen up. I tend to use this programme if I've been dressed freshly to go out and come home smelling like Fag Ash Lil, but otherwise clean. I think the timing would annoy me if I was someone who did all their washing in one day, but I don't mind running the washer once a day and spreading the loads out across the week, specially if it's costing me less to run. It's not the most efficient machine on the market. The energy efficiency rating is B, spin rating B, and wash performance rating is A. It's the most efficient machine that was in my price range though.

The 3 buttons give some extra options. The one closest to the dials is an on/off button which also doubles as a re-set button if you have started a programme and changed your mind, or discovered that red sock in your whites. Next to this is the Extra Economy button. This reduces the water consumption in the rinse cycles even further, but it is recommended you only use this with small loads. Finally, there is an anti-crease button which delays the draining and spinning until the user intervenes, so the clothes don't lie creased in the drum all day if you can't attend to it immediately the cycle finishes.

To the left of the buttons is the detergent drawer. This feels sturdy and glides easily in and out. It removes easily for cleaning too. Inside it has compartments for pre-wash detergent, main wash d
eterg
ent, and fabric softener. You can use either powder (or tablets) or liquid detergent in the drawer. I use neither, since I use a ball inside the machine, but I have noticed that the inside of the drawer always looks really wet, so I imagine it doesn't leave powder behind like my old machine did.

All in all I'm delighted with my new machine. I've had it for 6 weeks and it has done everything I have asked of it perfectly, and almost silently. One small quibble is that it buzzes a bit when it is washing, which was a bit disconcerting at first but quickly becomes one of those background noises in your home you don't really notice anymore. If you use a detergent ball inside the machine it tends to bang off the door a bit, which can be a bit annoying, but I have to stick with this method since the 2 users of this machine are allergic to each other's only acceptable detergent, and the ball seems to offer the best means of preventing cross contamination (we even have separate balls!).

It has a door safety lock, which prevents the door being opened during operation, and keeps those inquisitive little fingers safe.

I got mine from Tesco Online and paid £208 for it with free delivery and connection (except they didn't, but they were meant to!). It doesn't seem to be on their website any longer though. It's also available at Argos for £234.90 with free delivery and no connection. I recommend it highly if you want a feature packed washer at a budget price, which cleans efficiently, and spins thoroughly and almost silently.

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