Wil, I love you! (Indesit WIL103)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Indesit WIL103
Date:	25/03/07 (236 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 30 minute wash, can be cold infill only, cold wash option available, A rated for energy as well as w

Disadvantages: small washload (offset by quickness of wash)

Not too long ago, I had a fiasco. I had been rather ill for a few days, and prior to that, the children were ill. Hubby was working away, so came back home as well with a week's worth of clothes and bedding from his lorry. I went to the utility room, put on the washer and...it broke. It not only broke, but it put oil on my previously car crash white towels (sob), and refused to spin out any water. Unfortunate is not the word. It went all the way to Titanic epic disaster proportions when it was revealed that parts were no longer supplied for it. There I was, with grease blackened mounds of utterly sodden bath towels, a Mt. Everest of dirty clothing and bedding, and no washer. EEP!

What to do, what to do?! Obviously I was in need of a washing machine, but not having planned to fork out a few hundred pounds on appliances that week and not able to wait a few weeks for delivery anyway, I decided to trawl eBay. Woohoo! Some young bloke had just gotten married and was selling off the duplicate appliances, which were less than 2 years old. And there was a buy it now......and it was easily affordable..and it was less than 5 miles away..and he said we could collect it ASAP! So we bought this nice little machine. It was £75 if any one wants to know the as new 2nd hand going rate from a non appliance dealer.

I say nice, but it really is wonderful for its class. Yes, the capacity is on the small side...5 kg. But I still got through a week's worth of laundry for a family of 4 in less than 2 1/2 hours! How? This nifty machine not only has the usual wash cycles, but a quick wash programme. This quick wash does a very good job in just 30 minutes from start to finish. I put in the grubby clothes of 3 year old boy and they came out as clean as could be,washed with my normal detergent and nothing else. What more could I ask?

The machine is designed to allow for hot and cold water feed, but it does also heat its own water, so you can do a cold water only hook up using a Y connector. As it was being placed in an outside utility room, this is precisely what we did. It does not have electronic readouts or anything, but the cycles are controlled electronically and not with a mechanical timer knob despite appearances. You can choose your wash water temperature separately, even though guides for those are on the wash cycle information bit printed on the detergent drawer. Eco fans will love the fact you can choose to wash in cold unheated water, which is a boon for many delicates or clothes that are lightly soiled (e.g. worn but not stained) and just needs a freshen up. The detergent drawer has two compartments for detergent, and a section for liquid fabric softener.

As I stated there is a quick wash option, as well as the usual cycle settings for cottons (colourfast and non colourfast), nylons and synthetics, delicates, and wool. The 1000 rpm spin speed is not the fastest on the market, but it more than does the job as even jeans and towels come out only touch damp and dry in about an hour in my eco dryer. It also has a start delay option, which I have found useful when putting in clothes with stain pretreatments on as they say to allow the treatment to work for at least 10 minutes before washing. I give it slightly longer and then the machine switches itself on without me having to go back and do it myself. As long as I pretreat any stains, the quick wash is more than adequate getting even the toughest stains out using no more than a 40 degree wash.

I am really pleased with this machine, which surprised me. I agreed to it for its quickness in arrival, price, and wash/energy ratings as a stopgap until we had the cash for an 8 kg washload machine. I am so pleased with this, however, that I plan to save up for that bigger machine and keep the cash in the bank until this one needs to go to appliance heaven. The quality of the washing programmes as well as its quickness and energy saving options have made this a fine machine for use by the "average" family. This is one machine that is truly a bargain!

Summary: Cheap can be Cheerful.....and conveniently Quick!

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