Washing Machines

[Blue Hills]

Secondly, you can buy Bluetooth or wifi enabled washers these days! What?! Eh! Why on earth would I want that?!

something to do with that strava thingie?

 

[vickster]

My fairly entry level Bosch must be close to 10 years old, my parents have the same model of a similar vintage. Not a massive user, 2-3 times a week, seems fine, occasionally run a cleaning cycle, only use washing liquid, never powder or pods if that makes a difference

 

[Bonefish Blues]

something to do with that strava thingie?

Yes, there are very competitive people with washing machines, so there are leagues and all sorts - I guess it's just in their jeans.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

You can’t beat a Miele … costly to buy, but last and last … our current one is over 12 years old and it’s never faltered. My mother has one over 20 years old - they’re great machines

We moved away from Miele last time - they were, as you say, lasting & lasting (about 30 years for our 2), but it does mean that you're washing with an 'old' machine for many years, when newer, more efficient models are available.

We went with a Which recommended JLP own label machine (AEG in plain clothes) and it's a noticeably better machine at, well, washing, than the last Miele - which in turn was a giant leap for mankind over the previous Miele.

 

[ianrauk]

We always buy the cheap own brand option. Logik usually. For a couple of hundred quid. If we get a good few years out of it then we are happy.

there was a big hoo haa recently about forcing manufactures of white goods to make them last long and for spare parts to be made more freely available Guardian link to story

 

[Blue Hills]

We moved away from Miele last time - they were, as you say, lasting & lasting (about 30 years for our 2), but it does mean that you're washing with an 'old' machine for many years, when newer, more efficient models are available.

would be interested in advances in washing - any newer features worth having - OP may be interested as well - must admit I do have the idea that some newer machines have some superfluous features, too many programmes, and personally I would try to avoid any sort of digital display.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

would be interested in advances in washing - any newer features worth having - OP may be interested as well - must admit I do have the idea that some newer machines have some superfluous features, too many programmes, and personally I would try to avoid any sort of digital display.

I think there's a 'sweet spot' in the mid-range where there are efficient/effective wash cycles, lower water usage, bigger drums for higher capacity & faster and more effective spins. Beyond that, I think you get into the land of 'spin' where there are features for features sake, as it were. For example, we were specifically warned by a tame washing machine repair man to avoid the space-age Samsung machines as they had proved unreliable in use.

Hard to avoid digital displays, mind - they're pretty ubiquitous (and in my limited experience have never caused me an issue)

 

[MrGrumpy]

Not interested in WiFi or that crap. Keep it simple, we use one long wash a short wash option and a fast wash option. As long temp can be controlled that’s all we use. Everything else is to complicated for me. Mate at work has put me off a Beko. Fell to bits just over a year. As for Miele they appear to use pods now for detergent etc, that sounds expensive !

 

[Blue Hills]

. As for Miele they appear to use pods now for detergent etc, that sounds expensive !

they really dictate what washing gunk you use?

 

[vickster]

John Lewis have a bunch of Bosch models from around £330 up, all with 2 year warranty

 

[fossyant]

Tend to get over 10 years. We've had two in 25 years, and a third last year. Zanussi and a Mieher - the last one the bearings were worn, so noisy.

There were fairly basic machines, still more programmes than we needed.

This last time was just before lockdown, so it was a case of fastest, biggest load and was less than 56cm deep. We got a 1400 10KG Hoover for about £450. More than I wanted but the load capacity as way ahead of others. More functions than we need, and wirelessly connects to my phone, but my thoughts were has a heavy capacity and a fairly quick spin, so should be well built. We will see

 

[winjim]

Our old Bosch died a few weeks ago. I was going to repair the bearings but I thought I 'd better dissassemble it and check before I ordered anything.

Good job I did because as well as being quite minging, the spider had disintegrated along with the bearings. The spider itself isn't replaceable on that model, you need to buy the whole tub and drum assembly which is about the price of a new machine.

We bought it second hand and from the look of it someone had been inside the tub before me so it's already had at least one overhaul. Still, we got about five years of washing pooey nappies every other day out of it so that's not bad. Now we have a new mid-range Bosch which is lovely and quiet. I did ask my wife if we wanted a top range one that connects to the wi-fi and your phone but we couldn't quite fathom out why you'd want to do that.

Hopefully soon we can stop having to put pooey nappies through it but we're not there just yet.

 

[Drago]

Mine is 13 years old, going rusty but still performing well. And the washing machine too.

 

[BoldonLad]

We are on for 3rd washing machine in 34 years. We were a family of 5 (three daughters at home), but, for last 25 years, there has been only two of us. First two machines were Hoover, and lasted about 15 years each, current one (about 4 years old) is a Samsung which came with 10 year guarantee. Most common problem with the Hoover machines was wires from underwired bra jammed in pump, which was a faff to clear but a "free" repair, because I could do it myself. Not sure this was related to the brand of machine, more likely the number of women in the house, IMHO.

 

[D_97_goodtimes]

Five years seems about right for a cheapish machine. Years ago I favoured Zanussi as they beamed them in.

Present machine is about two years old, is used several times a week. Although it has WiFi capability I never use it.

Washing gunk and fabric gunk is delivered by post (SMOL) - works very well.

Perhaps the answer is to revert to nakedness. Sorry if that’s put you off your elevenses…