Recommend me a washing machine...
Discussion
When we bought our house 6+yrs ago the previous owner left the cheap BEKO washing machine and we've used it ever since with zero issues until last weekend when it snuffed it. No idea on its age.
I had my arm twisted by my parents and forked out nearly £500 for an 8kg Bosch. Their Bosch washing machine is circa 20yrs old and still like new. It turned up on Saturday. Basically it's too trick for its own good. Cycles take forever, it beeps all the time and its got a thing to prevent it spinning an unbalanced load (which is basically every time you do bedding or towels).
Took me hours to spin a load of bedding today that essentially meant me doing one sheet at a time and forming into a donut around the perimeter of the drum. IE not fit for purpose - I'm not sure if it's faulty or just over sensitive by design. I've called up the retailer and they've offered collection and an exchange/refund on price difference on an other machine.
I want something that's basic, sub £500 and just works. Depth is a bit of a concern as we have a 50mm waste pipe at the back so really 580mm depth is probably the limit. I don't want smart tech blah blah.
In an ideal world I'd have 3x sequential mechanical timers. One for soak, one for wash, one for spin. With two dials to set temp and spin speed. Why they've all gone to touch screen, billions of sensors, wifi etc is bonkers.
Why are there so many to choose from?!
I had my arm twisted by my parents and forked out nearly £500 for an 8kg Bosch. Their Bosch washing machine is circa 20yrs old and still like new. It turned up on Saturday. Basically it's too trick for its own good. Cycles take forever, it beeps all the time and its got a thing to prevent it spinning an unbalanced load (which is basically every time you do bedding or towels).
Took me hours to spin a load of bedding today that essentially meant me doing one sheet at a time and forming into a donut around the perimeter of the drum. IE not fit for purpose - I'm not sure if it's faulty or just over sensitive by design. I've called up the retailer and they've offered collection and an exchange/refund on price difference on an other machine.
I want something that's basic, sub £500 and just works. Depth is a bit of a concern as we have a 50mm waste pipe at the back so really 580mm depth is probably the limit. I don't want smart tech blah blah.
In an ideal world I'd have 3x sequential mechanical timers. One for soak, one for wash, one for spin. With two dials to set temp and spin speed. Why they've all gone to touch screen, billions of sensors, wifi etc is bonkers.
Why are there so many to choose from?!
We have a Siemens that after 10 years and a lot ilod washing stopped. £5 for a new set of brushes and still no other problems 3 years later. The only issue I have with it is it seems to eat those colour catcher sheets that end up in the filter which needed draining to remove so we don't use them anymore.
Since i bought my first machine in 1991 I have only ever bought the cheapest machine on offer at currys. I am now on machine number 4. bought in 2021. Its a beko this time. so each machine is lasting 11 years or so. Strangely even being cheap my clothes come out clean.
Edited by ARHarh on Monday 10th July 07:53
You can go for a lower spec Bosch without all the extra smart stuff on it. My general first look for a washing machine is a Bosch at the lowest spec level that has a delayed start timer. This generally puts in in the mid range level. Our current Bosch is about 10 years old now I think.
All modern washing machines seem to have ridiculously long cycles for hot washes whilst also having a much quicker 20-30 minute cycle for cooler 'daily' washes so here's what I do... set it off on the hot cycle, allow the hot water to fill up and slosh around doing its thing for a bit then cancel that cycle and switch to the 'daily 30' option.
https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/washers-...
This was the machine we bought. Seems very fussy.
I thought it was a relatively basic "good" one, but even that's "too smart".
Thanks for the input all. Looks like I'll be looking for another BEKO...
This was the machine we bought. Seems very fussy.
I thought it was a relatively basic "good" one, but even that's "too smart".
Thanks for the input all. Looks like I'll be looking for another BEKO...
Have had an AEG Lavamat for nearly 20 years now and it just keeps on going no matter what's chucked in it has an annoying digital countdown timer that seems to have dramatically faded over the years but I don't pay any attention to it anyway - never needed fix or repair and simply does it's job....
No idea what quality of current ones are though!
No idea what quality of current ones are though!
Does the Bosch not have a Speed Perfect option?
Ours has long standard cycles, but we nearly always hit the SpeedPerfect option, which brings a mixed wash down to around 45 mins and a full hot cottons wash to just over an hour with a 1600 spin, without this some are 2 to 3 hour cycles which we never use. We often use the 15/20 min quick wash, which is really useful in the summer. It's the second Bosch washing machine we've owned, been extremely happy with them for quality and longetivity. It's only ever been unbalanced with one heavy item washed on its own, which is understandable, as long as there are at least a few heavy items, it tends to sort itself out and balances well.
Ours has long standard cycles, but we nearly always hit the SpeedPerfect option, which brings a mixed wash down to around 45 mins and a full hot cottons wash to just over an hour with a 1600 spin, without this some are 2 to 3 hour cycles which we never use. We often use the 15/20 min quick wash, which is really useful in the summer. It's the second Bosch washing machine we've owned, been extremely happy with them for quality and longetivity. It's only ever been unbalanced with one heavy item washed on its own, which is understandable, as long as there are at least a few heavy items, it tends to sort itself out and balances well.
We've a Bosch which also can't seem to balance itself very well, when it gets out it slaps and bangs about all over the place, no idea why, if I pull the towels out which are still rather wet, put them back in and spin it will now go and balance itself again.
In fact with such as towels it appears the more you can stuff in to it the better it works.
In fact with such as towels it appears the more you can stuff in to it the better it works.
We have a Samsung, long warranty but also has the self balancing faff. I believe this is common to anything spinning at 1400rpm, it won’t do it unbalanced.
Good warranty, but it’s been repaired twice in 5 years.
Hotpoints are basically disposable, 3 years average before it’s unrepairable.
Good warranty, but it’s been repaired twice in 5 years.
Hotpoints are basically disposable, 3 years average before it’s unrepairable.
rigga said:
Get another Beko.
We've had Beko for years in various houses but the current lot we've got are absolute crap. The washing machine barely lasted two years before being swapped out for an LG. The dishwasher is awful but not quite bad enough to justify ditching it, the tumble dryer is so loud it's almost unusable and the fridge seems to have a built in ice maker that just happens to be the same size as the entire fridge itself.
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