Recommend me a washing machine...

[AdamIM]

Sheepshanks said:

595Heaven said:

We need a new one as well. Six year old Samsung (so out of warranty) has now started to refuse to do anything after about 2-3 minutes of a cycle. Drains and fills, but refuses to spin the drum. Normaly, a quick search on ukwhitegoods.co.uk of the model number and issue brings up a sure-fire diagnosis, but not this time. Could be the PCB, could be brushes, could be the motor. Normally can make a judgement on whether to repair or not, but I'm not fancying bothering for this one.

If it's got a brushed motor then at 6 years there's a good chance that'll be the issue.

It's not the motor

Ours died yesterday, Eco Bubble (3 years old). It would pausing during cycles and behave exactly as the poster above describes on spin. Googling suggests the main PCB (electronic Board) which is expensive. A known fault. Samsung repair guy has confirmed during 'Triage' as he called it.

Poster can confirm by running the Diagnostic Test. Hold down 3rd+4th button (and power on) if you get what looks like a partial sad Face emoji it's dead.

[595Heaven]

AdamIM said:

It's not the motor

Ours died yesterday, Eco Bubble (3 years old). It would pausing during cycles and behave exactly as the poster above describes on spin. Googling suggests the main PCB (electronic Board) which is expensive. A known fault. Samsung repair guy has confirmed during 'Triage' as he called it.

Poster can confirm by running the Diagnostic Test. Hold down 3rd+4th button (and power on) if you get what looks like a partial sad Face emoji it's dead.

Thanks - interesting...

I did try the diagnostic test yesterday and it said all was ok. Just tried again and it said the door was open. Closed the door and tried again and it is still reporting the door open... The 'key' icon comes on as exepcted, so it is sees the door as being locked.

I'm not going to chuck any money at chasing the fault - time for a new one, and definitely not a Samsung! Need something quiet.

Timing isn't great - I'm off down to Goodwood tomorrow and working there until Sunday so it will have to wait until next week to replace it. That will go down well

[595Heaven]

juice said:

I have a Which subscription and their best buy budget machine is : Bosch WAJ28008GB £369 (approx)

Also a Best Buy and with a larger drum, for £449 is : Zanussi ZWF942E3PW

Thanks for that. Don't suppose they gave any details on how noisy they are in use did they?

How is the SLK55 doing? Still miss mine. The Yaris GRMN is great but doesn't make as good a noise...

[juice]

595Heaven said:

Thanks for that. Don't suppose they gave any details on how noisy they are in use did they?

How is the SLK55 doing? Still miss mine. The Yaris GRMN is great but doesn't make as good a noise...

Bosch : It’s quieter than most washing machines, but we found it isn’t as silent as some of the stealthier models we’ve tested. It however got 2/5 for noise so probably 737 levels of noise.

Doesn't say anything about the Zanussi, but it got 3/5 for noise so I reckon a little less Jet-Engine than the Bosch

SLK is good, can't believe I've had it for 4 years now !

[595Heaven]

juice said:

Bosch : It’s quieter than most washing machines, but we found it isn’t as silent as some of the stealthier models we’ve tested. It however got 2/5 for noise so probably 737 levels of noise.

Doesn't say anything about the Zanussi, but it got 3/5 for noise so I reckon a little less Jet-Engine than the Bosch

SLK is good, can't believe I've had it for 4 years now !

Thanks for that!

Think were going to go for this one https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/washers-... - it is 71dB which earns it a 'Quiet Mark' and is A-Rated.

And you get a year's worth of Persil and a 5-year warranty!

Edited by 595Heaven on Tuesday 11th July 20:05

[Ambleton]

Crikey.

The biggest thing I'm learning is that they don't make em like they used to!

As always there's contrasting opinions. Having bought one "supposedly excellent" Bosch and it being a waste of time I don't fancy hedging my bets on another.

The MIL says "buy Hotpoint". Hers is 20+ yrs old. That's great, but they won't be the same as they used to be. My parents said the same about Bosch.

"New BEKO ones are rubbish"

Buy cheap, buy expensive, German are best. Some for Samsung, some not. It's a minefield.

Basically it's a "suck it and see" scenario by the look of it

[devnull]

All this thread does is reassure me that pulling money out of savings and buying the top Miele machine was worth it, as the thing is dam incredible at washing clothes. I never knew how a big wobbly metal drum could do things so well, my clothes genuinely feel like new again compared to our other POS LG washer dryer.

[Turtle Shed]

Miele from 25 years ago.

£900 back in 1998, simple and still flawless.

[ARHarh]

Turtle Shed said:

Miele from 25 years ago.

£900 back in 1998, simple and still flawless.

I may be on my 3rd machine in the last 25 years but I have still only paid half what you paid probably less, and all the machines I have had have been superb at washing clothes as you would expect.

Still in my mind no point taking a costly risk when the cheapest will work. I guess if you have to have one running in your open plan living area when trying to watch the telly it may be a different issue.

[bigdom]

Where you live will also play a large part.

We live in a very hard water area, I should probably look at a water softener, but a washing machine every 10 years appears to be a much cheaper option!

[98elise]

Dylano said:

Sy1441 said:

We have the top of the range LG one with a touchscreen. It's horrible, the screen (so buttons) don't work half the time due to moisture and it plays a horrible tune when it completes a cycle. Avoid.

Christ you must have the same one as my next door neighbour... "da diddly did da da da, da diddly did da da"

That's the Samsung end of cycle tune!

It can be turned off, but its on by default.

[98elise]

Ambleton said:

Crikey.

The biggest thing I'm learning is that they don't make em like they used to!

As always there's contrasting opinions. Having bought one "supposedly excellent" Bosch and it being a waste of time I don't fancy hedging my bets on another.

The MIL says "buy Hotpoint". Hers is 20+ yrs old. That's great, but they won't be the same as they used to be. My parents said the same about Bosch.

"New BEKO ones are rubbish"

Buy cheap, buy expensive, German are best. Some for Samsung, some not. It's a minefield.

Basically it's a "suck it and see" scenario by the look of it

One of the problems is those who say a machine is reliable, are by definition talking about a machine that maybe a decade+ old. The manufacturer will have been through a few model versions since then and quality may have gone down hill.

Also we tend to talk about a manufacturer rather than model numbers. There could easily be a particular model that's reliable, while another from the same brand has a weakness.

[dhutch]

juice said:

I have a Which subscription and their best buy budget machine is : Bosch WAJ28008GB £369 (approx)

Also a Best Buy and with a larger drum, for £449 is : Zanussi ZWF942E3PW

We have a Zanussi which I bought 'nearly new' of ebay 12 years ago and can't fault it.
- Normal 30/40deg wash takes around 2 hours. Also has a 'mini 30' wash which takes just over half an hour.
- 1400 spin speed so nice fast drying, but you can reduce if you want for delicates etc. Also has prewash and extra rinse options.
- 3-6-9 hour delay button which is useful for running at night, for the noise, eco reasons, or to make use of cheap night rate tariffs.

Believe it was about a year old when I picked it up for £85 which was a bargain, did 7 years in the conservatory of a shared house with two lodgers, basically student digs for three graduate engineers. Its now done 5 years in our family home, including 18 months of reusable nappies so its back to doing a wash most nights.

Obviously not able to comment on the current models.

[Sheepshanks]

98elise said:

Also we tend to talk about a manufacturer rather than model numbers. There could easily be a particular model that's reliable, while another from the same brand has a weakness.

I did wonder that about Bosch - it does look as though they've slimmed the range down a bit now (perhaps post-Covid) but last time I looked there were around 40 different models. with no obvious logic in the model number so impossible to figure out the differences. I think some retailers have unique model numbers too, so it stops you doing price comparisons.

[K87]

Sheepshanks said:

98elise said:

Also we tend to talk about a manufacturer rather than model numbers. There could easily be a particular model that's reliable, while another from the same brand has a weakness.

I did wonder that about Bosch - it does look as though they've slimmed the range down a bit now (perhaps post-Covid) but last time I looked there were around 40 different models. with no obvious logic in the model number so impossible to figure out the differences. I think some retailers have unique model numbers too, so it stops you doing price comparisons.

Hit the nail on the head there.

The problem may be compounded in the years to come when you need a part that was unique to a specific retailer.

[ARHarh]

K87 said:

Sheepshanks said:

98elise said:

Also we tend to talk about a manufacturer rather than model numbers. There could easily be a particular model that's reliable, while another from the same brand has a weakness.

I did wonder that about Bosch - it does look as though they've slimmed the range down a bit now (perhaps post-Covid) but last time I looked there were around 40 different models. with no obvious logic in the model number so impossible to figure out the differences. I think some retailers have unique model numbers too, so it stops you doing price comparisons.

Hit the nail on the head there.

The problem may be compounded in the years to come when you need a part that was unique to a specific retailer.

Curry's have had their own model numbers for years, but then again they always seem to be competitive on price.

[IJWS15]

Our current hotpoint has been running for 9 years and nothing done apart from clearing coins and hairclips from the pump. Mind almost all there is in the case is a drum, a motor, a pump, a belt, a PCB and a couple of lumps of concrete.

The last one ran for 12 years and needed a spider, which turned into a drum as they had changed the bearing size on the spider, I do the work myself - it was quite entertaining when she walked in to see the washing machine case stood in the kitchen with no top, front or insides. 2 Hours later it was working again.

Not sure if there is a benefit to buying a more expensive machine. I bet all Miele do is use more springs and more concrete.

She judges them on capacity and spin size and we rarely use anything other than the quick wash.

[Ambleton]

595Heaven said:

juice said:

I have a Which subscription and their best buy budget machine is : Bosch WAJ28008GB £369 (approx)

Also a Best Buy and with a larger drum, for £449 is : Zanussi ZWF942E3PW

Thanks for that. Don't suppose they gave any details on how noisy they are in use did they?

How is the SLK55 doing? Still miss mine. The Yaris GRMN is great but doesn't make as good a noise...

Just plugged that Bosch PN into Google.... Literally the first review on JL...




Well.... Apparently that's "a feature" sir...

[ChrisR99]

We have a Bosch Serie 6 (I think the model up from yours) and it’s generally been excellent. Very quiet, good range of programmes although we mainly just use the mixed load programme that takes an hour at 40c (temp range 60-cold). Unfortunately you will struggle to escape the painfully long cycles of modern day machines, I rarely ever use cycles that are longer than two hours. The SpeedPerfect and mixed/daily washes are what you want when looking at machines in general.

Several modern machines I’ve used from various brands have also been extremely sensitive to unbalanced loads when spinning and can be a complete pain with some items. Our Bosch isn’t too bad generally, I just try and fill it up enough when washing towels and other bulky items that it has a hope of balancing.

Choosing a new machine is a minefield, we have always had Bosch appliances so went for what we know, although like everything, quality isn’t as good as they used to be 10-20 years ago. If buying again I’d look at Bosch for mid price range and BEKO for lower range. Just avoid new Hotpoints and Indesits as I’ve never found those to be any good.

[dhutch]

Why are the cycles so long now? Surely wears the clothes out more.