My husband and I are planning to purchase a front-load washer for our new energy efficient home. Another family member has recently returned this type of washer, complaining that the clothes were very wrinkled in appearance. Has anyone had this experience?  Does wrinkling require more drying time  to come out?

thanks for any input!!

Does your new energy-efficient home have a concrete floor?  If not, then you might want to ask about vibrations on a wood floor.

Our house will have wood floors and the washer will not be in the basement. Consumer reports had listed some brands that they thought were compatible with wood floors. Thanks.

I used to own one in Europe, and it had different settings for how fast you could have the clothes spun. Some settings spun so much water out you practically didn't need a dryer. But on some fabrics this would make wrinkling an issue, on others not. So you could set it to a less aggressive spinning cycle. I'm sure the new American ones must have similar options for spin?

We've had front loader washers off and on for 40 years, all on wood floors! House has never shaken apart, and the only time the washer has tried to walk around is when it had something oddball for a load like a large throw rug by itself that caused a way out of balance load. And then it would shut off automatically. Over all I would say they're quieter than a top loader.

Wrinkles have never been an issue. Get a front loader. They are gentler on clothes, do a better job of washing, and don't use as much water. I think your family member had a pre-existing bias and was just looking for an excuse to not keep the front loader. I could be wrong, but I think front loaders are the only washers available in Europe. If top loaders were so great they'd be used in Europe also.

Strikes me as a measurement looking for an problem to measure. I've never seen a front loader jump around or bounce like a top loader will.

You can wash FOUR KIDS at at time in your front loader!!!??! 

I've never managed to get more than ONE in mine (and he refuses to go in the dryer afterward too- a drip-dry kind o' kid. :-) )

But yep, front loaders are better (or at least I'm satisfied with mine). The wash cycles take longer, but it uses less water, runs quieter, spins drier (resulting in shorter, more energy efficient dryer cycles) and handles similar sized loads as the top loader that it replaced.  I'd never go back.

The drum of a front load spins one way a few times, then it reverses a few times, and so on through the washing cycle, and then spins clothes like crazy to wring water out.  The result is 'twisted clothes', and yes they are wrinkled when they come out.  But so were clothes in our old agitator. I just make sure to shake them out before placing them in the dryer.  I don't see it as an issue.

My wife and I love our Miele washer & dryer. Front loading is much better all-around.

Thanks for all the advice. We did end up going with the GE WCVH6800J[WW]

We are very happy with it. The high speed spin cycle is great. Very quiet and the vibration is really not too bad.

Hi there,

Sorry to be coming to the conversation right at the end but thought I could add that we also went with the same washer/dryer pair for the laundry room on the 2nd floor of our build.

We also have wood floors but the washer & dryer are stacked and sit on a small concrete drainage pad, just in case there is a leak. (It's a ~3' x 3' square pad, sloped to a drain in the center.

I think our builder said these are code now (and if nothing else it would certainly make sense to have one just in case).

We can hear vibrations a bit but they aren't bothersome (and we're often running the washer/dryer at night). We don't seem to have any trouble with wrinkled clothes.

-Colin.

I'm not sure a 3' x 3' drainage pad will capture the most likely source of a leak, the fill hose. Several years ago I had a riser come apart under the kitchen sink and flooded 2/3 of the house. It was on a slab. The insurance adjuster who came over to assess the damage said the single most common cause of home flooding were burst washer hoses. They're under pressure all the time and hidden behind the washer. Over time they deteriorate without being noticed until it's too late. The best protection against hose failure is to shut the faucets every time, like yeah, who's going to do THAT?? The next best is to use fill hoses reinforced with SS wire braid.

Hmmm... There is about 2.5" 'lip' around the sides of the pad, but your point is well taken! Even that 2.5" wouldn't hold that much.

We have braided line now -- probably a good idea to replace them every 10 years or so? I should check on their expected lifespan and replace them at 75% (?) of that.

Perhaps another solution would be to make sure the taps aren't on full. If they are only "half open" it will mean less pressure on the hose and a slower leak if something does rupture. (Of course your laundry will take longer to run.)

I believe that they are more better for the environment, using less water, etc. However, I have heard that they vibrate a lot when in use. You may want to look into this.

Vibrate a lot compared to what?

The better ones perform a balancing cycle prior to ramping the spin up, where it starts out with a slow spin, if a balance problem is detected it slows, stops, turns backwards slowly a few times to rebalance the load, start again (repeat, as-necessary.)   My LG has signicantly less vibe than my old top loader, and spins faster/dryer too cutting drying time by half (or more).

We have been living with frontload washers and condensing dryers, albeit the tiny Euro size ones, for about 7 years.  Other than the capacity issues and the long run times, we have absolutley no vibration problems and it is much quieter than our USA toploader.  We do miss the large capacity appliances (and an oven that you can put a turkey >10 lb in)!  On our initial move abroad, we took a 220volt Maytag stack with us (we had a way to vent the dryer).  Not very green, but good laundry.  Sadly, we had to leave it behind on our next move.

Bruce