Hi @syncretic , I can’t speak to your second question but I can answer the first - we use the machine’s default or normal program and don’t use any additional features or modifiers, except to switch to a cold wash if that’s not the default. This program more often than not is the cottons cycle.
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FWIW our previous LG (10kg WD14071SD6) went 153 minutes for the basic cotton cycle with an extra rinse when loaded 1/2~2/3 full, and with a full load about 202 minutes with the extra rinse. The ‘time saver’ option reduced it by about 20 minutes.
That LG ‘failed to wash’ at just over 6 years. The repairman anecdotally claimed 8 years would be pretty good for a modern LG. He also claimed Electrolux quality has gone up in the past few years. Time will tell.
While ordering a new Electrolux (Choice recommended model) the salesman who also sold us the LG checked and said that LG model started getting service calls at 5 to 7 years. Ours was on the low end. Since the repair cost would have been roughly 50~70% replacement value for an equivalent new model we did not bother.
The Electrolux has been really good save for a [not so] funny where it has a propensity to move the 4 pillow cases into fitted sheet pockets during the wash, possibly because of the paddle design, and then try as it does it cannot balance the load to spin until we manually pull the pillow cases out of the sheet pockets. The LG never had the problem with the same load, and the problem with the Electrolux is unique to the specific sheets and pillow cases.
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I am lining up to replace an LG the 7.5 kg WD-8074FHB which after 18 years has wearing buttons on the control panel. And here we are comparing reliability at the model level where (unless you are a maker) there isn’t enough data so ratings are given at the maker level.
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That they are. I accept my experience re LG beyond the cycle time was misplaced as OT re your question, yet the repairman was speaking LG, the salesman my model, the data not so dissimilar from each other. I hope your new LG will go much longer than mine did, and statistically that should be the case.
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Our LG lasted just over 10 years, it was the main bearing which failed. Cost of replacement was about 50% of the value of a new machine. The bearing for a lot of front loaders seems to be an issue as in most machines it supports most of the weight of the drum and load, leading to a lot of wear and tear over it’s life. I am guessing there isn’t much that can be differently designed to decrease the risk of failure over that period of time. Was it the bearing in your machine that was the fail?
Our new Samsung appears to be performing flawlessly, as it is fairly new this should not be a surprising outcome, the number of years of toil to follow will be the means of measuring success or failure.
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No the control panel. Those soft-touch buttons only have so many presses in them before they become unreliable. It seems they are no longer made but a second hand one is $150 plus GST and postage plus installation if I can’t figure it out without a workshop manual. Not worth it to me for such an old machine when a new replacement is about $750 in the shop.
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Thank you for the response and yes it seems easier after 18 years to just buy a new one, if mine had lasted that length of time I would have considered it a very worthwhile purchase for the money spent. I thought I had replied to @PhilT about his LG, regardless of that your information is also pertinent to the debate of fixing vs replacement and how longevity of a product weights that decision.
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We have bought only 3 washing machines in the past 44 years.
The first was a large Australian made Hoover toploader we bought in 1977 which would waltz around the laundry when the load was out of balance.
No problems other than some surface rust on the side panels which I treated by painting the inside of the panels with Killrust.
It was still going strong when we moved to our new home in 1996 and a mate or our son bought it for $50.
We bought a Kleenmaid/Speed Queen top loader washer and a dryer made in the USA for our new home in 1996 and the only problem we had with the washer was the brake pads wearing out.
We left them both at no charge for the new owners when we sold our home in 2014.
When we bought our current home in 2015, we bought a Bosch frontloader washer made in Germany and a Bosch condenser dryer made in Poland.
The only problem with the washer to date was some corrosion on a front panel which had not been treated correctly, and which Bosch replaced under warranty.
I expect that the Bosch washer will likely outlive me.
I also expect that quality major appliances should last for up to 20 years and that buying cheap and nasty ones is false economy.
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I’m finding it difficult to find a good Front Loader washing machine 5kg.
Any Recommendations?
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Welcome back @Pamelita23
I have moved your post into this topic on finding the best washing machines using the CHOICE reviews (other answers can be found here that may be helpful).
Hopefully by reading the review (member access) and the advice in this topic you get great choices.
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I did title it Front loader.
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So you did. That naughty moderator lost it when moving your post here and didn’t notice.
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I have edited your post to make it clear, Thank you for the pickup of my error in not transferring that detail…. I’m human so I do make mistakes 
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@airedale, having recently changed from a 10kg LG to a 10kg Electrolux (per my previous post in this topic), beside obvious differences in programming I noticed the Electrolux seems less tolerant of any less than well balanced load than the LG, not just the pillow cases migrating into sheet pockets.
Each has ‘programming’ whereby it tries to balance and rebalance loads and depending on the tolerances for the tub suspensions that adds time to the programs that can be from a few minutes to many minutes to ‘giving up’ with an error stop requiring intervention.
You might consider adding a test to reveal how well a machine can handle imperfectly balanced loads even if only reported as poor, average, good, or excellent in the comments.
The LG had rotating weights to counterbalance out of balance loads that was usually more rather than less effective. If the Electrolux has anything similar it is not obvious or not as effective and its tub has comparatively generous excursion while it spins up. A side observation is the Electrolux chassis vibrates more than the LG when it begins to spin up when not ‘perfectly balanced’ because of the tub suspension difference. The vibration goes away as the speed increases and the ‘balance takes hold’. The vibration might not be helpful over time or it might be designed to cope long term.
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Hi @PhilT , thanks for reaching out, and I’m sorry to hear about your experience with your new washer.
Yes, it speaks to an inferior suspension / counterbalance system compared to your previous model (we did a pull-down comparison once between a high end front loader and a cheap and cheery one - the high end model had four points of suspension and metal mountings for the shock absorbers, the cheap model only had two points of suspension and plastic mounts - guess which one handled load balancing better? Note, neither of these were LG or Electrolux models).
It’s also common for washers to attempt to compensate for out of balance loads by adding more water and longer cycle times, as you’ve noted.
Thankyou also for your suggestion of adding an out of balance correction assessment to our testing - I’ll talk to the testers about it and see what they say. In the mean time, if your washer wobbles so much it’s not doing the job then you may have an argument for a replacement or refund under the ‘not fit for purpose’ clause in the ACL.
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Thanks for the reply @airedale
Considering it is a Choice recommended model wouldn’t that be embarrassing 
It is vibration not wobble and only noticeable during part of the spin up. When the spin gets to speed it is rock solid. I’ll edit my previous post for clarity.
I am pretty happy with the Electrolux. It has a number of very good features such as the rinse and spins seem particularly effective (noted in the Choice test). But it gets irritating to see (eg) 13 minutes remaining for 15 minutes (eg 28 minutes real time that sometimes keeps getting extended) to completion while it turns the tub this way and that way trying to rearrange the load.
The engineers behind it must have had an interesting time working out the ‘how to try rearranging wet clothes’ programming 
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Hi @PhilT , yes, that’s a little different then - it’s not uncommon for a washing machine drum to wobble as it starts to speed up and passes through it’s natural frequency, only to stabilise at higher RPMs. As you noted, we’re usually fairly impressed with Electrolux, however every brand has the occasional faulty product.
I do share your pain with regard to inaccurate time remaining displays - my washing machine’s 15 minute quick cycle has been known to take 45 minutes, sitting on 2 minutes to go for half an hour.
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Size matters.
No matter how small a load you may do from time to time (darks sorted from lights, hot temp items sorted from warm/cold temp ones, etc) if you are going to be washing large sheets, mattress underlays, doonas, etc then you need a washing machine that can wash your largest item effectively.
In our household the largest items are:
- washable super king size doona
- washable king size mattress cover
Because we have recently bought a bulkier version of number 2, I am considering changing from a much repaired, 1991 high efficiency top loader rated for 8kg dry weight to new 10kg top loader. Because a 10kg machine will have greater volume to fit bulky but light items.
Obviously smart water level technology helps when using the same washing machine for large, medium, and small loads.
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Why doesn’t Choice include tub material in its washing machine reviews? So many washing machines have a plastic outer tub, but these are prone to break and cause serious flooding.
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Welcome to the Community @chris2037.
Can you cite data to support that is more common than say the hoses bursting? If it is a major source of leaking (or flooding) it would be concerning, but in the overall context it might be an interesting data point, that might or might not be offset by other considerations such as price.
@airedale is the Choice resident expert, so we have tapped him to hopefully reply.
edit: as the question was about the review I merged it with the review topic.
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