I am looking for a washing machine that will actually remove dog fur instead of sharing it with all the clothes. I had a 14 year old LG front loader that seemed very liberal in its sharing of my dog’s fur. The lint trap never had anything in it. I finally sold it to try a top loader, with the hopes that 2 little floating contraptions would collect it. The joke was on me. They came out empty every time. The only way I can eliminate dog fur from the clothes is to stand there with top open (with screw driver stuck in the locking mechanism) and use a strainer to collect the recycled water. Removing pet fur doesn’t seem to be a category that’s tested. Does anyone have a washing machine that actually removes dog fur? I don’t know if I’m getting more fussy in my old age, or if this cattle dog x rescue is a more prolific shedder.
Hi @tobydn
If you are a Choice member, have a look at the Choice washing machine review, updated 22 Jan 2020.
Then look for the machines with a lint filter. Generally, it will be the top loaders, because they aren’t considered necessary in front loaders.
This is probably why your LG front loader never removed the fur from the wash 
[Edit: Lint filters are generally those nylon meshy things you can easily remove to clean. Our LG toploader has two!]
I recently had the same problem with cat fur - I washed a cushion cover (came with a secondhand purchase) - cat hair over everything else in the wash!! I have left the clothes pegged on the line, with the (probably vain) hope it might blow away… and to add insult to injury, I don’t have a pet!
We have an LG front loader. The pump filter is the ‘lint filter’. There is also a set of small water passages bottom centre of the door seal that catches human hair fairly effectively. The latter obviously needs the gunk removed when any is caught, but there is no reference to this in the owner/operation manual.
My biggest problem is missing the occasional tissue in a pocket, that falls apart in the wash. The tumble dryer gets it all off the clothes; line drying does not.
This type of lint brush is effective for manual de-linting and removing hair, and lasts a l.o.n.g time, unlike those with sticky tape.
Maybe my LG front loader was too old to have those features. I literally never found anything in the trap. Fortunately any forgotten tissues were found intact in pockets but I dog hair was another story. I like lined dried clothes when possible for the fresh air as well as $ saving. Still hunting for the magic machine. 50 years ago my mother had a Maytag that circulated the water through a grate which was on the centre post. Was great for removing everything
My condolences!
Have done just that. But top loader filters are those little net bags. Remove some lint but I have never found my dog’s hair in there.
The mesh in the net bags I have seen are white and bit like flyscreens, but soft. They would only trap course materials, and hairs would easily pass through.
The lint filter in the top loaders is like your soft kitchen nylon scourer, with multiple layers of polymer overlaid in a random looking pattern. This is much more likely to trap finer things, like hair which could not twist through the maze of the filter material.
I had a top loader 20 yrs ago which had a sock-like lint trap. It clipped into the central spindle and presumably water from the top went through it during the wash. It caught a lot of lint, from fluff to dog & cat hair. I found it easiest to empty when dry; it just peeled off as a lump. I gave it away when I married 12 years ago - regretted it ever since.
He had a Maytag with no lint filter, or so we thought, until it started exhibiting its many problems. We got the workshop manual and found a filter full of gunk but it required de-constructing it far more than a normal consumer should be expected to do.
We have an old Fisher & Paykel 701, but not impressed - fluff everywhere. No pets now. I think it is one for Choice to test - fluff & pet hair removal - when next testing the laundry.
Except mine, the machine is a Simpson.
They are brilliant. I still have one from 30 years ago.
On the matter of fur in the wash: I have a cat that sheds like crazy. I can brush him, and 5 minutes later he’s dropping fur as he walks. I give him towels to lay on, and I find that my new(ish) Esatto front loader does the job very nicely. Towels come out pretty much fur free, and clothes going in later dont get coated. The dryer gets rid of anything thats left but I’ve noticed with this machine that theres very little, whereas with the last, there was always heaps.
I’ve never heard of an Esatto. Will definitely look into it. Finally a ray of hope:)
I have several of those lint brushes. They’re ok after the fact but would love not to need them for freshly washed clothes.
Our previous long haired spaniel shed hair as routinely as rolling over for affection, or thinking with her nose.
We washed her towels (short cropped pile) and other stuff separately in a Hoover 1500 top loader without issue. Our own clothing we brushed off before washing rather than sharing the love with the rest of the wash. It seemed easier as once washed there were always some hairs that seemed to become part of certain types of garment.
We had an LG front loader for a while and found it more likely to retain long hair in the wash.
It seems to only be available from appliances online. Like Mark, I always wash the hair covered stuff separately, and I clean out the filter before doing anything else. So far, its working. I’ve no doubt in time it will appear nt to be working so well, that always happens.
I’ve had many furry companions who shed their fur. Can I suggest that you invest in one of those reusable lint/pet hair rollers (they contain a sticky roller that can easily be cleaned under the tap when filled with lint/pet hair), and run it over each item to be laundered before putting the item in the machine.
In that way there won’t be dog hair being shared among the rest of the load. I’ve very little confidence in any of the technologies that claim to remove dog hair without any effort from me, I find that they simply do not work!
I have them. Both rollers and brushes. I think I have found the machine that promises to do what I want. Thank you.
I have a Black Labrador and a black cat that both shed hair. I wash bedding and then put it in the tumble dryer for a few minutes which gets all the hair out in the dryer filter.I vacuum the hair out of the dryer filter and do the rest of the drying on the clothes line.
I had a look at their web site and the clarity of what the company is and how they source products looked good but seems to be a bit of ‘look at that’ not ‘this is it’. Esatto is a brand of the residentia group whose web site is similar (no surprise).
Trying to understand what the company is can be interesting. The ‘team’ is addressed and on one hand it seems heavy on management and service, but there is nothing about engineering or manufacturing, just sourcing.
