Switch to Front Load Washer

[Darell]

Originally Posted by TedTheLed

does it kill fleas, flea eggs, etc.? my friend wants to know.

A front-loader wouldn't be any different than a traditional (American) washer in that reguard. We're still just dumping water and detergent into a drum and mixing it around. Add some flea death juice to any machine, and they should all be effective.

Originally Posted by SilverFox

Hello Darell,

Did you ever figure out what was causing the mold smell in your washer?

Tom

Hi Tom (and thanks for the personal notes).
I took the whole thing apart and cleaned out all kinds of nasty, disgusting slime from the drain. Everything is as clean as can be, and the smell is much better - but still not gone. I've tried everything from bleach to "Smelly Washer" powder to the Affresh tablets. And nothing makes it better. It is almost acceptable now, but still not great.

[SilverFox]

Hello Darell,

It appears that a biofilm forms on the back side of the drum. This seems to be the source of the odor. It is easy to eliminate the odor in the short term, but I am sure a long term solution would be much better.

I will get in touch with you tomorrow and discuss some ideas.

Tom

[Darell]

Would love to hear about it since I can't even fully get rid of the odor even in the short term. Best I could do was reduce it somewhat.

[SilverFox]

Hello Darell,

Well, the proof will soon be evident to you...

The WMW solution is on the way. If it works as advertised, we may be on to something involving a little cottage industry...

Tom

For everyone else, Darell didn't appreciate my initial name for this, even though I though it was quite cleaver. This lead to a period of brain searching for another name.

WMW stands for Washer Mouth Wash.

I concede that this is probably better than "Darell's Dope..."

[Darell]

We'll see how it all works, and maybe have a naming contest later.

[jzmtl]

Originally Posted by SilverFox

Hello Darell,

Well, the proof will soon be evident to you...

The WMW solution is on the way. If it works as advertised, we may be on to something involving a little cottage industry...

Tom

For everyone else, Darell didn't appreciate my initial name for this, even though I though it was quite cleaver. This lead to a period of brain searching for another name.

WMW stands for Washer Mouth Wash.

I concede that this is probably better than "Darell's Dope..."

Washer Mouth Detergent sounds better.

[Darell]

Hey! The contest hasn't started yet!

The goods have arrived. I just got home, and will give it a whirl tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

[Brock]

It is weird that bleaching it didn't do the trick. After we wash a couple loads of diaper rags I would do an empty load with hot water and 8 ounces of bleach. I have never had any smell after that. As much of a bad rap bleach or chlorine gets it is REALLY good at killing thing, then again maybe whatever it is clumped and not washing off although you would think you would have found that visually.

It will be interesting to see with what you have now works.

[Darell]

I am currently performing the magic gas trick as I type. We'll see!

Yeah, bleach helped for maybe one day. Mostly just masked by the bleach smell. One load later, and the nasty smell was back.

[idleprocess]

I've heard that small amounts of water pool in the door seals if the door to the washing machine is closed after a cycle.

[Darell]

Originally Posted by idleprocess

I've heard that small amounts of water pool in the door seals if the door to the washing machine is closed after a cycle.

Our door is ONLY closed when the machine is on. And I regularly wipe everything that I can reach with bleach. Whatever it is, is not reachable by my hand, nor by the splashing water from a bleach-filled wash.

[GreenBGOak629]

Everything from what I have read on this forum and seen on the web, has shown me that front load washers are the way to go. My question is in regards to dryers. Is it better to have an all-electric dryer or gas powered? In terms of efficiency it seems that gas would be an all around better choice, but in using gas are we supporting the increased use of fossil fuels. Would it be better to use an all electric dryer an offset the increased electrical bill with better electrical efficiency in the home or adding solar/wind to your household? That said I suppose one could just forego the dryer and just use a clothesline, though I am not sure how efficient that is during the winter.

[Darell]

The gas vs electric is a debate that has gone on for decades.

Yes, NG is a fossil fuel. Also note that about half of our nation's electricity comes from coal. The difference is that electricity CAN be made cleanly, as you point out. So yes - go electric if you also generate your own electricity!

But the best bet by far is hanging to air dry. And yes it works just fine in the winter as long as you hang them in a semi-conditioned area of your home. Indoors. My mother in law (84 years old) has never owned or used a dryer of any type. She lives in foggy San Francisco. Hangs all her laundry in the downstairs garage. If you hang it in a heated part of the house, it'll dry as fast - or faster - than hanging outside on a sunny day. And you get the added benefit of putting some humidity back into your heated air.

[chimo]

I have had a front loader (Kenmore Elite) since about 2001.

All the talk about efficiency is true and it cleaned the clothes very well. They use less water (=less water heating for hot/warm loads) and they spin much more water out of the clothes than a top loader so drying takes less time (more energy savings).

I have had some reliability problems culminating in failure of the washer (since last week). The first problem I had was the plastic outer basket gasket/seal. The stainless steel drum sits in a two-piece plastic basket. The foam o-ring started to leak about a year ago. I purchased a replacement o-ring (~$10) and it worked fine until recently - it got *much* louder when spinning. The bearing seals went and they spilled their guts (some inside the plastic drum - some outside the drum). The Kenmore was belt drive.

So the wife and I went shopping and purchased a new Samsung set (front loader). This Samsung is direct drive (the motor is on the spindle) so I'm hoping it will reduce the side loading on the bearings a bit. It is supposed to improve efficiency a bit as well. In addition, we are going to different time-of-day electricity rates here so the delay start settings will be helpful.

First pic is the bearing hemorrhage, second was the basket seal repair from last year. There have also been some problems with the aluminum "spider" that connects the stainless steel basket to the drive shaft corroding to failure.

[was.lost.but.now.found]

Originally Posted by GreenBGOak629

Everything from what I have read on this forum and seen on the web, has shown me that front load washers are the way to go. My question is in regards to dryers. Is it better to have an all-electric dryer or gas powered? In terms of efficiency it seems that gas would be an all around better choice, but in using gas are we supporting the increased use of fossil fuels. Would it be better to use an all electric dryer an offset the increased electrical bill with better electrical efficiency in the home or adding solar/wind to your household? That said I suppose one could just forego the dryer and just use a clothesline, though I am not sure how efficient that is during the winter.

I've got gas heat and water heater and an electric clothes dryer. When I see how hot the vent pipe from my heater and water heater get, I can't help but wonder how much energy is wasted going right out of the house through that flue. I would really love to make the switch to all electric. I also hate paying $23/month in the summer to use $8 worth of gas for just the water heater (don't think it would even be that much on electric).