Capital Expenditures

The same day that Steph was admitted to the hospital, I finally got my new washer and dryer! Andy and I had picked them out over the weekend and scheduled delivery for what I thought would be an uneventful Wednesday morning. Luckily, the delivery truck and the plumber were in and out before our appointment with the pediatrician, so that was one thing I didn't have to worry about rescheduling that week.

With some helpful advice from my pals on Twitter—particularly Nancy at Appliance Techs of Marin, who is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful!—we settled on the Whirlpool Duet front-loader set. We purchased them on the last day of July, which entitled us to a $50 rebate for some reason. The salesman also agreed to give us the electric dryer price even though we got the gas dryer. Anyhow, I got to admire how lovely they looked when they were installed, and then I was off to the hospital for a week, so Andy got to break them in. He's not one for reading instruction manuals, so I was nervous, but he managed to figure them out.

With the front-loading washer, you have to use detergent that's labeled HE for "high efficiency." These machines use much less water than top-loaders, so you need a more concentrated detergent, and you use less of it. We were told that a top-loader uses 40–45 gallons of water per load (!), compared to 15–20 for a front-loader. We do laundry every day, so I expect to see a big difference in my water bill from now on. The cycle is a little longer, but the clothes are spun around better and come out not quite as wet, so the dryer cycle is in fact shorter. Also, there's no agitator in the washer, so it's supposedly gentler on clothes.

Well, so far, so good! They seem to be doing the job, they don't make any noise, they don't march around the room, and they don't unexpectedly go on strike. 

I hope you will still visit my blog even though I don't expect to be able to regale you with any more tales of laundry woes. It was all I could do not to bash those Maytags with a sledgehammer on their way out my back door.

Then, this past Saturday, we took advantage of Massachusetts' tax-free weekend to buy the kids an iMac! It's the 21" monitor, one size down from mine. We set it up in the basement for them. They've been using a crappy old Windows machine for a long time, so this is pure awesome for them.

Comments

[B.O.B.(bob)]

You don't really need to use HE detergent. You can use the old stuff you just have to use REALLY little of it (like barely enough to cover the bottom of the cap). Doing this one bottle of laundry detergent last us about a year.

[Steve]

Congrats on the new appliance. I love new appliances and would replace mine annually if it weren't a ridiculous and expensive thing to do.

We had a front-loading washer and didn't do a good job of keeping it free of mildew - so our clothes (and especially towels) started to stink after a few years. Something to watch out for.

Once our new washer was in place, I actually did laundry. Then the novelty wore off (sad face). Maybe when we get the new dryer I'll find myself doing a few more loads.

[kate]

We have that same set. I learned only recently to leave the washer door open for 15 minutes after each load to let the glass front dry out. The other great thing about the HE washer is that if you are on septic, like we are, you are advised to do only 2 loads per day with a conventional washer! I can only do laundry on the weekend so now with the HE I can do as many as I need! I still laugh about someone on your blog who noted that when you load the washer the clothes ALWAYS fall out on your head. This is absolutely true.

[Dana]

I think that you have to use the HE deteregent or you will ruin the machine. At least that is what happened to mine. I have a new one that I love. Another front loader. Enjoy yours....

[B.O.B.(bob)]

I've had our front loader for >10 years and have never used HE liquid. Still running fine. You need to cut WAY back on the soap. The HE soap is exactly the same as the non-HE it's just less concentrated (and more expensive even though there is less "soap" in it). I saw an article that said most people use too much soap regardless of the type of machine and that will kill your machine as well as not doing as good a job of cleaning your clothes (a little counter-intuitive but what happens is soap residue gets left on your clothes). As far as cleaning the machine itself, our manufacturer recommends a cleaning cycle periodically (basically a big load of bleach followed by a bunch of rinses and a wipedown of the gaskets). this seems to keep the machine clean.