Be Excellent To Each Other

I've not got a lot of money to spend, but I do have the following criteria:

Needs to be energy efficient and preferably water efficient too.
Any spin speed is OK, as I don't believe it really makes much difference.
The quieter it is during operation the better.
Cheapity-cheap-cheap.

I've seen #spec" class="postlink">this one which is at an attractive price, has a high spin speed and is quiet and energy efficient. I've never heard of the brand before though.

A stand-alone washing machine or a washer dryer?

I have an INDESIT washing amchine that was baout 130 quid. It is fone for 3 years and seems to be OK.

Dno't forget when troubleshooting washing machines, tehre are only 3 things that can go wrong:

The pump, the controlboard or the thing that makes it spin around.

Stand-alone washing machine, unless it's possible to get a combined washer/dryer for the price of a stand-alone (or not much more)


The pump is presumably working or I guess it wouldn't work at all, the thing that makes it spin around is fine up until the point that it needs to spin dry, so I'm guessing it's the controlboard.

I'm assuming, if it is the controller, that it's not really repairable.

It's a straight swap, IIRC for most things. So a new control board and a sly twenty might be a cheaper fix. Ask around in your local pub, it's where I get free stuff done

Hang on a momnet, I've had a thought. IIRC, there was a company that does sell replacement controlboards for washing machines. I'll check. Give us a few.

I bought one of these two years ago, I think it might have been end of line.

A for energy efficiency, good capacity, and the direct drive means it's pretty quiet too. I like it!

I'm not convinced by washer/dryers, to be honest... you need to run it in dryer mode for far longer than you would a dedicated tumble dryer in order to get stuff dry, I find.

You're asking for washing machine advice on a forum dominated by video game geeks? That's like going on a forum for the Woman's Institute and asking them which version of Contra is best!

What we can do is tell you about which washing machine had the most flashing lights. Grim.. can also tell you that rather than wash clothes he just purchases new ones.

I've heard that the medium & low end machines made in the last few years are utterly shit and break down all the time. To the point that you're actually as well to go to a second hand shop and get an old Ariston or something (ours is 12 years old and I recently did the first bit of work on it - changing the motor brushes).

These are probably a good idea though, probably not the cheapest to buy, but long term:
http://www.iseappliances.co.uk/

You can get parts for most machines on 'ukwhitegoods' (or some such) web shop. 10 minute job to change that. You may find that just wiggling the edge connector on the controller will fix it - just like on a speccy ram pack.

They have a control board for a BEKO WMA1510.

My washing machine is a WM 1510 W.

Curses.

//edit: How would I actually get to the control board anyway? Wouldn't it involve whipping the covers off?

I'm guessing it's the bit that ain;t the pump or the motor, but I'm an amateur. Give them a ring i guess. Can't hurt.

When Mrs Squirt managed to break our washing machine, I just had to undo a couple of screws to pop the cover off. Very easy. AS someone said above, there are only about 4 things in there, so it's simple to see what's what.

Have you tried degunking the trap? It might be full of gunge that's blocking off a sensor or jamming a pump.

Buying cheap, and being prepared to replace it every three years, is a valid strategy for washing machines. Anecodotal evidence suggests build quality on most washing machines has declined over the last few decades, and they simply don't last as long as they used to.

Based on my personal, very bad experience, I can only make one firm suggestion, which is that you don't touch Hotpoint with a ten foot pole. In nine months our washer/drier[1] leaked three times, broke down twice, had an engineer visit five times, and they still wouldn't refund us; eventually the retailer sorted us out (and was damned nice about it) with a replacement Bosch which has been very good (but was expensive).


[1] don't buy washer/driers if you can help it, they are comparatively less reliable and never work quite as well as separate ones. I have a small kitchen.

Which recommends the Whirlpool AWO/D5516 for around £270. Full review in the spoiler.

Damn, I shoulda said this. Go sign up for the free thirty day trial of the Which website and read their last washing machine roundup. They're the only place I know of that does decent testing of white goods.

We have a Hotpoint washer/dryer, provided by the landlord. No room in our tiny, tiny house for anything else.

It is SHIT.

Sort of washes, but only if you jog the machine up and down a few times to jump start it.

Doesn't dry at all. Just takes several hours to make the clothes hot and wet.

I hate it so, so much.

The motor control board is usually accessed from underneath - tip the machine on its front or side and most likely you'll see a bunch of wires going to a plastic box or a bare board with a plastic rain shield above it. As I say, wiggling the connector may fix it.


@Rev: yeah, out hotpoint fridge was rubbish too.

This seems quite a good site:

http://www.washerhelp.co.uk/buying-advice-6.html

"Budget washing machines: If you are buying in the budget washing machine range I would recommend Tricity Bendix. These washing machines are cheap and relatively basic but made by the same company that makes Zanussi and AEG. They are virtually budget versions of Zanussi washing machines and as such are a reasonable machine for the price. They also have a high reliability record according to Which?"

Our fairly expensive Hotpoint broke the other week after only about four years so I read that and tried to find a Tricity Bendix and couldn't. We ended up getting a Zanussi that was on offer for about £200. It seems either spend loads on one of those Miele or ISE machines or just go for a decent cheap one, £300-£400 ones seem a bit pointless really.

While we're on the subject, does anyone remember a weird Ariston advert from long ago, which I strongly believed contained the C64 Robocop game "death music" in a loop as its soundtrack?

Ours was a WD640. Here's the best bit about it.

One day the output filter got clogged up, which of course happens from time to time. At the point the machine stops emptying, but it continues to fill, as it has no failsafe trip (shitness #1 - should have a mechanical overflow cutout). Sooner or later the drum overfills and floods out (shitness #2 - why does it leak?). This soaks your kitchen (shitness #3 - unavoidable I guess by this point), but it also runs out directly over the main CPU board for the washing machine, which is mounted at the back of the machine and at the very bottom (shitness #4 - mount it higher up, goons, where no water gets it). This results in a £500 repair bill (shitness #5 - why so freaking expensive) unless you exhibit some exceeding ComicalGnomes-esque levels of anger at the company.

I challenged the repair man on this blatantly shit piece of design; he could offer no defence.

Another great feature - the output filter is around the back under an inspection panel, where you can't get at it for maintenance, hence encouraging the previous Shitness Chain to take place. My new one has the filter underneath a flap on the front, so you can clean it regularly.

DESIGNED TO FAIL.

Yes, although I remember it as being the Spectrum menu music. I think it was actually the gameboy version.

In these things, the W at the end normally just indicates that it's the white model. But don't quote me...

I can tell I'm going to end up searching for it on youtube now.

We've got a Zanussi that appears to have been made sometime around the Industrial Revolution and only barely understands the concept of even washing at 40C, let alone anything lower.

That said, it's rock solid and the only problem we've had is the fucking plumber plugged the hot and cold pipes in the wrong way round.

It was the Gameboy version, although I prefer the CPC/Speccy version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt2o19ehALw

You would!
C64 was betterer though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbMfCpD8gk4

As much as I like the SID chip, that sounds like a 70's gay disco version.

Dear God, there was a two-and-a-half-minute version of that ad?

Couldn't be arsed to attempt a repair, so I went to Curry's earlier and bought this Zanussi 1400 spin jobbie.

Buy Now Pay Next August, so I've got a year to get enough cash together to pay it off. Can't imagine that's gonna be a problem.

Inspired! More computer game music should feature in popular culture. Although obviously CPC versions, natch,

Coming financial apocageddon thought that was worth quoting.

We bought a Bosch, based on Which's reliability surveys - Bosch and Miele have the lowest percentage of failures in the first six years of ownership (for just about all white goods, not just washing machines).

It was about £269, and it's pretty basic (Classix range), but you get a 2 year guarantee out of the box, and it's been going for about 3 years now with no failures. The only issue is a build-up of skek just inside the rubber seal, which can be managed with j-cloths and the occasional boil wash. Looks grim, but has never marked clothes.

Other fascinating facts from Which's reliability surveys - upright vacuum cleaners are massively less reliable than cylinder ones. Only the UK, US and Japan seem to bother with them. Also, while Dyson cleaners provide better suction than any others, they also have a 50%+ rate of failure in the first three years. We went with a Miele.

Places to shop around - asides from the obvious Comet/Currys/Empire Direct, I'd recommend checking Co-Op Electrical Shop (cheapest place for our tumble dryer by about £40), and Hughes Direct, an East Anglian company with a good webshop. Use this URL to get a special Which version of the page, which I think gives a 2.5% discount and has direct links to the best buys.

Nah, I'm fuckin' loaded, me.

Just not at the moment