Be Excellent To Each Other

My Nana has just asked me to research which washing machine is the best one, and where should she get it from.

I haven't a clue about washing machines. Any of you wierdos experts?

Budget of around £300.

Not a hotpoint.

Next!

Isn't £300 "not very much" for a washing machine?

She might be better off getting something pre-owned, as long as it comes with a warranty.

They can be a lot more expensive but we've never bought anything more than that.

I think it was a Whirlpool that flooded our house, so maybe avoid those.

We got one of those LG direct drive ones... it is indeed pretty quiet and hasn't given me any trouble in over five years (knock on wood). There is a very similar model on Curry's website for £399.99

Get on the "which" website. Or ring some local repair companies. They'll tell you which ones to avoid. Your Nan isn't going to need a brilliant one as the expensive ones are made to be used a lot and I can't see how she will use more than twice a week.

PM me for a username and password.

Please report your findings as I will be in need of one also.

I can vouch for the LGs too. We've had ours for a similar length of time and have had no probs with it.

Great for getting rid of .... 'the understains.'

_{(If any of you lot remember that advertising campaign.)}

I got a Bosch one from a local dealer, not currys place, cost ~250 and has been fine, no bels or whislte, but it is a fucking washing machine, it washes.

here you go, bargain. Seriously, I reckon you can't go far wrong with that.

Miele. Super reliable, near-silent.

Agreed - but I don't think you'll get one for £300.

Housewife checking in.
It doesn't matter a jot so long as they come with a warranty and don't suck up leccy. As Bobbyaro said, "it's a washing machine it fucking washes".
get the cheapest one from here, it's A rated and the delivery is free and spend the £125 you save on something else.

Quite why people give a shit about how many functions a washing machine has is beyond me, as is spending more than the bare minimum 99.99999% of your washes are done on the one setting with just turning the temperature down and up. £1500 washing machines only exist so that someone can go "new washing machine?" "yes, top of the range, cost me £1500 you know"

I bought one for £130 and is still going after 5 years. With me using it.

It's white goods, therefore disposable. Buy cheap and replace as necessary.

Looks like this and this are best in the bang for buck stakes. Thanks all.

Disagree strongly on 'cheap & disposable' with regard to washing machines. When they break, you've got a 50-50 chance of coming home from work to your house being fucked by water, and that's worth the purchase price of a more reliable brand on it's own.

There is a brand which is slightly more expensive, but has a policy of very cheap spares and guaranteed low service costs. Fucked if I can remember it though (Not a brand that you'd see in currys/comet etc).

First one I linked to was the same model but with less rpm and £50 cheaper. Seriously the best place to get electrical bargains is the good old fashioned co-op. If you have one in your town you will get ex-display models with even more off, plus the co-op warranties are shit hot.

?
Only if you yourself either plumbed it in wrongly or you have a washing machine on while you are out and somehow the electrics fail while sucking in water and your outlet pipe was plumbed in wrongly/you have a a blocked sink drain. In order to flood your house in a actually plausible way you have to open the door while the pump has broken which only noobs do without using the emergency drainer into a bucket first.

I swear to you as someone who does up to 3 loads of washing a day in a cheap 8 year old washer/drier that has had so many parts replaced under warranties that only the outer case is the same (new electrics, 2 new pumps, new drum, new belt...) you do not need to spend a fortune on one, don't buy into the hype peoples you are falling for the laundry industries version of the millenium bug.

I'm not sure I see the appeal of cheap + countless repairs. I've had cheap ones and regretted the hassle expense of keeping them running.

In the end we went for the miele which has had zero repairs and is whisper quiet in 8 or so years. Cheaper in the long run. 100% less hassle.

Or the door malfunctions or it springs a leak from elsewhere.

We got an ISE after the last two cheap ones (Zanussi or some crap) we had gave out after about two years each, it has a five year warranty, the spares are cheap and they're designed to be fixable if they do break.

Should you flash the non-bios?

We bought a Whirlpool that was so freaking noisy and the clothes were coming out dripping wet, so it obviously wasn't spinning properly.

We sent it back and got a Samsung one instead. It can take a fairly big load and is nice and easy to use and plays a cheery little jingle when it starts and finishes. The clothes come out nice and clean and that's about it. I can't remember exactly how much we paid for it, but I have a feeling that it would have worked out at probably 350-400 quid.

Out. Now.

@Decca - nope, that's not the only way it can leak. My (cheap) Hotpoint from a couple of years back had no overfill sensor and an outlet filter that was inaccessible behind the machine. Filter blocked as it was impossible to clean, pump froze, machine merrily continued through a rinse cycle until the drum was half full, which then started leaking from the weight of the water, and flooded all over the machine's CPU as well as my kitchen, rendering the machine beyond economic repair after just nine months of use.

That's his faulty entirely, right Decca?

Another thumbs up for Bosch here, current one has been great for the money so far.

Oh, and my expensive Bosch dishwasher wipes the floor with the succession of cheap models I had before it. Cleaning performance is night-and-day different. I've seen less of a delta with washing machines, but I'm prepared to believe there are significant differences between models in terms of performance - and the Which? reviewers agree with me.

Bosch > Bush > Boosh

Not had any issue with my hotpoint yet..

Shame on Beex, lumping a whole brand in together. SHAME

Natürlich.
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I really wanted to stick the belming dimlie on there as it amused me to think of Herr Flick's face changing

Our Bosch washing machine has been good apart from a fucked pump, but that was caused by bra underwiring coming out and jamming it. Bosch dishwasher has been good as well. Wouldn't touch another Bosch oven with a bargepole though, ours is on it's third element after five years, which is easy enough to fix yourself. The retaining screw that holds the grill and top plate in place in the top oven has corroded meaning the entire element has dropped down by an inch and a half and can't be fixed without tearing the entire top of the oven to bits though.

We replaced Hel's Neff dishwasher, which kept stopping mid-cycle and tripping the mains, with a near-identical Bosch. Only slightly more than the competition, but with much better reviews reliability-wise. No electrical trippery yet.

But that may also have something to do with no longer running the dishwasher and washing machine simultaneously and replacing the dangerously faulty socket pair under the sink with a weather-proof RCD-protected one - the supply wire runs directly behind the dishwasher, wedged against the exterior wall. It had melted into the insulation matting on the old one.

Anyway - so far it has been cleaning super-well, and it magically adjusts the duration based on magic.

Yup, I'd agree with the consensus, buy the cheapest Bosch machine you can but carefully check that it has definitely been made in Germany.

Basically this, however, even if it is a Spanish one, it is as good as any other make. Sadly, there is no definite way of confirming mfr site (or so I was informed).

Don't they have a 'Made in X' sticker on 'em at Currys? Mind you, it's been a while since I bought anything like that, it may have to say 'Made in EU' or somesuch these days, which if so is obviously a bunch of arse.

Yeah. I didn't know about it, but it was a standard wall set*, insecurely fixed to the cabinet side, with the faceplate hardly screwed on at all one side leaving a gap of a couple of mil into the innards, and one of the switches didn't switch; it was permanently on. It's symptomatic of much of the electrical work in Hel's house, unfortunately. For another example, the downstairs breaker doesn't break all of downstairs. And the porch light appears to be powered by magic.

Surprisingly, nothing exploded during or since my handiwork.

* Installed not just under the sink, a couple of inches from the u-bend, but directly underneath the dishwasher waste connection!