Well good luck with it.

If you want old school, buy a Speed Queen. Durable with no electronics or fancy controls to fail.

Looks like something Mom would have bought in 1975 and I'm beginning to think that's the highest complement possible in regard to washing machines.

One could probably start their own consulting business advising folks on what machine best suits their needs, teaching them how to use it and hand holding them along the way.

Sad thing is, I imagine it is only going to get more complicated each year. Some manufactures are already starting to say in their adverts that you do not need to know how to do laundry anymore - just select what you throw in and the machine will think for you.

schutzhund, that's so true. But what's really sad is the more "no-brainer" they try to make it, the more you need to know about how to use it! In the days of the wringer washer it was sort by color, dump the clothes in, swish, wring and dry. Now you need to know what kind of stain, type of fabric, density, what kinds of chemicals you'll be using and more! Dont' forget to set the prewash and use the right forumula there either. OK, so they set the water level for you. BIG DEAL! If anything, that causes MORE problems since people don't know how much detergent to use and then blame the machine for putting in too much detergent! LOL

I'm a person who likes to learn. But sounds like I will get a lot of pleasure if and when I need a new washer!

Well its 2 months later and I am looking at that machine. Any problems, did you keep it? Any hot water issues or error code problems?

Hi Sue,

I just LOVE my machine! Never a single problem with it. I tried the auto water level selection one time and decided I preferred to select the water level myself. Hubbans and Mom tease me about how I go through withdrawal if I cannot do laundry every few days and watch how well the machine works. For someone who used to only do it once a week, I guess there is some truth to it. Mechanically speaking, it is a well made machine. I did buy the extended warranty, as the s/n fell within the F51 error range.

The only drawback is that it needs a wiper blade to wipe the glass lid inside while washing so I can see it better ;) .

No hot water issues - hot is hot and steams up the glass. The pre-soak is different from what I was used to in my old machine. This one dilutes the soap and sprays it over top the rotating clothes, then spins to draw this "home made" stain treatment mixture through the clothes, effectively stain treating everything with your regular laundry soap. It does this several times and then fills with water to begin the washing.

You have the same effective usable space as the 6400 model (impeller model), as the loading instructions on the 6400 tell you to avoid putting anything over top the spindle. Duh! What they are effectively telling you is to pretend you have an agitator there without really having the better agitation of the actual agitator.

It also has an extra rinse feature that I use almost every time. I needed water to rinse out all the dog hair - something the FL machines were not doing for me. My towels are now nice and soft and are no longer crunchy. I took a set of towels out of the closet that I had not used in over a year, ran them through the rinse and spin cycle, and watched the soap bubbles come out!

Although color does not matter, I was able to pick up the black model at a good price as a floor sample at RC Willey and just love the color. I would buy the 6400 gas dryer, but I still have a working drying and cannot see wasting the money. These things are not cheap!

Good luck to you in your choice,
Schutzhund

Hi Schutzhund - Thanks for the info. Not sure what to do yet. How did you find out the serial numbers of the problem machines? It sounded like you had a front loader before, how long? What did you not like? A repair company I like rec'd the LG or Samsung front loaders. I am also reading about straps and strings getting entagled on the agitator. Any problems with yours? Sue