I have a GE FL and have had no problems with mildew or clothes tearing, pinholes or wraping of clothes. Not sure why some are having these problems. I wouldn't trade my washer for anything.

One of the things that causes mold and mildew is using a non HE detergent in a low water HE washer. This is because excess suds can coat the inside of a washer with a soapy film in places that the washer can't rinse properly. This excess suds also take soils and bacteria and deposits them in the same inacessible places in the washer, then if the washer isn't allowed to dry out between wash cycles, mold & mildew starts to grow.

There are several things you can do and watch out for. The first is to use the correct detergent. You have to use HE detergent in HE washers. Then you can allow the washer to dry out between wash cycles. If you have a front loader, leaving the door open helps because the wash tub in a front loader is necesarily sealed to avoid water from leaking out from the door. HE top loaders generally don't require you to leave the lid open because the wash tubs in these washers aren't sealed like they are in front loaders.

Finally, you can buy a washer that has a Clean Washer cycle. This is a special cycle that fills the washer up with as much water as possible so that all the inaccesible places inside the wash tub are cleaned out. You also generally use a high concentration of bleach with this cycle to further disinfect the system.

Door gaskets leaking on front load washers has always been a big problem. Usually this happens because the rubber gasket on the door gets dirty. One way to prevent this is to wipe the gasket after every wash load. It also helps to wipe the mating surface as well.

Front loaders will generally be very gentle with your clothes. The thing to remember here is that all clothes will wear out eventually, regardless of what washer you have, so if you have a favorite t-shirt, or a favorite pair of pants that you always wear, sooner or later you are going start seeing holes and tears, and most of the time you'll notice these holes and tears when you are folding laundry.

If you aren't willing to keep the door open when not in use don't even consider buying a FL washer. Unless you want to use the resulting mold colony in your kid's science fair project.

And if you're hell-bent on wasting your money on a FL washer you better waste a couple of hundred more and get one with a heater.

Otherwise you'll never get more than a luke-warm wash at best and that contributes to the mold problem above. Even if you can flush the hot water line next to the washer (say for instance at a laundry sink) the cold drum and cold clothes will cool down the tiny amount of hot water used to luke warm.

Open your dishwasher after the first fill and feel the water. It won't be anywhere near hot.

If you can't flush the water line next to the washer you probably will never have anything but a cold wash. Nasty.

FWIW...Duet 9400 for 27 months. Precisely none of the problems you're concerned about although I am aware of reports from others. I leave the door open for a few hours, then close it -- which is what I always did with TL's for forty years previously. (I use Tide HE powder.) No mold or residue of any kind at any time anywhere in or on the machine. Pretty much looks like it was delivered yesterday.

Get one with a heater and do a good install nominally level and with equally-weighted feet -- especially important with pedestals. If install is on a suspended floor, there may be issues of vibration being transmitted to the structure but many have no problems.

Thanks all for your feedback, it was most helpful and informative. I do keep my top loader open most of the time when not washing, does the door need to be left wide open or only slightly cracked? Has anyone elevated their FL pair using any other method besides the pedastals?

Curiousshopper,

I don't know why you feel the need to be so judgemental about FLs and the people who buy them. If you are happy with a cheap TL...good for you. Why do you have to call it a "waste of money" if people prefer getting a TL or a HE TL. If certain features are important to people, I wouldn't call it a waste of money.
This is a good and informative forum. I just wish that people would not belittle the preferences and expieriences of other people. The name calling and prejudices don't help anybody to make an educated decision.

The reason you should keep the door on a f/l open is because of the nature of a f/l door's sealing capacity. On a TOP loader the lid is basically splash panel because gravity keeps the water in the machine during the wash cycle. When it's "closed' it still has plenty of places for air to circulate under and around to the drum when not in operation.

OTOH, in a FRONT loader of course, the door has to be totally water tight or the water would leak out during operation. So between loads if it is kept completely closed, it is also air tight, leading in certain circumstances, to mildew problems if other conditions are met. In fact I usually leave my doors open, but one could leave them just slightly ajar to get the same effect. Once I inadvertently left one of my machines (an Asko) with water in it- enough for a whole load, but thankfully not clothes - and sealed up for well over a year with no untoward effects, including no mildew.

To keep your machine sweet it helps, a lot, to have an internal heater and use it to run at least one quite hot load per laundry cycle. If not you might be happier with machine with a Clean Machine cycle. None of my f/ls have such an animal, but I tend to use high temps, anyway.

You may need to switch to an HE detergent product, and it might be wise to start with one as you adjust your laundry habits to the different style of machine. However, I have many years experience using f/ls and have never found it necesssary to use specifically-designated HE products. I use an ordinary, low-sudsing, big-brand powder and find it works very well for me.

I have my machines raised on pedestals made of concrete blocks, which is fine for my basement installation, but may not fit other decors.

Molly~

I for one can not see the reason to be so negative about FL washing machines, I have one and I was warned that it might have vibration problems by the salesman at the appliance store because I live in a manufactored home, the vibration issue is a non-issue. The store we bought from said and even put it in writing if we had a issue that we could return the machine in the first 3 months if we had a vibration issue.

Also we got a Neptune MAH9700AWW as a scratch and dent for $400.00 and $250.00 for the matching scratched and dented dryer after rebates, that seems to be about the same price for a cheap POS TL. After all the only folks that see the washer and dryer is me and my wife and I do the laudry in my home and we have had no problems what so ever with our set, that means no mold or mildrew, vibrations are much less then the old Magic Chef TL that we had for 25 years. The only thing we have done different is to use HE soap powder.

I do leave the door slightly ajar whenever I am not using the machine but that was also told to my wife and me when we bought the machine.

I consider my "negative" comments to be a reality check for consumers. I have used both types of washing machines and my comments are as valid as anyone's.

Front loaders are expensive to buy and repair. It's extremely unlikely that most people will ever save money in the long run.

They are S-L-O-W. I don't know about you, but my time is valuable. Waiting 60-90 minutes for a load instead of 30-40 minutes was a big deal to me.

It is said that front loaders clean so much better. My white clothes did come out a bit cleaner in the front loader. But they SHOULD HAVE, because the cycle took 90 minutes instead of 35! I imagine that I could run my clothes through two cycles of the top loader, get just as good as results and still save time over front loader. For all other loads I never noticed any difference. We are office workers and don't have overly dirty clothes on a normal basis.

"But drying times are so much faster." Well maybe 10-15 minutes faster...and at the expense of increased wrinkling. I'd rather have clothes spend 15 minutes longer in the dryer then spend time later hovering over them with a hot iron.

Believe me folks, once the novelty of a front loader washer wears off it is just laundry again. And I found NO REAL ADVANTAGES and that I spent far longer getting laundry done than I did with my old fashioned top loading machine.

I love technology when it makes my life better. Front loaders are one of those ideas that sounds like a winner on paper but in application just doesn't pan out.

My cycle times are longer with the Duet -- if I want them to be. I can also run 35-minute loads if I want to. In the mean time, the load size is also about double that of the TL it replaced so I'm actually spending less time, not more, even with 60/90-minute cycles.

The wash is gentler. The clothes are cleaner. Using much less water and much less soap. I can control the actual wash temp with the on-board heater. For most folks of my generation, this is the first time in their washing lives they'll be able to get a truly hot wash.

IMHO, these are very real advantages. After four decades with TL's, I'll certainly never go back. By all means give your opinion about your experience. However, your market-wide criticism doesn't hold up.

Your opinions are certainly valid, curiousshopper, but to state unequivocally that front loaders are a waste of money is judging the people who buy them to be idiots.

The water and energy savings are very real, as is the better gentleness. I don't know how long it'll take my washer to pay for itself in terms of water used and natural gas to heat that water, but it'll happen at some point, and it's certainly satisfying to me personally. It's like a hybrid car. Questionable in cost savings depending on gas prices, but worth the cut in gasoline usage and emissions to some.

The better "gentleness" is something that front loader proponents talk about all the time.

Well what I discovered that is that if I didn't sort loads by fabric weight my front loader was far LESS gentle on clothing.

For example I wash one load a week of white items. 4-5 white heavy bath towels, wash cloths, some white athletic socks and men's white underwear with elastic bands.

In my top loader, they all go in one load with hot water and bleach. Everything comes out clean.

In my front loader, I found that mixing heavy towels and elastic underwear caused the underwear to come out looking quite beat up. And the socks very pilled. Obviously long periods of tumbling in very little water is NOT gentle to fabrics of different weights and types.

So I ended up doing two loads of whites when I had my front loader. Time spent: 3 hours (two 90 minute loads) vs. one 40 minute load in the top loader.

Curiousshopper,
a lot of your posts don't sound like a "reality check for consumers" to me. You are aggressively stating your strong dislike for FLs and your experiences and opinions are not presented in a "peaceful" manner. You seem to look for confrontation. Just remember, we are talking about washing machines here. There is no need to be emotionally attached to them.
A lot of it comes down to personal preferences. There are a few facts that people can look at, like energy and water efficiency, cleaning performance, cycle times and so on, and then you have to decide which of those things are most important to you. You stated above that you didn't see any advantages to a FL other than that the whites got cleaner. Well, that is enough reason to buy one for a lot of people. After all, that's what a washer is supposed to do: get the clothes clean.
The longer wash cycles are probably a little disadvantage of FLs. However, you can pick a quick wash for clothes that are not very dirty. I don't know how you are doing your laundry, but I am never "waiting" on a washer to get done. When I know it'll take 90 minutes I can do all kinds of other chores during that time.
The novelty aspect of a FL isn't the reason to get one for many people on this forum. There are many people from Europe here and they have been exposed to FLs for a long time.
Personally, I do prefer FLs, but I also think that the newer HE TLs are pretty good. They cost about the same, so it comes down to personal preference. I am fed up with our cheap Hotpoint TL, because it is neither energy and water efficient nor does it do a good job at cleaning things. The temperature settings are a joke compared to a FL with a heater. However, I don't judge people who are happy with those washers though.

Looser,
Do you have two washers? You talked about the time it takes to do a load in your FLer, then you said you were fed up with your Hotpoint TLer. If you have a front loader, and it holds more laundry than a TLer, and does not take too long to do a load, why would you keep a TLer you dislike and does not clean well? Just curious.

We had a FL when we were stationed in Germany and my parents have been having FLs for a long time (I grew up in Germany). We bought the cheap TL because we already knew that we'd move to Germany within 8 months and wouldn't be able to take the washer and dryer along. We weren't sure if the w/d would survive the 3 years in storage. They did survive and we've used them the last 2 years. Here in the military housing we don't have to pay for water and electricity, so the fact that our set isn't energy efficient wasn't a big issue (other than being bad for the environment). This fall we'll move into our own house and then we'll probably get a nice Bosch Nexxt set.

I had A Bosch Nexxt. My floor was too flexible, the pots rattling on my stove drove me nuts. Make sure your laundry room has a sturdy floor, or concrete. Are you buying an existing home or building? If you are building, I guess you can design the laundry room of your dreams!

We bought an existing home and the w/d will go in the kitchen. It is an L-shaped kitchen, so there is enough room. The floor should be concrete since we don't have a basement and we have a concrete slab foundation. I think the Bosch set would work there...and look really good, too...;-)

The Bosches are nice looking machines, and they appear to be built well. Some of the new machines do not seem very sturdy. The latches feel flimsy and they look like they are inexpensively made. The Bosches look good and feel very sturdy. And they have the nicest gaskets of any of the machines I looked at. The gaskets are very easy to wipe down since there are not multiple folds to wipe between, and they are angled nicely at the bottom so almost all the water drains out. A quick swipe with a rag and you are good to go.

Thank you for stating that the gaskets of the Bosch are so nice. That is one thing that I have forgotten to look at so far. The GE FL we had in Germany had a multiple fold gasket. Not a big deal, but it did collect some water and debris. It is good to know that the Bosch has a better gasket...:-)

nan0f4
Has anyone elevated their FL pair using any other method besides the pedastals?

Instead of paying for pedastals, I opted to build my "pedastals". They are made from 2 x 12's w/2 x 12's supports in the middle. The top is made of solid 3/4 plyood. All joints are glued w/screws (no nails).
This may be considered overkill to some, but it provides a HEAVY and SOLID base. Vibration is only when running a load of jeans at the higest spin (1300+ rpms) and even then it is minimal. My laundry room is on the first floor, I have a crawl-space so my floor is not solid (joist). I am 6'4" and my wife is 5'10" so we dont have "Pee Wee Herman" jeans either.
I agree wholeheartedly with the others on this board regarding fl's. Dismissing them as a novelty is insulting. Even if the washing performance was no better (it is) than the tl's, savings alone in water, detergent and drying time would give them an advantage. The cycle of the machine is not what kills your electricity, however 30 addtl minutes for clothes to dry certainly will, if you have an electric dryer. These machines are without a doubt easier on your clothes as well. Hope this helps