The only difference that I can see is the 6260 model has the "My Cycles" option where you can store a custom wash cycle to be recalled at the touch of a button. Otherwise, they appear to be the same.

MRB

Thank you mrb627... doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the models. How about the quality of the machine? Do the people out there who have one like the cleaning, & as important, the reliability of the machine?

I can't speak to the long term reliability since our GE units are only a month old. It does a good job of getting things clean, that I can vouch for. I think the models are slightly different from Home Depot to other stores in orer to not price match. If you are concerned about the reliability, Lowes had a 5 year plan on both units for $129, that is a much better price than any other place I looked.

I found this GE Washer at Brandsmart for $798 + $568 for the matching dryer. They are offering a a 5 yr warranty for $68/unit which seems very skeptical since every other place I've looked charges over $100. Is it true that this unit takes more than an hour to wash a regular load? I'm deciding between this model and the Kenmore HE2 Plus from Sears for the same price ($1500) but no extended warranty. Anyone know or have any experience with Brandsmart warranties? Any help would be much appreciated!

I have the GE washer and dryer that are sold by Home Depot. I've had mine almost 6 months now and am very happy with them. The "regular" wash cycles do take over an hour, it is true. As it turns out, I use the 'Speed Wash' cycle for almost all of my laundry now and the results seem just as good with a wash time of under one hour, even with the extra rinse selected. (we don't usually generate very filthy clothes, I guess)

This is my first experience with front loaders, so I can't make comparisons to other machines. I think the cleaning performance is very good, and I particularly like how adaptable the machine is. I can wash very large loads, very small loads, very dirty loads and very delicate loads -- with my old top loader I had to do lots of hand washing of special or delicate items. As a result, I didn't chose to wear them much. Now everything that needs washing can be washed in the machine. I sort a little differently, as you need to with front loaders. And I do notice that items made of fleece or acrylic (like blankets) need to be washed on delicate cycle if you want to protect the pile of the fabric. I suspect that is true on all machines, or at least those that use such small amounts of water.

If I had it to do over again, I would probabably not buy the Home Depot models, however. I think other stores have a model that has a "drain and spin" cycle. Mine only has a "rinse & spin" cycle. Every once in awhile I will get a load that the machine can't quite balance. Since it doesn't get up to fast spin speeds, the laundry is very wet at the end. It would be nice to be able to rearrange the load and try for another spin without re-wetting everything with an additional rinse. I do use the 'rinse & spin' cycle when I feel a load hasn't rinsed adequately, but I'd use the 'drain & spin' feature too, if I had it. I dont' find the "my cycle" feature on my machine to be of much use at all.

I've had our GE set (from Home Depot) about a month & a half & love them. Have to agree with pretty much everything newgeneral said as far as performance & I also would have bought a set with the drain & spin feature as opposed to the rinse & spin cycle. Didn't notice it when I bought. I would add two things: (1) I washed some small & medium-sized throw pillows from my bed & wow -- they came up very clean & extremely fluffy; and (2) my towels are a little stiffer than in my old top load set. There have been several posts regarding this problem with other users & I'm still playing with different settings to see if I can get them soft & fluffy when they come out of the dryer. If I come up with anything I'll let everyone know. Other than the towels, though, I love my GE set.

Yes, there is certainly a difference in the texture of towels (very noticeable) and, to a lesser extent, certain other cotton knits. I don't think it is an issue specific to GE FL's, though. If you read the posts on the scratchy towels thread, there were many different brands of FL's represented. I've taken to adding a small amount of downy free to my towel loads. And I'm monitoring the cotton knits, to see how they hold up long term. It seems to be the result of more cloth-on-cloth abrasion with the FL. But clothes are not damaged or showing excessive wear, if all that makes sense.

Hi - Checking in on GE FL owners - specifically model 6240.

It's been a year since these have been introduced. Is everyone happy? Any new issues?

I've noticed that other washer models have higher spin speeds than the GE --- 1350 vs. 1000 rpm. Is this really a significant difference? I'm wondering if those faster spinning machines have issues with loads coming out wet - like some have reported with the GE.

Any info on vibration on 2nd floor? Any suggestions to mitigate any vibration? How about other noise in general?

My dryer is dead and I am ready to move my laundry from my kitchen to a closet off off of an alcove in my bedroom. I am strongly considering the GE because of price, internal heater, capacity and the fact that they can be stacked. Just wanted a little more updated info before I take the plunge!

Thanks for any feedback!!

I've had my GE set from Lowe's 8 months and I'm very happy with their performance.

I agree on the points made by previous posters: I use the Speed Wash cycle more than any other with fine results, and I have have found the Drain & Spin cycle handy to have. Sometimes when I've had an extra-heavy load of towels or throw rugs, something like that, a second Spin is necessary. I also use a small amount of superconcentrated fabric softener for knits, towels and sheets.

They're efficient and well-priced machines, and I'm glad I got them and the matching pedestals.

artemiss - thanks for your feedback! Glad to hear another good report. Are your machines on the second floor? Do you have any vibration issues?

You're very welcome, doodles! My GE FLs are on the main floor of a daylight basement rancher. There is a huge beam underneath the floor of the laundry room, and a room below it in the basement.

There is some vibration of the washer on its pedestal. We've measured it to be less than 1/16" of movement. It sounded louder than that and was a little scary at first, but the pedestal didn't move at all, and we couldn't detect any vibration in adjacent rooms or in the room below. After 8 months of steady use, the unit has stayed exactly in place - no 'walking' across the LR floor! The pedestals, with all the storage space in them, are really worth having. Plus, no bending to load/unload.

Best of luck with your decision and purchase.

I've had mine almost a year now. No issues whatsoever. I'm almost sad that I bought the extra warranty but it gave me peace of mind to go ahead and use and abuse the set. The spin speed is fine. Clothes go into the dryer pretty much dry and take about 1/2 hour for a very large load. I love the dryer. Clothes come out "just right" not crisp..and the fleece footed sleepers are still soft!

I tend to wash very big loads with 3 kids. I can do my boys' clothes (a week's worth) in two loads, white and colors, so the longer wash times don't really bother me. The settings are very adaptable. I tend to use the delicate setting because it uses a bit more water. I also usually run an extra rinse.

The biggest problem I have is with getting whites super white because I don't use the LCB. It's a pretty fair trade-off though.

Is it not OK to use LCB in the GE? I'm not a big fan of it but I know my husband likes to wash all of his white t-shirts and socks in LCB.

Can the GE 6240 in-machine's water heater be manually selected to increase the water temperature in any wash cycle? An example is: Using the quick wash but with hottest water possible.

Hello. We have had the 6240 washer for about 6 months (I think?) and I have liked it. We bought it from Sears and didn't have any problems with them.

We had an old TL machine before, so it was our first FL experience. Our towels were definitely a bit stiffer, but we still have an old GE dryer, so that might be the problem there.

The only thing that I haven't liked is that some water remains in the front bottom part of the door and if I don't wipe it out and leave the door open, it gets a moldy smell. We have young kids and kittens, so I don't like to leave the door open all the time. But as long as I wipe it out and keep it clean, it's not a problem (I think this is common for many brands of FL's, too.)

But it's worked well and we haven't had any problems. Our old dryer is in the process of dying, so we may be replacing it with the matching High Efficiency dryer soon.

I believe you can select "hot" water for any cycle - the quick wash, etc. I know we sometimes make changes to the pre-programmed cycles.

We've had our GE front loaders for about 20 months or so. We bought our set from a local retailer.

We have had to call for service twice. Once was our fault because we're kind of dopes sometimes (so they didn't have to come out once we got on board with the dope factor).

The time we did call for service, the washer had stopped spinning and emptying itself out of water. Obviously, that's a problem. The tub would fill, the drum would turn and do its thing, but when it came time for the water to drain out and the tub to spin, it just sort of fell apart. So the guy came out and immediately announced that he had never worked on this particular kind of machine. Then he proceeded to do a few things and call GE. Diagnosis: It needed a new computer panel thing. Off he goes to order and then wait for the part. A few weeks later, he comes back with the part. He installs the part. He tests the washer. Um, guess it didn't really need a new computer panel thing because...same thing was happening. So he called GE again. Diagnosis: Maybe it's the drain. Solution: Take off the front panel and check the drain/filter. Oh dear. A faux pearl necklace, a couple of buttons, and about $2.00 in change in addition to a bunch of bobby pins and maybe some random pieces of plastic. What can I say, I have a bunch of teenage girls.

Moral of that story: Reinforce the need to empty pockets if we want to have a working washing machine.

After about a year, it happened again. This time I decided we could perform this basically routine maintenance issue ourselves. So that's what we did. Finds: An actual paper dollar bill this time. More change. A ring. All we had to do was remove the bottom front panel and I think pull off one minor thing and out it all came. Definitely something we can do. Harder than cleaning a lint trap, not as hard as replacing washer hoses.

However, when you clean out the drain, water spills out. We have a drain pan, so at first I didn't notice. Not a ton and we should have been more diligent. Then about a week later I saw some water in the drain pan and assumed the thing had sprung a leak. Coincidentally, something else went wrong with nearby plumbing and we had to have the plumber out. He got on top of the washer and completely checked the hoses, draining, filling, and said it was not a plumbing issue, so I placed a call to the warranty company. The warranty company was going to call me back, but by the time they did, I realized the problem and that I didn't need them to come out after all.

So basically, the machine performs great except that the operators need to be more diligent about emptying their jeans. It's a bit of a pain to have to drain the filter thing, and I'd rather not have to do it again, but I'm definitely not very handy and I managed okay, so it's doable.

Several posts in this thread mentioned FL vibration and noise on main floor and second floor laundry rooms. I have seen vibration isolation pads at my local parts distributor and looked into them with people who purchased the pads for that problem. They are specifically designed to reduce/eliminate laundry room vibration and noise. These pads are sold in a set of four and are put under the legs of the washer. They do not stop the machine from vibrating, but do stop the transfer of that vibration and noise energy into the supporting floor. After asking several people who installed them, I would say they worked well 9 out of 10 times. One woman I know said her laundry room before installing the pads sounded like a hovering Sikorsky helcopter!

We are considering buying the GE FL Washer WBVH6240HWW and the GE FL Dryer DBVH512EFWW. Does anyone have any information on either of these models? The reason I would go with GE would be mainly for service. I like what I read about the LG washers/dryers, but I looked up LG service in our area and only found a couple. Any input would be appreciated.

We are considering buying the GE FL Washer WBVH6240HWW and the GE FL Dryer DBVH512EFWW. Does anyone have any information on either of these models? The reason I would go with GE would be mainly for service. I like what I read about the LG washers/dryers, but I looked up LG service in our area and only found a couple. We haven't settled on any one brand yet. I just don't know what direction to go in and would love to hear any recommendations of what to get.

At one point consumer reports rated that GE design as unacceptable since there were instances of a small item rubbing against the boot during the spin cycle. This is something that others users had previously reported as well.

I don't know if the design has changed on this Chinese made model, but in CR's latest report, no GE Front Load washers were even tested.

If you are concerned about service, whirlpool duets have been reported as fairly easy to work on and there is an extensive service network for whirlpools.

Joe

Thanks Joe - I'm gonna do some research on Whirlpool now :)

Sheri