Need some advice on purchasing Washing Machine

[Tejas01]

This will be my first washing machine and I am truly clueless what should I look for. Need your help with some pointers. Following are some details if they help.

1. Top load machine for a family of two.
2. Weight- between 6-7 kg. I mean I don't know. Will 7 kg be too much for 2 people. We will be primarily using it for washing heavy clothes like bedsheets, curtains, recron pillows. I was thinking of getting 6.5 kgs if in case there is extra load. 7 kg just to be extra safe.
3. Which brand to look for? No idea. LG seems fine. Any brand which has a better service record. I have had bad experiences with big brands like Sony, Hitachi, IFB. So will be avoiding them. Samsung, LG have been good for me. My 2002 Samsung refrigerator still going strong.
4. Most important- I live in an area where the issue of corrosion is significant. So any company which offers durable electronics will be preferred.(Seems LG already got a head start here with corrosion proof and inverter tech.)
5. Availability of spare parts.
6. I live on 4th floor and the main water tank is on the 8th floor(terrace). So I am assuming there shouldn't be any issue with water pressure. In summers it may create some problem when water supply is reduced.
7. Budget 15,000-18,000.
8. Can i get a heater in top load models? From what I searched for, didn't find any.
What are the other things I need to look for? Do I need to get a wheel tray? I mean I am looking at a possibility that I might have to move the machine during summers when water supply and pressure is low.
What are the demerits of not having the required water pressure?

 

[Reklez]

We recently purchased a LG FHD1057STB 10.5 kg / 7 kg washer dryer . Is it recommended to run the washing machine at 1400 rpm for drying? . Can the vibrations damage any internal mechanisms over time ? .

 

[Sushubh]

Doesn't it have a proper dryer? Machines with dual capacity tend to have a proper dryer unlike ours where it just rotates and take out most of the water but doesn't actually dry cloths?

 

[Tejas01]

I was about to ask the same thing. Looking at LG website doesn't show any images of an independent dryer. I guess they must have integrated the two into one device itself.
Ok, they did integrate into one. Either ways, if possible try running upto max 1000 rpm to ensure cloth fibres don't loosen over time.
Nothing beats the sunshine if you can afford it.

 

[Sushubh]

I have no idea how dryers work. Hot air? Coz rotating is never going to dry cloths! In movies they get ready to wear cloths from dryer

 

[Tejas01]

YUP. In UK machines I have seen, they have provision to circulate warm dry air inside drum and channel the cold moist air through the vents outside the house.
There are many ways to do it... what I mentioned is the very basic method.


Source

 

[Tejas01]

@Sushubh you mentioned you have issues with detergent powder forming gummy stuff after several uses. Why don't you give pods a chance? I mean there is no hassle of accessing the dispenser tray. Just put a pod in drum and you load on top of it and you are good to go.

 

[Sushubh]

Pods are expensive lol. Plus they make more sense if you actually wash full capacity load in one go. We don't usually do that. Last time I check pods costing was around 20 buck per wash for Ariel. My mom would never go for it lol.

 

[Tejas01]

Yeah... pods need full load.
@shashankb read your edited post now. Yeah.. it does lift off the ground but marginally. It seems that the cloth would stick to right side of drum as it gains speed and sometimes machine curves from left to right but slightly. As if the right side is pivoted to ground and left side is left loose.

 

[Sushubh]

LG manual does suggest to balance the load. For instance... single towel would cause problem so wash two towels together. similarly with other heavy items like bedsheets. but this should not cause problem with low weight items like single t-shirts. i tend to use the 15 minute cycle with new cloths. some detergent and rest the same. have never had issues with low weight items on 15 minute cycle.

 

[Sushubh]

Presto! Appliance Descaler Liquid

I got delivery of this today. Haven't used this as I just ran the TCL cycle with LG's powder earlier this week. Hard to say if it is going to be effective as I haven't really seen scale deposits in the machine. It is more of a precautionary thing at my end. But it is definitely cheaper than using branded powder based products. LG/IFB powder costs around 150-175 per packet which is supposed to be used completely during the TCL cycle. This bottle can be used around 10 times so you end up spending just around 20 bucks per clean cycle.