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?

 

[Tejas01]

Huh... I have a 6kg FHT 100HZNW. So a mere 500 gms extra. I don't know if the drum is big or small as this is my first machine. But reading reviews online on Amazon do mention drumnsize being small. Don't know what to do as the LG guys say that this is normal and I get pissed off when they claim movement is normal.
I will give it one more try as machine leaves the place when washing a single small item. Will also ask them to level the machine as the spirit level is not at centre.

 

[socrates]

If you are putting a single item then when the machine is put on that cloth will goto one side. I suggest spreading it a bit in the middle. I know it sounds comic but it helps me as the item does not shift to one side.

 

[Tejas01]

I tried doing that... This was also suggested by the escalation team to press the load from centre so as to even it out in both directions to avoid cloth going to one side. But how to spread a single cloth??
I will give it a try.. will try to even out the shirt from center.

 

[Sushubh]

I don't run my machine at 1200rpm because of excessive vibration.

 

[Tejas01]

I run at max upto 800, coz running at higher rpm causes the fabric to loosen thereby early wear out. Most of times its 400, I try to use the sun for max drying, will use 800-900 during monsoon when I can't dry the clothes.

It is only during the initial start of spin cycle which causes jerkiness and movement, once in motion it proceeds normally.

 

[Sushubh]

That seems normal to me. I mean when it's picking up speed. Vibration is likely to happen but if machine moves from its place, get LG guy. At my place, lg guy placed 3m anti skid patches below the machine legs. That helped. Probably depends upon how slippery the floor is.

 

[Tejas01]

So I was trying to wash t-shirt of mine now and tried to spread it along the circumference of the drum rather than along the centre. Came along spin cycle, the door and hence the machine got some jerks and the machine moved slightly. No good, because no matter how I put it it will still form a mass of lump and cause the machine to move slightly from left to right due to centrifugal force.

So on my 2nd try, I paused the machine after rinse cycle, tried to spread it. It again formed a lump and therefore jerk and slight movement but not heavy. So i concluded somethings-
1. The weight after dampening of clothes should be significant and it should be spread out evenly as mentioned by Socrates to prevent it being thrown within the drum. My machine moves very little while washing under 75% drum capacity.

@Sushubh I have my machine setup in the kitchen and there are many barriers before water can reach the machine's feet. Have you setup in bathroom or kitchen?
I think I am going to wash single cloth in bucket rather than in the machine. Calling the LG guy would make my Dad more furious on me than on the LG guy as I would be callng him for 4th time in a span of 1 month.

 

[Sushubh]

Why even waste electricity washing single clothing items in one cycle! I mean it should work fine but most people tend to collect a complete load before running a cycle. Using machine for a t-shirt is wasting power and water. But machine should have no issues.

Have you run tub cleaning cycle once? If single t shirt is causing issues with stability, TCL cycle would also move the machine...

 

[Tejas01]

I meant to rinse my cloth using only water and no powder in "Download cycle" program. Sorry for the confusion. Like we wash our new clothes from market with plain water to remove any dirt.

I did run TCL last week but didn't observe the entire cycle. I will run it again next week to see movement.
Just curious.. does the drum spins at higher rpm (excess of 400) when doing TCL. Iirc, machine had no issues with TCL when I observed in between. The issue only comes when I water-wash a single cloth like a t-shirt or a single thin bedsheet on a download cycle.

 

[Sushubh]

TCL probably does 800. It doesn't show speed. But I doubt it does faster coz it rotates with excessive amount of water.