American style washing machine

[fiddleydiddleydoo]

Having used a top loader machine while on holiday in the US and experienced the speed, efficiency and results, I’m looking into getting one myself.

Does anyone have any experience / knowledge?

I am wondering if it was just better because it was large?
or a top loader?
or is US technology better?

TiA

Yes I thought that too

We used to have top loaders in the 70s/80s but now with fitted kitchens they don't fit in.

I’d love a top loader, but they’re huge and really expensive to buy in UK.

They are fast, but take up a huge amount of space. I dont like a top loader as I almost have to crawl into it to get clothes out of the bottom.
Most Americans keep theirs in the garage as they are big. And they are really expensive it seems. And the dryers are often gas heated which bewildered me as gas is only for cooking and heating in my eyes.

I had a top loader in the US. I switched to a front loader. IME they don’t wash as well, our clothes were not as clean as they are from a front loader.

I think they are quite energy inefficient too which is a consideration now with electricity costs.
@turkeyboots some (maybe all) launderettes in the U.K. have gas tumble dryers.

Link seems to agree with me.

Would you get a mechanic to fix it if it broke ?

When I was working overseas I had an LG top loader. I loved it. Being able to stop the machine to add washing you'd forgotten about was great.

Mine was really compact and had about 11 kg capacity.

agitator top loaders ruin clothes ime
and a 20-30 min cycle doesn't do much to stains unless you use a lot of laundry products.

Thank you all for your posts / comments.

Seems I need to do much more research 🤔

I'm American. Front loaders are not really popular anymore. Everyone used to have them but these days all of the best washers are big front loaders. You can stop the cycle to add extra items and most washers have a tube that vents the steam outside so you never have to dump the water.

Both top and front loaders run much faster in America. I believe this is because there are fewer restrictions on water use but I'm not sure. My front loader in America gets a load of dirty kids' clothes in 34 minutes, including extra rinses. My washer here is half the size and runs for quadruple the time. It's not my favorite bit of living in the UK.

I so miss my American washer.

Used to have one. But I think they're harder on the clothes. They get very twisted up and pulled about. I'm not a fan of tumble dryers either or dishwashers either so I suspect I'm just a dinosaur.

We used to have a whirlpool top loader at work for uniforms
used gallons of water needed hot water feed as no heater and spin speed wasn’t great but they were fast

Front loaders heat their own water and use a lot less of it. It's generally more efficient both electricity and water wise to use a front loader than to heat the water for a top loader. Less of a factor in the US where these costs are generally lower.

Uk folks usually keep their washing machines in the kitchen, under the kitchen surface, so a top loader wouldn't fit. Or stacked in the utility - ditto.

On my Facebook washing advice group (!) top loaders do seem more problematic from a stain removal point of view, harder on delicate items, and giving less flexibility on the type and temperature of wash available. Wash and smell issues can take a while to show up on clothes.

It's depressing to think there's a country of several hundred million people driving stupid massive cars, burning up god knows how much electricity with air conditioning and millions of loads of inefficient energy intensive washing machines every day, not to mention the bloody idiot president.

We've had both front and top loaders and top loaders get the clothes a lot cleaner. Front loaders don't wash clothes well from experience.

Front loaders clean better than top loaders.
There's a reason they died out in the UK.

www.consumer.org.nz/articles/top-loader-or-front-loader

You used to see gas tumble dryers in high street gas showrooms in the UK. Same with fridges.

I’ve only seen industrial sized ones recently. In launderettes and student halls etc.

The old laundrettes in the UK frequently had top loaders and imo they are the absolute best for cleaning clothes. Have used similar more recently on holiday and yes, they are better, but they use more water, which might be a consideration.
Ditto gas dryers - vastly better than any electric tumble dryer I've used.
I think a lot of European white goods are mainly designed with low energy and water use in mind, not prioritising that we want really clean clothes!

I remember gas tumble driers and fridges! It does seem strange now though.

As someone living in the USA I was delighted when we bought our first house and got to stop using rental top loaders. Noisy, damaging to clothes and not as efficient as front loaders. I think they are also less popular in the USA now.

My front loading machines have always allowed me to do that.