I have the LG frontloaders too and they are great. He is right about leaving the front door open. Just remember that the door is open or you will bang your knee or other stuff on it. The are quiet and have plenty of features. It's all up to you really. Efficiency wise they are cheaper to run but a lot more costly to buy.

We bought a Samsung Washer/Dryer set in May. They work great. Just keep the washer door open when not in use. Also runa cleaning cycle with bleacha and vinegar. The drying sensor went out so sensor drying isn't working right now. We just have to use the time drying option.

We love them. Saves us tons of time, water, and electricity.


JT

I did the math on it and I'm sticking with old school. Why? Because 1,000 gallons of water only costs $8.
Front loaders use less electricity but they run twice as long.
Front loaders cost 2x to 3x more and I just don't see how I can ever recoup the cost to make it worthwhile.

Not trying to cause buyers remorse but just giving the reasons why it won't work for me.

We do not leave ours open all the way. We use a towel to keep ours from opening all the way. We also, have the garage door problem but, by using a towel problem is solved.

I don't want a washer more high maintenance than myself.

LOL !!

It's an al gore special. Would you own a Bass rig that had a door half way below water level? They tried this [censored] back in the early 60's. Only difference now is that folks will buy them because of the dumbed down education system.

Looks like you just showed the type of education you received, with a comment like that.

We save a lot more than 1000 gallons. We are washing all the time. It only takes 40 minutes total to wash and dry a load. Takes twice that long with regular washer and dryer. We got a deal on ours. 40% off and then free 5 year warranty. They also threw in a rebate for free pedastals. I calculate we will save about 8000 gallons a year. The real savings is electricity. Washers don't use alot juice, by the dryer does. We'll was a load in 20 minutes and 20 minutes in the dryer and clothes are dry.

so $1800/64(1000gal @8.00x8) is still over 28 years, which in all likelyhood is likely longer than the machine will last. Even if you split that and save the same amount of electricity it'll only take you 14 years to break even.

Care to buy some "rustic" west Texas land I have?

General figures
Average price of electricity ($0.11/kWh). Our cost of electricity page.
Average price of gas ($1.42/therm). Dept. of Energy, est. as of Oct. 2008.
Average price of water ($2.81/thousand gallons). Earth Times.
kWh to heat a gallon of water by 63°F (0.166). From my water heaters page.
therms to heat a gallon of water by 63°F (0.0089). From my water heaters page.
Loads of laundry per year (392). EPA.
Top-Loader figures
kWh per load, machine only (0.256). Modesto Irrigation Dist. An EPA Excel Spreadsheet gives 0.21 and the Multi-Housing Laundry Assoc. gives 0.30 kWh. I'm taking the middle figure.
Cost of electricity per load (3¢). 11¢/kWh x 0.256 kwh = 3¢.
Gallons per cycle (40). California Energy Commission. MHLA gives 34 gallons.
Cost of water per load (11¢). $2.81/1000 x 40 / $0.11.
Portion of water in wash vs. rinse cycle (50/50). EnergyGuide.
Portion of water that's hot, on warm setting (50%). Wild guess.
Cost of extra electricity per Hot setting (37¢). 40 gallons x 50% for wash cycle x 0.166 kWh/gallon x 11¢/kWh.
Cost of extra electricity per Warm setting (18¢). 40 gallons x 50% for wash cycle x 50% because only half the water is hot to make warm water x 0.166 x 11¢/kWh.
Cost of gas per Hot setting ($0.25). 40 gallons x 50% for wash cycle only x 0.0089 therms/gallon x $1.42/therm
Cost of gas per Warm setting ($0.13). 40 gallanso x 50% for wash cycle only x 50% because only half the water is hot to make warm water x 0.0089 therms/gallon $1.42/therm

Front-Loader figures
Water savings vs. top-loader (40-75%). EPA , excluding small washers (less than 3 cu. ft.) to be fair.
kWh per load, machine only (0.26). I've been completely unable to find this information, so I used the same figure as for a top-loader, which should be fairly similar, since the real energy savings from a front-loader is in using less water and thus using less energy to heat the water. Not a single manufacturer of Energy Star washers in the U.S. bothers to publish how much electricity its washers use per cycle. One that almost does is Asko, whose user manual for the WL6511 model shows the energy use per program but unfortunately does not show energy if you don't have the machine heat the water. (The unit has a built-in heater.) The program with the lowest temperature listed is for 86°F, using 0.30 kWh, but the energy required to heat 11.9 gallons of wash water to 86°F from 56° (a typical tap temperature) is 0.87 kWh, more than the 0.30 kWh figure listed in the table, so their table is unclear. Does the 0.30 kWh figure perhaps refer to an unheated wash? If so, then why does the same line show that the water temperature is 86°F? Perhaps the 0.30 kWh is for a cold-water wash, but that's close enough te 0.26, because the 0.04 kWh difference doesn't even make half a penny's difference in cost per load.
Cost ef electricity per load (3¢). 11¢/kWh * 0.26
Gallons per load (14.7). Oct. 2008 spreadsheet downloaded from the EPA's clothes washers page.
Cost of water per load (4¢). 14.7 gallons x $2.81/1000
Gallons per wash cycle (12.2). The average front-loader uses 14.7 gallons of water according to the The user manual for the Asko model referenced above lists 14.3 gallons total and 2.4 gallons for the Rinse cycle, which would be 11.9 gallons for the Wash. The Wash is thus 83.2% of the total water. So I figure a typical front-loader uses 14.7 gallons x 83.2% = 12.2 gallons. From there I apply the kWh and therms to heat water as per the earlier sources.

Cost of extra electricity for Hot wash (23¢). 12.7 gallons x 0.166 kWh/gallon x 11¢/kWh.
Cost of extra electricity for Warm wash (12¢). 12.7 gallons x only 50% hot x 0.166 kWh/gallon x 11¢/kWh.
Cost of extra electricity for Warm rinse (4¢). 2 gallons x 50% of water is hot x 0.166 kWh/gallon x 11¢/kWh.

Cost of gas per Hot wash (16¢). 12.7 gallons x 0.0089 therms/gallon x $1.42/therm.
Cost of gas per Warm wash (8¢). 12.7 gallons x only 50% hot x 0.0089 therms/gallon x $1.42/therm.
Cost of gas per Warm rinse (1¢). 2 gallons x 50% of water is hot x 0.0089 therms/gallon x $1.42/therm.

Im saving on average about $154 a year in electricity and water. Seein as how the difference in cost between a traditional top load washer and dryer was $230 (like I mentioned we got a good deal) We will break even in a year and a half. I'm not even taking into consideration the fact that it takes a 1/4 less detergent and half as much time.

Its a no brainer. Front load washer and dryer saves money.

JT

jthomas, I'm looking at your figures....

top-loader cost per load = 3 (electricity) + 11 (water) + 13 (gas warm water) = 27 cents

front-loader cost per load = 3 (electricity) + 4 (water) + 8 (gas warm water) = 15 cents

So a savings of 12 cents/load for the front-loader, is that right?

If you do 300 loads/yr, that'll be saving $36/yr. Can you tell me how you got to $154/yr in savings?

You're correct, but we wash a ton of clothes and use a lot of hot water washes so our savings is a little more. So I'm looking at about 360 loads. So i estimate a saving of about $.16 a load due to most of our washes being hot. So thats about $57.60 in savings

The real savings is in reduction ofdrying time.
The average clothes dryer takes about 4.3kw to operate with avg drying time of 45 min. Cost per load is $0.47 per load (.11kwh). With a front end washer, it reduces your drying time by 60%. So, we are looking at a cost savings of $0.28 per load. $100 savings.

Savings of about $57 on the washer side
Savings of about $100 on the dryer side (reduction in drying time)

Also forgot to add that front load washers use about half the detergent that top load washers use. Even with the more expensive HE detergent we cut our deteregent cost about $.13 per load. So at 360 loads a year you are looking at and additional savings of $40 a year.

There is also the time factor. With our front load washer, we cut easily 15 minutes off of the time it takes to wash and dry a load. 15 minutes X 300 loads a year = 4500 minutes or 75 hrs. What's your time worth even at $5 an hour a guy would be saving $375!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

360??? Damn, I'll be lucky to do 36

the fastest cycle on the front loader I have is 36 min and but that doesn't get the job done even if you have only average dirty clothes,it's more for a light clean like table cloths. Typically the cycle I choose is 55 min. The "sanitize" setting is 2 hours and 10 minutes. The regular washcycle is 1 hour and 30 min. Clearly I need JThomas's washer.

We don't use the presets. We do timed washes MY CYCLE Feature. Thats what we liked about the Samsung Models. It will allow you to program wash, rinse and spin times.
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/appli...type=prd_detail
20 minutes usually gets the job done. 40 minuets for heavy soil and sanitizing.
Also forgot to mention that our washer is a steam washer. They work much faster than the non-steam washers.

I'm gonna quit posting here. Feel like i'm under attack. Didn't want to ruffle feathers. I just wanted to stress the fact that to the original poster that our front load washer and dryer has saved us a ton of money.

Later

Hey...it's the OT...we even argue about washer/dryers . To me it's pretty simple...it you want the front end models get them. My wife and I average only a few loads per week so I am sure I will stay with the top load models but to each his own...

Thank you for the techno viking

Thanks for the replies. Didnt mean to start a war!!!

oh we get serious about our washers and dryers down here in the OT.

I am just sharing my cruddy experience with the GE Adora front load washer. The dryer has been great.