We buy from John Lewis,AEG is the latest .
Morning all,
Our Bosch washing machine now sounds like a harrier jump jet is taking off in the utility room so we are looking for a new one.
Has anyone done research and bought one recently and can recommend one which fits our criteria
Budget £400 ish
Min 9kg
1400 spin speed
Energy A or B
Quick wash
We are currently leaning towards the Samsung Adwash because of the little door so can sling in that sock or pants you dropped on the stairs when bringing the washing down.
Or the Beko Pro Aquatech because that has what we need with no frills at £359.99
We aren't really bothered about wifi and don't want auto-dose because we use different powders depending on what we are washing. I'm a delicate thing despite my looks :-)
Why are we replacing it? Bit of a sore subject this one.
Our current washing machine is a Bosch Variomatic.
Bosch in their wisdom have made washing machines where the bearings can't be replaced and the whole tub must be changed at a cost of £250
I bet many of the people who have bought the very highly recommended Bosch units don't know this.
Any help or recommendations either for machines or where to look would be greatly appreciated.
IanB
We buy from John Lewis,AEG is the latest .
I went with a basic Miele. Our previous one lasted 15 odd years of heavy use in a family of six so I got another one from John Lewis. Only issue is that I think it’s a bit noisy but if it’s in a utility room that might not be an issue. Might be out of budget but not sure of current prices?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Samsung here too. Great machine, quiet, had the useful extra door in the front. Ours is the eco bubble.
Another Bosch, and this one gets the best ratings and reviews (both on test and by consumers) for the money.
At 48dB on wash and 72 dB on spin you will not find a quieter washing machine for the money. Anything below 72dB and your are looking at spending 2-3 times the price on a Miele.
Compare the noise specs of anything you buy if the machine is located in a busy part of the house. 48 dB is the same as a quiet dishwasher.
Samsungs have a wash noise level of around 53 dB, which may not sound a lot more than 48dB, but noise level (decibel) is on a logarithmic scale.
Make sure you get a direct drive motor in the model you purchase. Cheaper models have belt drives and are a lot noisier.
At this price point you are buying outer plastic tubs (rather than stainless steel) and concrete weights (rather than cast iron).
https://www.johnlewis.com/bosch-seri...white/p5183674
You may also wish to look at Ebac washing machines. Made in England, only sold online and come with a 7 year warranty.
https://www.ebac.com/washing-machines/range/
Last edited by noTAGlove; 12th June 2022 at 10:10.
Thanks for the quick and useful responses.
Samsung ecobubble now added to the list
Stainless steel tub now added to the list
Bosch are absolutely out of the question I'm afraid. To quote Mrs B "I'd rather wash my clothes in the bath than own another Bosch"
I didn't realise she felt that strongly about our washing machine !!
That fine Op, but realise that Bosch offers washing machine in the £300 to £800 price range and I would not touch a £300 Bosch or any other machine with a barge pole, as it is built to a price point and quality will be crap.
I don’t know what model you have now, but if you are buying a replacement at £400 I expect the one you have is bottom of the range, so don’t expect it to last.
Step up the price and you step up the quality. I tend to buy the most expensive no frills machine I can afford. Cut the bells and whistles as there is less to go wrong.
Realise that paying £400 or less you are buying cheap, and that will reflect in the build quality. Mid range machines in the £400-600 range (AEG, Siemens, Bosch etc.) will be better constructed, quieter and should last longer.
Better to buy the cheapest Miele than the most expensive Samsung.
This very informative site will tell you more than anyone can on this site.
https://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/was...hing-machines/
We replaced our old Bosch with an AEG and are more than happy with it but why oh why do washing machines not have a favourite wash option that you can just press for the majority of washes that we do. With the AEG we have to turn it on and then select the options before each and every wash.
Miele no question. My in-laws one is almost the same age as me and I expect ours to age just as well.
Had a top of the range Samsung with a ten year warranty but my wife had a similar falling out with them over a different appliance so it had to go.
Excellent the annual "what washing machine" thread
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
"You gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em".
Mmm went to edit my original reply but it has deleted it for some reason.
Anyway, ours is a Samsung Ad wash with bubble wash. 3yrs old from JL. Very pleased with it. Mrs Rod loves it..... whites whiter than a white thing😁
LG for us. Been fine for the last 3 yrs.
Totally agree with you, but it is twice the ops budget. But you know what they say, buy cheap, buy twice. Which will definitely be true over time.
Miele is the only brand I know of with stainless steel outer drum and cast iron counter-weights. Every other machine you can buy no matter how expensive is plastic drum and concrete weights. The former, the Op is having trouble with now, and the latter is where the concrete degrades with time causing instability. Cheaper machines will have little or no soundproofing material applied.
Miele will typically last 20,000 hours of use or around 6000 cycles, so for an £800 purchase price you are looking at 13p per cycle.
Take a cheap basic machine at £300 that will die in less than 5 years or 1000 cycles if you are lucky. That costs 30p per cycle, or 2.5 times the lifecycle cost of the Miele.
Then consider the environmental implications of chucking away washing machines on a regular basis.
Plus the Miele will be much quieter, perform better and generally a superior ownership experience.
Everyone will have good/bad experience with washing machines. Just stack the odds in your favour by buying the best you can afford. Read independent and customer reviews.
And remember, there is only a finite size of drum that can fit in a 60cm standard width washing machine.
Everyone raving about Miele obviously didn't have the same experience we did.
12 years or so ago now bought a £650ish Miele with 5 years warranty, in year 6 holes started appearing in some just washed clothes, couple of weeks after the drum started sounding like we'd chucked a handful of nuts and bolts in there.
Finally smoke plumed out the drum when we opened the door so scrapped it.
Never again Miele washing machine although we got other Meile appliances.
Went for a £350 LG with 5 years warranty and 6 years later still going strong.
Have always used Bosch and always well satisfied. Currently have a series 6 and no issues whatsoever.
Check your works scheme, we have a Samsung direct offer.
Miele are the best by far. We have two and both are faultless. One is about 14 years and the other is so old I can't be certain of its age.
We've never owned a Miele, our last was a Bosch which gave up 5 years ago, we replaced it with a Currys cheap as chips Logic @ £189, 5 years on and it's still doing all we ask of it - which is about 7 washes a week, as we all know, most watches will do the same job as a Rolex.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
"You gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em".
Our previous Samsung was less than reliable and they did absolutely everything they could to avoid their responsibilities. Consequently a £400 machine was written off after 3 years.
We now have an LG direct drive and, touch wood, it is very good so far, incredibly quiet.
LG direct drive for a bit less than 400 - only 9kg, we do not need more. Worked great for just more than a year.
My mum got a cheap kitchen fitted around 2008 with a dishwasher that was so cheap I hadn’t heard of the name before and it has since rubbed off so no idea what it is but it’s still going strong. I feel like it will be the dishwasher version of the centennial light, might even outlast the Miele I bought last year. No idea how.
When we buy things like that we are all playing the game of odds. It’s a washing machine behind a cupboard door, Rolex doesn’t come into it, you just don’t want it to go wrong anytime soon and you want a no BS warranty if it does.
I have had a woeful/fantastic experience with <*> washing machine.
* insert washing machine brand here.
Previous Miele had an extended warranty. And we have used that extensively... electronic components, leakage and a broken-off damper attachment point after 8 yrs. (it holds the drum stable and in the center). That last issue was the write-off. We made a lot of 'noise' with the supplier and Miele concluded that we could have a new machine for half the price. This Miele works okee.
Our next machine will be an Asea/Asko Swedish washing machine or a Swiss-made Schulthess. No doubt.
With a disabled child who frequently wets the bed still, our washing machine takes a hammering. We’ve had 3 hotpoint washing machines in the last 25 years - the current one is 7 years old and still going strong - and they were all under £400. I’ve been able to fix any problems myself - a new seal and door on one of them - and at that price I’ll just get another if it goes wrong. Takes about 2 days from someone like ao.com to get one delivered. Why people spend Miele prices on a washing machine I genuinely have no idea - I guess they look expensive when people come round for dinner and spy it in the utility room?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Because most people, including me, don’t have a utility room.
The washing machine is in the kitchen and that’s where the family spend most of our time sitting around the table or on the sofa in the kitchen extension.
We don’t want a cheap washing machine going off at over 80 dB like a jack hammer every time it spins when we are eating our spuds.
We want it to be as silent as possible in the background during the wash cycle and during a spin. Especially since cycles seem to be around 4 hours these days.
That for me is priceless.
Miele 48/68 dB
Cheapest hotpoint 59/83 dB
A 10dB change reflects a 10 times increase in noise intensity.
We have been to Curry’s and John Lewis today and it seems a couple of things have changed
our budget has stretched to £480 and we would prefer to buy from John Lewis If possible, though the Samsung we wanted isn’t in stock just now unless we want it in battleship grey - which we don’t.
I could have stood all day twiddling the rotary dial on the Miele because it just clicks so nicely. (Sad I know)
My original Miele lasted about 18 years I think. Replaced with another Miele.
I think I would happily buy cheaper other appliances but washing machine wise, I think it would always be Miele.
Regardless of this, I think it’s always worth doing a maintenance wash at the highest temperature every month. Regular washing at low temperatures leads to pipes gunking up I believe.
If it's got a plug at one end ,make sure it says Bosch at the other end .
We bought a second hand Miele from a family with two young kids, we paid £250. We’ve had it about 8 years and when we had the repair guy out last time to replace a couple of bits (you can just keep Miele going and going) I asked how old the model was…he estimated 2006. We have two kids and don’t go easy on it! I reckon we’ve spent £3-400 on repairs since we’ve had it so all in it’s still cheap. I wouldn’t touch another brand now.
Miele, I've replaced the heater element, the bushes and the belt. Fantastically well made and can be repaired. Get the most basic one you can.
Go to the nearest shop that delivers.
Buy the one the better half likes.
No comebacks.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
My last LG direct drive is still going well with my Ex after 14 years. I replaced it with similar.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Not necessarily relevant to the OP, but I will not buy the following Whirlpool brands, due to the "Dryer Fire Scandal": Bauknecht, Hotpoint, Indesit, KitchenAid, Maytag, Whirlpool.
LG for us as well. Had Samsung eco bubble before that and lasted just outside the 5 year warranty. Was going to get another but latest reviews of Samsung looked bad. LG looked good so went with them.
Has turbo wash so can do a wash in 39mins.
We had a hotpoint machine for 15 years that had no repairs at all despite almost daily usage until the bearings finally failed and it wasn’t economical to repair. Replaced by a Miele last year which came with a 10 year warranty. It is much quieter and definitely cleans the clothes better than the old machine so we are happy with it.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
We have a Miele and it's 32 years old.
Oh wait....it's a Zanussi..