The Best Washing Machine & Tumble Dryer?

jamesperrett

If I was going for another washing machine I'd go for Bosch again. They seem solidly built, parts are easy to buy (our lad swung on the door and broke the hinges) and they wash well. I probably wouldn't bother going for a particularly expensive one either as even the bottom of the range seem to use similar basic parts to the more expensive ones. The main difference seems to be in the sophistication of the control panel.

theonlywayisup

Our Miele's are all very old.

The washing machine has Twindos - self dosing cleaner. You do get a pair of empty containers that you can use your own detergent but I do prefer the Miele detergent and frequently get a 20% voucher to buy a pack (I think it's 5 1 and 2 in the pack) from Miele through their loyalty programme (for registering your machines) and they are excellent at cleaning everything. The wash cycle choice is superb although I stick to two in general, it has a 20 minute fast wash too which is great when changing from summer to winter clothes and vice versa.

I have the heat pump dryer. I didn't like it at first as it seemed to take an age to dry and all you think of is the cost of the machine working - BUT it costs much less to use and you do get your head around it. It has a technology in that stops tangles - sounds nuts but it works - I used to hate fighting with a super king size sheet that had managed to turn itself into a rugby ball of material. Now the sheets are tumbled and stay relatively 'open' if that makes sense.

I confess that I use the tumble dryer all the time - even using the boost programme to 'iron' clothes when I'm feeling lazy.

For me, it's not just the longevity of Miele, it is the technology and I find it is the little things that make the difference. There is a video of the twin dos technology on the Miele site somewhere, explaining how they work in detail .

poppellerant

I won't entertain the automatic dosing systems on washing machines, because they use liquid. Liquid detergent will never keep your whites truly white and frequent use of it at low temperatures is bad for the machine as the residue builds up. Watch when buying Bosch machines as some come with i-DOS, Bosch's automatic dosing system.

I'd buy yourself whichever Bosch machine suits you and purchase the extended 5 year guarantee. If you buy a machine which has EcoSilence Drive (brushless motors), the motors come with a 10 year guarantee.

cybervic

I've got Siemens Washing machine and Tumble dryer. I wanted Miele ones but couldn't justify the price. We went for Siemens thinking it should be the next best thing as it offers 5 years manufacturer warranty.

I am very impressed with both washer and dryer. It uses much less water and detergent compared to the cheap one we had before. Clothes comes out dry enough after 1400rpm spin.

The heat pump dryer doesn't cost a lot of to run, and we have it connected to drain pipe so there's no need to empty water. Clothes comes out totally dry and can be fold into drawers/cupboard straight away.

I started looking early and set my eyes on particular models, I eventually got both machine from eBay seller who sells ex-display appliance at 30% - 40% off retail price. They all come with full manufacture warranty.

jk0

Miele washer/dryer here is 15 years old. Used every day and no faults so far. Also have Miele in ten rentals. Have about one repair a year.

getmore4less

ratrace wrote: »

Is that good or bad never had a samsung before only bosch which has ben good

The % moisture remaining is an indicator of how wet the clothes will be
"B" 53% will be 18% wetter than an "A" 45%

getmore4less

naf123 wrote: »

My biggest concern with a heat pump was it apparently takes longer than a condenser. In a busy household with some urgent drying needs (eg wet shirt 6am in the morning !) So I stuck with a cheap Bosch condenser. I console myself in the knowledge that although heat pumps are apparently cheaper to run , you are still paying electricity to run it for a long time ....

That is a very basic misunderstanding of how to measure the cost.

The length of time it take its independent of the cost/usage to dry a load.

A good 8kg HP will dry a load for <1.5kwh the 8kg condenser will be more like 4.5kwh.

Debran

Top three scoring machines for reliability this year, according to Which?


Washing machines:
1 Neff
2 Zanussi
3 Bosh


Tumble dryers
1 Miele
2 Siemens
3 Bosh


Word of warning - don't confuse reliability with performance.

Lorian

I'd never go back to a regular condenser from my Samsung heat pump dryer.

No condensation in the room
It can dry things the condenser liked to shrink
The model I have is really not significantly slower than the old condenser.

It's not a budget model though, and I paid careful attention to (real) reviews before selecting it.

andre_xs

If money is an issue, why not look at used ones? The sell so cheaply here on the UK that one can't really do something wrong. Washing machines from Siemens, Bosch, etc are usually around £70 - £120 depending on the model.

My impression is that the newer models are not that good any more as the old ones. We had a Bosch dishwasher a couple of years ago which broke. Looked into the follow-up model, the ratings on amazon were just poor.

Our best catch was an ancient (I think from 2004) Miele dishwasher for £20. You can see the wear and tear (e.g. at the spraying arms) but the thing still runs like a clockwork for 4 years now, takes a full sack/pack of salt in one go, and is big inside (the old one wouldn't fit our old plates, they would stop the upper arm).

And for that money, if the appliance breaks after 2, 3, 4 years, so what...

Back to the topic: Our washing machine is on a wooden floor and for the heck of it, we can't get it stop wobbling quite a bit during spin cycles (we've tried everything...). This may be the reason why our washing mashines (Siemens, Indesit,...) often don't last longer than 2-3 years (with heavy use, kids etc). Before we moved into the house and they were on concrete floors, they used to last much longer...

Best wishes,
Andre