Don't forget Electrolux utilizes the heater in ALL cycles to maintain temps.

You can flip the door on the Electrolux (washer and dryer).

It's not a true H axis (there's a tilt).

I heard there are liquid gel packs as counter weights so the liquid counter acts vibration.

I've seen IQ-Touch prices from $1,098.96 to $1199.00.
Wave Touch from $1,398.96 to $1599.00

jessyf, your desires ought to include wash temperatures which aren't "dumbed down" to the extent that's common today. For example, some machines have a "Warm" setting cooler than 86degF, the temperature that garments marked for cold wash are supposed to withstand. Garments marked for warm wash are supposed to withstand 104degF.

IMO, the talk here about true horizontal axis vs. tilted drum is, to date, unsubstantiated, and "H axis" doesn't belong on your list of requirements.

My brother in law has had nothing but trouble with his 4 year old Duet Sport. The motor control board is flaky, so sometimes it wont spin. Whirlpool won't replace the board since they replaced it six months ago, they deny it is defective, even though the repair guy says it is, they simply won't replace it. The water level sensor has also gone out twice. Once his extended warranty is up in a year, he is going to get a different machine. When it works, it cleans great, but it has been very problamtic in the past two years.

Well hi GeorgeCT, long time no see. I looked at the Electroluxes and they sure looked sweet! I passed on them because they reminded me of a Jaguar - pretty to look at, probably perform great, but I'm terrified of repair costs. I'll give them a second look on the forum. For the price I might jump to Miele but that is a stretch.

suburbanmd: that's why I love my Danby - keeps the temps up through the wash up to 200 - not that I EVER use that, LOL. I'm aware of the *@%&$ ATC dumb downs. Ya know I was thinking - what is more important, H axis or maintained water temps 'cuz I'm going to give up one of them. And I'm leaning back towards the Bosch because of that. I'll search for your favorites on this forum unless you don't mind reposting for me....

Thanks all, keep it coming.

Wolf, thats what I'm afraid of. Thanks for sharing your story. I would use an extended warranty regardless of what I buy; my retailer, Pacific Sales, has a four year (after the one year for a total of five years) warranty for $100.

I have a 18 month-old Duet Sport 8500 with the heater and it has worked great. I have been pleasantly suprised. I got the machine mostly because of the great price difference from the Duet and I am glad I did. Capacity is only slightly smaller, they are stackable and have the heater on some cycles if you need it. I don't use it very often because I don't want to cook my stuff but it does get real hot and steamy in there. I got both washer and dryer installed for $1500 - not sure what the current prices are.

Nice to see you, Jessy!

I am curious as to what you finally decide, as I wonder what I will do if I have to get a new washer.

Any decorating plans for your new washer? :-)

Joe

Ah Joe in Philly. I'm canning figs now, not carrots, LOL. Good to see my homies sticking around. I think suburbanmd is a good addition to the mix, eh?

And OF COURSE I intend to decorate my new machine! Got any suggestions? We should get some ideas from Spewey.

The more I'm reading past threads about maintaining temps vs. boosting to the level in the manual, the more I'm appreciating the Danby. It would cost $100/year to extended the warranty - not worth it. I did keep the cell phone # of 'Boris', the last guy who worked on it from the Russian place who seems to have the maintenance corner on these machines in my city, LOL. I bet I can work with him the next time a hose springs a leak.

Should I consider looking at the Affinity 8000 (I had assumed all Fridgemores etc. to not have heaters, wow what a difference)?

FWIW I've been using my neighbor's Fridgemore. Ran four loads in a day. Wow I'm not used to that capacity (given that the Danby is 1.7). The keep their washer door closed and don't use HE detergent. I could cry at the abuse.

jessyf, I have a Miele W4840. The W4800 series seem to be the only "American sized" washers with completely not-dumbed-down wash temperatures, nicely spaced (30C, 40C, 50C, 60C, 70C). The wash cycles aren't too short, and there's an option to make them longer.

Maybe an eco theme this time - some vines and leaves perhaps? :-)

I was looking into an Affinity for my parents since it is not as deep as many of the other models, and the one thing I didn't like about it was that the warm temp is set at 78 degrees - that is one degree warmer than cold on my machine.

It seems the preset warm and cold wash temperatures have gone down since the FL first came out in force in the US. My HE3t, one of the first generation models, uses a warm temp of 104F, and a cold temp of 77F. Hot is 127F, and extra hot 153F.

My washer, like some other models, do not heat the water on the "normal" cycle. When compared to the Bosch, which heats on all cycles that may sound like a negative, but realistically, it is not. Since the ATC aims for 104 for a warm wash, by the time the wash ends, the temp sometimes drops to 95 or so - still higher than the 90F warm Bosch wash. If I do want the heater to engage, I just select a different cycle.

I suspect that the newest Whirlpool and Kenmore models have lower wash temps. I haven't used one to be able to actually measure the water temp, but can only surmise since they claim to be significantly more efficient than my model. It seems that the different brands have gotten into an efficiently pissing contest.

Also, the Kenmore HE2t is the sister model of the Epic Z and Duet Sport. I recommended the HE2t to an acquaintance, and she still loves it after a couple of years.

Joe

Joe. You are psychic. How did you know I was just surfing for new decals for my new baby. You are hired to find the perfect appliques for my new......[you'll have to wait until I finish holding my breath on a few cycles to make sure I like it; I'll start a new thread soon to announce what I got]

FWIW I knew about the Affinity warm temp and became disgusted. Stay away from that machine says the sales rep from Lowes who knew her stuff. I also called Maytag to find out temps on the triplets and it wasn't pretty either.

I am anxiously awaiting your announcement!

What did you find out about the temps of the Epic Z and sister machines?

Joe

I would be leery of the temperatures on LG's also, based on my very short experience with an LG WM2455. The online manual for that machine shows reasonable numbers for each of the temp settings. But when I actually got the machine (last August), the printed manual omitted the numbers. I saw it adding cold water to a "Hot" fill, though my hot water doesn't start out very hot anyway. On top of that, the machine was programmed to only maintain temperatures with the heater, not boost them...in spite of LG customer service assuring me, in response to a pre-purchase query, that it does heat the water as necessary on all cycles and all temperature settings.

Here is the link for the Fridgidaire Affinity so folks can see for themselves the temps: Affinity user guide. 65 cold, 78 warm, 120 hot. eye roll please.

I'm searching for the slip of paper that I used to write down the Epic Z stats. I think the (800)# sales rep said 90 for warm, 115 for hot, and 153 for sanitary. The heater only works on sanitary, big whoop. He also said, contrary to what my appliance sales guy told me, that the machines are identical and are only marketed differently - Maytag is more robust and has commercial 'parts', and Whirpool touts reliability. Hmmmm. If I find that slip of paper and the #s are different I'll post. He did have to take my phone number and hunt the temps down - kinda unacceptable in this day and age...

suburbanmd, I'm leery of LGs period end of story. I remember their infant mortality days on this forum.