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| I am currently looking at buying a new washer and dryer. I was wanting some advice on brands top and front loading that are good for cloth diapers. I am a little concerned about the whole energy savings with water for washing the diapers. Any advice would be much appreciated. |
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I just got a Samsung front-loader and am pretty pleased with it. I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with buying a new washer on top of the expenses of moving,etc, but when I looked into the difference in water usage between front and top loaders (depends where you look, but I saw a ratio of about 1:3, about 15 gallons to 45 gallons, give or take), I just couldn't _not_ get a front-loader if we could afford it.
I'd been having some real stink issues developed over the course of moving and using different machines/different water/different detergents, but although things aren't quite perfect yet, they seem to be moving closer to a happier place.
In the UK I had a Bosch front-loader and love love loved it (3.5 years of using cloth there and it was fantastic). I didn't get one here because they don't stack, but otherwise I would have very seriously considered it. |
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I recently moved to a new city and purchased a Front loader. I do not know if it is the machine (and the use of less water), the hardness of the water, my detergent (I've tried several different kinds), or what, but I CANNOT get rid of the stink in mine. Everyone tells me it's a build up of detergent, so I washed them in VERY hot water with javex. The smell did go away for a few washes, but now it's back. If you are willing to do lots of experimenting, go for it. I LOVE IT for our clothes and other things! I feel better about using it  Good luck!
Mommy to Jason (Oct/05) and Gwen (May/07) |
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How are you finding your Samsung front load washer?
How are the diapers? |
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I've been pretty happy with the Samsung. It is very quiet and stable, even at 1300 rpm. (Only reason I didn't get an LG as planned because of good reviews and personal recommendations was that they aren't as good for a main-floor laundry because they vibrate more, and can "walk" around as well as shake the surrounding area of flooring)
The one time that I really filled up the tub I didn't feel like the clothes got completely clean, but that was probably just because I went overboard. I also have switched to a detergent without a scent, so I'm having to judge the clothes' cleanness more on appearance than that pleasant smell! I would say that for stains on my boys' shirts, the Samsung is beating the pants off the old Kenmore top-loader it replaced. I haven't been using Stain Stick nearly as often! It's more like my dear UK Bosch that way.
The diapers are on the road to recovery, I'm pretty sure. The OS that had been travelling with us and went through so many things and had horrible stinky issues are now pretty good. I inadvertantly tested this last night by putting one on my son (usually use a L Sandys at night) and this morning it did not have that horrible ammonia blast or stink (some night pee smell, but that's pretty normal and can really vary by diet, etc.). My L Sandys, on the other hand, are still a bit ammonia-ish, but I suspect that's because of their extra layer (and the fact that the poor things get only night pee!). I may have to do something to them separately. That problem, however, hasn't worsened with the new washer, and the OS are definitely better.
One thing I did recently discover, however, and I would imagine that this is general to most NA front-loaders, is that my machine does still rely on my water heater. In the UK my machine hooked up only to the cold water, and the machine's internal heater dealt with the water (so if you were choosing a 40C cycle, i.e. warm, you really were getting 40C). This machine uses the house water heater, I believe except for the sanitary cycle. In most situations this is no big deal, but I have a tankless water heater (on demand). This is good for overall energy consumption, but it does take a little longer to get hot water and if the demand isn't constant, the heater will stop, and then have to start again, which again takes a while to get to hot. With a machine that uses so little water, I think that when I choose a "hot" wash, I'm not really getting that because it's probably only hot at the end of the demand for that particular water addition, so maybe it's really only a luke-warm wash at best. So I've decided that for the time being I will use the sanitary cycle on the diapers. I don't like this for energy usage, but think that's a tradeoff I may have to make with the tankless heater system. I've only done this for two rounds of wash, but I think it's help cure those OS, and I have hopes that the Sandys will soon be good. If I can get the diapers completely happy, then I can probably alternate and not use the sanitary cycle all the time. Maybe not, though, because I did try using a 40C instead of 60C sometimes in the UK and didn't keep it up because I didn't think they got as clean.
For most situations having a machine that relies on the house water heater is fine, but if you have a system like mine, it'd be worth looking to see if there are any completely independent machines (or accept the energy tradeoff and use sanitary cycle for diapers).
Phew! End of epic. Can you tell I've thought a lot about this, though? I tell you, 3.5 uneventful years of diapering, and then to deal with the stinkies, build-up, pretty much everything! I suspect that if we'd been able to make the transition straight to a decent machine and decent water supply I would be thinking about the Samsung only in terms of water consumption instead of its ability to cure my diaper woes . . . |
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Wow!! Thanks for all the information. I have been looking at the Samsung front loaders and was thinking that the sanitize cycle would be great for diapers.
I will also have the hot water on-demand system in the new house. If you start hot water elsewhere in the house first does this help with getting the water hot before running the washing machine??
Thanks again and keep me posted if you find some way to make them work better or more efficiently. |
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I think that starting the hot water thing might work okay for a normal hot load, but not if you choose something with a pre-wash, because of the time lag between the fills. You could do the pre-wash/rinse just choosing that option, and then run the water to hot just before starting the main hot wash. That should work, but with two little munchkins running around, I prefer just running it all into one program that I can forget about for a while. I'll have to play around with that.
I have run my dishwasher and the washing machine at the same time, after running the tap to hot hand-washing the pans, figuring that between the two of them they should keep the demand up.
Seriously, I love the fact that for most of the day we are not just heating a non-used hot water tank, so I think it's worth figuring out for the dishwasher and washing machine.
Also, it does take longer to run to hot, using more water, so I've started keeping a bucket in the shower, and just hold it up to the shower to catch all the water running until it's hot enough for me. That's usually at least two or more toilet flushes worth of water. In the kitchen I keep an old milk carton or two to collect the water and use it to rinse off dishes, water plants, flush the toilet, whatever.
I should say that if I had a normal water heater, I probably wouldn't use sanitize for diapers except once in a while. |
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