Front Loader

My clothes dryer died, and The Dave said YAY because he'd been wanting a new set. No problem; so had I.

We got the LG second tier set. I'm not going to give the model numbers right now.

They arrived as scheduled.

They are a huge adjustment. Not bad, not good, just different.

We regard it as a family adventure. I decided to wash the towels first, because if I'm going to fuck anything up, I'd prefer it be the towels over other items. I'd happily buy new towels, since I haven't done that in about a decade. We got some as a gift six years ago, but even those look pretty bad.

I called the whole family in to witness, because, damn, we'd all been wanting to push all those cool buttons on the doohickey. We put the towels in, "packed loosely, not quite to the top" and the door closed easily, just like the owner's manual said to do.

We opted for a pre-wash and regular wash cycle.

The Dave stood by, camera in hand. Simian Boy got to press the "On" button. I set the wash cycle; I had already put the appropriate chemicals in the dispenser. Then both Simian Boy and Stick Girl pushed the "Go" button together. And then....

Well, not much.

Some water squirting sounds. Some drum rotation. More squirting sounds, more drum rotation.

The timer said this was going to happen for another hour and twenty minutes. So I found better things to do than watch it.

But not really. Because after all, we want to know that what we bought is worth it, right?

Well, the clothes look kinda cool spinning around in there.

And kinda...not. Really, they just look like wet clothes turning around in a barrel. Which is what they are.

You see, the front loading washer uses much less water (half as much) to wash, and takes longer to do it. It does it by putting the clothes in the soapy water, then lifting them out, then dropping them in again.

This is why regular laundry soap doesn't work. That stuff produces suds, and the bubbles, if they were present in a front loader, would hold the clothes above the water, rather than letting them soak in it.

It turns, it rests, it turns. For a LONG time. Then it spins, which is cool, because it's more than twice as fast as a top-loader, plus you can see it (because a top loader stops spinning when you open it to watch it. Take my word for it; I've done it.)

Thus far, the clothes take a lot longer to wash, and I'll admit, I've only been washing large and/or heavy loads, but they're already a lot dryer when I transfer them to the dryer.

Essentially, the washing takes longer than the drying, which is cool, because you have enough time after the dryer stops to fold and stuff, while the washer finishes.

My current assessment: this reminds me of doing laundry in Sweden and England, which makes sense, because this is exactly the same type of laundry machines they've used for decades.

It takes longer. More waiting. So I can't use the excuse of "Leave me alone! I'm doing laundry!" any more.

Bugger.