Which washing machines last the longest

Check the hoses and make sure they're tight. Also, be sure not to overfill the tub with clothing when starting a load. If you've covered those bases and the washer still leaks, you may have a crack in the tub. This is a major fix, and in most cases it would be more cost-effective just to buy a new washer, especially if it's getting close to its 11th birthday.

If you have an older front-loading washer, you may have found it gets a certain Some Whirlpool, Kenmore and Maytag front-loading washers made between and may fail to adequately self-clean themselves. This can lead to mold or mildew growth inside of the washer that causes a stink. The companies that make these potentially defective washers settled in a class action lawsuit.

You can check to see if your machine is one of those affected here. If you have an affected washer, you may need to upgrade to something else. Give these cleaning tricks a try first, though. We think its magnetic door prop is a clever way to help prevent the dreaded mildew stench from taking root without having to leave the door wide open.

In addition, you can access the drain trap clean-out right from the front of the washer without having to disassemble any part of the cabinet, so if something is blocking the drain pump you can pull it out yourself without moving the washer. LG makes a handful of other front-loaders of the same basic design as the WMH. The WMH is fairly similar to the WMH but still uses an older version of TurboWash with fewer jets, and the control panel is built into the door instead of the frame of the machine.

Energy Saver makes the dryer heat up more slowly and dry at a lower temperature. We recommend turning Energy Saver off by pressing the button. When we dried our mixed load on Normal with Energy Saver on in the DLEX the similarly-made, previous version of the DLEX , the cycle took about an hour, the temperature inside reached a mild We think the moisture sensor came across a fast-drying item that prematurely triggered the end of the cycle.

When we ran the mixed load again on Normal, with Energy Saver off, the temperature rose to We found running the Normal cycle with the Dry Level set to More to be effective too for our mixed load, taking just under an hour to get everything dry, and reaching a peak temperature of You may not have any issues if you sort your laundry, though: When we dried a load of just sheets, the Normal cycle with Energy Saver got the entire load sufficiently dry in the specified time on the control panel.

We found that it worked better on a T-shirt than on a rayon blouse or a flannel button-up. You need to hook the dryer up to a cold water tap in order to use the Steam Fresh cycle. The DLEX has a reversible door and an easy-to-clean lint tray. The upbeat tune it plays to signal the end of the cycle can be turned off. If you want to stack the machines, you need the KSTK1 stacking kit. If you want to put them on a pedestal, the WDP4V is the right model.

And the WMH works with the LG SideKick , a mini washer that doubles as a pedestal for the main machine we have not tried one out yet. In testing, we did not notice the being louder than its competitors. The most repeated complaint about them is that the control panel is hard to use, especially in poor lighting, and the WMH uses the same panel.

No mainstream appliance brand is especially good at customer service, but LG seems to inspire a special type of ire from customers who are unlucky enough to end up with a defective machine. Their logistics need to be beefed up. Some LG owners say that phone reps are too quick to brush off problems as user error and suggest that owners watch an educational video as a solution to the problem. Tim Abbott, a repair tech from Washington, told us that LG once shipped him a replacement part in a bubble mailer instead of a box, which put the part at greater risk of damage.

Kevin Harner, a technician from Pennsylvania, even told us that he found LG to be the easiest washer brand to work with. We saw a few complaints about the WMH suds-locking—that is, when the washer senses that a load is too soapy after the rinse cycle finishes, it runs another rinse cycle, repeating the process until the clothes are finally rinsed. Just a theory, but this washer might be more sensitive than most to detergent overdoses.

It also has some unique features that could sway certain buyers, such as a reversible door, an extra-water setting, and a special slot in the detergent tray for laundry pods. In our tests , the Electrolux EFLSU stood out as the best cleaner, removing far more of all types of stains than any other washer we tested. The difference was obvious to the naked eye. The testers at CNET , along with several other reviewers, also found that it was the best cleaner they tested.

If you regularly need to clean stubborn stains, such as grass or child effluvia, the EFLSU will do a better job of removing them without pretreatment than any other washer. The washer has a separate chamber that premixes detergent with the wash water before adding it to the drum—no other washer has a premixing system like this.

In theory, this means that the washing solution is totally homogenized, with no splurts of detergent soaking into certain garments while missing others. Most washers are great cleaners anyway, but the premixing feature makes this Electrolux even better.

On top of that, the EFLSU is one of the few front-loaders that let you manipulate water levels—sort of. Pods are expensive and contain much more detergent than you really need, but some people swear by them, and this compartment is a clever way to avoid some of the problems that they cause.

However, Electrolux washers are more of a mixed bag in terms of reliability. But Yale Appliance says that in it made service visits for the 1, Electrolux washers it had sold. As a result, Yale says, it moved away from selling so many Electrolux units in —and it still ended up making service visits versus units sold, a service rate of nearly 40 percent, again compared with about 5 percent for LG.

In our tests, it caused more fraying damage and rubbed clothes harder than any other front-loader we tested more or less tied with a Maytag front-loader.

CNET found similar results in its fraying test. But we also came across at least a dozen owner reviews complaining of damage though it seems like a handful of them were written by the same extra-furious person. If gentleness is a priority for you, consider looking at a different front-loader, such as the LG WMH. The reviews are similarly strong at other retailers, too. The Electrolux EFMEU was better at drying our mixed load on its Normal setting than our other front-loading dryer picks, taking 68 minutes about eight minutes longer than what was specified by the control panel to complete, and getting even the thickest, heaviest item in the load dry to the touch.

The Electrolux heated up at roughly the same rate as the LG and the Miele, but the Electrolux peaked at a gentle Electrolux dryers have a known issue with lint building up inside the blower fan if the vent line is too narrow or otherwise constricted, so you should proceed with caution before buying one of its dryers.

We did not have any problems with lint build-up in several months of testing and regular use. Miele designs its models to last 20 years with average use—roughly double the lifespan of any of our other picks, and enough for about 5, wash cycles. Not many washing machines are rated for such a long life, and even fewer of them are front-loaders. It performed as well as the excellent LG WMH on our stain-removal tests and gentleness tests, and other publications that have tested it have rated it highly too.

The catch: The Miele W1 is a compact washing machine, with about half the capacity of a typical front-load washer. If you have a big family and prefer to do your laundry in one or two enormous loads per week, this is not the washer for you.

It uses about half the energy of a vented machine. The downside is that it takes longer—sometimes twice as long—as a vented machine to dry a load of clothes. The Miele T1 had difficulty drying our mixed load on Normal, leaving the heavier items damp at the end of the hour-and-a-half cycle.

The LG DLEX with Energy Saver off and the Electrolux, which are both more traditional vented models, were able to dry the test load in much less time and at the same or lower temperatures.

The extra time the T1 requires for its drying cycles does mean that loads get tumbled for longer, and are thereby exposed to more abrasion. We asked Miele about that, and George Tjoumakaris, a product manager for the company, told us that the honeycomb-textured interior of the dryer helps to cushion clothing as it tumbles around in the drum, and also that the cycle selection determines the type of motion gentler for delicates, for instance the drum uses to tumble the load.

We plan to do some additional testing to look more into fabric treatment. The moisture removed by the heat pump gets collected in a reservoir, which must be periodically emptied alternatively, you can plumb out the dryer condensate hose to drain it out just as you would with a washing machine.

We found it helpful to consult the dryer manual to decipher the options on the control panel and to turn off the end-of-cycle indicator which will otherwise beep every 20 seconds until the door is opened.

Finding qualified service can sometimes be tricky if you live far from a major mainland metro area. We get it—this seems like an oddball choice. If you prefer a top-loading washer, we suggest the LG WTC , a high-efficiency model with no agitator. And, as best as we can tell, it should be a fairly reliable machine. We also found that the WTC was fairly effective at washing huge loads of laundry, something that HE top-loaders can struggle with, despite their huge tubs.

We loaded up an enormous, pound load and found that the WTC rotated the clothes pretty well. Plenty of HE top-loaders hardly rotate full loads at all, and in extreme cases the items at the top of the tub barely get wet. In our tests, it cranked through a pound load in about 45 minutes, about half the time of a typical HE model. Its gentleness was a mixed bag. That means delicate fabrics could take extra damage over time.

It did a little better on our stain-removal test than the other agitator top-loaders we tested. With the Powerwash setting turned on, we found that it was much more vigorous, and it did better in our stain-removal test but also caused some of the most fraying damage we saw.

The upshot: The MVWCHW washer and similar models can get a load of laundry clean enough for you to wear to work or school, as long as those clothes are not totally filthy. Like a lot of modern washers, the MVWCHW is reasonably efficient by default, filling the tub with just enough water to get all the clothes wet. But it also has all kinds of controls that make it act more like an old-school washer.

The owner ratings for this washer are solid, as it earns 4. The washer pairs with your smartphone and alerts you when the wash cycle is nearing completion. Plus, it lets you remotely start or stop your laundry cycles.

Ultimately, we concluded that the Samsung is the better buy. Although both models have an internal water heater, the GE has a slower Normal cycle that lasts 20 minutes longer, and its bedding cycle isn't as effective at cleaning sheets. Samsung has also received higher owner satisfaction scores based on surveys conducted by Consumer Reports.

That model has two fewer wash cycles, unfortunately including the ultra convenient minute speed wash. It also lacks Wi-Fi functionality, but these sacrifices may be worth the additional savings for some. The Bosch is the best compact washing machine for those who can't fit a full-sized washer in their home. Unfortunately, the smaller size doesn't result in a smaller price. This front-loading Bosch is a stylish washing machine with a fast 1, RPM spin speed and short cycles.

Its 2. Cleaning performance is strong, and the washer should have little to no issues with removing stains. It offers users 15 different cycles, ranging from delicates to heavy-duty, and there's even a cycle specifically for denim.

We were glad to see an additional hot-water cycle for allergy-prone users who need their washer to kill germs and dust mites. Features like its anti-vibration circular sidewalls and EcoSilence Motor ensure that it keeps quiet. We also considered the Miele TwinDos washing machine , which costs nearly twice as much. Although the Miele offers users an automatic detergent dispenser, Wi-Fi connectivity, and tons of special wash cycles to choose from, we think you're better off opting for the Bosch.

According to Yale Appliance data, Bosch is the more reliable brand. Only 4. You should only shop for the Samsung if you prefer its black finish to the Bosch's all-white exterior, or you want to take advantage of its steam function and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Gift Ideas. Type keyword s to search. By Brandon Carte. Best Overall. LG Electronics lowes. Cluttered control panel Door is not reversible and only opens to the left. Samsung lowes. Easy to use Effective at removing stains.

More likely to treat your clothes roughly and cause wear and tear to them. LG WashTower. LG lowes. Fits in compact spaces. Long wash times for heavy loads. Intuitive smartphone app 14 wash cycles and five temperature settings Allergiene wash cycle. Expensive and bulky. LG Electronics amazon. ColdWash setting to save energy. So how long should washing machines last? And what can you do to extend their life? While we may have mentioned the likes of TVs and laptops, the main reason we often replace these devices is not necessarily because these devices have stopped working; we just want a better user experience.

In the past, washing machines were built to last. They were robust and able to stand up to the demands of families with children. Additionally, repair costs were cheaper because manufacturers would offer good prices on spare parts and they would offer extensive technical information to repairers. Today, however, the story is rather different. Washing machine manufacturers are producing more cheaply made models than ever before.