Does Speed Queen do hand wash cashmere?
Geez, I am still using the Kenmore set I bought when we got married over 25 years ago. Very basic, just Hot Warm and Cold water settings and S M L load size. Likewise, the dryer has a couple of hear settings. Everything is a simple dial, no electronics etc which is why I think they’ve lasted so long.
For a while I kept waiting for them to break so I could get a front loader and be able to do huge loads of kid laundry. Now I’ve waited so long the kids are half gone and I am back to small loads for just H and I (sniff!).
We have a 22 year old Maytag set that I pray won’t break. My issue is that they are in a laundry closet in our upstairs hall bath. New driers have a three inch bump out at the back which adds three inches to the depth of the dryer. My laundry closet isn’t three inches deeper…maybe two but not three.
When the time comes, I will have to rip out the whole closet thing and build it deeper.
I’ve looked for less depth driers,mand there used to be a bottom of the line GE and a bottom of the line Knemore that were not larger. The are no longer made.
Anyway…when the time comes…I will probably get a Speed Queen washer (because everyone her raves about them)…and a clothesline 
Somehow I have never seen a Speed Queen at any store.
From which store can we find this? Are there many Speed Queen models and some model is better than others?
As far as I remember, we have used 3 washers before. They were GE (rent-to-own), Whirl Pool and another Whirl Pool. (We usually bought one of the cheaper ones.) The GE actually lasted the longest. Our theory is that the washing machine was built to last longer in the old days, but it is not the case in recent years.
We used the washing machine relatively very frequently.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I am avidly reading each one and talking to my husband about them.
One issue for us, mentioned by thumper1 above, is the increased depth of the new appliances. Our current ones (many decades old) are about 25" deep, and they come right to the doorway. The newest washers are around 30 - 33" deep. So we are trying to figure how to reconfigure our space. This doesn’t change the thread any… it’s just an additional factor I hadn’t previously considered.
I have a Speed Queen top load – made like a tank – and love it. I’m not a fan of electronics (that can go bad) in most other machines. The brand is sold at independent appliance stores, not at chains. I have the model that has both Delicate and Hand Wash cycles, but I’m unclear as to how the cycles are different. I washed my mom’s cashmere sweater on Hand Wash, and it was fine.
For water saving, I save my Speed Queen’s rinse water and use it to flush my high water use toilet. I’ve also started a bit of weight training because I can’t quite carry with control those five gallon buckets full of water up a flight of stairs to the bathroom.
I used to have a Danby/Gorenje front load that was Euro tiny. The best part was that I could crank the thing up to 200 degrees. It was cheap and lasted about five or six years or so. It would noisily walk when spinning despite many attempts at bracing and balancing.
Let m know if you find something with less depth. I’d be interested! Washers are not the problem…dryers are.
At the top, click on “where to buy”. I chose a place more than an hour away because they were willing to deliver and set-up for a good price. I didn’t want to just pick it up and try to attach it myself. So, I bought it sight unseen, just getting advice from the guy on the phone which was sufficient for me.
If you buy front loading washer/dryer, make sure they have the option to reverse the doors. You don’t want to have the dryer that can only open to the right and the washer that can only open to the left.
Yes. Depth is big problem. My brother-in-law could only find short depth with GE washers/dryers.
I have LG for 5 years and they are good so far.
Another fan of speed queen after I replaced our front load Maytag (can’t remember the name of the model) with a set of Bravos. The Bravos were a nightmare (splotches of detergent residue consistently). Maytag finally agreed to take them back and I replaced them with a pair of Speed Queen. One of the reasons I bought the Bravos in the first place is because they are not as deep as so many other options which is the same as SQ. So, if depth is an issue, check out SQ.
I have a maytag maxima front loader. It recently had a circuit board go bad at three years old. The repair man wanted $500 parts and labor to fix a washer that cost $750 new. We ended up getting a reconditioned part (with a warranty) and replacing it ourselves for under $100. But I wasn’t happy. The washer and dryer have worked great except for that, and they all have circuit boards that can go bad these days. We did end up buying an appliance surge protector to hopefully help it last longer. Also investigate new washers. A speed queen front loader was something like $1800 but I have a friend with one and she loves it.
@calla1 I was going to recommend the Speed Queen, but then I saw the OP can’t use much water, so I guess that’s out!
I got a Speed Queen top loader with electro-mechanical dial controls (not computer controlled) earlier this year and love it. It’s very sturdy, the cycles are short so I can do many loads in less time, and it cleans clothes well. The lid doesn’t lock down. I can spin my hand-wash delicates in just a couple of minutes. It’s also very quiet.
The cycle I use most often saves on water by not filling the tub to rinse-- it sprays water continuously as it spins. We have a well, so water use concerns us.
I use HE detergent as I used to with my 2 previous HE washers, the Whirlpool Cabrio and Kenmore Calypso, both of which needed way too many repairs, were noisy and ran very long cycles-- along with that annoying lid lock.
All rinse cycles are cold. No option there.
The only cycle that doesn’t also use a cold wash temperature is the Heavy Duty/Permanent Press cycle, which allows the selection of true-hot (not blended) wash water, which is great for towels and my husband’s oily work clothes-- as well as warm or cold if preferred. I think this machine is cleaning my husband’s clothes better than the Cabrio did.
It has an agitator. My queen size fleece blanket should fit, but I think comforters would need to be taken to a laudromat.
Speed Queen are commercial-grade heavy duty washers. They are not for everyone but they are durable and they wash well. The shop I ordered mine from says they cannot keep them in stock-- they fly out the door as soon as they bring them in.
The front loading Speed queen washer is very expensive, but those are the tanks you see at laundromats! When I bought their top of the line top loader, it was $800 something dollars and included delivery and set up.
I wish the government bureaucrats would sharpen their pencils a bit. The HE washers are great for reducing water use but if they need to be repaired and replaced more often, and that whole process uses a lot of water and other resources that should be part of the equation. They should include water use, energy use, and longevity in their calculations.
I can tell you from recent research that most dryers have doors that can be changed, but it’s very difficult to find a washer that has reversible doors. Our setup requires the washer to be on the right hand side (as you look at the pair), and most EVERY front loading washer has the hinges on the left. This would mean that I’d have to lift the clothes up and over the washer door in order to get them in the dryer. No surprise, we went with a HE top loader.
We have the Maytag Bravos, and have been relatively happy with it, except for the design flaw that allows forgotten coins to work their way into the pump. After one service call for a cracked pump ($$$) we learned how to take the machine apart (!!!) to remove any coins we hear plinking around in there. And we became WAYYYYY more careful to check pockets for loose change.
Front loader doors should be left open while the final wash is drying. Then when you remove the final wash from the dryer, either close the washer door or leave it slightly ajar if it won’t be in the way or bother you.
I love our Electrolux front-loader and its matching dryer. However, I heard that now Electrolux is owned/run by GE (?) and is no longer made as well. We’ve had front-loaders for years, and never had a bad smell or mold (I would notice both a smell and allergies if there were mold). Granted, the house is very dry, often with heat on. We leave the washer open when not running in general (to put laundry in as it accumulates) so it was never a question of having to remember to leave it open. We also do use chlorine bleach every few weeks in a load or two, in any case. I imagine these habits led to our lack of issues (?).
My understanding is that nowadays, washers go for about 4500 cycles in a lifetime, whereas in the olden days, washers could go four or five times that many, and then more after a new belt or something. So depending how much laundry you do, that will translate into X years.
Apparently, it’s the reverse - Electrolux bought GE appliances! Maybe they’ll get better!
We also have the Electrolux front loader set, stackable set we have stacked in the garage. It’s about 4 years old now and has been an absolute workhorse. No problems at all. It has huge capacity, fast wash and fast dry settings, uses only 2 tablespoons of powder per load.
It replaced a GE front loader set that was terrible, broke down 3 times in 5 years, and shredded any stretchy garments - Under Armour, soccer socks, polypropylene long underwear, sweat pants, etc. Good riddance GE appliances.
@CTmom2018 You need to take the next step in fighting tyranny and order some some Sodium Tripolyphosphate (STPP, and not TSP). This is the phosphate they used to use in laundry detergent, and a few tablespoons will really help clean your clothes. It was also in diswasher detergent until 2009 when a couple of states banned it. Wal-Mart sent out the word that they would not carry any brand with phosphate, so they pulled all the phosphate out of dishwasher soap, too. (This is why you sometimes see advice to use dishwasher powder in the laundry. It’s to get the phosphate).
You can buy this off of Amazon or elsewhere.