For the past 11 years, I've had a front loading clothes washer. I had a first generation Maytag Neptune until last week. Buying a new washer was not a planned household expense, but the old one had recently gotten REALLY LOUD, which meant it was starting to fail. I was warned by a repair person that it would start to leak soon because a bearing needed to be replaced. After finding out that it would be $900 to repair it, it was apparent that it was time for a new washer.
I replaced it with a Frigidaire Affinity. The reason I'm writing about this, is to share with anyone with a top loading washer, how little water a front loader uses, how gentle it is on what you're washing, and how much cleaner everything gets. A top loader can use up to 40 gallons per cycle, but a front loader uses 7-10 gallons per cycle.
An added plus with my new washer is that it sucks the water out of everything you washed so well, that it is now taking half the time to dry each load. It used to take 40-60 minutes in the dryer, per load, but now, using the same setting on the dryer, it takes about 20 minutes. Nice! Not only does my front loading clothes washers help with a lower water bill, an unplanned benefit will also be a lower natural gas bill due to less dryer use.
One might ask why I'm writing about this on an art blog. The reason is that besides using a washer for household laundry, I also need it for shrinking, +/or washing extra paint out of, the fabrics I use for my artwork. And, my dryer helps in my collecting lint for various (or future) art projects.
