LG Washer/Dryer--Anyone have this pair?

[Matt Meiser]

Looking at buying this washer and dryer as early as lunch time today, well at least the washer since the dryer has to be ordered. Anyone have anything bad to say about them?

Also..we were thinking of the pedestals and have the vertical clearance, but access to the shutoff would be difficult. I'm thinking, that would be commonplace. I have easy access to the PEX lines from the basement and could install additional shutoffs for emergencies down there in not much more time than it would take to drag out the tools. Any thoughts on how acceptable that would be? LOML is OK, but not thrilled with not having the pedestals. We even happen to keep the stepladder right by where they'd be.

[George Bokros]

I do not have any LG appliance but I have heard some not favorable things about LG particularly washers. On another note if she does not have a front loader currently they are different. My sister-in-law has a front loader and is not happy with it, I don't think it is an LG.

We have a Maytag Bravos top loader that is a high efficiency washer and uses little water, cleans fantastic and wife is totally happy with it. The new high efficiency washers require you to run it through a cleaning cycle every so many loads though, front loader do the same. We have had it for ~five years and it has been problem free. Mys son and daughter-in-law just purchased the current model of this machine and is also very happy with it.

We got ours at HD, son got his I think from Sears since he had a $50 credit of some sort from Sears.

Give the machine a look.

George

[David Weaver]

I'm a big fan of the fisher paykel pair (the ecosmart - the cheap one, a high-efficiency top load). My wife does about 8 loads of laundry a week (don't ask) and they have held up well so far for about 8 years. I did have to replace a bearing surface in the dryer, but that was at a cost of $25 for some specifically cut UHMW strips and the holder for them - after 7 years of about 8 loads a week.

Water consumption is similar to front load washers, maybe less, spins 1000 rpm is very quiet and no transmission (presume some of the front loaders might be direct drive, too). Motor and drive system has a 10 year warranty in case you're iffy about an electronically controlled motor and no transmission. Capacity of the washer is the same cu ft of the LG you linked.

More gadgets than it has (you get load control, temperature control, spin speed control, etc, or all of it automatic if you don't want to think about it), and reliability drops. Got it a couple of years ago at the suggestion of an appliance repair guy, though the dryer at the time was a GE dryer with better electronics (which means the mechanical parts are easy to find if you need bearings or something).

MIL (who gave my wife the laundry affliction, splitting everything into a million tiny loads) has been through two maytag neptune front loaders in the same period of time. She doesn't like the way the lid looks on the FP so she will keep buying disposable washers. Convinced two more of wife's relatives to get the same washer we have a year later, and they have also been problem free.

Of course, if FP has gone to china since then, then all of that is out the window.

[dennis thompson]

I don't know anything about LG but I recently had my dryer (a 10 year old GE) repaired. While the repairman was here,( I've used him for years & trust him), I asked if I should get a new dryer, He said absolutely not, keep fixing this until you can't fix it anymore. The new washers & dryers are "junk"

[Dan Hintz]

While maybe not specifically tied to LG, the most complaints I've seen over the years tied to front-load washers was mold/mildew. Because the barrels cannot completely empty of water, mold/mildew starts to build up along the door seals, particularly if you're not doing a load every day. The "solution" has been to leave the door propped open so it can dry out between washes, but that seems like a hack to me... the darn thing should just work without crutches.

Second to that complaint has been these guys just do not last... way too many plastic components in there that should still be made of metal (or at least more heavily reinforced). When I check them out in the stores, the doors alone just seem really flimsy to me.

It's tough to buy these days... even good brands can be selling junk currently, but you won't know until a couple of years later when they start breaking. Kind of like not purchasing a specific model of car until it's a few years old and you know they have the major kinks worked out.

[Jim Becker]

We have the LG Steam Washer and LG Steam Dryer pair (with the pedestals) and they have been in use since 2008. We're largely pleased with them. If access is a concern, you can replace your standard shut-offs with automatic units that have a moisture detector you put in the pan. We did that when we placed the units here in our second floor laundry.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I don't have the washer/dryer, but we have a kitchen full of LG appliances, and I've been extremely disappointed with the poor quality and wildly un-intuitive design "features".

[Don Jarvie]

We have next model up on both the washer and dryer. I have no complaints. The washer has a sensor so it won't spin an uneven load. The washer has a drain on the bottom left that you empty once a month. It's a hose you take the plug off of and drain into a cup or bowl.

We bought ours at Sears. Opened a Sears charge and saved 5 or 10% plus I got 100 points (100 bucks) on My Rewards which turned into a drill and right angle drill.

i would recommend LG.

[John McClanahan]

When I was refrigerator shopping, I read a lot of complaints on very poor LG customer support.

John

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

We have had that model washer for about 3 years now. Love it. We had the included Sears check-up service performed on it around the year mark and the technician said it was in great shape and they have been good to work on. He told us they actually take very little soap to properly wash the clothes. The biggest problem people have with them is they are over-stuffing them. People seem to think they can pack it tight, but then the clothes have no room to move around and can't get clean.

Our washer takes a beating. It has washed very muddy & hairy thick horse blankets, hairy dog bedding, clothes covered in grease, diesel & fuel, weedwhacking clothes, and you name it. The washer gets the clothes clean. It also has a rinse mode to clean the machine after those very dirty wash loads.

We do not have a mold problem, but we do leave the lid open because my LOML likes it open. (So you don't need to juggle an armload of dirty clothes and try to open the lid to put them in.)

The only "problems" we have seen is the clothes were not cleaned when we over-stuffed it, and there have been 2 times water spilled out when the clothes were pulled out but that's because a nylon-type clothing trapped the water while being washed. It does take longer to wash the clothes then our old GE top loading machine, but the clothes seem much cleaner. And.. while it does have load sensing & balancing, some loads just can't be balanced.

We bought a floor demo Bosch dryer at the same time and it has worked well for us.

p.s. We do not have the pedestals.

[Chuck Wintle]

When I was refrigerator shopping, I read a lot of complaints on very poor LG customer support.

John

i have an LG fridge and its not that impressive. After a few years the plastic around the sliding bins cracked and broke in multiple places. getting parts proved difficult as the LG parts place was disorganized, but not unhelpful though.

[Chuck Wintle]

Looking at buying this washer and dryer as early as lunch time today, well at least the washer since the dryer has to be ordered. Anyone have anything bad to say about them?

Also..we were thinking of the pedestals and have the vertical clearance, but access to the shutoff would be difficult. I'm thinking, that would be commonplace. I have easy access to the PEX lines from the basement and could install additional shutoffs for emergencies down there in not much more time than it would take to drag out the tools. Any thoughts on how acceptable that would be? LOML is OK, but not thrilled with not having the pedestals. We even happen to keep the stepladder right by where they'd be.

Have you looked at the Bosch or Asko appliances?

[Dan Hintz]

Have you looked at the Bosch or Asko appliances?

Don't know Asko, but I do remember hearing great things about Bosch appliances (at the expected higher price margin). Of course, that was years ago, so they too may have slipped.

[Mark Patoka]

We don't have that model but we did buy an LG top-load HE washer last year. So far it is working well and uses much less water though the cycle time is like one hour to wash one load. We opted for the top-load due to the potential smell/mold issues we've heard about with the front load plus it was a super large capacity. The issue with our top-load is how deep it is. If you're a short person, you will need a stepstool just to get everything out.

[Matt Meiser]

Just got home and we went a different route yet and bought a mid-tier Electrolux for about $500 more from the local appliance store that is who we bought all our kitchen appliances from last fall. Price differential was not insignificant, but but the local appliance place says they've had really good luck with them and that LG (which they also sell) tends to good quality but also slow for parts where Electrolux they get them overnight. Also an advantage that, I think, their duct layout will require the least fiddling to get ours hooked up and the front of the machines are free of protrusions that you might hit or snag on walking through the fairly narrow laundry room which is also where the back door is. Dryer has the steam feature which I don't know if we'll use (uh...why is there a hose hookup on the dryer???) Most importantly we should be back in the laundry biz tomorrow afternoon. Pedestals would cause an issue with vent hookups for us too so we didn't do them.

But, this is also the first time I've bought extended warranties on appliances. My parents got front loaders in the fall and dad did a bunch of research and concluded it was good insurance so I followed his lead.

And I'm still waiting for a callback from a 10:30 phone call to the other local place who didn't have a salesman available "at the moment." Can't WAIT for that call.