I am in the market for a new washer and dryer. Today, while reading reviews, I came upon this great comment by an anonymous person:
20) The problem with the washers now is that you can’t adjust the amount of water you use. The machine determines water levels. When you put in a small load of jeans, four pairs or so, for example, even if it’s a large capacity machine, the water level is so low- because the machine ‘reads’ the volume as being smaller-that there’s a drag on the washing motion. This is why the gears burn out. Repair diagnosis is always overloading, but I don’t think this is what’s really the cause. When I wash those four pairs of jeans, if I could add a little more water so the clothes move freely, there wouldn’t be as much of a drag and there wouldn’t be a problem.
This enforced passive water saving is idiotic. There are too many variables when washing clothes. No one wants to waste water, not just because we need to save water, but because most intelligent adults are always keeping an eye on expenses. Water isn’t free.
Back in the 70s there were no such things as water saving toilets, but you could flush with half the water if you filled a half gallon milk bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank. Hazzah! Cheaper water bill! (Yep, I did this!)
Now, I can’t even lift the lid of the washer once it starts to fill. It’s locked, not just when it spins, which makes sense, but when it fills. Supposedly for safety. My days of having a houseful of kids are over, and the last thing I need is a locked lid on my washer. Even when I had kids, I never had a problem. The only safety issue was the spinning not the filling. I’m guessing that the locked lid on filling might be so I can’t take a bucket and dump in more water? (Just a thought.) But I can keep calling a repairman, pay for all those repairs and/or finally end up having to buy yet another washer!
Yes, I understand that if you have small children you might need a locking lid on your washer. Especially if your child has access to the machine and is prone to tossing in toys, etc. This should be an option. Medications come in bottles with safety lids so kids can’t open them. But I can request that my pharmacist not use these, because they’re hard for me to open.
In the US, our government is supposed to be a bottom up government, not a top down government. We are supposed to have a consumer driven free market economy, not a controlled marketplace where what is produced is dictated by the government and pricing is determined by social (Political) agendas. This washer thing is truly frustrating, and we’re just accepting this enforced passive stuff. We complain about the problem but we don’t do anything about it. We can pay and pay and pay, but we can’t think for ourselves?
Personally, I’m going to find a good used appliance store and get a dependable reconditioned Maytag, like the one I had for 35 years-before these swell shiny new ‘green’ models caught my eye and jabbed my conscience. As for my conscience, I’m really in the clear, anyway. By buying an older, reconditioned washer I’ll still be doing my part. And I’ve always been a good conservationist.
Plus, I’m wondering if maybe making a dent in the sales of the new machines, and expressing dissatisfaction to representatives and congresspeople, might encourage lawmakers and manufacturers to re-think some of this? If I remember correctly with my passive, sluggish brain, that’s the way things are supposed to work, here.
The NSA, 
