Thread Number: 6672
Zanussi ZWF1437W 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 133935   6/7/2006 at 01:12 (6,527 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Hi guys,

Well as some as you may have already known my mum's so-called reliable brand Bosch washer died after 3 and a bit years a couple of weeks ago - suspected fault was that the PCB had blown as it kept getting stuck on the extra rinse if you used it, and also it wouldn't always spin. Not to mention the fact that the Bosch had been knocked about a lot when the builders were here doing renovations when we had the kitchen moved & the back porch converted to the utility, so rather than a huge repair bill mum and I decided that it would be more economical to buy a new machine.

Well, I have to admit I first went out with Miele in my mind, was very interested in the new W1000 series Miele's; however reality soon sunk in when I was given a budget of £300 maximum. Looked at a variety of machines, but the final shortlist included a Hoover HNL6146, for £260 from the local Co-Op department store, a Zanussi ZWF1421, £250 at the local Co-Op department store, and the Zanussi ZWF1437W which is currently on offer at Curry's for £300 reduced from about £400-450 IIRC. Although the ZWF1437 was the cheapest option, it was by far the best value as we have literally got a £400 washing machine for £100 or so less.

Anyway - we bought the Zanussi last Thursday, whilst Dan (washboy2005) was staying with us for the week, unfortunately it wasn't in stock on Thursday so Dan missed out just on installing the Zanussi. That aside, mum & I drove to Curry's yesterday and picked it up, brought it home & I was left to install it. First thing I noticed was how heavy the machine was - much heavier than the old Bosch, and for a £300 machine the quality is superb - far better than equivalent priced machines including Bosch. Anyway, finally got the machine in place & whirred it away on a 95*C cottons wash with extra quick pressed, with a small measure of detergent of course to rinse out any residues left in the drum from the manufacturing process.

Did 5 loads yesterday - 2 with the help of Darren who just had to come round and share the excitement! First load was a load of synthetic whites, which were washed on Synthetics 40*C with Extra Quick and Super Rinse. 1 hour exactly cycle, usual dose of 100ml Persil Biological for lightly soiled whites, & I have to say I am very impressed. Even though the Extra Quick option was selected it performed miles better than the Bosch did on the same Synthetics 40*C cycle - also seems to spin better too than the Bosch and didn't set in creases.

2nd load was 3 quite heavy coats washed on Cottons 40*C with Extra Quick selected - 1.03 cycle. These 3 jackets would have filled the Bosch to capacity, but there was still plenty of room to spare in the Zanussi for an extra coat. A good thorough 40*C wash, a fast spin after the wash and rinses, and 2 very deep rinses, and a full speed 1400rpm spin at the end. Have to say that the 2 rinses on the Zanussi does plenty good enough a job, again better than the Bosch and equivalent to my Miele, which is a very difficult machien to beat in terms of rinsing.

3rd load was a HUGE 7 kilo load of darks. Cottons Daily 40*C, 1.49 cycle with super rinse selected. To explain how big the load was - usually a darks load took less than a week to make a load up for the Bosch, and would take up 3/4 of one of the lines in the side garden. The Zanussi, on the other hand, managed to take 2 weeks worth of darks with ease, and there was so much in the load that I had to overflow onto the second washing line in the garden! The rinse cycles were interesting with Super Rinse selected. Instead of doing 3 rinses with fast spins after the drains, it does Asko-style rinsing, 5 rinses with only a drain after the wash, rinse 1 and rinse 2, and only spins after rinse 3 onwards. And the spins at that are only at slow speed - 500rpm or so, but for longer than the faster interim spins, and the usual 1400rpm spin at the end. Rinse levels were again impressive - up to the flat part of the door glass which is a 1/3 up the drum - not bad by modern standards! There wasn't a single piece of lint left on the darks at the end of the cycle - which was my main niggle with the Bosch as it would leave lint all over dark loads when you unloaded it. Everything came out clean too - so I think that next time I will probably just use the Cottons 40*C Extra Quick cycle for darks rather than Cottons Daily.

4th load of the day was the dog blankets, which got a Cottons Daily 60*C wash with a prewash - cycle time 1.54. Have to say the Zanussi did incredibly well with removing the dog hair, which was another thing the Bosch wasn't too grand at. After being washed in the Bosch washer, the dog blankets would leave a huge blanket of dog hair on the dryer filter - whereas with this Zanussi there wasn't much dog hair at all on the fluff filter.

Last load was a load of blue towels, 5 bath sheets, 3 bath towels, and 4 handtowels along with 1 flannel. This would have crammed the Bosch to the seams, but again with the huge drum in the Zanussi there was room for perhaps 3 or 4 more actual bath sheets without exaggeration. Again only used the 2 rinses, and it rinsed extremely well although I must admit I do use Persil Non Bio, which is possibly the most easiest to rinse detergent available on the UK market.

I think that especially for the money this Zanussi beats the old Bosch by far. Washing is on par for the cottons cycles (one thing the Bosch was good at was washing on a cottons cycle), better on the synthetics cycle, and even though the spinning cycle is the same speed (1400rpm), the Zanussi seems to spin a lot more water out and things are almost dry out of the machine as they are out of my 1600rpm AEG; I'm thinking that this is probably due to the larger drum on the Zanussi; although the Bosch was struggling to get to speed in the last 6 months of it's use so the Bosch could have not been getting to 1400 properly. Rinsing is much better - on par with my Miele. Cycle selection is a lot more flexible - rather than having 15 set-in-stone programmes, there are umpteen different progamme combinations, plus on the Zanussi you can have a prewash or an intensive wash on any programme, rather than on just one set programme on the dial as with the Bosch. You can do a prewash on delicates too which I like, should be handy when washing net curtains & mum won't have to use the Rinse cycle first to get effectively an extra prewash like she did with the Bosch. Talking of rinse options, you can also have a separate rinse and final spin of your choice of fabric, rather than just having one separate rinse and one separate spin cycle for all fabrics.

In terms of noise the machine is definitely not whisper quiet, but at the same time it doesn't wake the dead either and is of an acceptable level, and would be on par with the Bosch. One thing I do like though is that the Zanussi doesn't have as high a pitch spin as the Bosch did so even though the spin noise is the same, you can't hear the Zanussi at the other end of the house like you could with the Bosch because of it's high pitched spin. I also like the Jetsystem on this Zanussi, and it has to be the best yet. Like Saj's Zanussi in his thread, it has a 3-way jet rather than just a single jet into the middle of the tub, and the water is fanned into the load in a V-shape instead - similar to when you place your thumb at the end of a garden hose.

In conclusion - I think we've landed ourselves on a workhorse here. Miele style features without the Miele price, good reliability as you would expect from Zanussi, solid build quality, and most importantly good washing, rinsing & spinning performance. This is definitely how a washing machine should be, thank god some manufacturers liek Electrolux & Miele still care about quality & performance rather than soley cost-cutting and energy efficiency.

Anyway - that's enough of me blabbering on. Have posted a few pictures, and videos will come shortly although it is more or less identical in operation to Saj's Zanussi in his videos.

Take care guys - any comments welcome! Enjoy the pics in the link.

Jon

CLICK HERE TO GO TO lavamat_jon's LINK



Post# 133936 , Reply# 1   6/7/2006 at 01:13 (6,527 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        
Frontal view

 The utility room is rather narrow so it's difficult to get a decent enough view, but you can get the general idea.

Post# 133938 , Reply# 2   6/7/2006 at 01:14 (6,527 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Control panel. Looks complicated but is actually one of the easiest to use washers I've ever come across!

Post# 133939 , Reply# 3   6/7/2006 at 01:16 (6,527 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        
Huge 7 kilo tub

 Excuse the dodgy angle - againt he utility room is too narrow to get a perfect shot. The yellow jet should be at the top, so y'all have to tilt your head to the left a li'l bit :-)

Post# 133940 , Reply# 4   6/7/2006 at 01:19 (6,527 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        
And finally...

 ...a nice 7 kilo load of Darks in the early morning breeze - left out from yesterday evening, how naughty of me! o:-) Quite difficult to see but it overflows onto the second line behind the darks, next to the coats. A full load in the Bosch would have gotten to probably that 3rd t shirt to the right of the clothes prop.

Post# 133942 , Reply# 5   6/7/2006 at 02:58 (6,526 days old) by hoovermatic (UK)        

Interesting post - I am seriously considering buying one of the new 7kg washers as I am finding the 5kg machine I have increasingly irritating as it takes all day to do the washing at times (this is not helped by the absurd cycle times - 90 mins for a 30 degree quick wash!!!), but don't want to saddle myself with one of these ridiculouly large units that seem to proliferate with the drawers underneath as I cannot accomodate them and I need to be able to stack a dryer on top. Can one do that with these 7kg machines? Also, have you ever heard of anyone stacking a condensor dryer - is it possible?

On a slightly curious note - why did you wash the dogs blankets before the towels?

Post# 133943 , Reply# 6   6/7/2006 at 03:41 (6,526 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Hi there,

The 7 kilo Zanussi's have a standard unit size - except they are a bit deeper to accommodate the 7 kilo drum - 66cm deep rather than 60cm, although it is 60cm deep at the sides of the unit - you have to bear in mind the front bows out as you can see from the side angle. You can stack a condenser dryer just like a vented dryer - I have an AEG condenser dryer stacked on top of my AEG washer in my bedroom.

About the dog blankets - the dog needed it's bed as it was quite late and he refuses to sleep in his bed without them and ends up curling on the floor bless him, so I had to get them washed and dried for that night. I did rinse the machine through though before loading the towels - a habit I've gotten into after washing the dog blankets.

Take care,

Jon

Post# 133947 , Reply# 7   6/7/2006 at 04:53 (6,526 days old) by newwave1 (Lincoln, United Kingdom)        

newwave1's profile picture
Hey jon.
Ahh that was a fun night. especially as you know i am rather fond of zanussi's. Its very similar to my Aeg isn't it! least i can be content that my aeg is like a hybrid aeg/modern zanussi:p now i can concerntrate on gettin an old zanussi lol.

i did think it was really effective. the jets miles better than our aeg's. the drum really is huge. i was skepticle about the whole it will hold 22teeshirt theory. Now i believe it will.

As i said to you last night i think those 1200rpm spins are dead effective. Bosch who? lol

Cant wait to come round n see it again

D

Post# 133948 , Reply# 8   6/7/2006 at 04:56 (6,526 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)        

mattywashboy's profile picture
very cool machine. Electrolux sell the ame style of machine under the name of Simpson over here, tho i don't think it has a Jetsyetm spray
Take Care
Mattyboy

Post# 133949 , Reply# 9   6/7/2006 at 04:56 (6,526 days old) by hoovermatic (UK)        

Jon

My apologies - on re-reading my message I felt that I came across as critical re. dog blankets and at the end of the day it is none of my business what you wash in your machine!!!

I have always held Electrolux in very high regard - my mother had a TOL Electrolux dishwasher which lasted her 14 years and a family of six and I have still never found a machine like it on the market. I like the look of this Zanussi machine very much particularly the controls as they look very user friendly.

A couple of questions for you:

What is the fundemental diff between Cottons and Cottons Daily?

What is the 40 deg AA feature all about?

How quick is extra quick?

Are the temps predetermined by the programme (within a certain range)

Almost all of the washing machines I have ever owned have been noisy, as far as I am concerned and I am after something that is at the other end of the decibel scale from my Hotpoint TL. How does this compare? It will be situated at the end of the house in the utility space but this is still adjacent to the kitchen.

Thanks Jon

Paul

Post# 133963 , Reply# 10   6/7/2006 at 07:00 (6,526 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

Hi Paul,

No need to apologise! As I said any comments are welcome, you weren't intefering at all! In fact I'm glad to answer any questions like that, makes life more interesting :-).

Anyway answers to your questions:

What is the fundemental diff between Cottons and Cottons Daily? and How quick is extra quick?
Cottons is roughly 2 hours standard, its your typical 2 hour A wash performance wash cycle. It can be reduced to an hour or so if you press Extra Quick, of which performs quite well actually. Cottons Daily is a programme lasting approx 1.40, for washing that is too heavily soiled to go on a quick wash, but doesn't need a 2 hour wash. I actually found the Cottons Daily programme sufficient for realyl grubby jeans so I think I'll be using the 1.40 Cottons Daily cycle more often than the 2 hour Cottons cycle.

What is the 40 deg AA feature all about?
Basically the modern day name for the economy button - if you select this with 95*C you get a longer wash at 60, and if you select it with 40, 50 or 60*C you get a longer wash at 40 to get A wash performance at a lower temperature.

Are the temps predetermined by the programme (within a certain range)

The Cottons Daily, Cottons and Synthetic programmes default to 40*C when you select them, and Delicates and Wool/Handwash defaults to 30*C. On Cottons Daily & Cottons you can do 30*C right through to 95*C, on Synthetic you can do 30 to 60*C, and on Delicate and Wool you can do 30 or 40*C.

Noise level wise it is a quiet machine - the motor is audible during wash if you're in the same room and you can hear the spin in the kitchen, but it's definitely not as loud as my nana's Hotpoint WF340 she bought last November. It's a nice noise - lets you know it's doing it's job. Have to say though that on my AEG the recirculation pump makes quite a lot of buzzing noises, but on the Zanussi the pump is silent during the recirculation phase.

If you're interested in one, they're on sale at £300 at both Curry's and Comet at the mo - tis a great offer but I'm not sure how long it'll last seeming as they're giving away this machine thats worth about £400-£450.

I've always liked Electrolux washers. Never liked Zanussi made dishwashers though ever sice we had one, but I shan't rant about that. I have to say the quality of Zanussi definitely has improved since they acquired AEG, perhaps AEG taught them how to build washers properly :-).

Darren - Bosch who indeed!!! (Although we musn't forget that the Bosch dryer is still going strong :-D)

Jon

Post# 133984 , Reply# 11   6/7/2006 at 10:05 (6,526 days old) by vivalalavatrice ()        
ZANUSSI SEMPRE ZANUSSI!

 I've always said it! Zanussi is the best IMHO appliances producers in Europe! Now they are involved in Electrolux company, but the brand is still on. Here Zanussi's best brand is REX "Fatti per essere il numero uno" = Done to be the one.

With Zanussi washers you can get quite good (sometimes best) features and stay low with prices, the same model with a German brand would cost very much more!!!!

You may imagine I say like that because Zanussi is an Italian brand, but I can say you that I would have said the same even if they weren't been Italian too.

In Italy (apart from foreign appliances producers) we have two main appliances producers: MERLONI and ZANUSSI!
MERLONI sells with Ariston and Indesit brands, which are appreciated for their design and ease of using. Very low reliability!Low prices
ZANUSSI sells with Rex and Zoppas brands, which are appreciated for interesting and innovative features, low consumpion, and strongness. Medium-high prices.

Yes, Zanussi DW are not good as other, they often go broken... When we dispose our old Candy DW (in truth we take it into our holiday's home), my mum said a strong NO to a REX Techna which was on that time a top qualiti DW to purchase, but remebering what happend to my aunt's Techna DW we dicided to choose for a Whirlpool... sincerely I would have prefered a Candy again, but it costed too much, and we had to built-in it so the choice was restricted.

HAVE A VERY GOOD AND ENJOYNG WASH WITH YOUR NEW WASHER!
BYE
Diomede

Post# 133986 , Reply# 12   6/7/2006 at 10:26 (6,526 days old) by hoover3060 ()        

Hi Jon

Love the new Zanussi!

What a great console/fascia design.Very simple controls to choose the options you want and what looks like bright lights to confirm the choice you have made.I really love the light on the door!!
Very well thought out design.
The Cottons daily wash sounds a good one as like you say you dont always want one of those common 2 hour washes nowadays and the quick wash can sometimes do a wash to quickly so it sounds just right.

Looking forward to seeing the vids

Mark

Post# 133999 , Reply# 13   6/7/2006 at 10:49 (6,526 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)        
jon

 panthera's profile picture
Best of luck - I suspect you made the right choice. Zanussi seems to be the best combination of Italian ergonomics - the best in Europe, hands down - and decent quality.
If my 7kg LG ever goes, Zanussi is on my short list together with Miele. I wouldn't buy AEG unless it were the same price or cheaper (never happen) than the same class Zanussi 'cause the innards are basically the same, just the design is more logical on the Zanussi machines when you have both hands full and it is the fourth wash of the morning...my AEG dryer makes me follow the steps, in order, the way the engineers intended. Bestimmt nördlich des Weiß-wurst Equators erdacht worden...Oh, sorry...just a nasty comment about what the English like to call Prussian mentality and doing thinks properly.
Do post a video with sound, I am very curious.
Keven

Post# 134022 , Reply# 14   6/7/2006 at 11:55 (6,526 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)        

foraloysius's profile picture
Congratulations Jon, I'm impressed. The Zanussi sure looks a nice machine. I will later read all the details you have written. I love the skip function on these machines, make it more flexible than other electronic machines. I was only wondering why they chose not to have a "cold" on the temperature selection.

Post# 134029 , Reply# 15   6/7/2006 at 12:27 (6,526 days old) by washboy2005 (UK)        

I love it Jon, I am actually surprised how much you can get in a load, shame you didnt get it whilst I was there but gald you 'n Darren had a great time. Anyhooz I'll get to see it in the summer!

Take Care
Dan

Post# 134035 , Reply# 16   6/7/2006 at 12:52 (6,526 days old) by hoovermatic (UK)        

I was going to ask about the Cold Wash option but over the years I have come to the conclusion that only in the hot summer weather when the cold water supply temp goes up, is a cold wash really effective. In the winter, the cold water is so cold I think it renders most detergents useless - please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

I had a US Whirlpool TL for 12 months and during the winter it was useless on cold cycles except for a short period in the year and that was only when the summer brought hot weather. I am a big fan and frequent user of 30 deg washes on all cycles in fact, when I think about it, I don't think I ever turn the temp higher than 50 deg, even on the heaviest soiled wash.

Post# 134044 , Reply# 17   6/7/2006 at 13:36 (6,526 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)        

I have to say I would never use the cold wash option either - I very rarely use 30*C and that's only for new denim so as to wash any excess dyes out. I must admit I am an avid user of the higher temperatures though for the sanitary benefits - although I supposed it defeats the purpose somewhat to wash towels at 60*C then proceed to hang them out on the washing line!

I have to say that this machine is way beyond flexible, yet as many others here have pointed out at the same time it's very simple to use. Idiotproof to - the temperature automatically defaults to 40*C on the cottons and synthetic cycles, and 30 on the delicate and wool cycles - some electronic washers have the default cottons temp at 60 so this Zanussi really is one touch operation for the less educated when it comes to laundry - i.e. my brother and sister :-).

Thanks for all the comments - keep em coming!

Jon

Post# 134048 , Reply# 18   6/7/2006 at 14:00 (6,526 days old) by bearpeter ()        
You can tell when the brands come together!!

 Great Photo's john! I think you are right, I will be interested in moving over to a Zanussi if I can pluck the courage to sell my AEG WD.
Same drum and paddles as my AEG but really interested in the 5 rinse option, hugely more effective jetsystem than on my 2 o'clock " position spray that dribbles down the door and 7kg drum!

Hi to Hoover 3060!
Youre right.... we are just round the corner!!!!

Pete

Post# 134081 , Reply# 19   6/7/2006 at 15:58 (6,526 days old) by maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)        
Jon-

 Interesting machine, thank you for sharing ALL the details.

I hope that you will remain as pleased with it as you are now, and that it runs forever.

What does "Which?" (The UK equivalent of "Consumer Reports" Magazine) say about Zanussi washers in general?


Lawrence/Maytagbear

Post# 134107 , Reply# 20   6/7/2006 at 16:50 (6,526 days old) by sadose ()        
Well Well Well!!!!

 Well I was going to pop a message on here but I have been prompted by Jon to say my piece as well so here goes...!

In my opinion modern Zanussi machines are constructed in a much more methodical and effective fashion than their equivalent plasticky BSH counterparts. I have now flown the nest so I am not in constant contact with the machine as I have my lovely and loud Hoover Nextra to play with. Talking of which is not a bad machine and compares performance wise well with the Zanussi that my mother has, but there is clear evidence of a compromise made in quality.

Jon: I've said this before and I'll say it again...I think you will be pleased with the performance and ruggedness of the Zanussi. Mum has had one problem with hers in 8 months (roughly 1250 washes) with the power cord which was put right in 5 minutes.

The main clincher for buying a Zanussi in the first place for us was it's flexible and very efficient rinsing which I yearned for after owning a Hotpoint Aquarius 1300 (Merloni made) for 9 months which frankly left a lot to be desired, I was grateful the machine started putting holes in laundry, a damn good excuse to part company with it.

All in all I find modern Zanussi machines to be extremely efficient and well made for the price and I now look forward to seeing how long my mother's machine will last doing 6-8 loads a day. Our bosch managed 2 and half years with 14 call outs from the engineer so my comparison will be based on that.

Post# 137477 , Reply# 21   6/23/2006 at 08:58 (6,510 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)        
Serious Capacity lol!!!

 seamusuk's profile picture
You could have one of these- am VERY tempted to invest lol- gr8 for Duvets :)

Seamus

CLICK HERE TO GO TO seamusuk's LINK
Post# 137480 , Reply# 22   6/23/2006 at 09:03 (6,510 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)        
However....

 seamusuk's profile picture
id have to sell my zwf1217w first lol!!!

Post# 137496 , Reply# 23   6/23/2006 at 10:10 (6,510 days old) by newwave1 (Lincoln, United Kingdom)        

newwave1's profile picture
i love insight machines. they have huge drums! i'm still reluctant to get one because of the price!

Darren

Post# 138358 , Reply# 24   6/27/2006 at 21:08 (6,506 days old) by shanonabc ()        

they look like our electrolux washers


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