Thread Number: 68084  /  Tag: Modern Automatic Washers
Speed Queen / Huebsch - 5 year verdict 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 907985   11/22/2016 at 04:02 (2,705 days old) by qualin (Canada)        

Long story short, when I bought these machines, Whirlpool owned the "Speed Queen" trademark in Canada. Since Alliance couldn't that brand in Canada, they used the brand name, "Huebsch" instead, which nobody can really pronounce anyway. (It is pronounced "Hib-sch")

So, it's been five years since I originally purchased a Huebsch AFN50R and matching dryer, whose model number escapes me, but it was basically the TOL gas dryer and the white rear-control (A rarity these days) front loading machine.

Now, don't get me wrong, these machines are VERY different than the ones that you can buy today. When Alliance designed these machines, they basically took their commercial front loaders and slapped a nice looking control panel onto them. The newer Speed Queen machines are much more sophisticated and are considerably more "consumer friendly", with features like a balancing ring, which my machine didn't have.

I've only experienced one failure over the time I've owned them and that was that the automatic drying cycles stopped working properly on the dryer, leading to infinite drying times. The manual drying cycle still worked. This was after 2 years of ownership. The tech apparently had seen this issue before and knew how to quickly resolve it. He was able to fix the issue in about 15 minutes, which surprised me immensely! He also fixed it at no charge and I was not billed for an on-site visit.

A lot of the complaints, bugs and issues that bothered me about my existing machines are completely irrelevant because Alliance has addressed a lot of the problems which that old equipment had.

A few points to note:

- The front loader is considerably easier on clothing than anything I've ever washed in a conventional top loader. Compared to the two previous washer/dryer sets I've owned, I've never had any clothing ripped apart, torn or wrecked by the machine.

- With some loads, when the washer goes into spin cycle, we can hear it throughout the entire house. I'm not sure how much better the new machines are with this.

- I honestly dislike the clunky, crunchy mechanical control of the dryer. It feels like it belongs in the 1970's. I wish they had used an electronic control to match that of the washer. Kind of a moot point now that all the dryers use electronic control.

- I don't honestly find that the thermostat-based moisture sensing was an issue with the dryer. The only problem is that by setting the automatic cycle to "Max", it will certainly overdry clothing, even if it is 12 pairs of denim jeans.

- The cycle selections are perfect. We've never needed anything more than "Regular" and "Delicate/Bulky" cycles. We seldom use the permanent press cycle and the extra rinse switch is perfect for when we decide to use Fabric softener, since we find that there's always too much fragrance with the standard dosage.

Overall, we're quite happy with our set. It does a great job with cleaning our clothing and I would certainly buy another set given the chance.

The biggest thing I think I dislike about the new models in comparison to the older models I already own:
- The washer has those plastic paddles instead of the formed steel paddles my machine has. I'm sure this helps wash performance though.
- Canadian machines have these arcane strange symbols instead of words on the buttons. This seems to be a Canadian tradition I guess.
- BRIGHT BLUE LED'S EVERYWHERE.. Yikes.. Dimmer green ones would been better, like the ones on my washer.
- No rear control front load models?

Outside of that, for those who are wondering of Speed Queen is a good buy, it certainly is. In Canada, I paid $1900 for the washer and about $850 for the dryer. Well worth every penny IMO.

One thing to note, I thought I might want to mention, now that my machines are now officially out of warranty, that I did adjust the water level on the washer, by adjusting the two screws on the pressure sensor two full turns as per the posts on this forum. This dramatically improved the rinsing performance of the machine dramatically, leaving nearly no soap smell on the clothing afterwards. We compensate for the higher water level by just using more soap, the machine doesn't mind. I love how we can use cheaper Non-HE detergent without any problems.

All of these years, we've just been putting normal Tide in the machine, using half a scoop of whatever comes included in the box. We don't have any issues with soap residue on our clothing or oversudsing issues.

I would certainly buy this brand again. My biggest regret is that I didn't spend the extra money to buy the "Imperial" models, which basically look just like commercial laundromat machines, but with nice looking dials on them. The reason why I didn't buy them is that they were about $1000 more than the rear-control white machines.




Post# 907989 , Reply# 1   11/22/2016 at 06:05 (2,705 days old) by Easyspindry (Winston-Salem, NC)        
Thank you for your . . .

. . . detailed report on the "Speed Queen" washing and dryer. It was good reading.

I came home from the Beltsville Wash-In with a new SQ front load and am loving it. Sitting there watching it perform is better than television today. It is quiet and does exactly what it's supposed to do.

I did not get the dryer, although that may be in the works at some point. My 10 year old gas fired F&P just keeps on going.

I'm delighted you're pleased with your Huebsch pair. And thanks for the correct pronunciation.

Jerry Gay

Post# 908063 , Reply# 2   11/22/2016 at 14:15 (2,705 days old) by marky_mark (From Liverpool. Now living in Palm Springs and Dublin)        

marky_mark's profile picture

Really interesting reading for sure!  A couple of things that I was thinking about while reading this:

 

As for the dryer's thermostatic auto dry, I was thinking that when drying a single pair of jeans you would set the control closer to "more dry" whereas when drying 12 pairs you would set it to "less dry".  Sounds kind of counterintuitive but I believe it's because the thermostat will be satisfied too quickly when drying a small load.

 

As for the extra rinse, what you've said makes it sound as though the extra rinse is added AFTER the fabric softener rinse.  Am I interpreting that correctly?   With all the front loaders I've ever seen, the softener is always added to the final rinse regardless of how many rinses are performed.

 

I appreciate that you have increased the water level.  Does the washer use the same water level for both washing and rinsing?  I have only used a Speed Queen FL once.  It was in a hotel in Hawaii last year.  The wash was extremely short (about 10 minutes) followed by two rinses.  Wash and rinses were at low water level.  Results were just about acceptable but nothing special.  Of course your machine can no doubt wash for longer to give good results.
Post# 908313 , Reply# 3   11/24/2016 at 01:32 (2,703 days old) by qualin (Canada)        

Marky Mark:

To answer your questions...

The problem only seems to be when the "Max Dry" setting is used. It seems to overdry everything, regardless of the load. :-) I'm not sure what I'd have to have in that dryer to need to use that setting though.

To the best of my knowledge, judging from how I've seen and heard this machine operate, I believe that the fabric softener is added on the first final rinse. I believe that because I can hear water flowing through the dispenser cup and when I do select an extra rinse, I can certainly tell there is less fabric softener smell on the clothing. I'm honestly not sure if the new machines do this as well.

To answer your third question, this machine only has one pressure switch, which sets the water level for both washing and rinsing. This particular machine on a normal cycle spends about 25 minutes washing the clothing, then each rinse is about 3 minutes long each, for a full cycle length of 40 minutes.. which, when I think about it, is pretty quick for a front loader.

Right now, there isn't any threads on this forum about raising water levels on the new SQ machines, I'm not sure if they use a different type of pressure switch now or if they use an electronic one instead.

An LG washer I used in a hotel once took 1 hour 50 minutes for a cycle... and that was with normal modifiers. (Warm Wash, Normal Soil, High Speed Spin.)

Post# 908323 , Reply# 4   11/24/2016 at 06:09 (2,703 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA)        
My SQ

 mrb627's profile picture
Flushes the softener in the last rinse.

Malcolm

Post# 908404 , Reply# 5   11/25/2016 at 03:18 (2,702 days old) by qualin (Canada)        

I guess all these years, I never thought to check the dispenser drawer while the machine was set for using an extra rinse. Now I'm curious..


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