Thread Number: 13215
Fisher & Paykel Appliances |
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Post# 229215   8/10/2007 at 02:34 (6,102 days old) by buffster ()   |   | |
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I would appreciate feedback on Fisher & Paykel Appliances, especially the washers and dishwashers, from anyone who owns and/or sells them. Thanks. |
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Post# 229318 , Reply# 3   8/10/2007 at 11:53 (6,102 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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buffster, I hesitate to throw up a lengthy post as I imagine most everybody here is tired of hearing me go on and on about F&P, so I'll try to make it short. Please ask if you have any specific questions. I bought a GWL08 washer and DE04 dryer in August 1999. The dryer is a GE, but I have no complaints about it, other than the occasional small item falling into the lint screen when unloading. The washer was unlike anything I'd seen before in a toploader. Clever engineering, automatic water level sensing, variable agitation speed and action, 1000 RPM spin. Next, I got a DD603 DishDrawer in August 2003. Didn't want to give up my KA KUDS22, but finally decided I had to have one after eyeing them for several years. Have enjoyed it very much, the two-drawer design fits my needs. Moved it along when I bought a new house in January 2005. There are reports on Epinions and elsewhere of people having trouble and not liking DishDrawers, don't clean well, don't dry well, difficult to load, etc. They clean fine by me, and drying is fine if one doesn't try to hurry the unloading without giving residual moisture time to evaporate. Loading can be a touch tricky at first, but one learns and adapts soon enough. My only complaint is that the rack pins are too tall for small bowls to fit well so they typically have to go on the side shelves, and lightweight plastic items are often flipped over and left full of water if not anchored. I like that the DD always heats the main wash & final rinse to specific temperatures per the selected cycle, so can work with cold water. Each fill is only about 0.8 gallons, so full heating doesn't extend the cycle time very much. I have a tankless water heater that I keep set at 102°F to 105°F for showering, and I don't have to raise the temp for the DD or bother with purging the water line before running it. In October 2004, I upgraded the washer and dryer to an IWL12 and DEGX1. Took a while to find a set, as they were just trickling into the U.S. at that time. (The GWL08 and DE04 went to my grandmother. She had been using my KA 760 pair, which went to her when I got the GWL08/DE04, and she kept complaining that the KA used too much water even on low level [fills half way] for the few pieces she typically washes. F&Ps fill about 1/4 on the lowest level.) The IWL12 (and newer IWL16) are fantastic agitator toploaders, IMO. Very versatile, many settings and options. The automatic water level and automatic fabric sensing functions are fun to watch. The topload dryer also is a great machine. The reverse tumble feature does help with reducing balling-up of sheets and blankets, the self-scraping lint filter is very convenient, as is the 24-hr wrinkle guard. I've had no trouble or repairs with any of the machines. The GWL08 is now 8 years old. It and the DE04 were soaked in 12" to 14" of water for 8 to 12 hours in November 2004 during a freak flash-flood (and connected to power until we got there to rescue granny), and didn't miss a beat after drying for several days. The DishDrawer is coming up on four years. |
Post# 229405 , Reply# 5   8/10/2007 at 19:21 (6,101 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 229412 , Reply# 6   8/10/2007 at 19:38 (6,101 days old) by buffster ()   |   | |
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Thank you for the feedback and a special thanks to DADoES for your input and the thorough review--very helpful. Mike |
Post# 229413 , Reply# 7   8/10/2007 at 19:38 (6,101 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Wow! doused in water and still working! Thats proof of how durable Fisher & Paykel appliances are! |
Post# 229417 , Reply# 9   8/10/2007 at 19:41 (6,101 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Sorry for double-posting but thanks for being interested in a great company buffster. |
Post# 229419 , Reply# 10   8/10/2007 at 19:42 (6,101 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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And to Mr. tcox6912, if you liked it so much, how's come you sold it? |
Post# 229423 , Reply# 11   8/10/2007 at 19:46 (6,101 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 229426 , Reply# 12   8/10/2007 at 19:52 (6,101 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Oh. But I heard LG washers have major vibration problems. |
Post# 229433 , Reply# 14   8/10/2007 at 20:01 (6,101 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Ooh! Tough luck! The washers and dryers are great but the DishDrawers are not. When will they come out with a plain old non-drawer dishwasher? |
Post# 229472 , Reply# 16   8/10/2007 at 21:17 (6,101 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)   |   | |
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I know someone with a Dishdrawer that was in a house they bought 18 months ago. The first day they has possession of the keys, the lower drawer wouldn't pump out all of it's water. That problem was repaired, then the cover wouldn't close on that unit. The top drawer has worked intermittently well, but has had one repair since moving in. Aside from the ongoing repairs, she has complained that larger items do not fit well in the drawers and even if they can be wedged in, they rarely get fully clean and she has begun pre-rinsing everything "just to be sure." They plan on a kitchen face-lift very soon and the dishdrawers will be at the curb as soon as work starts. Other than on here, I don't know anyone with a washer or dryer - but they must be good enough for Whirlpool to jump on that motor technology for the Oasis/Cabrio/Bravo machines. That says a lot! |
Post# 229549 , Reply# 17   8/11/2007 at 03:15 (6,101 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Makes me wonder if I'm doing something different with my DD than the majority, or if it's a matter of luck. Todd, all F&P agitator toploaders on the US market are the same size far as I know. My 8-years-old GWL08 is the same capacity as my 3-years-old IWL12. F&P offers several capacity choices on the Aus & NZ market, but only one in the US, which is equivalent to the largest over there. |
Post# 229592 , Reply# 20   8/11/2007 at 09:30 (6,101 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 229715 , Reply# 22   8/11/2007 at 21:44 (6,100 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 229734 , Reply# 23   8/11/2007 at 23:26 (6,100 days old) by lightedcontrols ()   |   | |
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...have to be the WORST junk built today, excepting the new line of GE topload washers. Stay away from them.....stay far, far, away! |
Post# 229782 , Reply# 24   8/12/2007 at 07:24 (6,100 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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They are not. According to Fixitnow.com,"Everything breaks, it's only a matter of time and frequency." This means that the older your appliance and the more you use it, yhe sooner it will break. |
Post# 229818 , Reply# 25   8/12/2007 at 10:04 (6,100 days old) by lightedcontrols ()   |   | |
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they are. |
Post# 229914 , Reply# 27   8/12/2007 at 14:51 (6,100 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)   |   | |
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There seems to be a bit of confusion in this thread. 1. IIRC there is no link between F&P and GE than the frontload dryer that is made by a company that also builds dryers for GE. 2. F&P sell single dish drawers, have a look at their website. CLICK HERE TO GO TO foraloysius's LINK |
Post# 229916 , Reply# 28   8/12/2007 at 14:55 (6,100 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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So how come GE doesn't have a Top-Load design dryer like F&P? |
Post# 229929 , Reply# 29   8/12/2007 at 15:58 (6,100 days old) by rinso (Meridian Idaho)   |   | |
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I did know that F&P had a single drawer dishwasher offering, but what I meant is a tall drawer model with a top and bottom rack. |
Post# 229934 , Reply# 30   8/12/2007 at 16:22 (6,100 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)   |   | |
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Glenn (or anyone else with a F & P): I copied these instructions for reusing wash water with an F&P. Am I reading this wrong or do they suggest you pull sopping wet clothing out of the full tub of water and replace it with another load. Or has the water spun out and gone into a laundry tub ala US machines with suds-saver? |
Post# 229939 , Reply# 32   8/12/2007 at 16:47 (6,100 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Actually, I also take back an earlier post about the DishDrawers being crap. They are great, when they work. |
Post# 229970 , Reply# 33   8/12/2007 at 18:11 (6,099 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 229972 , Reply# 34   8/12/2007 at 18:15 (6,099 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Eugene, you are correct on the suggested procedure being completely manual. There's no formal sudsaver function. The Soak option adds a two-hr soak after the main wash agitation, which allows time for the user to get to the machine before the water drains. Water conservation is at a much more crisis level in NZ and Aus than in the U.S. so I suppose it isn't unreasonable for people there to do this, running one's automatic in a sort of twin-tub fashion. The deep rinse water can be reused for washing the next load (cold) by selecting the drip-dry option which pauses after rinse agitation, remove the clothes, reset for another wash cycle. Then when it's done, put the first load back in for a spin, if you haven't already hung them for drip-drying. I used the shower-rinse option (AAA qualified, there's another selection for AAAA-level) on a load of towels/mixed cottons yesterday. Used Wisk HE (1-1/3 capsful), which has a fairly strong scent. It ran three shower/saturation-spin rinses, and there was very little detergent scent remaining. I suppose a better test would be with Foca, Roma, or Ariel. |
Post# 229975 , Reply# 35   8/12/2007 at 18:28 (6,099 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)   |   | |
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I tried a manual shower/saturation rinse on my TL Frigidaire today with a medium-sized load of bath towels and it really seemed to work well. Since the tub spins for the first minute of the rinse fill, it totally saturates the clothes. Then I spun them and repeated the process twice. I'll have to figure out how much water I'm using on each shower rinse and compare it to a deep rinse. What's the protocol for rinsing to get the AAAA rating, Glenn? Thanks for all your patience in answering these questions. There is an F&P dealer within 35 miles of me and I'm really getting tempted...They're such a technologically advanced TL'er. And you can still get one with a traditional agitator. I'm not ready for an impeller machine. |
Post# 229984 , Reply# 36   8/12/2007 at 19:05 (6,099 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Haven't yet tried the AAAA rinsing. Next opportunity ... have load of jeans coming soon. Can't use softener with shower rinsing, but could run a follow-up deep rinse for that. Seems like the AAA choice is different on the IWL12 than shower rinse on the GWL08. 08 I recall the pump continued running during the showering, at least some of the time. 12 it shuts off except during the drain/spin sequences. |
Post# 229994 , Reply# 37   8/12/2007 at 19:39 (6,099 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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DADoeS, I changed my opinion on the DishDrawers becuse they are great when they work. The guy who said he saw that thing on The Today Show kind of biassed me. |
Post# 230164 , Reply# 38   8/13/2007 at 09:14 (6,099 days old) by irishwashguy (Salem,Oregon.............A Capital City)   |   | |
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The F and P Dish D are good when they work. I had one for a while and got rid of it after about three months. The concept is nice, and very outside the box.I put the Ghetto Phabulous Hotpoint back in my kitchen, and have had no issues with it at all. I do not use it that much, the Fisher and Paykel had problems from the get go. I got a refund from my store thank you Basco, they have told me they get alot of them back, and really do not push them at all. i was told not to rinse my dishes, to no avail, it did not do a good job at all. i had the leaking thing, and the computer problem thing with in the first month. I only wash dishes about three times a week, and that is a full load of them. That is why i thought that it would be good to have one of these. I think that i am inclined to stick with my KitchenAid, and well the cheap Hotpoint. The cheap diswasher even did better than the F and P, and for a great price, it came with my house. i woudl stay away from their producs. As far as the full size dishwasher in the US, they do not sell one here, just the Dish Drawers. Congrads on the Miele. I love their appliances. Before I move into my new house, I am remodeling the kitchen with all of their appliances, including the new fridge that is coming out very shortly. :)
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Post# 230447 , Reply# 40   8/14/2007 at 10:03 (6,098 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Glad to hear that! Fisher & Paykel is a great company. |
Post# 231079 , Reply# 42   8/17/2007 at 01:34 (6,095 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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You do have a choice .. of getting some other brand of traditional front-opening dishwasher that takes a custom panel! Requires more space, but wouldn't having clean glasses be worth that trade-off? Or, KitchenAid claims they're changing to a non-F&P drawer design ... but no date of release announced ... or info on custom-panel capability or whether there'll be singles or only doubles. |
Post# 231214 , Reply# 43   8/17/2007 at 19:16 (6,094 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 231781 , Reply# 45   8/20/2007 at 14:33 (6,092 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Eugene, I ran that load of jeans this afternoon, with rinsing set at the "Eco AAAA" option. It does eight sprays total. RINSE 1 PHASE -- 300 RPM, 15-second spray 670 RPM spin-off 300 RPM, one 8-second spray & three 6-second sprays, spaced 20 seconds apart 670 RPM spin-off coast to a stop, unlock/relock lid RINSE 2 PHASE -- 300 RPM, 15-second spray 670 RPM spin-off 300 RPM, two-7 second sprays, spaced 20 seconds apart 670 RPM spin-off coast to a stop, unlock/relock lid FINAL SPIN PHASE -- Interestingly, dunno why, maximum speed apparently is restricted to 670 RPM instead of 1010 RPM. I ran the final spin phase a 2nd time with ECO AAAA selected, and again 670 RPM max. The Eco-AAA runs three sprays total, but they're much longer and at a slower 23 RPM, more of a saturation-spray than a spin-spray. I'd have to run another load to note the exact sequence. |
Post# 231798 , Reply# 46   8/20/2007 at 16:04 (6,092 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)   |   | |
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Thanks, Glenn; that's very interesting. I'm also surprised they don't slow the spin down to 23 rpm as with the Eco-AAA rinse. It would certainly saturate the clothing better. And no 1010 spin speed on that, either? I could see the AAAA rinse working well with smallish loads. I've taken to doing AAA-type rinses on small loads with the Frigi TL'er. It works! |
Post# 231875 , Reply# 47   8/20/2007 at 22:53 (6,091 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Eco-AAA does run 1010 RPM final spin far as I recall. Ran load of sheets with it this afternoon, but was occupied elsewhere, didn't catch the details. :-( Will try again next opportunity. Be interesting to see if either Eco-rinse option is allowed, and to what effect, with Creasables, which normally does two deep rinses and cuts the final spin to 300 RPM.
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Post# 231992 , Reply# 48   8/21/2007 at 14:10 (6,091 days old) by jaxsunst ()   |   | |
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Was in Lowe's today and saw an AquaSmart for the first time. One question, where is the bleach dispenser? |
Post# 231996 , Reply# 50   8/21/2007 at 15:06 (6,091 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)   |   | |
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As technologically advanced as F&P washers are, I think the lack of a bleach dispenser is their way of telling the consumer not to use bleach. Glenn--TWO deep rinses for the perm/press cycle? Yeow. Is there a cool-down on top of that? That's a lot of water for one cycle. I have to admit I had little interest in F&P washers til I saw one at a friend's in Alexandria a few weeks ago. Didn't get to play with it much, but they are definitely high-tech machines. They're the polar opposite of my ultra low-tech FrigiLux toploader. |
Post# 232037 , Reply# 52   8/21/2007 at 19:21 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Well here are the pages for all the applinances mentioned here on the Lowe's website as well as thier pictures. First up is the IWL16 which is the Intuitive Eco Washer. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |
Post# 232038 , Reply# 53   8/21/2007 at 19:23 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Next, the newest washer, the WL26CW1 AquaSmart. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |
Post# 232039 , Reply# 54   8/21/2007 at 19:25 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Here is the GWL15 EcoSmart. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |
Post# 232040 , Reply# 55   8/21/2007 at 19:27 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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Now for the dryers. Here is the DEIX2 Intuitive. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |
Post# 232041 , Reply# 56   8/21/2007 at 19:29 (6,090 days old) by dadoes (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 232042 , Reply# 57   8/21/2007 at 19:30 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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The DE27CW1 AeroSmart. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |
Post# 232045 , Reply# 58   8/21/2007 at 19:37 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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And finally, The DEGX2. The SmartLoad. Sorry, no link to its page yet. |
Post# 232049 , Reply# 59   8/21/2007 at 19:45 (6,090 days old) by funguy10 ()   |   | |
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O.K. Here's the link to it's page. CLICK HERE TO GO TO funguy10's LINK |