Thread Number: 34562
Our New Laundry and Dishwasher Appliances - U.S Frigidaire and Aus Dishlex |
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Post# 518403   5/17/2011 at 01:26 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Hi Guys
Well, since moving into my current residence with 3 other people, we have had our fair share of appliance woes. The first came when our 3 month old Whirlpool dishwasher, gave up the ghost. It was never a great machine to start with. The only cycle that would successfully wash anything properly was the Intensive cycle which took 2.35 hours. Not ideal in a house where dishes accumulate faster than a cat can scratch. Then finally about a month ago it stopped taking in the right amount of water to wash with, the solenoid would click off after a short time taking in water, as a result, the water would not heat and the wash spray arms would not rotate at a proper speed. We tried fixing it in a few ways but in the end I caved in and bought a brand new Dishlex D102. Made by Electrolux in Europe, it is a thousand times better than the Chinese Whirlpool which only stayed on the market for about 5 months before being discontinued, the amount of bad reviews and complaints might have been enough to seal their fate. The Dishlex is a great sturdy machine, takes half the time of the old one and actually washes and dries the dishes properly, something the old one was p*ss poor at. So impressed with it. It is a simple basic model, one dial and one button control. Our other appliance woe was the capacity of my Indesit W102. Much as this is a fantastic machine, i cannot fault its operation one bit, it just wasn't big enough to cope with our many loads of washing in the week. We had to seperate heavy from light in order for the balance sensor to be happy throughout the wash. We ended up doing approx 10 loads a week for four people. So off i went around Ebay and appliance stores trying to find a reasonably priced sturdy large capacity machine. Then, a week ago on Ebay I found a U.S made front loading Frigidaire machine. 8KG capacity, built like a tank, relatively short cycles and simple operation and best of all.......a half hour drive from me. lol So i put a bid in and won the machine, it got delivered on sunday and after a few teething issues with hoses, we got the machine installed in place. So far, its been fantastic, being able to wash all the household towels in one load instead of three is just so much quicker and water efficient. Anyway, here are some pictures for you... The OLD utility room... |
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Post# 518404 , Reply# 1   5/17/2011 at 01:33 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518405 , Reply# 2   5/17/2011 at 01:35 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518407 , Reply# 3   5/17/2011 at 01:40 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Control Dial
17 Min Wash on the Heavy Cycle 12 mins on the Normal Cycle 9 mins on the Perm Press Cycle 6 Mins on the Light Wash. Automatic CoolDown/Suds Flush before first spin. 11 Mins on the Knit and Delicate wash but with one less rinse and spin and a slower final spin, also gentler tumbling. The beauty about it being mechanical is that you can stop and go back to the stop for extra wash if you feel its not enough :-) have not needed to so far :-) |
Post# 518409 , Reply# 4   5/17/2011 at 01:43 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518410 , Reply# 5   5/17/2011 at 01:47 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Soap Drawer
I love the safety latch on this drawer. You have to move a latch across as you open it for it to open fully. Also if you open the soap drawer while the machine is in the wash cycle it will stop the machine and unlock the door. This is to avoid children getting their hands into the liquid bleach compartment i believe. The fabric softener dispenser cannot handle gluggy softeners i have discovered and not quite a full dose will fit either. |
Post# 518411 , Reply# 6   5/17/2011 at 01:49 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518412 , Reply# 7   5/17/2011 at 01:56 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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The converter that switches this machine from U.S voltage to Australian voltage.
Has to be unplugged after each use otherwise it gets HOT! and also buzzes slightly... We also had to get U.S thread pipes from an appliance parts dealer because we tried AUstralian pipes and the threads are different, resulting in a slightly wet utility floor which probably needed mopping anyway......ahem. |
Post# 518413 , Reply# 8   5/17/2011 at 02:00 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518414 , Reply# 9   5/17/2011 at 02:08 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518415 , Reply# 10   5/17/2011 at 02:09 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518416 , Reply# 11   5/17/2011 at 02:11 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518422 , Reply# 12   5/17/2011 at 05:21 (4,949 days old) by twinniefan (Sydney Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518431 , Reply# 13   5/17/2011 at 06:17 (4,949 days old) by wilkinsservis (Melbourne Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518443 , Reply# 14   5/17/2011 at 07:11 (4,949 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Post# 518469 , Reply# 15   5/17/2011 at 09:30 (4,949 days old) by aegokocarat (United Kingdom)   |   | |
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your dishlex is my zanussi zdf131 in Aussie clothes! Tom |
Post# 518582 , Reply# 19   5/17/2011 at 16:38 (4,948 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea))   |   | |
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I've got a 1998 Gallery, still absolutely pleased with it 13yr later. Keep a rag towel on top to dry out the boot and dispenser cavity, and shake the dispense drawer. Left wet they will all mildew. Once that stuff takes root it's the very devil to get rid of.
I also kept a coffee can on a shelf to dilute softener. I think the instructions said to dilute. |
Post# 518610 , Reply# 21   5/17/2011 at 18:15 (4,948 days old) by golittlesport (California)   |   | |
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Well, the 3.1 Frigidaire I bought in about 1998 and later gave to my son gave up the ghost late last year. His girlfriend loved it and will only use a front loader now. She said agitator machines ruin her clothes. He bought a very similar 3.1 Kenmore model at Sears outlet to replace it.
That machine gave many years of great service. Definitely got my money's worth out of it. Never had a repair until it died of bearing failure. Actually, it was still working...just roared during spin. I told my son it was not worth fixing. |
Post# 518613 , Reply# 22   5/17/2011 at 18:27 (4,948 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 518616 , Reply# 23   5/17/2011 at 18:37 (4,948 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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I am thinking this machine has some bearing failure, it makes a low growl during tumbling and a loud roar during spin, much louder than i would have expected but then i don't know.
I wonder how hard it would be to get bearings over here for this machine. Perhaps Electrolux can order them in, since Frigidaire is made by them... will post a video soon to illustrate. |
Post# 518697 , Reply# 26   5/18/2011 at 00:26 (4,948 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea))   |   | |
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Post# 518811 , Reply# 27   5/18/2011 at 12:00 (4,948 days old) by PassatDoc (Orange County, California)   |   | |
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Rich, sorry to hear of the passing of the legendary Frigidaire. It had a good life for thirteen years. Had I known, I would have worn black to the funeral. ;) |
Post# 519266 , Reply# 28   5/20/2011 at 08:07 (4,946 days old) by mattywashboy (Perth, Western Australia)   |   | |
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Here is a video of the machine
There are more on my Youtube site (Mattie17) If someone could offer me advice on the noise it makes, wether it be bearings or motor that would be awesome. Enjoy. Matt CLICK HERE TO GO TO mattywashboy's LINK |
Post# 519275 , Reply# 29   5/20/2011 at 08:52 (4,946 days old) by gmmcnair (Portland, OR)   |   | |
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I really like the dishwasher....I tend to go for the simpler designs after having problems with TOL appliances.
My neighbor and friend has that same (I think) Frigidaire washer. Hers doesn't make noise like the ones I heard in your video. Best of luck getting it ironed out. For what it's worth, hers has been very reliable...now that her daughter got married. She never checked pockets before loading and they were forever retrieving coins out of the pump. |
Post# 519304 , Reply# 32   5/20/2011 at 12:25 (4,946 days old) by paulc (Edinburgh, Scotland)   |   | |
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Post# 519377 , Reply# 33   5/20/2011 at 19:09 (4,945 days old) by ronhic (Canberra, Australia)   |   | |
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