The old Kenmore had lasted sixteen years, and for all I know it might last another sixteen - I won't be around for it, though, since the buyers of the great (formerly) white elephant on the edge of the prairie wanted our old "washeen," and so it stayed alongside the dryer in the basement. All of which meant that the new laundry room in Houston stood empty, waiting for a new set. We did the research thing, compiled our list of desired features, and watched the store ads. It was going to be a front-loader, big enough to wash the comforters that the dogs keep getting dirty, and easy on water and electricity (the
per KWH hour rates in America's "energy capital" are astonishingly high, thanks to Texas having deregulated years ago).
Consumer Reports likes LG, The Great Outdoors was having a sale, and we had an extra couple thousand burning a hole in our pockets (trust me, the subject of a Caribbean cruise instead of laundry
did come up). We ended up with an
LG WM2455H front-loader and a matching
DLG5966 gas dryer, which now occupy the entire back wall of the laundry room.
We'd wanted a full-featured washer that was both large and efficient; that's what we got. Several months into our "relationship," it's chugging along just fine. Here's what sold us - and might sell you - on the
WM2455H:
Capacity: it's one of the largest machines in the industry at 4.2 ft³; big enough to wash a king-size comforter (and get it clean). We regularly wash queen- and king-sized bedding in it with no space problems, and they come out nice and clean.
Stainless-steel tub: made of the toughest material available for washing-machine tubs to resist zippers and buttons and the occasional forgotten coin, the machine's tub is guaranteed against rust for the lifetime of the machine. It has a TilTub feature - it rocks about 10° to allow slightly easier access to clothes in the back - that's less useful than the advertising might suggest.
LoDecibel® operation: very quiet - in the spin cycle, you can't hear it outside the laundry room; a radical change from the pounding of a conventional washer while it spins. With an automatic load balancing feature, the washing machine isn't going to walk around the room, either.
High-speed spin: adjustable up to 1200 RPM, a high-speed spin cycle extracts more water, thereby reducing drying time.
Energy Efficient: one of the lowest energy costs in the business; the
LG WM2455H tests out at 180 KWH/year on the Energy Guide tests; within a range of 113 to 680 KWH/year. Definitely Energy Star rated.
Intelligent Fabric Care: senses the amount of soil in the wash water to control length of wash cycle; automatically senses size of load and adjusts water level to manage water use.
Roller Jets: the horizontally-oriented tub has no central agitator; instead, it has rollers - relatively small protrusions from the tub wall. Integrated water jets in the rollers manage water to keep the clothing from having to slosh around in a "puddle."
The
controls are electronic, soft-touch buttons with a master selector dial to choose from among nine available pre-programmed cycles, including
•
Bulky, for comforters and other large items
•
Sanitary, which heats the water to 158°F for washing diapers and other items that may harbor bacteria
•
Permanent Press, with optimum wash and rinse temperatures for perma-press fabrics
•
Baby Wear, similar to the sanitary setting but for lightly-soiled garments
•
Delicates, for ummm... delicate stuff, like light-weight synthetic and/or lacy fabrics
•
Cotton/Normal, for linens, jeans, and other non-permanent press garments
•
Hand Wash/Wool, short agitation and very low-speed spin for those garments that you normally wash in the sink with Woolite®
•
Speed Wash, for small and lightly soiled loads, it runs a short cycle with high wash temperature and high-speed spin cycle
•
Drain+Spin, for when you have wet fabrics and want to extract the water; just runs a high-speed spin cycle and drains off the water. You can also activate this cycle in the middle of a program to empty the tub in case of emergency.
The operator can override the defaults for any pre-programmed cycle with a set of three
additional control buttons to adjust
•
Soil level, with five choices from light to heavy
•
Spin Speed, with five choices from no spin to extra high speed, a range from 400 to 1200 RPM
•
Water Temperature, with five wash/rinse combination choices from cold/cold to extra hot/cold
And add some
further control with
•
Pre-wash, a sixteen-minute wash cycle and extra spin
•
Extra rinse, in case someone in the house is sensitive to soap residue
•
Stain cycle, adds both extra was time and an extra rinse cycle for heavily stained fabrics
•
Water Plus adds extra water to the wash and rinse cycles for bulky or absorbent items
Other features include such niceties as
• child lock
• transparent door window
• automatic locking door
• delay setting of up to 19 hours
• tub-clean cycle to remove residue
• end-of-cycle chimes
• besides white, available in pearl gray or titanium (colors are approximately $100 extra)
Fully featured, indeed! The WM2455H is an attractive, modern-looking front-loader with a conveniently-located soft-touch control panel at the upper right corner of the face. The glass door window has a chrome surround, and the control panel features lighted chrome-look buttons and a bright chrome selector dial; dual LED displays in yellow and red complete the panel. Detergent, softener, and bleach are introduced to the tub automatically from a bank of dispensers within a drawer in the upper left-hand corner of the front panel; there are two compartments for soap to allow for pre-wash cycles.
The washer can be used side-by-side with a matching 27-inch dryer such as the
DLG5966 (gas) or
DLE5966 (electric), or the two can be stacked by using an optional stacking kit. When stacked, the two machines are approximately 78" tall, which places the control panel on the top unit (the dryer) above eye level for most people. When used side-by-side, the two can be mounted on the optional pedestals to raise the doors about 14 inches. At about $200 they're pricey, but consider that loading and unloading laundry from this front-loader can mean some serious stooping.
Several design features add to the efficiency of the washer. After a cycle is set and the START button pushed, the door locks and the tub spins a couple of times in each direction. This is the load-size sensor. When completed, the load size displays graphically in the status panel. At that point, we pause the cycle and add only what detergent and softener are necessary for the cycle - not only does the design save water and electricity, but load sensor technology reduces our use of laundry products and also the amount of residue in the fabric.
We've had excellent results from our WM2455H for washing loads covering a broad spectrum of cycles and sizes, from large and bulky comforters to small loads of white cottons. Fabrics come out clean and bright (we're using the HE version of the same laundry detergent we've used for years) regardless of load size, and come out of the washer without the soap residues we've experienced in the past. Without a central agitator, loads don't come out as tangled as we were used to with the old Kenmore, though they're still tangled. Unloading is sometimes trying; it's a good idea to either put a laundry basket under the door or make certain the floor is very clean...
Our experience with the
LG WM2455H is an unqualified success, and both of us recommend it highly.
See our matching LG DLG5966 gas dryer.
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