After one year . . . Lots of complaints for the Kenmore HE3 Washer
Written: May 28 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Cleaning: |
 |
|
| Style: |
|
|
|
Pros: Style, large capacity, lots of cycle options
Cons: Doesn't get clothes as clean as I expected
The Bottom Line: An expensive washing machine that doesn't do as good a job as my prior 20 year old washing machine.
|
|
|
| modernmarvel's Full Review: Kenmore HE3 Front Load Washer |
I used to have one of those ancient washing machines that loaded from the top and lasts forever . . . until it finally went kaput last year. Given that I have 3 kids, I went over to Sears in a hurry to replace the washing machine and, without much research, settled on this model based on the sales person's advice.
THE WASHER
This is one of those fancy front load models with the same styling you will see on many other higher end models. Of course, this one isn't cheap either. I paid around $900 for mine after rebates.
This model is a front loader. You open the circular door and you can cram a surprising amount of laundry inside. This washing machine easily holds about one and a half times more than my old washing machine. Plus, this model allows you to mix fabrics. In my old machine, I couldn't mix towels with clothing since the towels were much heavier wet than the closing and if the machine went out of balance, it would "walk" across the basement. This front loader doesn't have balance issues since it spins on its side. It does make my life easier when I don't have to worry about how to mix the clothes in my load.
Once you have all the clothes inside, you close the door. You have to make sure no strings or straps block the seal or you can get a leak.
After that, you have to select the cycle. There are lots of options for heavy dirt or water temperature or delicates. I think the delicate feature is pretty good. The rest of the cycles don't really seem to impact how well the clothes are cleaned.
The operation of the washing machine is very quiet. However, my washing machine is in the basement so it doesn't really matter to me whether or not it makes a lot of noise.
Also, once the machine starts, the door to it locks. There is no way to open it mid-cycle. This means if you make a mistake and want to add something or take something out, you can't. It doesn't come up often, but I find this feature also to be annoying when I come across a stray sock or something I dropped on the way to the laundry room.
THE COMPLAINTS
My biggest complaint about this washing machine is that it doesn't allow for smaller loads. If you don't fill it, there is no way to select a function that tells the machine to use less water. I find this very wasteful and inconvenient. Sometimes I have small loads or certain things I want to wash separately and I have to use as much water as I would on a full load.
The other complaint I have about this washer is that it does a bad job of rinsing the soap out of my clothing even on the heavy soiled settings. I would expect most clothes would be washed on the "normal" setting, however when I do that, and use the amount of detergent I would have used in my old washing machine, my clothes end up with suds all over them at the end of the cycle and I have to wash them again. This is also pretty wasteful.
I also find that my clothes do not get as clean as they did with my prior washing machine. This is true despite washing different size loads and using many different detergents and settings. It simply does not get my clothes as clean as I would expect from a washing machine that costs $900.
The front of the machine has a timer that tells you how much time a load should take. An average wash should take about 45 minutes. The timer does say 45 minutes but, the wash actually takes over an hour sometimes. The 45 minute timer counts down but the washing machine's minute is longer than a minute in the real world. Thus, the timer feature is pretty much useless since it is so inaccurate. It also takes over an hour to do an inadequate job washing an average load which is also too long and much longer than my old washing machine.
This washing machine is supposed to use less energy. I didn't see any difference on my water bill or my electric bill.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I think this washing machine sucks. My prior washing machine was 20 years old and it did a much better job at washing clothes than this one. It is definitely not worth the money and I would recommend you buy something else.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 900
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
modernmarvel
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: Basking in the Sun
Reviews written: 504
Trusted by: 342 members
About Me:
Can anyone recommend a western family dude ranch for a vacation this summer?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.