Can handle large loads, a good range of programmes
Disadvantages:
Unreliable, and its part of the Hoover Six Series
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
After using and trusting Hoover for a number of years, I thought this machine would be good quality as I had had in the past, I was wrong. I didn't actually know that the Hoover Six Series was the worst line Hoover had ever produced, until a friend with an even greater knowledge of appliances than me told me about them.
Overall Appearance ================ This Hoover Washer Dryer is a pleasant to look at machine, it has a nicely designed control panel, and a largish loading door (although the spring on the dispenser handle flap is prone to falling out and/or rusting, also the deep blue plexiglass cover that goes over the door glass to prevent little ones burning their hands on it during hot washes and drying stages is prone to falling off and the clips snapping on it, in the end I gave up and left it off, besides its better without it as I get to see the action.
The Control Panel as mentioned above is nicely designed to the left is the dispenser, further to the right there are 6 buttons in two rows and then two dials,
The Buttons are: On/Off (surprisingly enough turns the machine on and off)
Economy (gives a wash at the incoming water temperature for lightly soiled laundry)
Rinse Hold (stops the machine from draining the water from the final rinse, to prevent creasing and musty smells forming on your washing if you cant unload straight away, although Rinse hold only works on the woollens programmes which is pretty daft if you ask me)
Door (surprisingly springs the door open)
Slow Spin (reduces the spin speed on cotton programmes from 1100 to 550, I am unsure of what speed it reduces the synthetics and woollens spin speeds too though sorry)
Extra Rinse (adds an extra rinse to the cotton washes only, yet again pretty daft)
The Dials; Programmer: COTTONS
1) Whites 90c 2) Coloureds Fast 60c 3) Coloureds Fast 50c 4) Coloureds non-Fast 40c Cotton rinses (3 as standard, 4 if you select extra rinse) Final fast spin at 1100rpm can be reduced to 550rpm High Heat tumble dry (if no drying time is selected the machine just tumbles back and forth for a few minutes and acts as an anti crease)
SYNTHETICS
5) Mixed Fabrics 60c 6) Coloureds 50c 7) Acrylics 40c 8) Delicates 30c (why Hoover decided to put a delicate wash in the synthetics section is beyond me) Synthetics rinses (3 rinses not variable) Final slow spin at 550 rpm (too slow for synthetics if you ask me) Low Heat tumble dry (if no drying time is selected the machine just tumbles back and forth for a few minutes and acts as an anti crease)
QUICK PROGRAMME Q) 32 Minute wash at 50c (this is stupid as most laundry requiring a quick refresh cant be washed at 50c, 30c or 40c would be much better) Single Rinse (again very stupid laundry needs at least two rinses, so obviously this programme does not take fabric conditioner) Final Short Spin at around 800rpm
The Performance ============== As this washer is only B rated for cleaning efficiency, I wasn't expecting much in the cleaning department, however I was pleasantly surprised; the washer managed to get a typical grubby family load white again albeit with a bit of help from Sainsburys Megaperls Detergent (there's another review LOL)
Any how I loaded the drum with the average family whites IR t-shirts socks, undies and stuff, set it to Cottons 60c with Extra rinse selected added quarter of a scoop of Sainsburys Colour care Megaperls and off we go.
The Wash ======== Once the desired water level has been reached the load tumbles this way then that tumbles last around 8 seconds with about 5 second pauses, the washing machine tops up to the set level until the load is saturated and the water level is okay, when the timer advances to the heating phase the agitation increases to around 10/15 second tumbles and 2 second pauses giving a very rough and thorough wash building up a nice lather of suds. Once the set temperature is reached the machine carries on washing for such and such a time then gets to the wash spin.
The Wash Spin ============ The machine drains whilst tumbling both ways, and once all the water has been removed from the machine starts tumbling clockwise and then gets to distribution speed, the machine gives an extra pulse of speed for a second or so to check for balance, if the machine is satisfied with the load balance (it usually is) it ramps up to around 500rpm for a few minutes then slows down and starts to fill for the rinse, if the load is not evenly balanced enough the machine slows does an anticlockwise tumble and tries again.
Rinses ===== Rinse 1= Starts off at low wash water level, and tumbles whilst filling, after a few minutes of tumbling at low level the machine tops up to high level tumbling whilst filling. After a few minutes the water drains and the machine does the same spin phase as the wash spin
Rinse 2= After slowing from the spin the machine remains stationary until the machine has filled to high water level, the load then tumbles a few times back and forth, topping up to high level to keep the load well saturated after a few minutes the timer advances to the next portion of the cycle (this changes if you have selected the extra rinse feature, if the extra rinse is selected the machine drains and tumbles for this part of the cycle and after a minute or so refills for rinse 3, if extra rinse is not selected rinse 2 is simply a longer rinse.
Rinse 3 or 4 (varies) = After slowing from the spin the machine remains stationary until the machine has filled to high water level this rinse, is the rinse that takes in the fabric conditioner, the load then tumbles a few times back and forth, topping up to high level to keep the load well saturated.
Final Spin ======== The final spin starts off like all the other interim spins but instead of slowing again at 500, it ramps up a bit further to around 800, after a minute or so it ramps up to the maximum 1100, or is 1100 the maximum spin speed?? The actual machine I used had developed a programmer fault and occasionally spun over the 1100 spin speed limit, I estimate it would spin somewhere between 1300 and 1600 when this fault occurs.
The Tumble Dryer ============== The Tumble Dryer section of this machine is far from the best for efficiency, time and reliability, I halved the Whites load which came out surprisingly white, I left the socks and a few other small bits in there and set it to 40 minutes high heat, the machine tumbles vigorously in the drying cycle, turning both ways to reduce wrinkles, when the 40 minutes was up the door unlocked and I took out the load, the drum was very moist as was the small load I had been drying. I was very disappointed at this as a Zanussi washer dryer I had used would dry this size load perfectly in 40 minutes, I put the load back in for 30 minutes, when the drying cycle ended the clothes were dry but rather wrinkled and scorching hot, it turns out this washer dryer doesn't have a cool down cycle like most do, any way I decided not to dry the rest of my laundry in the Hoover and took it home and pegged it on the washing line in the garden.
Overall ===== The machine is not too bad when it comes to wash performance and noise, although after say 2 or more loads in a day gets high pitched and whiny, the dryer side of this machine is a big let down. This Machine gets used about 5 times a week for washing and around once a week for drying, after 2 years trouble free, my friend started developing problems with the machine, here's a list:
Machine kept over-stretching the pulley belt so the belt kept slipping off and having to be renewed, now a washing machine belt can be a hard job as the belts are so darn hard to stretch over the motor and the back of the drum, the machine had 6 new belts in a year.
The dryer timer continually got stuck just before the end of the cycle so dried the clothes forever until you realised it hadn't stopped and your electric bill comes in at a whopping £250! The machine had 3 timers
The Bearings failed after 2 ½ years and had to be replaced
The motor went on the Fritz twice and had to be replaced
The Machine decided it no longer wanted to spin at any speed over distribution speed and had yet another set of bearings, new motor, new motor brushes, new drum spider, new controller, new timer, just to get it working again.
This Machine has seriously jeopardised my opinion of Hoover.
Apparently their new Nextra Range is better quality but time will tell.
Thanks for reading
If you feel I have missed out anything please just leave a comment, or a message in my guestbook!
Take care
More details
User's Manual
Poor
Cleaning & Maintenance
Fair
Safety
Safe
How much did you pay?
£329
Any repairs?
Bearings x2, Belts x6, dryer timers x3, motor x2, motor brushes x1, drum spider x1, controller x1, wash timer x1
Special features?
All in one unit
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
