My old AEG sadly died, and went to washing machine heaven, so after 2 weeks of lugging the washing to a neighbour's, I decided enough was enough, and bought a ZanussiZWF 1421W. I did a bit of research on the internet (not allowed to tell you which sites), and chose this one because various reviews said it was cheap, quiet and reliable. Also, it was in stock in Curry's, and I wanted it ASAP.
My husband collected and fitted it (he's a plumber so knows what he's doing), but if you can't do it yourself, I'm sure your supplier will do it (for a fee). It's cold fill only, as most modern machines are nowadays, so you don't connect it to the hot tap. As soon as he'd finished, a quick read of the manual, and the first load went in.
It's a front-loading machine, with a left-hinged door, the pull out detergent dispenser drawer on the left side, and the controls across the front at the top. There are loads of programmes, including cotton, synthetics, delicate, wool, spin only, half load, quick wash, and you can vary the spin speed from 500-1400 rpm by turning a knob. You just load the machine, put the powder and conditoner into the dispenser, choose a programme, which is dead easy to do, and switch it on. There are little green lights that glow to show you which options you've chosen. When it's finished, it tells you (by a green light indicating `end'), and then you turn the programme dial to off, and take out the washing.
The best thing is that it's quiet. My old washer sounded like a jet taking off, so it may be just that's quiet in comparison. The worst thing is that the full programme takes ages - a white economy wash takes 155 minutes (that's 2 hours 35 mins), so I usually use the synthetic every day wash that takes about 50 mins, though I haven't actually timed it. You can't use the half load button on some washes eg synthetics. The synthetics programme only has a short spin, so even if it's on 1400 rpm, the finished washing doesn't feel as dry as a when it's on a programme with a long spin like whites.
Another gripe it that once you've switched it on, there is no indication of how long the programme will take, unless you refer to the instruction manual. Some Zanussis have a timer on, so you can see how long you have before the programme finishes, but with this one you just have to wait.
It's energy rating is AAB, which is one of the best, so it's economical to run. At just under £250, I reckon it's a good buy.
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May 28th, 2006
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