"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
From the Wall Street Journal:

"In 1996, top-loaders were pretty much the only type of washer around, and
they were uniformly high quality. When Consumer Reports tested 18 models,
13
were "excellent" and five were "very good." By 2007, though, not one was
excellent and seven out of 21 were "fair" or "poor." This month came the
death knell: Consumer Reports simply dismissed all conventional
top-loaders
as 'often mediocre or worse.' "

Demise of top-loaders blamed on government regulations.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...pinion_LEADTop

It's for the children.

Well, it's probably a somewhat misguided strategy to save energy because
I've noticed that when they go too far, they end up being end run. Can't
count how often I've had to double flush the high eff. toilet or buy more
bulbs and fixtures for a room because CFL's in the old fixtures just aren't
bright enough.

Eventually things will improve and it's actually pretty certain that front
loaders are much more efficient. I could process a 20 by 24 color print in
a Unidrum with 6 ozs of chemicals because it operates on principles similar
to a FL washer. A tray would have taken perhaps 10 times as much chemistry.
No central agitator means maybe sheets don't get swirled up into a turban as
they do on uni-directional agitators.

Got a top-loader now from 1998. Hope it lasts but a front loader wouldn't
be the end of the world. You just have to make sure you get all the clothes
in at the start of the run.

--
Bobby G.