Ask HN: What's the Best Dumb Washing Machine? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What's the Best Dumb Washing Machine?

I'm in the market for a new washing machine. Most of the new ones are "smart," which of course means privacy-invading wifi that requires an internet connection, inadequate thermal engineering so the electronics burn out quickly, bad software, terrible reliability, and extremely short overall lifetime.

Does anybody still make a mostly-mechanical, mostly-analog washing machine with no wifi, no software, and no logic boards that burn out prematurely and cost more than the whole machine to replace? I don't care how ugly it looks or how big it is, but I'd prefer a front-loader to save water.

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We walked into a local place and said "I want a washer and dryer from 1980".

What you're looking for is Speed Queen.

They aren't cheap, the pair cost us $2700.

But old school mechanical dial timer, no digital anything.

What they are is commercial machines, that you would put in an apartment building, with no coin boxes.

We can go from dirty clothes, through the extra soil cycle on the washer through completely dry in less than 90 minutes. It's glorious.

If you don't care about size then look online for washing machines marketed to college kids and thusly dorm rooms and RV's. They are 120V, low power usage, low water usage though most are top loading that I have found, no computer or internet of things. I went that route and was surprised they are more durable and longer lasting than I expected. I assumed incorrectly that being meant for college/RV use they would be throw-away devices. They are much less expensive than the older traditional machines and much easier to move around. They are cheap enough one could even buy a spare machine or plug in the spare to optionally increase capacity.

The only downside is the inability to wash really big items like king/cali-king sized comforters. Those would have to be taken to a friends house or a commercial service or just washed old-school in the bathtub.

[Edit] One additional downside is they are meant to be connected to a sink, though super easy with a cheap adapter to use existing hose hook-ups. The actual downside is having to either choose between hot or cold water if using existing washing machine hoop-ups, or make your own make-shift combiner adapter that can handle the hot water. RV supply stores have these.

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