features that seem to have come and gone

[andyr12345]

Hello Andy, Just wondered why a couple of features featured on some washing machines in the last 5 years but never seemed to catch on or be fitted into the mainstream washing machines? , where they just gimmicks or used as a selling point maybe or do you think they were useful things and should have been adopted? 

I think the 3 that stick out at the moment is the Anti-Bacterial/Anti Mould rubber door gasket, and I believe these were fitted to Haier washing machines at one time, wouldnt that have been a great thing to adopt on all washing machines these days?  - and then the second thing that sticks out is Titanium Drums which i think Hotpoint had on a couple of models of their top(est) range of washing machines - what was the 'benefit(s)' of these?
and the third is Direct Drive and I think that was a LG thing wasnt it? - really better than the traditional motor/belt setup do you reckon?

also why havent all machines got aquastop fitted to the cold inlet pipes .. and are they really a good addition in your opinion? - you dont hear of too many washing machines flooding kitchens because of a burst cold water inlet pipe these days do you? 

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

An anti bacterial anti mould door seal (if it worked) would be great. I would say it's a gimmick in the sense that washing machine manufacturers make a lot of money selling spare door seals. It's surprising to see one of the cheapest brands fitting one. The only manufacturer I would expect to be happy to fit one would be Miele. I would guess the others would rather leave them to go mouldy and sell more new ones.

Titanium Drums are pointless. If they were cheaper fair enough but I expect they cost a lot more. There's no problem with stainless drum used for decades. The extra cost would guarantee they'd never become common because the advantages just aren't there. There's no actual problem to fix by using them.

I've always thought of Direct Drive as a gimmick. They claim there's no drive belt to wear out. That's true, but drive belts don't fail much unless they make very poor quality ones. A good quality drive belt should last the life of a washing machine easily. The other claim is they are quieter but they never sound quieter to me. They are no quieter than a different brand with an induction motor fitted. They are both almost silent on wash and rinse and fairly noisy on spin. I think there's a theoretical argument that they are better because they use slightly less parts but unless by any chance they've locked down the idea with patents no one else has copied it.

When washing machine fill hoses were made of rubber in the 50s to 70s they used to leak a lot. I used to see them riddled with cracks. Then they changed them to a thinner rubber. They used to sometimes split and leak. But a long time ago they started to make them out of what looks like quite strong plastic and they don;t tend to leak or split any more. Their main weak point is the crimp at the end. Aqua hoses are quite unwieldy to handle and can be difficult to fit as described in my article here - Aqua stop hoses for washing machines & dishwashers but they shouldn't leak. Personally I didn't find fill hoses leaking much at all.