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348 of 351 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What to know before you buy: capacity, December 3, 2006
I estimate that I have used this washer for 4 loads each week since buying from J&R in early October, 2006. I live in a studio in New York and bought this one because (1) it has a sink adapter, which the front-loading 14.3-lb model didn't seem to include and (2) at 17.5 inches wide/deep, it fit through my bathroom door, which the front-loading 14.3-lb model (at 20.5 inches wide) wouldn't.
Out of the box, you have to install an included metal pan at the bottom. Install it so that it is convex: there's a reason that the legs are so high. One of the problems I had during installation was that one of the screws holding this metal pan to the body comes very close to a clamp holding the gooseneck drain tube as it exits the body. The clamp had fallen out of position, and the end of the screw is close to where the clamp goes. I don't think I was ever in danger of puncturing the drainage tube, but it's something to watch out for.
You need a place to hang the drainage tube, between 31.5 and 40 inches high. The machine cannot fill the tub with water to a height above the maximum height of the drainage path.
On my first two loads, I made a puddle of water on the ground. There were two reasons for this: the first time, the water supply hose was not tightened sufficiently at the machine end, and water dribbled out and behind the machine until I figured out what was going on. With that tightened (I used a wrench), there was no leak. On my second load, I put in too many clothes (more about that later) and there was a water-resistant nylon jacket on top. Just before the very first spin cycle, some water was cupped on that jacket and did not drain out with the wash water. When the tub started to spin, that water came out. I never loaded that many clothes into the washer again, and haven't had any spills since.
During a normal wash cycle, the machine does the following steps three times: fill, agitate, agitate, drain, spin, drain, spin, drain, spin. The second and third iterations are called the "rinse" cycle. Often, the water out of the drain is still bubbly after the second spin. (I use a quarter capful or less of All no-fragrance 3x liquid concentrate.) So, I run another rinse cycle. If the machine detects an unbalance condition during a spin, it will stop, fill the tub with water, and agitate in an attempt to redistribute the clothes before draining and spinning again. I think the machine does this two or three times before giving up and beeping ten times to alert the user of the unbalance condition.
During the agitation process, this machine tends to intertwine long or extended parts of clothing --- shirt sleeves and socks --- into braid-like knots, which often trigger the unbalance condition during the subsequent spin. For example, when I wash four or five long-sleeved shirts together, I always have to untie and separate two or three of the shirts where the sleeves have been twisted together. I think good washing is where the wash water can touch every surface of the clothes, and being tied together prevents this. These problems probably would not happen with a front-loading washing machine.
What is the capacity of this washer? Well, I would say:
2 bath towels; or
2 pairs of jeans or pants; or
2 sweatshirts and 1 pair of sweat pants; or
4 long-sleeved oxford shirts; or
6 small-size undershirts; or
8-12 medium-size boxer underwear.
That's at the "high" water level. You may be able to load more than that, but I think the clothes won't get as clean, and the machine will probably reach more unbalance situations.
I once tried to wash a terrycloth robe. The robe fit in the tub, but the machine always got to an unbalance condition when it tried to spin. I think it's sort of like trying to run a centrifuge with only one tube. Sometimes after the spin cycle I find a sock or a shirt stretched across the middle of the tub, instead of having been thrown centrifugally against the tub walls.
Using my DSC-P71 digital camera in the multi-burst 30 frames-per-second mode and a light and a dark shirt in the washer, I estimate the initial spin at 450 rpm (light shirt passed once every 4 frames) and a final spin at 780 rpm (light shirt passed about 6.5 times in 0.5 seconds - about once every other frame). If I hang the clothes in my studio (not in the bathroom), then they dry in about one day or less, depending on the humidity. It takes much longer if I hang them in the bathroom.
Update (November 2007): This machine is still running. After a year, here are my comments:
After getting tired of the drain tube clamp falling out, I made two small wedges out of a folded-up credit card to hold the clamp in place.
I made a third spill (and this one was a big one): once, the gooseneck drain hose came apart from the U-shaped drain-pipe hook. So, now I check that connection every week or so.
I always run an extra rinse cycle (or two). If I have time, during the spin cycles, I lower the drain tube to allow more sudsy water to drain out. (This is a high-maintenance tactic, though --- it can lead to floods if you're not careful.) Some types of clothes absorb and retain more water (and detergent) than others, and my skin is better after more of the detergent is rinsed out. You can take just-washed clothes from a standard washing machine and re-rinse them here to check how much detergent is left.
Update (April 2008): In the past two months, I have had two more major spills. Both times, it seems that the water-level sensor got stuck and failed to tell the inlet valve to shut off. When this happens, the water overflows the tub and comes out the bottom of the machine. (Usually, you hear a click when the water level is reached, and then the valve shuts off; but in these cases, the first click never occurs.)
Now that I live in an apartment building with a good laundry room, I use this washer mostly for small items: socks, underwear, undershirts.
Update (April 2009): It turned out that the water-level sensor had failed. The sign of impending failure is that the sensor will sometimes fail to close the valve when set to "high", but will always close at "low" and "medium" water levels. Then, "medium" will stop working and the valve will only close when the water level is set to "low". Since the manufacturer's warranty had expired, I had the part replaced under my credit-card-based extended warranty program. Haier suggested two authorized repair operators; one of them said that they didn't service this model. The other did, and charged $85 (diagnostic service call) plus $60 (labor) plus $21.52 (part). The part had to be ordered and took about five weeks (!) to arrive.
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78 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How did I live in New York City for ten years without this?, June 8, 2007
No seriously, how have I been living in apartments for a decade without this machine? Through single and couple-dom life, I've been dragging my clothes to the local (and not-so local) laundromat resulting in frantic minutes scrounging for quarters, two hours of boredom, whites slowly turning yellow in those questionable big machines and a less-than-enthused significant other. Sometimes, I would just give up and wash those needed socks or undershirt in the shower praying they would dry hung up overnight. It was one of those nights that I finally had had enough and the boy started scouring the internet for a solution.
This machine is *my* miracle of modern technology and has significantly improved my life in quantifiable hours - and I bet has saved me money in the long run (if you consider it's five dollars per `big' wash load at the laudromat, and they only have `big' load machines.)
At about 2 1/2 feet high and 17 inches wide, this machine easily plugs into a three-pronged outlet, screws into a normal sink (normal screw-in adapter included - thank God!), and drainage hose hooks over the side of the sink, super easy. And it packs a powerful punch - everything comes out clean and surprisingly lint-free. I did have my doubts about the weird lint collector inside - which completely works, although a bit difficult to remove and empty. It's also surprisingly light - at 5'3" I'm not exactly a brute force of strength, but I have no problem sliding the machine back into the corner easily once finished, although I would have a problem lifting it up entirely. It's also quiet, there's only a slight audible hum when it vibrates - about the same level as a person humming, which you can barely hear in the next room. It's nowhere near as loud as regular machines and doesn't bothers anyone.
Any problems? Well when we first received, like others here we screwed in the bottom plate (there isn't much installation, just the one plate) backwards - curving away from the ground and it did make a weird crunch sound while running - however, it's a pretty tell-tale signal, and we flipped it around (like a cup sitting on a counter) in five minutes. Also, I was so excited about my first wash and over-loaded it - so we had a little puddle on the ground, but not since.
There are three water levels to choose from and at the high level it washes about two pants, a shirt, and three little items (say socks or underwear), or two towels and a facecloth, etc. I've easily fit in four t-shirts and five undergarments plus socks. By carefully ensuring everything is evenly distributed, I've even managed to wash my comforter cover - heaven! Realistically, it's about a half-load of laundry to a normal household washer. You control the water temperature by your sink. Being a girlie-girl when it comes to underwear, I can even throw in my delicates without worry. In two months I've had no problem with lace, silk, cotton or nylon ripping, and I haven't even used a mesh bag to protect them. Horray! The machine even allows for prolonged soaking if needed. Best of all, nothing comes out dripping. The spin cycle on the machine thoroughly drains water so many things dry overnight. After about a half hour wash, everything is ready to hang.
Definitely now part of my *must have apartment appliances* along with a microwave and toaster oven, I love this thing so much that I've actually named it Einstein and joked that should the significant other and I split up - the machine stays with me.
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, very finicky, better than using the common, March 20, 2008
I've saved a lot of money using this rather than paying the apartment common wash fee. I would buy it again if nothing was better on the market, but there are a few cons that you should know about, and a few tips I'll share at the end of the review:
- You can't really leave the apartment while running it. The water outflow hose can come loose and water can dump into your bathroom. See tips.
- You can't run it at "high" water level. Leave it on "medium". My best guess is that the water sensor works like a "brita" filter -- it counts spins of a water-wheel to estimate the amount of water in the tub. This is not very accurate and on the "high" setting, the tank will overflow and dump water on the floor.
- It often requires intervention once during the wash cycle. It stops and reports an unbalanced load, which can start an endless fight to rebalance the wash. It's not an overfill issue -- it's a pure balance issue. This happens on 30% of my loads. See tips for trick to combat.
- Capacity is small. I went from doing 3 loads of commercial washer to 5-6 loads in this unit. (I am now a total hang-dry convert -- clothes last a lot longer than running in the drier, and saves money.)
- Haier support is poor -- I called because the inflow gasket leaked a bit, and they said it was easier to return the unit than to send me a new 50 cent gasket. Over time, the leak seems to have sealed itself.
Tips I can relay from using this washer for six months:
+ A lot of people install the bottom plate incorrectly. It is quiet if you install the bottom plate so that the bulge faces OUT toward the floor. This is non-intuitive and poorly documented, and the screw holes aren't perfect.
+ Trick to prevent endless unbalances: When the washer comes unbalanced in spin cycle (50% of my loads), there is a trick to avoiding the endless re-rinse, re-spin cycle that can follow. You should turn off the water, turn off the machine, re-balance the laundry, turn on the machine, and force the machine into SPIN-ONLY by pressing the program button four times. This will save you lots of time.
+ Buy a cheap water flood detector for peace of mind. There is cheap cute one called a LeakFrog. Put this on the floor. Now, I can run the wash without worrying about a flood. (This saved me once when outflow tube untied itself.)
+ Buy a "5 gallon paint strainer mesh" to collect lint and avoid drain clogs -- rubber band it to the outflow. (These are a couple bucks at the hardware store and are normally used to filter paint before going into a sprayer.) You will be amazed at the amount of lint that collects in these meshes. If you don't have one of these, you may clog your tub drain, requiring a service call. (This happened in my building.)
Sum-up: Not perfect, but I'd buy it again because of the money savings.
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