Monday 1 October 2012

Indesit IWE 81681 washing machine

While I was on holiday I go an e-mail from Appliances Online to ask me if I would fancy a washing machine to do a review on, and keep once I had done the review. Well I can honestly say I did not even hesitate for a second before I bit their hand off and said yes please I would love one. My current machine was nearly ten years old and rattled everything off the worktop above it when it went onto he spin cycle.

So it was arranged for me to take delivery of my new toy on the Monday once I was home. Must say the communication from Appliances Online was very accurate and my machine was delivered on time by two men who gave me a good laugh with their banter whilst they were plumbing it in and checked it was working before they left taking all the packaging with them.

Well we were just back off holiday and had unplumbed the old machine the day before ready so we had lots of washing to feed to the new machine.

The machine had a large porthole so it was quick and easy to load your 8kg of washing, very simple procedure to select your wash programme, turn the knob and press start.



I have phoned the Indesit help line for this machine as I found the time would jump up and down usually towards the end of a wash programme and I wondered if it was faulty, but I was informed this is because the machine constantly adjusts itself to the size of load you have added using minimal water and electricity as well as adjusting down the time accordingly to give a good result from the wash through to the rinsing and even adjusts the spin cycle, there fore there is no need for a half load button. 

The washing comes out very dry due to the 1600 spin speed, but this can be reduced by a simple push of a button if you wish too take it down in increments of 200 so you can manually adjust it to suit the type of washing you have in the machine.  You can also opt to lower the preselected temperature of the wash programmes if you wish.  

You have a large selection of washes from a 90 oC which takes two hours fifty five minutes down to a speed wash that takes fifteen minutes which is ideal for freshening up one or two items, and includes a spin cycle at the end. Ironically if you put it just onto just a spin cycle it takes sixteen minutes.

The machine is very smooth and quiet even on the spin cycle as it spends time balancing the washing out before it spins. My last machine would rattle everything off of the worktop on a spin cycle, but this one does not....oooh heaven. 

The machine is very pleasing on the eye with a nice glossy finish.  

The machine ahas a nice large soap dispensing drawer, not sure why it has three compartments when you only use two of them, but Im sure there may be a reason.


with a king size quilt in

It is a full 8kg load, easily big enough to take a king size quilt. 

When the machine has finished its wash cycle it unlocks the door straight away, no waiting for a two minute time delay before you can get into it. 













My only negative is the control knob that selects your wash programme - it is difficult to see where the marking is to select the cycle you want. It would benefit from a visible mark as a few times I have selected the wrong programme, but we have now added a mark so we know which end is selecting the programme. 
You will see that mark on the video.
before







The last wash we did with our old machine was a trial to see if the new one faired any better. We stained a brand new white facecloth (bought a pack of four identical ones) The first stain was grass, second a teaspoon of blackberry juice, third half a teaspoon of brown sauce and last half a teaspoon of melted cooking chocolate. We left the stains to soak in for six hours, and then scrapped any surplus chocolate off before we put them into wash.




grass and blackberry stains still visible





The cloth came out still with a noticeable grass and blackcurrant stain with the other two just about visible if you held the cloth up to a window.


I then repeated the procedure in the new machine and must say there was no noticeable difference in the finished result.



Conclusion - This machine is quiet, efficient, gives off no vibration, is easy to load, very simple to use and manages a king size quilt in its 8 kg drum.

I was sent this machine for the purposes of this review, but the words and findings are my own.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so envious, our washing machine is terrible! I'm impressed that it'll handle a king size quilt too, loads of room there. Well, if we ever give up on ours, this is one washing machine we'll certainly be considering. A great, balanced review! :O)

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes I am very happy with it, especially the use of use.

    ReplyDelete

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