Front load (also known as horizontal axis) laundry has gained a lot of popularity in the past several years, and with good reason. The capacity is typically much larger than most top load washing machines and even at the same capacity a front load machine will get a larger load cleaner. This can shorten your work load dramatically by cleaning the same amount of laundry in fewer loads. These machines are also more delicate allowing expensive clothing to last longer. The front load washer is much more efficient than the top load washer using less water, detergent and electricity while creating less waste water to be processed. They generally spin faster extracting more of the water from the fabric creating even greater time and energy savings during the drying process. Many of these machines can also be stacked with the dryer on top to save space in the laundry room without any loss of capacity or efficiencies.
The typical top load washer is basically a tub filled with water. In this tub is an agitator that rotates back and forth swishing the water throughout the tub. When clothes are placed loosely enough they will flow and roll throughout the tub allowing the detergent and moving water to extract soils from the fabric. The tub is then drained and sprayed (spray rinse) with fresh water or refilled (deep rinse) multiple times to rinse detergent and soils out of the clothes.
If loaded correctly the top load machine does an excellent job of cleaning your clothes. It does however take a considerable amount of water for the fabrics to move fluidly and get the best results. More water requires more detergent to get the proper ratios and more energy to heat the water. Overloading of the top load machine can reduce cleaning efficiency dramatically as the fabric will not move fluidly throughout the tub.
The front load machine places the tub on its side. Putting a small amount of water in the bottom they then turn the tub allowing the clothes to be lifted and dropped through the detergent laden water very similar to the way you would wash an item by hand. This constant lifting and dropping creates the necessary separation and agitation needed for exceptional cleaning results with very little wear and tear. There is no agitator taking up space in the tub or coming in contact with the fabric.
At the beginning of the cycle most machines will add water while tumbling back and forth to saturate the clothes until the proper amount of standing water is measured at the bottom of the tub. The amount of water needed is automatically determined by the type of fabric and size of the load but is always dramatically less than that needed in the top load machine. Many of these machines can also heat the water guaranteeing proper temperatures for optimum results. After several minutes of agitation the machine then spins and adds fresh water several times to extract soils and detergent from the tub before going in to its final high speed spin.
As a result the front load washing machine can use as little as 13 to 17 gallons of water where a top load may use 40 to 50 gallons to do the same amount of laundry. A lesser amount of detergent is also needed to achieve the proper ratios and of course the energy to heat 13 gallons of water would be considerably less than that of heating 40.
New technology in variable speed motors and control boards allow many machines to tumble in one direction, stop and then tumble in the opposite direction to keep from tangling the clothes (a problem in older front load machines). They can also adjust the spin speed or even stop, reverse and start again to readjust the contents in an out of balance situation. These newer technologies also allow detergents, bleaches and fabric softeners to be diluted and added automatically at precisely the right time for the best results.
As you can see wash results alone are reason enough to consider a front load washer for your next machine. Add to that the savings in energy (many utility companies are offering incentives to those who purchase new more efficient products in an effort to reduce the demand on our resources) and the savings in detergents, wear and tear and time and your can see why their popularity continues to grow.