do washing machines generally have a horizontal, rather than vertically aligned drum? The latter would be much more convenient, so there has to be a reason. Only think I cna think of is the problem with a shelf above them.
During the wash and rinse cycles, the drum turns slowly enough that the clothes and water tumble under the force of gravity - resulting in more thorough and even washing of the clothes
In the UK, front-loaders are the norm. In many other parts of the world, top-loaders are much more common.
Top-loading agitators have two movement modes:- swish back and forth, and spin. This requires more mechanics and a higher level of complexity. Modern direct drive systems are less complex than they used to be.
Front-loaders use the one movement - rotate (slow and fast, in either direction). They are also supposed to be a bit easier on clothes.
I personally hated the fact that my wife insisted on a front-loader. Top-loaders are much easier when you are dealing with a nappy bucket. 
Si
Guess you’re not used to American style top-loaders. They can be quite inconvenient - the combination of a large-capacity washer and short arms means a lot of people have difficulty reaching to the bottom of the tub to find all the socks.
Top-load machines are energy and water gluttons*, and they’re not particularly gentle on clothing as they depend on submerging the entire load of clothing under water and flailing away with paddles or screws to agitate.
Front-loaders simply spin and everything sloshes around gently.
- When we replaced a fairly new (about two years old) top-loader with a front-loader, our water bill dropped by $30 a month. Just in water savings, the machine more than paid for itself in less than two years. Now it just sits there, cheerfully saving us $360 a year in water, plus the savings in not having to use gas to heat that water and less time in the dryer as the machine’s high-speed extraction spin gets far more water out of the clothes than any top-loader could hope to.
Ditto what gotpasswords said. Here in the US, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a front loading washer outside of a laundromat or industrial washer setting. Top loaders are the norm.
Isn’t a top-loading washer cheaper to manufacture? Front-loading washers have to have a seal along the door to keep the water from getting out. That’s not a problem for top-loading washers.
Top loaders are cheaper to make, but, more importantly, they cost less at retail. They were only specialty items for years in the US because of their expense. The difference is less now, and they seem to be making a comeback.
The owner of the laundromat that I use says that he thinks front loaders break down more often, but he didn’t mention why. Judging from which washers are most frequently out of order there I’d say it’s true–at least for the single load washers. The big triple and quadruple loaders seem pretty reliable.
I suggest using a more descriptive title to get better responses. Almost every question on this forum could be Who, What, Where, When, Why or How.
Yeah, that was pretty stupid :smack:
Maybe a kindly Mod will amend your title for you…
Well, it has been answered (very well, thanks!) already so it’s not that essential.
We’ve had, in order, a top-loader, front, top and now front.
As others have said, the front’s are much easier on water consumption, and more importantly, easier on the clothes. The second top-loader was when we rented a furnished house… I noticed within weeks that my shirts were getting frayed by the washer.
Cryptoderk, were you inspired to ask this question by a recent BBC radio programme?
Paraphrasing: “The problem with a top-loader is that if someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing comes along and lifts the lid, you’ve got a real mess. At the piano is Colin Sell …”
</hijack>
We had a toploading twin-tub when I was a kid. It seemed like a lot of work with a giant pair of wooden tongs to get the clothes out of it. I got my first (remembered) erection sitting on top of it.*
- yes, I know this is far too much information.
We always go with top-loaders. Someone once told us that on the front-loaders, the seal on the door in front was just one more thing to go out. Dunno, that may have been BS, but it’s influenced our choice of washers to this day.
I used to sell appliances in a major big block store (Home Depot). More than a few times, a new front loading washing machine owner would contact us, saying something was wrong with their dryer, as it wasn’t capturing nearly as much lint as before.
The reason was simple. The dryer was working fine, it was just that the wear and tear on the clothes in a top loader is where the majority of lint is created. The gentler action of a front loader generated a lot less abrasion on the fabrics, and hence created less lint.
Front loaders tend to be much cheaper to operate, both in energy and water usage, much more gentler on clothes, quieter, and can be intalled under a counter (freeing up space).
The downsides: Front loaders lock their doors (to prevent leakage and catastrophic flooding if opened during a cycle)… but that means you can not add in a missed piece of laundry once the machine has started. They tend to cost a little more, require serious leveling on a solid floor, and can be more expensive/tricky to repair.
Regards
FML
I don’t understand this. Here in the USA, top-loaders have a automatic brake system that activates if you open the lid while a cycle is in progress. Don’t they have that on UK washers?
And who or what is Colin Sell, and what does this have to do with wash machines?
Answer to first question: it’s not braking the drum that’s the problem, it’s all that liquid inside, which would pour out onto the floor if you opened the door during a wash or rinse cycle. Having said that, a lot of front-loaders (mine included) will allow you to open the door mid-cycle after a delay. “It’s up to you now, mate”, in a way.
Don’t worry about the Colin Sell reference. There’s an excellent comedy programme on BBC Radio 4 called “I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue” (Colin is the pianist), and the question of front-loader vs top-loader came up in this week’s edition. Since the OP is from the UK, I was wondering if there was a connection. A brief hijack only.
How would the liquid pour out when you opened a top-loader?
Did you mean to say front-loader?