How to Select a Washing Machine That Fits Your Needs and Budget. 7 Tips to Help You Navigate the Dozens of Confusing Options Out There (2020)

There are many things in the world that have changed over time and are still changing. All these changes have made an impact on our lives. One such impact is the invention of the washing machine, which is one of the greatest inventions of the industrial revolution. Little did the inventors know that this machine would change our lives so much.

Before the washing machine was invented, women used to spend hours just washing the clothes. It involved a lot of hard work, like fetching the water, storing it, applying soap to all the clothes, washing them individually and leaving them to dry for at least 3-4 hours, depending on the intensity of sunlight. Most of all, the energy and labour that had to be put in was excruciating.

Now that we have a machine to do the washing and also the drying (to some extent), our lives have become simpler. Time saved in this can be used to do something productive and enhance our skills. The time the clothes spend on the drying line is also reduced as the spin feature of the washing machine wrings away all the excess water making it easy to dry the clothes.

A washing machine's capacity is one of the first things to consider while selecting a washing machine. This depends on the user’s necessity based on the number of people in the family. It is usually represented in kg, which means the maximum weight of clothes that can be washed at once in the machine. If you have heavy blankets, then it is better to go for a machine with a higher capacity. Always ensure that at least one third of the machine has free space so that it can last for at least a few more years.

The material of the drum is actually a critical factor that contributes to the wash quality. Generally, the drums can be of plastic, enamel or stainless steel. Among these, the recommended one is stainless steel, which are slightly costlier than the others, but these last longer and give a good wash quality. They can also withstand high spin speeds.

Spin speed is the number of times the machine's drum rotates in a minute. This is how the extra water from the clothes is wrung out to reduce the time they spend on the line for drying. Spin speed differs according to the material of the clothes, many washing machines today set it automatically, although in some cases, it has to be selected manually.

There are many washing machines that offer some additional features like RPM (Rotations Per Minute) - they give the option to select the RPM for the spin cycle based on the clothes to be washed. Temperature control is another feature provided in some machines which allows you to set the temperature of the water to wash the clothes in, cold water saves energy whereas hot water will clean the stains better. Fuzzy logic is the best feature as it is an artificial intelligence system that automatically determines the water intake, time, spin, etc. just at the click of a button. Others features include time delay, LED display, dryer and bubble wash.

Wash settings are the different wash types available for choosing based on the type of clothes. Wash settings that are normally available are quick wash, fuzzy logic, odour removal, delicate, delay start, steam wash, RPM speed, drum clean, temperature control, etc.

Give priority to a washing machine that has a 5-star BEE rating. BEE rating is the amount of energy that the washing machine consumes annually. Machines with 5-star rating consume less energy compared to 4-star, 4-star consumes less energy compared to 3-star and so on. 5-star rating washing machines are slightly expensive, but save energy and money in the long run.

Are you confused whether to go for the standard top-load machine or the high-efficiency front-load one? Here is a comparison between the two types: