Product review (4 stars): How to adjust water level and avoid mangling clothes
Update, Dec 2014: Someone just asked me if this machine locks when in operation. As i understand, newer machines are now required by law to lock. I'm not sure though, so phone the company if you need to know.

I don't have this exact model, I have the sister one, awn412s. (My review is there, but I was referred to these reviews and noticed people talking about water levels. I agree with the favorable reviews here. Myself, I visited a friend who was using an expensive front loading machine and was appalled at how dirty the clothes coming OUT of the machine were. I decided then and there I would never buy one.)

I love my machine, but found I couldn't put clothes all the way to the top without them coming out seriously twisted and wrinkled. I adjusted the water level using info from a repair web site. You have to unplug the machine of course, and remove the back of the top panel box. Takes one minute. You'll find a white Teflon-like disk; mine was about 3/4 inches in diameter and about 1/4 inch thick. It has a screw going through the center. THAT's the thing that sets the water level- turning that screw. It takes time to correlate the number of turns and the direction to turn it. Truthfully, it's been a while, so I forget the details, but I believe clockwise raised the level and I think maybe ! 2 to 4 turns was about right. I had marked the water level in the machine before I started. After turning the screw, I replaced the panel and turned the machine back on to see where the water got to. By trial and error, I was able to get it exactly where I wanted it, about 1  inch from the top. It's more than worth it!!! Takes maybe a half hour in all, but you'll find you can add twice as many clothes to the washer WITHOUT MANGLING THEM. I wonder if those ripped jeans were due to an over-crowded washer that had too little water.