Product review (3 stars): Front Loader watch out for the Mildew Musty Smell
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UPDATE UPDATE --June 29, 2011.

The washing machine started having real issues a few months back. It started making grinding sounds. The Best  Buy extened warranty plan replaced a broken part.

Now excessive water leaked and spilled through the floor on my two story house and seeped to my garage. It looks like the pump that extracts the dirty water failed.

With the help of the extended warranty plan I purchased from Best Buy I traded this piece of junk for a new HE LG top loader at no extra cost other than paying $149 for another 4 year extended maintenance plan.

This is one time I feel feel like a winner that I bought the extended warranty plan!!!

Lets see how that goes...!!!

BTW I never really got away from the stinky mildew smell...

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NOTE:
A warning to people migrating from a top loader to a *water saving* front loader like this LG - because they like the look of front loaders like I did initially.

Let me give you an analogy:
A traditional Top loader washes your clothes like in a bath. Lot's of water being used here.

A Front loader in contrast washes your clothes like in a shower with very little water. When you run your first load you even wonder if it's getting enough water to clean the clothes as it barely gets soaked looking at the wash cycle through the window!

Problem:
With heavily soiled and stinky clothes like the polyester dri-fit fabric, the clothes do not smell good after coming out washer nor after the dryer even after putting on the fabric softener.

Solution:
Press the extra "rinse" button that gives you another rinse cycle, how much less water you save is anybodys guess.

Problem 2:
You *cannot* use the regular laundry detergent.  If you do, in about 2 to 3 weeks your clothes will start smelling of  mildew.  Just like when you put damp clothes in your clothes drawer before they fully dry.

Reason: water trapped with residue from suds generated by the regular laundry powder does not dry and bacteria forms on the tub and seals.

Solution:
Throw away your leftover detergent for your top loader and buy  "HE" type laundry detergent. The HE detergent is designed to generate less suds. They are more expensive but what can you do?

Also wipe down with a dry cloth or paper towel, the rubber door seal innards and leave the door ajar so the internal tub can dry.

Conclusion:
If the sales people at B-Buy knew their stuff and genuinely cared for me they would have warned me about this and I would have stuck to a top loader. Honestly, there is more hassle that comes with owning a Front loader than with a conventional top loader.

Now each load takes 1.5 hours with the extra rinse option. So my family of 6 takes the whole day to do the laundry. It may well be that the H20 savings is nulled out by the extre money spent on electricity.

The only thing I can say that I like it's looks. It's  modern and nice to look at in a my new house.

LG engineers... fix the stink problem!!! If you don't believe me do a Google on "odor musty stink Front loader" and see al the complaints.

Read [...].

Nov 1. 2009-
After over a year of ownership I still stand by my comments that a front loader is more hassle in maintaining than a top load washer.

When the smell started to return even after using HE detergent I started a throrough clean of the washer. There are 3 areas that have *gunk* build up and need to be cleaned by wiping.

1. Under the detergent dispenser.
Open the detergent drawer and press the middle blue depression to release the drawer from the unit. Look at the receiver and you will see detergent residue that has accumulated.

>>>Wipe the deposited soapy gunk out<<<

2. The bottom filter. Make sure you drain the water first then remove filter to reveal gunk and hair.

3. Finally -- Even though we all know to wipe down the door seal after each use there is also a *hidden* areas where gunk residue collects.  Located the bottom rear most edge of the grey seal where there are 3 drain holes. If you peel the seal slightly back to expose the white metal chassis of the washer . You will see gunk collected between the seal and metal chassis. I had to wipe it off with rag with some difficulty. The gunk is mainly located on the bottom half.

I am very tempted to strip the unit down to do a thorough clean of the tub area...