How to buy an efficient washing machine tips, repair or new?

Posted by Ross Lammas

Panic! My washing machines have packed in, I’ve got a house full of dirty washing and water everywhere! This isn’t the best time to start researching the web for the best models and deals, is it?

Should I get my washing machine repaired or replace it? And how do I find a local, trustworthy engineer when my local appliance store closed down years ago?

Quick fixes for Washing Machines

If you can’t find the manual, the first thing to do is search the make and model number of your current machine (usually found in tiny print on the inside of the washing machine door!) for known faults. There’s loads of information on the web, and you may, ‘fingers crossed’ find that it is a simple fix, such as a blocked outlet pipe or filters. If you can’t check in the manual look online. Most modern machines have a filter that you can check for loose coins, bra wires, old tissues, fluff and stuff that finds its way through the machine. Please, please remember to unplug it before you do anything, water and electricity don’t mix!

Repair or Replace my washing machine

Once you’ve eliminated the simple fixes, have a think about the age of your current washing machine and whether it’s a well-known premium brand or more of a budget machine. If yours is a cheap and cheerful model and it is over 4 to 5 years old it may well be reaching the end of its life – not good news – but, as they say – “you do get what you pay for”. The more premium-badged models should have a longer life and therefore be worth getting fixed. Most of the well-known brands have a customer helpline; this would be my first point of contact to try and get an engineer out to see if it’s worth fixing. They should be able to advise you on their local retailer and repair network too if they don’t have their own guys. They usually have a minimum call-out charge but it might be worth it.

Another thing to bare-in-mind is the age of your machine. Energy efficiency has improved dramatically in recent years, so could be a false economy to repair an energy-guzzling old machine. To help with this we’ve developed an online tool to see what savings can be made.

When should you replace old appliances?

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Washing machines are easily recyclable and many online retailers will take your old machine away for a small fee. Well worth checking out – before you buy. Some local councils will pick up old appliances for recycling too. If not, taking them to your local recycling centre is the only option, which is okay if you’ve muscle power and access to a van!

What does it cost to get out a washing machine engineer?

It was not cheap! I recently went through this process after our machine gave up. The callout fee was not far shy of £100 and we had to wait 5 days for him to turn up. Then it took about 10 minutes for him to say it was worn out and had a damaged drum. This was a ten-year-old premium German model. They did offer a reasonable discount if we bought a replacement machine from them if we presented the callout bill at their shop. Previously we’ve used an independent engineer who charged a £60 callout fee to fix our dishwasher; unfortunately I’d lost his number!

How to choose a washing machine? Drum size and features

A key decision is what size of drum to go for, having a large drum machine can have a real impact on your energy usage. If you’re a family household using the washing machine regularly, we’d advise going for a larger drummed machine 7kg to 12kg. You will need to make sure you fill the machine up each time; otherwise, the benefits will diminish if you just wash a t-shirt. They are also very useful for larger loads such as washing duvets. I think we damaged our previous machine by washing too many heavy loads.

Higher spin speed is handy too, as this will reduce the drying time and save energy if you have to use a tumble dryer. Best to check the recommendation of the clothing manufacturer when washing, as high spin speeds can damage more delicate fabrics.

Energy efficiency – using our database of products will show you the most energy-efficient models available. If budgets are tight you can list by purchase price rather than ultimate efficiency. Our running cost calculations also include the water cost, which can add up if you’re on a water meter.

Most Efficient Washing Machines

Warranties and guarantees – are a great indication of the manufactures life expectancy. Most machines will a have a one-year warranty, with many offering 3, 5, 8 and even 10-year warranties as to the top of the market.

Smart appliances are starting to appear with ever-increasing features. Okay, it may be handy to be able to control your machine from your mobile, however, if you’ve forgotten to fill it up that’s not much good. Doing your washing when tariffs are cheaper, say at night, may be beneficial if you’re on Economy 7. However, all these features will add to the purchase price and you may never use them. One area that smart appliances will be developing is the ability to remotely self-diagnose faults. This could be a great feature that would prevent any downtime of your appliances in the future.

Appliances – Offers, deals, cash back, best buys and revues

Getting a good deal can be as time-consuming as researching what machine to get. Do I support my local shops, or go straight online?

There’s no getting away from the fact that buying appliances online has become far easier in recent years. With many retailers offering timed slots, text messages update you where your delivery driver is. And the delivery times have reduced dramatically too. Saying that, there’s no reason that your local appliance shop may well be able to match some deals, and give you peace of mind should there be any issues.

Discounts & Voucher Codes

It’s well worth keeping an eye on online retailer’s discounts code offers – we keep an update list of these. Combining these with manufacturer’s promotions, extended warranties and cash-back deals, could dramatically bring down the cost of your new machine It does require more effort but is well worth it.

Owners and user reviews can be very persuasive reading, and confusing at times. The real issues with these reviews are that the purchaser is only comparing his/her purchase with their previous machine. They haven’t gone out and bought ten washing machines and then chosen the one that performs best. ‘Yes,’ their new washing machine may be miles better than their old one, purely due to the ever-increasing improvement in technology and manufacturing. Expert reviews are probably a better indication of what’s best to buy, even though they can only test a very small amount of the products that are in the shops.

Independent customer reviews of retailers’ delivery and after-sales service seem to be a good way of judging retailer’s general customer service – as your getting a broad cross-section of views on the same thing.

I hope this information has been useful – good luck with your search!

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Please note: We do not publish sponsored content or guest posts that are trying to promote specific products or brands. If you have a genuine newsworthy story you would like to share please do comment or email.

Switching energy supplier? Should we choose the greenest? cheapest? or friendliest?

Posted by Ross Lammas

Due to the current energy market situation, we’d recommend not switching until prices stabilise!

Earn £300 for a few minutes work. It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But that’s the average amount you could save by switching your gas and electricity supplier. And yet two-thirds of people are on standard expensive tariffs!*

Does Sust-it compare the whole energy market?

Yes, we do, you can compare the whole market whether we get a commission or not! Sust-it’s energy comparisons show all the best deals, all of the time! Unlike many energy comparison websites, we don’t default searches to include only commission paying tariffs.

Compare ALL UK gas and electricity suppliers

Always lookout when comparing energy prices for checkboxes saying ‘tariffs we can help you with today’ or similar wording. As these sites aren’t necessarily showing you the best deals straightaway.

Should I always go for the cheapest energy supplier?

Let’s face it energy is boring! Does a British Gas kilowatt look any different to OVO’s or Ecotricity? No; they all come down the same wire or pipe. Okay, one may be greener, other suppliers may have great smart meters or have friendly customer service that answers their phones quickly, or even be better if you’re an electric car driver.

british-gas-smart_meter

A lot of new players have moved into the energy market in recent years. Many of these are offering super cheap tariffs to gain customers, which may be good for providing competition to the market. However, do these organisations have the resources and technology to manage all their potential new customers? Unfortunately many don’t – our advice is to have good look at their website, does it look professional?; Do they publish a phone number? And are their contact details and company information clearly displayed? If not it could be worth going with the brand you trust most and paying a little more. Even the big players are offering cheap tariffs to attract new customers.

Common reasons people give for not switching to a better supplier

I got a great deal a year or two ago… energy companies are experts at sucking you in with a great deal. But prices change all the time. That deal, which seemed good value at the time, may no longer be particularly competitive. Or it could have ended, in which case you’ve probably been quietly moved on to a much more expensive standard rate. If you haven’t changed your supplier in the last few months, you’re most likely losing money every day you don’t switch.

It’s not worth it – I’ll only save a few pounds

Now, it does depend on the rate you’re currently on, but switching can save you hundreds of pounds a year. According to Ofgem, the average standard variable tariff is around £300 more expensive than the cheapest available deal, typically a fixed-term tariff. Some can save a lot more. We shop around for car insurance – we need to do the same with energy.

I don’t want to pay a penalty for switching my energy supplier

Some fixed-rate deals come with an exit fee if you switch within a set period. However, people don’t always realise when that period comes to an end, so you may well find you can now switch without a penalty. Even if you do have to pay an exit fee, it may well be a lot less than you could save by switching. An exit fee tends to be around £30, a tenth of what you could save over a year if you switch.

I buy renewable green energy

It’s good to help reduce our dependency on fossil fuels but going green shouldn’t mean you can’t save money too. There are several 100% green energy suppliers now, including Bulb, Ecotricity, Good Energy and Green Star Energy, not to mention lots of green tariffs. Which one is best for you depends on where you live and how much energy you use, whether your drive an electric car may be a factor. We like to promote green energy suppliers, and our price comparison tool can help you to find the best one for you.

My current supplier gives me energy saving advice

That’s great, and so they should. We’d love to see more forward-thinking suppliers actively helping their customers to save money. However, it’s not exactly in their best interest for you to use less energy. All gas and electricity suppliers will have to at least provide customers with a smart meter by 2020 at the latest. If you want to check whether the supplier you’re thinking of moving to is likely to give you a new smart meter, just check the Smart Energy GB website.

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Isn’t it more important to cut down on the energy I use in the first place?

Definitely! We all need to do our bit to cut our energy use and our carbon footprints. It needn’t be an either/or situation though. Why not switch your supplier and use the money you’re saving each month to make energy-efficient changes to your home, such as replacing your old halogen light bulbs with more efficient bulbs?

Electricity Cost Calculator

I’ve always been with British Gas/Scottish Power or another well-known name

The ‘big six’, namely British Gas, EDF Energy, Eon, Npower, SSE and Scottish Power, do still dominate the market. However, they’re often not the cheapest, and they’re not always the best for customer service either. Last year Which? conducted a large survey of energy customers, asking them to rate their supplier on customer service, complaints handling, value for money and so on. The big six all ranked near the bottom. Scottish Power, for example, achieved a customer score of just 44%. Renewable energy supplier Good Energy, on the other hand, ranked close to the top, with 81%. People are fed up with the big six and are moving away in their droves. British Gas lost 220,000 customers in just the first three months of this year.

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Switching energy suppliers is too much hassle

It has got easier and is no more difficult than shopping around for car/home insurance. You don’t need to be a maths genius and create your own spreadsheets either. My 80-year-old mother is an expert at finding the best deal! And I’ve seen students using their phones to switch. Really you don’t need to do much at all; type in a few details to check the best offer for you, and provide your old and new supplier with a meter reading. It shouldn’t take you more than 10 mins, tops. Our switching service does everything for you. You don’t even need to tell your old supplier you’re switching.

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Is your tumble dryer safe? Fire risk recall safety checker, brands, model numbers

Posted by Ross Lammas

hotpoint-safety-notice_drye

Do you own a Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan or Proline tumble dryer? Be warned they could catch fire! Government data reveals that between 2012 and 2014 there were 2,190 tumble dryer fires. Recent cases include block of flats in Shepherd’s Bush, where it’s thought a faulty Indesit tumble dryer – a brand name of Whirlpool – caused this fire. Luckily none of residents were injured as the fire was spotted quickly allowing the residents to escape. Had the tumble dryer been on at night this could have been a major disaster.

Other tragic cases have included brands such as Beko; in February 2016 a faulty Beko tumble caused a house fire killing a mother of two, Mishell Moloney (49) from Rubery, near Birmingham. The coroner ruled that a defective model of tumble dryer caused a house fire, which led to her death. This type of Beko tumble dryer has also been blamed for twenty other fires, the Birmingham Coroner’s Court heard. This tragic case highlights that there are real dangers from faulty, or even poorly designed dryers.

What the problem with Whirlpool, Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline tumble dryers?

I’ve experience firsthand what’s wrong with these machines, thankfully not through it catching fire! As we used to own one of these faulty Hotpoint dryers, long since replaced with a more efficient condensing tumble dryer. The main drive belt on the model we owned had an annoying habit of breaking. Fixing this involved taking the back off the machine (always unplug the machine first) and replacing the belt. I must admit I was somewhat surprised at how basic and flimsy the whole design of the dryers was – you get what you pay for I guess. What was more worrying was the build-up of dust and fabric fibres within the machine, right next to the unprotected heating elements. At the time I thought this was a real fire hazard and always vacuumed out the fibres, just in case. These had built up even though we’d regularly cleaned out the lint filter, which is recommended by manufacturers. At times there was a burning or singed smell from the dryer. These fibres are cited as causing the fire issues with these tumble dryers.

tumble-dryer_fire_hazard

My view would be that these machines were poorly designed in the first place, or manufactured to unrealistic unit costs parameters, which has ultimately backfired for the brands reputation. No pun intended as this is a serious issue, with three fires a day caused by faulty tumble dryers according to the Local Government Association (LGA) the body which represents 48 fire and rescue services in England and Wales. The LGA also recommend that owners don’t use their machines whilst they are out or leave them on over night. The regular removal of fluff and fibres is a must, and owners should take care not to cover any vents.

tumble-dryer_fires_fluff

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Where can I check that my Tumble Dryer is safe?

There are thought to be over 4.3m potentially faulty Whirlpool tumble dryers in the UK. Whirlpool are asking everyone who owns a Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan or Proline dryers manufactured between 2004 and 2015 to check if their dryer is affected. If your machine is affected you can register for a free modification. Please follow this link for Safety Notice recall notice checking: Hotpoint, Indesit or Creda brands and for Swan click here. Or call their free-phone helpline on 0800 151 0905 for the UK or 1800 804320 for Ireland.

If you are worried about your Beko tumble dryer follow this link.

What about other electrical product recalls? How can I check these?

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has certainly hit the headlines with its batteries catching fire. Unfortunately not all safety issues gather the same media interest as this, which makes finding out what products are potentially dangerous somewhat difficult, especially if you haven’t registered your product warranty.

We’d strongly recommend that you register your product purchases with the manufacturers, mainly for safety repairs and recalls. AMDEA (The Association of manufacturers of Domestic Appliances) run the website ‘Register My Appliance’ This is a great place to register, you can add details of older appliances too.

There is a very useful database of recalled products maintained by Electrical Safety First, simply enter your product information in their website.

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4th generation Toyota Prius – fun to drive? You must be kidding!

Posted by Ross Lammas

Not only is it better looking, delivers more performance and has tauter handling, it consumes less energy than its predecessor! Here’s our take on MK4 Toyota Prius…

Toyota Prius running costs – MPG

Smart homes, appliances, heating controls – will they reduce your energy bills?

Posted by Ross Lammas

Do you remember watching The Jetsons (Or am I showing my age now?) In The Jetsons’ a futuristic world of robotic maids and flying cars, smart technology is taken for granted.

Perhaps we’re now just a step away from that world. We might not have flying cars yet, but driverless cars are on the horizon and we already have robotic vacuum cleaners and are starting to be able to control our home appliances with just a swipe or tap on our smart phones. The ‘internet of things’ is evolving rapidly, allowing us to control and synchronise our tech and use it much more efficiently.

Smart appliances bring lots of advantages when it comes to making our lives easier. We can now control our heating and many of our appliances remotely. Whether it’s turning the heating while we’re getting dressed – that’s if you can find your phone – or switching the washing machine on when we’re out so the noise doesn’t interrupt our evening TV viewing. We can wirelessly stream music around our homes, dim the lights without getting up and even check up on our pets while we’re at work. Smart kits can also help with safety, from turning a plug switch off remotely when we’ve left the iron on, to controlling the lights when we’re away to deter burglars.

Can smart technology help us to save energy and money?

In some cases, yes. We can set appliances to run when electricity is cheaper, or when the sun is shining if we have solar panels. Smart Home thermostats and heating controls, such as Nest and Hive, can make sure our homes are kept at the perfect temperature. They also enable us to switch the heating on or off remotely, so that it’s warm when we get home, but rooms aren’t being heated when we’re not using them.

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Smart technology can tell you if your boiler isn’t working efficiently and self-diagnose faults. It probably won’t be long before your boiler is booking itself a service and adding a note to your calendar for you!

Electric car owners can now download apps to their phone to monitor their car’s performance and battery power, and let them know where there nearest charge point is. Pre-heat your car on frosty morning and make sure it only charges-up on cheap off-peak electricity.

Electric Car Reviews

And it’s not just good for consumers. Smart grids and data collection are helping energy companies and appliance manufacturers to diagnose faults and develop more efficient products and solutions.

So do you need this tech to reduce your energy bills?

Not necessarily! If you’re a technophobe or have simply better things to do, why bother! Okay, turning your washing machine on when you’re out might be convenient occasionally, but it won’t save you energy. Upgrading old appliances to more energy efficient ones certainly will! See our ‘When should you replace old appliances?’ page. It’s certainly easier to save energy heating your home using a smart thermostat, but just turning the maximum temperature down on your current one, and being a bit more organised, can save you electricity and energy.

Switching to an Electric Car will defiantly reduce your vehicle day-to-day running costs. And if you’re charging it with a renewable green tariff, will reduce your emissions and make city air more breathable too.

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Whether you go for a ‘smart’ appliance or a regular one, the key is to buy the most energy efficient one you can afford, and use it smartly.

Ready to upgrade? Click on the Appliances or Motoring tab to check the running costs of the top rated appliances and cars available in the UK.

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Quick fixes for Washing Machines

Repair or Replace my washing machine

See the most energy efficient...

What does it cost to get out a washing machine engineer?

How to choose a washing machine? Drum size and features

Appliances – Offers, deals, cash back, best buys and revues

See the most energy efficient...

Due to the current energy market situation, we’d recommend not switching until prices stabilise!

Does Sust-it compare the whole energy market?

Compare ALL UK gas and electricity suppliers

Should I always go for the cheapest energy supplier?

Common reasons people give for not switching to a better supplier

It’s not worth it – I’ll only save a few pounds

I don’t want to pay a penalty for switching my energy supplier

I buy renewable green energy

My current supplier gives me energy saving advice

See the most energy efficient...

Isn’t it more important to cut down on the energy I use in the first place?

I’ve always been with British Gas/Scottish Power or another well-known name

Switching energy suppliers is too much hassle

See the most energy efficient...

What the problem with Whirlpool, Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline tumble dryers?

See the most energy efficient...

Where can I check that my Tumble Dryer is safe?

What about other electrical product recalls? How can I check these?

See the most energy efficient...

Can smart technology help us to save energy and money?

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So do you need this tech to reduce your energy bills?

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Energy Efficient Living — News, Hints & Tips