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" To help you find the best washer for you, the Good Housekeeping Research Institute&amp;#039;s Home Care director, Carolyn Fort\u00E9, answers all your tough questions. What factors are most important to consider before I buy?  Evaluate your laundry needs and how many loads of laundry you wash a week. If you have a large family, or if you&amp;#039;re a planning a family in the near future, consider a big washer that can handle large loads. Larger interior dimensions will give you more flexibility and can also handle oversized household items, like comforters and sleeping bags. If you wear a lot of delicate fabrics, consider a machine with cycles that simulate hand-washing. If you wash lots of heavy items, a unit that offers an extended spin (for wringing water from towels and comforters) and extra rinse cycles (for rinsing out excess detergent) is great. Do you often have heavily soiled clothes such as sports uniforms? A machine that provides extra-long wash and presoaking cycles will get them clean. In contrast, if you tend to have slightly soiled garments, a washer with a quick-wash option may be best for you. How long will you keep your washer? Are you buying it for a home you&amp;#039;ll sell in a few years? If so, you may not want to spend more than $500 for a washer. How much space do you have? Freestanding clothes washers typically range in width from 24 to 27 inches; 27 inches is the most popular size. Today&amp;#039;s larger front loaders can be stacked with a matching dryer on top, so if you have the height, you can get two full-size appliances in your space instead of just one. Where will you install the washer? If you&amp;#039;re buying a top loader and butting it up against a wall, you may not want a side-opening lid since it could hit the wall each time it&amp;#039;s opened. Where is your laundry room? If it&amp;#039;s in the basement and poorly lit, you may want a lighted console or loud cycle signals. If it&amp;#039;s in a utility closet near your bedroom, you may want a quiet model.  If you have kids who play a lot of sports, check out models with presoak cycles and ones with temperature settings that automatically adjust the mix of incoming hot and cold water so &amp;quot;cold&amp;quot; is never below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If your water is too cold, powdered detergent may not dissolve completely, and tough stains may not come out.   What&amp;#039;s the best way to judge tub capacity? Most washer tubs range in size from about 2.45 cubic feet to 3.3 cubic feet. Don&amp;#039;t try to compare numbers or industry terminology for tub capacity. Manufacturers use different methods to calculate tub size and a variety of terms, such as &amp;quot;extra-large,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;super-capacity&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;super-capacity plus.&amp;quot; Although many top-loading washers with agitators claim to be &amp;quot;super-capacity,&amp;quot; some are really too small to handle 12-pound loads. If you tend to save up your laundry or have a large family, look for a machine with the &amp;quot;plus&amp;quot; label. It will likely wash up to 15 pounds at a time. Or, consider a large-size front loader or top loader without an agitator. Do some clothes washers conserve more energy and water? Yes. Clothes washers with the U.S. Department of Energy&amp;#039;s Energy Star label meet government standards for low-energy consumption. Buying an Energy Star-labeled washer might pay off twofold: Roughly 15 states also offer rebates from $50 to $300 to consumers who buy washers with this label. Are there any safety features in clothes washers? Yes. Although all washers stop spinning during the spin cycle when the lid is open, some have safety locks. This feature prevents children from opening the lid during the spin cycle. What are the pros and cons of dials vs. push buttons vs. touchpads? No doubt, touchpad controls are more sleekly designed and easier to clean than dials and push buttons \u2014- though the cleanup of laundry appliances isn&amp;#039;t a big deal. The real benefit of buying an electronic touchpad control is that it gives you instant feedback, with icons, cycle time readouts and lights that can be seen from across a room. What should I know about delivery and installation? Before you buy a clothes washer, think about how it will be installed. Do you want your old washer hauled away, or does your town allow curbside pickup of appliances? If you&amp;#039;re rearranging or building a new laundry room, do you need water or electric hooked up? Who will be home to accept the delivery of your clothes washer? Do you need to take a day off of work because the place you bought it from doesn&amp;#039;t deliver on weekends? And if you plan to install your washer in a basement, make sure you measured the entranceway to ensure the unit can fit in your home. What kind of warranty do manufacturers typically offer? You generally get a one- or two-year parts-and-labor warranty included in the sticker price. Certain parts, like the motor and the tub, are covered for longer periods, depending on the brand, with limited warranties. Are extended warranties worth the extra cost? An extended warranty might make sense if simple repairs are not something you can do easily. Before you sign up, though, check first for free warranties. Some credit cards automatically extend the manufacturer&amp;#039;s warranty for one year. Also, look for the Good Housekeeping Seal \u2014 a two-year limited warranty. Next, read a warranty contract thoroughly and find out who&amp;#039;s behind the deal. (The best contracts are backed by the manufacturer.) And finally, ask if the repairman will come for yearly tune-ups or only when there&amp;#039;s a major problem. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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