To evaluate washers, Consumer Reports' test engineers launder swatches of fabric stained with, among other things, red wine, cocoa, and carbon. Why carbon? It's similar to soot.
"These stains are meant to challenge the washer, so we can see real differences between machines," says Emilio Gonzalez, who oversees CR's laundry lab. "In fact, the test stains are designed so that no washer can get the swatch completely clean."
The graphic below shows how much carbon was left behind by seven models, compared with an unwashed swatch, in CR's washing machine tests. Most front-loader washers were better than agitator top-loader washers, and interestingly, in this test the Electrolux, $810, and Samsung, $1,710, delivered similar results.
Methodology: The gray scale above reflects color values, from 0 to 100 (100 being absolute white), captured by an imaging instrument called a spectrocolorimeter, assigning a numeric value to precisely how much of the stain remains after each swatch goes through a wash cycle.
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Here are the models shown above (clockwise from top right):
- Electrolux EFLS517SIW, $810
- Maytag MVWB765FW, $800
- LG WM3670HWA, $700
- GE GTW330ASKWW, $400
- Samsung FlexWash WV60M9900AV, $1,710
- Kenmore 22242, $480
- GE GFW480SSKWW, $900
