[oogali]

> And... they don't smell bad?

If you do not regularly clean the rubber gasket _and_ leave the door open to dry out the rubber completely, you end up with a smelly, slimy mixture of clothing lint-infused mildew.

> Frankly the most important difference to me is this central axis in American top-loaders and which clothes wrap themselves and which always ends up destroying elastics.

You can buy modern top loaders do not have an agitator that destroys clothes.

https://www.bhg.com/impeller-vs-agitator-washing-machine-748...

[hedora]

The smelly front loader thing seems to be intentional planned obsolescence. They all keep a reservoir of dirty water at the bottom of the washer below the pump, and that water keeps the inside of the machine moist and full of mildew. Ours has a little emergency / cleaning drain hose, but it's so short that it pours back into the machine unless you hold a container inside the door (it's a Samsung). I can easily imagine a little third-party gizmo that clamps on to that hose, detects when the machine is done running, and then opens a valve to drain the water into a bucket or a floor drain. It'd probably cost $50 and more than double the lifespan of the washing machine.

I wish the energy efficiency regulations would be updated to ban designs that leave standing dirty water inside appliances.

[pfdietz]

You can prevent the smell by periodic cleaning of the washing machine with a perborate cleaner (like Oxyclean brand.)