Let’s talk about Speed Queens

[Spryte]

Last time DH and I needed a new washer was the year that Speed Queen changed their product and got terrible reviews. So we went with the best rated machine at the time — Electrolux. That was 2018 or 2019, I think?

Here we are again. I hate the Electrolux with a blinding passion at the moment. It is so, so hard to keep that machine clean. I do All The Things and last night still found mold inside after running a cleaning cycle. Yuck.

We are looking at Speed Queen again. TR5 or TR7s are both in stock nearby. They seem to have fixed whatever problem they had a few years ago.

Pros and cons?

Which model do you have, if you have SQ? Do clothes come out clean? Do you find it’s too rough on your clothes?

Have you ever had issues with it? Please tell me there’s never been mold growing anywhere, eeewwwwww.

One person online said these need to go on solid floor — not an upstairs laundry room. Others said it’s fine. Any thoughts?

Our other choice is Miele. But I kind of want the SQ!

 

Edited April 20 by Spryte

[Scarlett]

I have the TR5 and I love it. I can get plenty of water in the tub which was my main complaint with my whirlpool cabrio.  
 

I can wash all of my Queen size bedding and I even washed a king size quilt the other day.  A thin one. 
 

I have not noticed it being hard on my clothes at all. 

I highly recommend it.  My SILs bought one too and they love it. 

[KungFuPanda]

I’ve had mine for about 12 years, but it’s a toploader and I’ve never heard of mold issues with those. It gets the clothes really clean (because WATER) and does it quickly. 
 

I think it’s this one

Edited April 20 by KungFuPanda

[Pawz4me]

I bought a TR-5 in November after my very well liked Maytag bit the dust much sooner than it should have and repairing it didn't make sense due to the cost.

I decided to go with a SQ hoping for the raved longevity. I despise needlessly filling up landfills.

I can't say that I'm "in love" with it as many people claim, but I've never felt love for any appliance. 😉 I'm happy enough with it. It certainly seems well built. The size isn't as limiting as I worried it might be. It easily handles my California king blankets.

I don't think it cleans quite as well as any of the other machines I've had (certainly not as well as the Maytag). I'm using more stain pre-treatment products and adding in more stain fighting products to entire loads than I've needed to in previous machines. But it's not a huge deal, we don't have that many stains.

I haven't noticed that it's rough on clothes at all, but I've just had it a few months. And I don't really know how I'd tell, honestly.

The cycle times, even on the heavy duty setting, are much shorter than my other machines have been. I wonder if that's a big reason why I have to pay more attention to stains? But although cycle time has never been an issue I've cared about, it is kind of nice. Most of our loads don't involve stains, so the quicker wash times are okay for those.

I went with the TR-5 because we're on a septic system and I like the sensing feature/not using more water than necessary. The sensing feature works fine, but I've never had an issue with stuff not getting clean because of lack of water in any of the machines I've had.

ETA: It's fairly quiet as far as washers go, and I like that. Ours is on a slab, so I can't say how it would do upstairs. But if your current machine is upstairs and works okay I really don't see why a SQ wouldn't.

Edited April 20 by Pawz4me

[Jaybee]

We have a Speed Queen washer and dryer, not sure what model but they both say Commercial Heavy Duty on them, and were bought in 2016. Top loaders. We didn't use them for one year in there, because we moved and were in a rental that year that had a washer/dryer, so we just stored them in the garage that year. We haven't had any problems with them, I haven't seen any mold. We should probably look up how to clean them out, but haven't yet. They clean the clothes fine, especially if I use a good detergent. Though the unit in the rental looked pretty new, it was frustrating because I usually had to play with the washer in order to get enough water in it to actually clean the clothes well, and I don't have to worry about that with my SQ. No problem with them being rough on clothes. Ours was in an apartment that was on an upper floor the first year, and has been in a house on a slab since then. I haven't really paid much attention to how loud/quiet it is. 

[Ginevra]

I still love my Speed Queen. I hope I never have to buy any other kind of washer for the rest of my life. I first had a horrible Whirlpool Calypso (worst design ever) and replaced it in five years with a Maytag that lasted only a few years more. Then I got my SQ in Dec 2015. It still rocks my socks! I never have had a single issue with it ever. 
 

And mine is in an upstairs laundry room on a tile floor. Never had a single problem. 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’ve had mine for about 12 years, but it’s a toploader and I’ve never heard of mold issues with those. It gets the clothes really clean (because WATER) and does it quickly. 
 

I think it’s this one

I think that's the one I have too.  We got ours in 2016 and have had no problems at all.  I'm very happy with it.  

[Indigo Blue]

We have speed queen washer and dryer. They say commercial heavy duty on them. It’s a top loader washer. We bought the washer the same year they made changes. We’ve had no trouble. Very reliable and does a good job. I’m not sure what model they are. 

[wathe]

TC5 here, since the fall.   Thread: Which Speed Queen Do I Want?

I've been happy with it.   It's super fast, and quieter than my old toploader.

Clothes are clean.

Works just fine on my non-slab floor.  Much better balanced than my old one. 

Only drawback:  It's not as flexible as my old completely analog 1990's era Maytag toploader that I could start at any point in any cycle or switch to a different program mid-cycle, or repeat bits of cycles by cranking the mechanical dials (usually would do this mid-wash when I wanted to add another forgotten item, and could restart the cycle without draining and refilling).   The SQ runs complete programs that can't really be switched on-the-fly.   But that's not a big deal.

 

 

[Scarlett]

And when I say I love mine that is just a relative term because I hated that Whirlpool Cabrio with the heat of 1000 suns. I don’t usually give appliances much thought but when clothes come out of the washer half dry I do tend to take notice. 

[Ginevra]

35 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

And when I say I love mine that is just a relative term because I hated that Whirlpool Cabrio with the heat of 1000 suns. I don’t usually give appliances much thought but when clothes come out of the washer half dry I do tend to take notice. 

As a former Whirlpool Calypso owner (similar design), I could not agree more. 

[-----]

nm

Edited August 30 by kathyl

[Spryte]

Thanks, all! I think we are going to go with SQ. 

DH is leaning toward the TR7 because it has a delay feature, and we use that frequently. 

[Kassia]

Hope you love it!