Old one got a tear in the front and was leaking water on the floor. Had to take apart a bunch of the machine, and I gotta say that the two seals (inner drum and outer casing) were both tricky to get on properly.
Doing a test load of laundry now, and there’s no leaks (so far), so that’s pretty excellent
Ahhh maybe. But laundry is such a tiny part of our overall water budget. We use vastly more water for showers and dishes (still haven’t found a dishwasher that doesn’t need pre-rinsing, despite what Technology Connections says).
As for power, the dryer uses vastly more than the washer and the whole energy star system for that is a scam of Volkswagen proportions. They achieve the energy star rating by giving you damp clothes at the end of the default cycle. We end up running the damn thing on the “more” setting which conveniently turns off the “energy star” light. In other words, if you want dry clothes the energy star rating goes right out the window!
That’s a good point, optimizing the wrong things can be a real distraction!