My thoughts? First - what do you want and need in a washing machine besides a strong assurance of low vibration? Do you need any special cycles? Do you often like to do hot washes? Etc, etc... A machine that may not do the wash cycles you desire, but has low vibration is just a different set of trade-offs from accepting some vibration but doing the wash as you desire. Getting the wash done to your requirements should be the primary requirement and then look for the lowest vibration. You have a second floor laundry room. With this type of setup the big questions for a HE machine are: 1) How quickly can you get hot water to the machine? 2) How hot is the water from your DHW source? Since the Samsung will only use it's internal heater when doing a sanitary cycle, the answers to the above two questions will really determine what the machine can do temperature wise. Our 2nd floor laundry room has a dedicated, insulated PEX hot feed directly from the DHW tank. I checked the other day and the hose fittings felt hot within 10 seconds of the start of flow so it's getting the hot water very quickly. With our DHW set at 131F, a hot fill at the machine was still only about 110F. The SS drum and clothing suck up a lot of energy. In a machine whose internal heater only operates in sanitary, that would be the best we could do for a hot wash. With less optimal piping, it wouldn't even be this good. If we set our DHW source to 140F, I'd guess we could get a ~115F fill. Some people don't care about, or never do hot washes. If that's the case, the Samsung or any machine with no/limited internal heater would work fine. Anyways, just a consideration thats very important to me. FYI - Whirlpool and many LG's (certainly their top of the line) will use their internal heater in a number of cycles (but not all) besides sanitary. Samsung's answer to this would be their silver care stuff. Believing in this vs. actual hotter temperatures is a leap of faith. Also have to consider the environmental and unknown nano health issues of the "Ag" approach.

I joined gardenweb to post on hvac but the second thing I have been dying to do is post on the Duet washer. Mine replaced an older front loading Maytag Neptune that was great for our clothes but broke down too often. Whirlpool bought Maytag and the Epic is the same as the Duet...we bought the Duet. I hate it. What I mean is...I hate it! I have only had it a few months and should have listened to the reviews I read before I bought it. I read about tangled clothes and snagged towels. I have no problems with clothes being clean. I use HE Tide and a bit of Biz (HE amount) and always Spray & Wash stains because my kids are 6, 9, 10 and quite frankly, are little dirty animals. Main issues: 1. The clothes, especially adult size, but long pants and sleeves on kids too, get tangled around each other--alot. Mine look just like the picture posted already. The saleman told me to jam in every towel or 20 jeans, etc. and push the door closed. I have never done that and can't imagine it. Sometimes it is so tangled, I have to pull about half the ball of clothes out and let them fall all over the floor as I untangle each item. 2. There is so little water that things end up nearly dry. Good, you think--but they are so dry, wrinkles are setting in before you even put them in the dryer and then the dryer really sets in those creases--especially the jeans. I also find some things, especially towels and t-shirts are noticeably less soft. 3. Towels, especially the really good, plush (expensive) ones that you love, come out snagged--alot, big long snags. I am guessing there are burrs or something inside the drum holes or something in there catching the loops. We are building a new house and this machine will not be coming with us because it aggravates me so. Here are some of solutions I came up with to help make laundry less aggravating with this machine. 1. I never pack it too full. I would rather do an extra load than take the extra time to separate the clothes to put in the dryer. I feel they probably get cleaner when there is less to get twisted around each other anyway. 2. To combat wrinkles I never spin on high. I will do normal wash, med spin or I will even go to heavy duty wash so I can access the low spin button. This keeps them wetter. My old Maytag Neptune dryer has a sensor so it runs only until it senses they are dry and works great. I keep a spray bottle of water nearby and spray the jeans and pants legs' creases and smooth out the wrinkles then do a loose fold before I throw them in the dryer. I also shake out the shirts to their normal shape. It takes time but it does help. 3. The towels...well they snag. My only solution so far is to never do a load of strictly towels. Towels alone in a load guarantees snags on some. I try to mix a few towels in my other loads so they have a fighting chance to stay away from the enemy--wherever it is. As for avoiding problems like moldy odor and the such, I try not to leave things in overnight, or throw them in a basket or leave door open if I don't dry things right away and then leave the door open when not in use. My old Neptune had a class action law suit about mold issues, although I never had the problem, so I am precautionary about that. I also wash my cleaning rags once a week or so in just bleach and that may help. Sorry for the long drawn out deal but I have been perturbed about this thing and have never joined a forum to vent. Although reviews I read elsewhere before I bought mention the snagged towels, I don't see it as much in this forum so I think it is not a complete design flaw and something in only some of them. We are under waranty and I also have the extended warranty. Maybe something can be done about that...a new drum or find a screw or something. I will make that call today and see what they say. Good luck to those who choose this washer or if you already have it and have these issues. If anyone would like to recommend a fantastic front loader with no problems, I am all ears. I may look at the LG or Bosch when we move.

The new Maytag Maxima MHW8200 still has Sanitize and Allergen and this model comes closer to my beloved Duet WFW9700HEX. Allergen is a nice hot alternative to Sanitize and I use both for different needs. Disappointed WP removed the Allergen cycle. Removal of some interim spins on Normal is to make the cycle more suitable for mixed fabric loads and "wrinkle free". I suspect Towels is more akin to Bulky/Bedding. And we know how I feel about cold water washing -- NOT!! The PowerWash has long hot wash phase and it also does varying tumble speeds that's almost a slow spin speed through hot soapy water. Check out Frigilux's review of his new Maxima last Fall MamaP on AW.org.

Sears says: If the water heater is fine, or if the water comes into the washer warm when you set it for cold, then the water temperature selector switch, electronic temperature control board or main electronic control board may need to be replaced. The washer also won't fill with the right temperature of water if the hot or cold valve on the water inlet valve assembly fails so replace the water inlet valve assembly if a valve fails. I can still get the Washer Temperature Switch which lives behind the control panel, and the Water Temp Switch which is on the rear of the machine. Neither of the control boards is available at Sears or a couple other online places I checked that have other parts for this machine. There are plenty of nuts and bolts, and a can of matching paint, but no boards <eyeroll>