Could you tell me where you read about the health risks? I have the 328's and use the silvercare some, but hadn't heard about any health risks. But, that being said, it doesn't mean I will no longer use it. Perhaps if I had young children, but we are in our 50's (empty nesters) so I feel fairly certain when we die, the cause of death won't be related to our laundry LOL! I was just curious as to what the health risks are.

If you google health and environmental issues with Samsung silvercare washer-- related articles will pop up. Apparently the machine has been categorized as a pesticide by the EPA and there has been an attempt to ban the silvercare in Germany. I'm not sure if this is hype or paranoia, but I thought that it was worth investigating.

I never really understood what the big selling point of Silvercare was in the first place? Regular washing & drying is supposed to almost always be enough to remove most of the nasty bugs that live on laundry. Heck, the CDC even says that it is effective enough for MRSA (see link below.)

I.e. if your clothes still smell or have bugs on them after you wash them without Silvercare vs. with, perhaps you should find a more effective washing machine and/or detergent that does the job without gimmicks?

Here is a link that might be useful: CDC MRSA laundry guidelines

well that's interesting to know, but did you know the hepatitis virus can live up to 2 weeks under your finger nails? Now if I have blood splatters on my scrubs, and there's a remote possibility that that person could have hepatitis, its nice to think that I can still "sanitize" them without bleaching them. I am vaccinated for Hep B, and so are my boys (grown now) but my husband is not. So I'll go on thinking I do good by using my Silvercare option. :)

I wish this site would let you edit your posts. Anyhow, I used Hep B as an example. I personally am vaccinated for Hep B, but my husband is not. When is comes to my work clothes (I'm a dental hygienist) I will use anything I can to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

Samsung has yet to demonstrate the effectiveness of it's silver care. They claimed a 99.9% reduction in bacteria versus an unwashed dirty load of laundry. They did not compare it to laundry that was washed in a machine without the silver care. For all we know a regular washing without silver care under the same controlled conditions would have produced a 99.9% reduction in bacteria. Until some real testing and data collection is done I'm skeptical of believing their claims. With that said, the amount of silver used would not be a health or environmental hazard.

If you were considering samsung then you might want to consider the kenmore elite that is based on the samsung 218 .... only it has the diamond drum (smaller holes), AST2 (1300 RPM?? VRT with samsung), and a front "trap/drain" ( catches earring studs etc) features.

No silvercare, so its cheaper (and an excellent power consumption rating) ... it does have a "sanitize" option (heats the water to 150 deg).

I have only had mine 2 days and just done a couple of comforters .... they came out great. I like the odds of better service from sears over the local samsung service.

KC

I haven't looked directly at any of the information available about this machine, but wanted to throw in that if the EPA registers it as a pesticide, that is the same as classifying it as a disinfectant (which I believe is what the claim is for). The EPA registers all disinfectants as pesticides (including chlorine bleach).

Silver is just a mineral. It's certainly no more harmful than bleach or any of the other myriad chemicals we use to wash clothes. Silver is used in hospitals to enhance healing, especially on burns.

Supposedly the silver has a residual effect, claim is if washed in silver cycle then worn and rewashed in regular cycle the silver advantage will remain for one month?