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  • Introduction

  • Front

  • Controls

  • Drawer

  • Interior

  • Sides

  • Back

  • Electricity Use

  • Water Use

  • Cost Per Wash

  • Yearly Running Cost

  • Washing Speed

  • Washing Performance

  • Normal/Permanent Press Cycle

  • Cotton/Whites Cycle

  • Delicate Cycle

  • Heavy Duty Cycle

  • Quick Wash Cycle

  • Dirt Removal

  • Clothes Wear

  • Water Retention

  • Washing Cycles

  • Customization

  • Additional Wash Options

  • Detergent Dispenser

  • Washer Door

  • Ease of Use

  • Controls

  • Efficiency

  • Performance

  • Features

  • Introduction
  • Front
  • Controls
  • Drawer
  • Interior
  • Sides
  • Back
  • Electricity Use
  • Water Use
  • Cost Per Wash
  • Yearly Running Cost
  • Washing Speed
  • Washing Performance
  • Normal/Permanent Press Cycle
  • Cotton/Whites Cycle
  • Delicate Cycle
  • Heavy Duty Cycle
  • Quick Wash Cycle
  • Dirt Removal
  • Clothes Wear
  • Water Retention
  • Washing Cycles
  • Customization
  • Additional Wash Options
  • Detergent Dispenser
  • Washer Door
  • Ease of Use
  • Controls
  • Efficiency
  • Performance
  • Features

Introduction

Front

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The front of the Electrolux EIFLS551 has a stainless steel-rimmed door that opens to the left. The top left of the device has a detergent drawer with receptacles for fabric softener and bleach. Next to that drawer you'll find the washer's control dial and cycle customization controls. Overall, it's a fairly basic layout.

Controls

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The control dial has ten settings: deep clean sanitize, heavy duty, whites, fast wash, normal, casual, colors, delicate, hand wash, and spin only.

To the right of the control dial are a few more operational controls, such as the start/pause, cancel and delay start buttons. There's also a small LCD screen to help with device interface. Further to the right are the cycle customization controls. These will let you set the temperature, spin speed, and how dirty the load is. You can also add quite a few extra options: prewash, add steam, extra rinse, extra spin, eco friendly, and set up a chime.

Drawer

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Interior

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The barrel of the washer features a few agitators.

The interior of the CDWT980VSS.

Sides

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There aren't any features on the sides of the Electrolux EIFLS551. We would've liked to see some handles here when we were moving it.

Olympus SZ-31MR iHS side views

Back

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The back of the washer has the water hookups, power cable, and drainage hose.

The hot and cold hookups are color coded for easier installation.

Electricity Use

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We found that the {{product.name}} used only a small amount of electricity: in a typical year it would cost about $1.21 to run. That only represents a small part of the running cost, though, as the cost of the water and gas to heat it is much higher.

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Water Use

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The {{product.name}} used a fairly large amount of water, with the amount used per wash ranging from 10.95 gallons (for the fast wash) up to 16.42 gallons for the deep clean sanitize cycle. These numbers are on the high side: other washers use less water in their quick cycles.

Cost Per Wash

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This relatively high water use makes this one of the more expensive washers to run, with the cost of each wash ranging from 5 cents (for the fast wash) up to 14 cents for the deep clean sanitize cycle.

Yearly Running Cost

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We calculated the yearly running cost of this washer at $34.10. That's based on an average of 392 washes a year in a variety of cycles. One thing to note here is that we calculate the cost of use differently to the EnergyGuide label that you see on washers in stores. That measurement is based on the same number of washes, but only in one cycle.

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Washing Speed

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Washing Performance

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Normal/Permanent Press Cycle

The normal wash cycle of this device took about 53 minutes to run, and it provided decent cleaning power. The blood stain on our test strips was mostly removed, but the impact on the cocoa and red wine stains was less pronounced.

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Cotton/Whites Cycle

The cotton cycle ups the temperature, so it is no surprise that it is more effective at shifting our test stains. However, it is still not as effective as some other washers, with more of the stains remaining than their equivalent cycles.

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Delicate Cycle

The delicate cycle also did a decent, but not great job of removing stains. We typically expect to see weaker performance here, though, as the delicate cycle is designed to wash clothes that are more sensitive to wear and tear.

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Heavy Duty Cycle

The heavy duty cycle was the most effective of the wash cycles, shifting a decent amount of our test stains. But again, it was not as effective as the equivalent cycles of other washers: the heavy duty cycle of the Kenmore 4072 and the Whirlpool WFW94HEX shifted significantly more of the stains.

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Quick Wash Cycle

The Fast Wash cycle of the Electrolux EIFLS55IIW is pretty speedy: we measured it at 21 minutes. But the tradeoff of that speed is rather poor cleaning performance, with little impact on the stains in our tests. We wouldn’t recommend this cycle for everyday use, but it might be acceptable for washing a couple of items that have been lightly worn.

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Dirt Removal

We also test the performance of the washer at removing dirt and dust from a wash load. Here, we again found acceptable, but not great performance, with the best being the Heavy Duty cycle that removed 58% of the dirt. The Fast Wash cycle was disappointing, though, removing less than a third of the dirt.

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Clothes Wear

Washing clothes involves wear and tear, so we look at how much wear each of our 5 tested cycles puts on your clothes with special testing cloths. Here, we found that the Electrolux EIFLS55IIW was a little harder on the clothes than we like to see, with the Heavy Duty cycle in particular more wear on the clothes than average.

Water Retention

The Electrolux EIFLS55IIW did a decent job of removing the water from the wash by spinning it: we found that the amount of water left in the was was generally lower than average, which would make drying the clothes quicker and cheaper.

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Washing Cycles

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The {{product.name}} offers 10 wash cycles, ranging from an 18 minute fast wash to a deep clean sanitize cycle which provides extreme cleaning power. The available cycles are listed below

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Customization

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A large amount of customization is also available with these cycles: you can set the temperature, spin speed and soil level to tweak any of the cycles. The range of customization depends on the chosen cycle: the Heavy Duty wash allows you to set the temperature to cold, warm (with cold or warm rinse) or hot, but the delicate cycle only gives options for cold or warm wash. The soil option changes the wash time: the extra heavy option adds about 12 minutes to the cycle time.

Additional Wash Options

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There are a 6 wash options available from the illuminated buttons on the right side of the control panel, which are listed below.

Detergent Dispenser

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The detergent dispenser pops out with a press of the silver button on the front, and it has four compartments for the main wash, prewash, bleach and fabric softener. The main wash compartment can be removed if powdered detergent is being used. The other compartments are not removable. All of the compartments contain level indicators to show the maximum and minimum amount of detergent that should be used.

Washer Door

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The interior of the CDWT980VSS.

Ease of Use

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The {{product.name}} is pretty easy to use overall: the controls are straightforward and the detergent dispenser and main door both open at the touch of a button. Both are a little harder to close, though, requiring a fair amount of force to close, which could be an issue for some users. The detergent dispenser also does not always close properly: the latch mechanism didn't catch quite often when we used it, making the dispenser pop out again. One very nice touch is the inclusion of a small light inside the door which comes on when the door is opened, which makes it much easier to find your socks in a hurry.

Controls

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The controls for the {{product.name}} are all located on a panel on the front of the device. The main control is the cycle selector, which has all 10 wash cycles around it. The currently selected on is shown with a blue light. This selector is easy to rotate and use, with distinct stops for each cycle.

Efficiency

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We calculated the typical yearly running cost of this washer at $34.10, which is in the middle of the range for front loaders of this type. That is a little more expensive than some, but it is also cheaper than others.

Performance

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We found decent, but not great washing performance from this clothes washer. It made a significant impact on the stains in our test strips in most of the wash cycles, with the heavy duty cycle being the most effective. However, all of the wash cycles that we tested were less effective than those on other washers, meaning it did not do as well at removing the stains.

Features

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The {{product.name}} offers a good, but not outstanding set of features, with a decent range of wash cycles and options to customize the wash. It does not, however, offer the additional features of some other washes, such as steam washes and cold cycles. Most users won't miss these features, though, and this washer is cheaper than most.

Meet the tester

WasherDryerInfo.com Staff

WasherDryerInfo.com Staff

Editor

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