GE GTW460ASJWW Top Load Washing Machine Review

A pole agitator dominates the drum, just the way washers used to be. And if you ever felt like modern washers don't use enough water, the GTW460ASJWW has an answer. There's a button on top of the control panel labeled Deep Fill, and each press immediately adds a whopping six gallons of water to any cycle.

Leave it alone, however, and this GE can be surprisingly efficient. We think that's a good way to bring together the past and the present.

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Design & Features

Simplicity, thy name is GTW460ASJWW

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GE wants to build the next great American washer. After years of research and a $100 million investment, the company concluded Americans want familiarity in the laundry room. Unlike Whirlpool's new machines that teach you how to get clothes clean, this control panel expects you to already know what you want.

Five knobs offer settings for load size, temperature, cycle type, extra rinses, and soak time. We find it less straightforward than a modern washer that sets all those things automatically, but traditionalists will likely find the settings self-explanatory. There are no slam-proof hinges here, and you won't find an LCD timer or high-efficiency, low-profile impeller: This is just a washing machine that fills up with water and spins.

The most important new feature is Deep Fill. By popular demand, simply press it once and any cycle gets an extra six gallons of water, and you can keep adding water until the drum fills to the brim.

Performance

Meets expectations

In terms of stain removal, GTW460ASJWW ranks near the middle of all washers we've tested—but it does well among top loaders that sell for under $500 at retail.

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We used the Precise Fill setting for all tests, which let the machine automatically decide how much water to use. We found that the Colors cycle on heavy settings removed the most stains, followed by the Whites and Normal cycles. Regardless of how they cleaned, all of the cycles we tested lasted less than an hour. The Colors cycle on medium settings, for example, needed only 38 minutes. However, haste makes waste. That 38-minute cycle wore down fabrics most quickly.

For in-depth performance information, please visit the Test Results Page.

Warranty

The GE GTW460ASJWW comes with a one-year warranty that covers parts and labor for repairs resulting from defective materials or workmanship. Repairs required due to improper operation are not covered.

Why We Like It

It might be just what you've been looking for

Since the advent of high-efficiency front-load and top-load washers, the GE GTW460ASJWW is what many American consumers have been demanding.

If you're tired of newfangled features getting in the way of honest clothes washing, then the GE GTW460ASJWW is for you. A pole agitator for cleaning and the option for high water usage are reminiscent of another era of laundry care. Stain removal is good enough, but takes a backseat to cycle times and a fair price tag. For the average family, this washer will make laundry chores easier, and maybe even bring a bit of nostalgia.

Cleaning Performance

We measure cleaning performance with mechanically coated cloth swatches. Each swatch has a square stained with common household substances like cocoa and tannin. We place these swatches into test loads of laundry consisting of towels, bedsheets, and pillowcases. When the selected cycle finishes, we remove the strips and analyze them with a photospectrometer, which determine how much of each stain has been lifted.

On the GTW460ASJWW, the Colors cycle set to heavy ranked first in stain removal, out-cleaning the Whites cycle by 4%. The results are a little surprising considering the Whites cycle used more than double the hot water of Heavy Duty. The Colors cycle set to normal ranked third, lagging behind the heavy settings by 7.3%.

Efficiency

We measure utility consumption with wattage and water meters. After tallying up all the test cycles, and assuming average costs and use patterns, we estimate this GE will cost you around $63 a year to run. Over the lifetime of the washer, that will amount to double the cost of the machine itself.

How much water a washer spins out also affects your total utility costs. If a washer fails to spin out excess water, your dryer has to work overtime. The GTW460ASJWW spun out 55% of excess moisture, which is better than average.

Clothing Wear

Mechanically washed fabrics will inevitably emerge a little more worn than they went in, the question is how much.

To quantify wear and tear, we use mechanical action strips–bolts of cloth with a controlled thread count. We place these strips in select washes, and after the cycle is complete, we count the loose threads. The Colors cycle set to normal was the most destructive, causing 69 loose threads on average–unsurprising since this cycle needed to rush through its 38 minute run time. The Whites cycle was the next most destructive with 63 loose threads. Colors on the heavy setting came in third, resulting in 58 loose threads.