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On the face of it the Zanussi ZWJ14591W seems like a bit of a bargain. It’s an 8kg washing machine with an A+++ rating, all for a rather low price. On paper that’s an excellent compromise between efficiency, price and wash capacity.
POWER AND WATER USAGE
Of course, the energy rating figure only tells part of the story, but it’s actual energy and water consumption that makes the real difference. In our tests, we saw that energy consumption was a little higher than on some other 8kg machines.
Testing using the 30C Cotton cycle, we measured power consumption at 0.67kW with water consumption of 49L .The combination meant that there was a combined cost of 24p, which is a little higher than we’ve seen on some machines, but certainly not too expensive. A 1,400rpm spin speed meant that our clothes retained 1.2kg of water. Again, not bad.
Moving up to the 40C Cotton cycle, we measured power at 0.72kW, with water consumption a similar 47L. This gave us the same combined cost of 24p per cycle. Water retention was better in this cycle, though, with our clothing retaining just 1kg of water.
It’s usually the synthetic cycle that causes machines problems, with the finer drum control requiring more power. In the case of the Zanussi ZWJ14591W this wasn’t the case and it increased energy consumption to just 0.79kW for the 40C Synthetic cycle. Water consumption was better, though, at 39L. This gave us a combined cost of 23p for the cycle.
Working out yearly running costs gives us a good figures to compare different washing machines. We do this using the EU Energy Label (see how we test washing machines for more information). For this machine we got costs of £53.56 for high usage, £40.17 for medium usage and £26.78 for low usage. Overall, running costs are consistent across all of the cycles we tested. While it’s possible to buy a 8kg washing machines with cheaper running costs, you’ll have a higher up-front cost that will take years to pay back.
WASH PERFORMANCE
To find out how good the Zanussi is at cleaning clothes, we put it through a series of tests using our stain strips. View our gallery to see all of the cleaning examples: dirty cloth is at the top of each sample; the clean one is at the bottom.
Cleaning performance was generally very good, with the 40C Cotton wash having the slight edge over the 30C Cotton wash. In particular, we noticed that more of our red wine stain was removed when washed at 40C than 30C.
Blood mostly came out in both of these cycles, although close inspection showed slightly more staining and trace amounts of the material left than the same test with some more expensive machines.
Switching to the 40C Synthetic cycle, we saw similar performance to the 40C Cotton wash. Again red wine removal was very good, but our blood sample left behind trace amounts of stain when examined closely.
We have seen slightly better wash performance from more expensive machines, but for the price we were satisfied with the quality.
EASE OF USE AND FEATURES
There’s no denying that the Zanussi ZwJ14591W is a little more basic-looking than some of the competition, with its plain white case. However, it’s certainly inoffensive and the build quality felt good to us.
Control is through a main dial that lets you set the wash type. For each wash type (Cottons, Synthetics, Delicates and Wool/Handwash) you can select the allowed temperature. For example, the Cotton cycle lets you choose Cold, 30C, 40C, 60C or 90C; the Synthetics cycle lets you choose Cold, 30C or 40C.
In addition, you can select additional features per wash, including the Soil level (Light or Heavy), which increases the wash time to help remove stubborn stains, Prewash and Extra rinse. There’s no option to save your favourite settings into a wash, though.
A small LCD screen displays the current settings and time remaining. It’s basic, but tells you all you need to know.
Sound wise, the Zanussi ZWJ14691 is rated at 55dB for wash and 79dB for the spin cycle. That’s a fair bit louder than other machines we’ve tested, although the machine didn’t shudder or vibrate in our tests, so it wasn’t too obtrusive in our test lab.
CONCLUSION
Consistent running costs and decent wash performance mean that the Zanussi ZWJ14591W is a good budget choice. Given more money we’d buy the Panasonic NA-168VG4, which has considerably lower running costs and better wash performance, but if you’re on a tight budget, this is a good buy.
