Indesit IWE91481ECO review

Budget appliances are Indesit’s forte, and with such good prices across the range of washing machines, it’s often the brand for anyone looking for a bargain. The IWE91481 is one of Indesit’s mid-range washing machines, which means it should have better performance and lower running costs than the brand’s lowest-priced machines.

The Indesit IWE91481ECO has a low price for a 9kg machine

POWER AND WATER USAGE

Our first test wash was with a 3kg load on a 30C cotton cycle. Water usage with this Indesit was fairly low at 35L, as was power usage at 0.48kW. These figures equated to a cost per cycle of 17p, which is actually very good. That was on a spin speed of 1400rpm, which retained 1.2kg of water in our clothes – quite high compared with other more expensive models that we’ve tested.

On the 40C cycle, the cost per cycle jumped quite significantly to 32p. This cost was the result of a 69L water usage and 0.83kW usage of power. Spin speed on this cycle was 1400, but water retention was slightly more than on the 30C cycle, at 1.3kg.

Surprisingly, the cost per cycle reduced to 30p for the 40C synthetic cycle – usually we’d expect the cost to increase as more power is often needed to control the drum more finely. While the spin speed was 800rpm, the power did indeed increase to 0.95kW, but water usage dropped to 56L. Water retention was even higher, in fact the highest we’ve seen across all the washing machines we’ve tested, at 1.7kg.

Our test also calculated running costs based on the EU Energy Label, which provides the annual electricity and water consumption figures for a year’s use, based on 220 full loads using a variety of programmed cycles. From this we can work out the average cost of a wash cycle.

We also work out yearly running costs based on the EU Energy Label to give us something to compare all washing machines with (see how we test washing machines for more information). This showed that this machine costs £59.96 for high usage, £44.97 for medium usage and £29.98 for low usage. These aren’t the best results we’ve seen, but overall costs aren’t bad at all.

WASH PERFORMANCE

To discover the cleaning performance of the Indesit, 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.

Close inspection of the stain strips for both the 30C cotton wash and 40C cotton wash showed that the cleaning performance was better in the 40C cotton wash, as we’d expect. The stains were lighter and more evenly removed in the hotter cycle, particularly on the blood sample and combined blood, milk and ink sample.

Blood stain removal was better on the 40C Cotton cycle than at 30C Cotton

Red wine was also removed more efficiently in the 40C cotton wash, compared with the 30C.

We were impressed with the red-wine removal at 40C

The 40C synthetic cycle, however, was a different story – staining of blood was still visible, and the blood, milk and ink sample was still fairly dark. Again, red wine seemed to wash out quite well.

Using the 40C Synthetic cycle, the blood stain was still quite visible

The thing to bear in mind here is that this is a low-cost washing machine. While the performance doesn’t warrant a fanfare, and struggled to remove some stains, we couldn’t expect it to perform as well as those costing twice the price. For regular use of lightly soiled items and those that just need refreshing, this washing machine will probably do the job effectively enough.

EASE OF USE AND FEATURES

Although a mid-range washing machine, there’s a decent range of features. A digital screen tells you how long is left of the cycle. The Easy Iron function helps reduce creasing in garments, and it’s good to see here. There is no prewash on this machine, but there are plenty of different cycles, including those designed specifically for sports clothing, jeans and also wool. Refresh cycles are also available for items that don’t necessarily need an intense wash.

Build quality feels quite good for a washer of this price, and it’s simple to control and understand. The layout of the dials is good, and there are a few nice features thrown in for good measure. Noise was quite low and we found the washing machine generally unobtrusive. Overall, it’s an all-round decent washer for the price.

CONCLUSION

There’s no denying the price is good and running costs aren’t too bad, either. However, spend a little more on the Zanussi ZWJ14591W instead and you’ll get better wash performance and more consistent running costs.