Hisense WFGA90141VM Review

It’s simple and basic, but the Hisense WFGA90141VM also offers very good value right now. It doesn’t have the lowest running costs, but stain removal is excellent, even at low temperatures, and clever features such as the ability to add extra items after a wash cycle has started are welcome.

The Hisense WFGA90141VM is a regular washing machine, with the company focusing on delivering a quality wash experience without the distraction of smart features and apps.

Good performance and some neat features make this model stand out – but it’s a little more expensive to run than the competition.

Design

• Huge transport bolts need to be removed before use
• Uses a regular control panel layout
• Feels tough and well built

In many ways, the Hisense WFGA90141VM is similar to the previous Hisense WFGA9014V. Both are well-built washing machines made using tough-feeling components. However, the former includes a few new programmes, including the Eco 40-60, which is a standardised washing programme required by the EU.

Other than that, it’s business as usual, with a rotary dial for selecting the wash programme, and an LCD that displays the current selection along with a countdown timer.

There’s a 9kg drum in this machine, which should prove more than big enough for most households. The porthole is a good size, letting you insert large items or lots of washing without too much trouble.

In the standard pull-out detergent drawer you can add powder, or you can use the handy built-in guide to measure out the correct amount of liquid detergent if you prefer.

As with all washing machines on delivery, you first need to remove the transport bolts that hold the drum securely. These pull out of the back of the machine, and take the form of lengths of metal that run front to back. As such, make sure you have enough clearance before you unbox the washing machine.

As usual, you’ll see the standard cold water inlet and dirty water outlet at the back, too, which will need to be plumbed in.

Features

• Decent range of wash programmes
• You can add clothes in part way through a cycle
• Dose assist helps you get the right amount of laundry liquid

Hisense has a good range of programmes that can be selected via the dial, with Auto and Eco 40-60 likely to be the two that will be used the most. There are special programmes for Wool and Colour items, plus several programmes that use steam. Steam allows you to refresh your clothes to remove odours, plus you can use it with the Shirts programme to reduce creasing.

Once you’ve selected a programme, the LCD shows you its run-time, and you can use buttons to override the options – say, to change the temperature or spin speed at the end of the cycle. There’s a handy Green Bar, too, which lights up to show the efficiency of the programme and options selected.

Dose Assist is an option to help you get the right amount of detergent. Hit Dose Assist once you’ve loaded the machine, and hit the Play/Pause button. The Hisense WFGA90141VM will weigh the washing and flash up the appropriate amount of detergent you should use for that particular wash. It’s a handy guide to get you started, but doesn’t take into account the level of staining on clothes, only their weight.

As such, Dose Assist might be useful for the first few washes while you become accustomed to the various cycles and how the washing machine performs – but it isn’t as sophisticated as the system featured on the Samsung WW9800T, which actually dispenses washing liquid  to meet the demands of the current load.

The Hisense WFGA90141VM does allow you to pause a wash part way through, however. Provided the water and temperature levels are below the set thresholds, you can open the porthole and insert that odd sock you missed.

Performance

• Works well as low temperatures
• Running costs are a little high compared to the competition
• A few items became stuck under the door

To evaluate a washing machine’s performance, I put them through a standard set of tests. I started out with a standard 30ºC wash to see how well the Hisense WFGA90141VM performed at low temperatures. In this mode, the washing machine used 0.67kWh of power and 61.3 litres of water – that’s quite high, particularly with water usage.

With its spin speed of 1400rpm, the washing contained an additional 41.3% of water after the cycle was complete. This isn’t a bad result, but it’s not quite class-leading, either.

As you can see from the stain strip below, wash performance was pretty good. Left to right, the stains are red wine, orange juice, ketchup, oil and gravy. At the end of the cycle, the washing machine had done well, with the red wine stain faded but visible, and the orange juice and ketchup stains leaving faint marks behind.

Next, I switched to the Eco 40-60 programme, which increased power usage to 0.73kWh but dropped water usage to a better 39.5 litres. Energy use was a little high compared to rival appliances. Water retention was the same at 41.3% of the original dry load.

Performance here was excellent, as you can see from the image above. Pretty much every stain had been removed, with just a very faint outline of the red wine stain remaining. Still, on darker material this wouldn’t be noticeable, and pre-treating the stain would likely see it completely removed.

On a few occasions, I found that the odd sock would move forwards and become stuck inside the rim of the door, resulting in a very wet sock at the end of the wash. If I caught this happening early on, I was able to open the door and push the offending item back into the drum.

Sound-wise, the Hisense WFGA90141VM proved relatively quiet in my tests. On the regular wash, it measured 50.2dB, jumping to 60.3dB on the spin cycle. This is definitely a washing machine that you can have on in the same room as you.

To work out running costs on a level playing field, I take the figures from the EU energy label to work out an average cost per full load. I then work out how many full loads it would take to perform the UK average washing.

First, I have to work out the total amount of washing done in the UK per year, assuming 274 loads (the average) at 6kg (high), 4.5kg (medium) and 3kg (low) usage. Then, I can work out how many loads it would take the Hisense WFGA90141VM, with its 9kg drum. For example, the Hisense WFGA90141VM could do the full amount of 6kg loads in just 182.67 loads.

This gave me annual running figures of £48.04 for high use, £36.03 for medium use and £24.02 for low use. These wouldn’t have been bad figures a couple of years ago, but modern machines are generally more efficient. In fact, the B-rated Hisense WFGA90141VM is now one of the more expensive washing machines to run.

Conclusion

Well built, quiet and with good stain removal at all temperatures, the Hisense WFGA90141VM is a solid and simple-to-use washing machine. However, its running costs are a little high compared to the competition. You’ll have to spend considerably more to get lower running costs, though; the cost of the Hoover H-Wash 500 HWB 410AMC/1-80 makes the Hisense a decent budget buy. For appliances with different features, check out my guide to the best washing machines.