February 28, 2022 / RefrigeratorPro Team
IFB was established in 1974 as fine blanking component manufacturer and has made a name of itself in the washing machine industry, especially front loading washing space. This Indian manufacturer is a market leader in front loading washing machines space and has market share of 40% as of 2021.
IFB entered washing machine space in 1989 and has constantly innovated to keep ahead of the competition. While other Indian washing machine brands such as BPL, Videocon, Godrej were not able to compete effectively with multinationals, IFB came on top by partnering with European giants such as Bosch-Siemens, Xeros and so on.
IFB is one of the market leaders in dishwasher market as well and is known for providing affordable dishwasher with decent build quality in India.
IFB washing machines come in several ranges. They have been divided into categories based on price and features. Here are the different models with increasing order of price, capacity and features.
- Diva Aqua
- Neo Diva
- Eva
- Elena
- Senorita
- Serena
- Elite
- Senator
Diva Aqua is the entry-level model, while Senator model is the most premium model from IFB.
Table of Contents
IFB Washing Machine Review 2021
IFB has focused the technologies in three key aspects- Sanitization / Disinfection, Wash Quality and Convenience. In this review, we will discuss key IFB technologies and pros & cons in the end. Let’s dive in.
Disinfection Technologies
Many premium IFB washing machines such as the Senator series come with wash programs and in-built heater for effective removal of germs.
Sanitize wash program is ideal for washing heavily stained clothes such as washable masks, cloth diapers etc. This removes 99.99% of germs by washing clothes at a high 95 °C temperature.
Hygiene / Anti-Allergen program removes allergens sticking on clothes. This is helpful if you have allergies or sensitive skin.
In-built heater is present on most of the premium IFB front loaders. High temperature is known to effectively remove germs. Hence, machine heaters can heat water to up to 95 °C to effectively disinfect clothes. You can regulate the temperature usually from 30 °C to 95 °C.
Auto tub clean feature cleans the tub with the press of a button. This is a common feature in front loaders of many brands, but it is important because front loaders need more mainteneance. This is because these machines are closed all the time and due to this, growth of mould can take place beneath the gasket.
Wash-Quality Enhancing Features
IFB has developed proprietary technologies for effectively washing clothes and optimum detergent utilization. Let’s discuss these features.
Aqua Energie is one of the most innovative and latest technologies developed by IFB for effectively washing clothes by effectively using detergent. This tech also effectively washes clothes in hard water by ‘softening’ it. Hard water not only reduces detergent efficiency, but it also reduces the lifespan of machine parts by accumulating white residue layer around drum and supply pipes.
This feature makes use of a specialized physical treatment device called aqua filter that breaks down bi-carbonates in water into minute crystals. This reduces the tendency of the crystals to stick to laundry. Since the size of the crystal is very small, they flow along with water. This way it reduces the risk of scale accumulating on important machine parts, thus increasing their lifespan. This water also improves the effectiveness of detergent.
However, if water hardness is high, then you might have to use a water softener.
O2 Bubble Wash uses air bubbles to effectively wash tough stains. It is well known that more bubbles result in better washing. This tech generates millions of air bubbles that go deep into fabric to remove difficult stains. And then, during the rinse cycle through 3D wash system, the detergent is effectively removed from the clothes to ensure best washing.
Ball Valve technology prevents wastage of detergent by letting the water pass through a mechanism of floating ball and a valve. This ensures that detergent is used effectively.
Cradle Wash is a wash mode that can be used to wash delicate fabric such as silk, lace, chiffon and satin. This mode ensures proper cleaning while preventing damage to the fabric.
Crescent Moon Drum is a specially designed drum that consists of smooth crescent moon grooves. This drum ensures effective wash while keeping the cloth fabric safe from damage. Almost all IFB washing machines come with this drum.
Steam Wash: High end IFB washing machines come with steam wash. In this feature, a small proportion of water is used to generate good amount of steam, which expands to occupy large volume. This feature keeps the laundry gentle, soft and wrinkle-free.
Pulsator & Additional Wash Features
Triadic Pulsator, Aqua Spa Therapy: Pulsator is the rotating hub that generates water current but spinning. IFB’s triadic pulsator includes soft scrub pads, swirl jets and centre punch. Scrub pads gently scrub clothes to remove stains while preventing clothes from damage. Swirl jets create powerful force to remove dirt from all corners of the laundry, while the center punch takes out the dirt gently. Pulsators are better than agitators in keeping clothes damage-free. The aqua spa therapy fights tough stains and to easily rinses them.
Bi-axial Rotation, 4D Wash System: Top load IFB washing machine usually come with 4D wash system which involves bi-axial rotation of clothes. The bi-axial clothes rotation rotates cloth horizontally and tumble vertically. This gives a complete 360-degree wash. This coupled with dynamic water jets loosen tough stains from the fabric and washes away dirt.
Smart Sensors & Memory
High end IFB washing machines come with smart sense technology. The smart sense feature optimizes volume of detergent, water, number of rinse cycles and spinning time as per the load in the drum. This saves power, water, detergent and time in every wash cycle.
Another feature called auto imbalance sensing & control system balances the load to evely distribute the laundry. This ensures that all the clothes are cleaned effectively.
Just like most other fully automatic machines, IFB machines typically come with memory backup / auto restart feature. This function allows the machine to restart the wash cycle from the same settings that it was running on just before the power cut.
Additional Features
Some of the common features present in most of the front load washing machines are time delay and voltage protection.
Time delay feature allows you to delay the wash cycle from 30 minutes to up to 24 hours. Washing machines of other brands have similar time range.
New IFB washing machines come with high / low voltage protection technology. This monitors and senses extreme voltage fluctuations and temporarily pause the machine to prevent damage to the electrical components. The machine resumes operation once the voltage level gets back to safe operational limit.
One of the biggest drawbacks of front load washing machines is that you cannot add laundry in between wash cycles. Premium IFB front loaders come with laundry add feature so that you can add clothes even after the wash cycle has started.
Pros & Cons of IFB Washing Machine
IFB has been a leader in front load washing machine market for past several years. This is because it is clear about the needs of Indian consumers and have several different types of variants with different features. This allows you to select the best fit for you as per your needs and budget. On top of this, IFB keeps on coming up with new models regularly as per the changing market trends.
One example of this is Aqua Energie feature that allows for effective wash even with hard water. Not many brands offer similar feature and it can be quite useful of you live in an area with hard water supply. Also, IFB has more than 2,500 service centers in India, which is quite good as this ensures that you get easy access to support in case of any breakdowns. Also, the build quality of IFB washing machines is quite good and many machines are attractively priced. The replacement parts are easily available and cost slightly less as compared to some of the multinational brands.
As far as cons are concerned, many of the IFB washing machines come with 4-year warranty on motor, which is less. Competitors such as LG, Samsung usually offer 10-year warranty on most of their washing machines (especially direct drive motors). Another point is that, while LG, Samsung and Whirlpool have come up with direct drive motors, IFB still mostly uses belt drive motors in their washing machines as of 2021. Direct drive motors have motors attached directly to the drum, which ensures a long life span, lower power consumption and lower noise. Also, there are very less inverter washing machines from IFB. This is important because inverter technology is the latest technology that not only washes better but also enhances the life of washing machines.
Related: Inverter vs Non Inverter Washing Machines
Conclusion
IFB is a market leader in washing machine space as it has been able to keep up with the changing trends. It partnered with Bosch-Siemens as it entered the washing machine industry more than 30 years back and it has grown considerably in the past two decades.
One testament to its success is its Senator range of washing machines came in the market in the year 2000 and are still being offered as premium front load machines.
Even though it is mostly a family-controlled business, which is unlike other major washing machine brands, it enjoys a good reputation in terms of professionalism. Hence, IFB’s machines boast of good quality at affordable pricing. This is one of the reasons why IFB never spends much on marketing and advertising as most of its sales are driven by word-of-mouth publicity.
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