I live in Rockland county, New York. I have very hard water, my whites do not come out very white, and fabrics are becoming very worn, weak and ripping. I am planning on buying a new machine for those reasons and espcially b/c the clothes are coming out of the wash with a lot of lint. what do I do? Pleae give me a recommendation of what washing machine I should buy for these kind of problems. The washing machine is probably more than 10 years old. We are a family of 4 and I was 3-4 loads a week. Thanks, I can be reached at Dominnie1@aol.com