Bubble washers?

[petek]

Every once in a while I see ads for automatic bubble washers, I think they're made by Danby or LG or somebody. One time I did see one, like an apartment sized top loader with no agitator. I assume they blow bubbles thru the water to cause the agitation. Anyone have any experience with one of those?

 

[arrrooohhh]

They are made by Daewoo in Korea.

In Australia they are sold under the NEC brand names. They look nice enough but the whole Air Bubble thing is a joke.

I used one of these machines when staying down the coast. My friends Mum had one. I used it myself and observed her loads in it. I never saw any "bubbles", I was expecting it to be like a jacuzzi for clothes. I filled it up without clothes and still didnt get any jacuzzi effect. Water just swirled around like any other impeller machine.

No drama value whatsoever and what a compromise for it, the water consumption is phenomenal. the 7kg model uses 227 litres of water for a complete cycle. The 8kg model uses 268 litres! To put that in comparison, a Maytag Performa or Whirlpool uses about 150 litres. The Maytag Neptune that is rated in Aus as 8kg uses about 100.

Considering Sydney has a water crisis I couldnt justify having such a machine.

Here is the Daewoo website to look at.

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www.dwe.co.kr

 

[Designgeek]

It may be that the "bubble wash" technology actually does work with specific fabric types and load sizes. Consider the possibility of local variations in garments e.g. in parts of Asia where these machines are popular.

On the other hand (doing some quick arithmetic here) 4 gallons of water per pound of laundry is rather high. Justifyable perhaps in areas that have plentiful water supplies from renewable sources, but not a good choice where water is an issue e.g. parts of Australia, parts of the US, etc. etc.

One way to get water consumption down, with any machine, is to exercise more care in measuring detergent and thereby reduce the number of rinse cycles needed to get all the suds out. Ideal case is one rinse cycle, though that will usually require a bit of experimentation to figure out the detergent requirements without compromising cleaning ability.

 

[kirk280980]

How many fills does the NEC machine carry out on a standard cycle? 227 litres is a whopping amount, I don't think I've ever heard of any other domestic machine being so thirsty, not even the oldies. It must rinse well, or at least I would hope so!

While in Australia I was rather surprised to find out that not one single person I became acquainted with owned a top loader; in an effort to conserve water, one had a twin tub, the rest had all switched to FLs. The only TLs I saw were those that had been put out of service and stored in the garage as a spare "just in case". Don't know whether this is a regional thing or not, but in homes that were connected to city water it was completely the opposite to what I was expecting.

 

[foraloysius]

Daewoo

According an ad in my appliance magazine Daewoo is introducing several frontloaders with bubble technique. These new machines also have the Nano silver technologie that seem to have a desinfecting effect. I haven't seen them in the stores here yet and they are not yet shown on the website.

 

[Designgeek]

Re. initial post: Danby's washer product line includes a twin-tub (I have one of these), a compact top-loader (portable), and a front loader. All of these seem to get rave reviews so Danby is doing something right, and the prices are quite reasonable. I think they also make a standard capacity top loader as well, which if the other machines are a guide, is probably a good one also.

Re. Australia: Most or all of Australia is currently having a long and nasty water shortage, probably due to climate change. So even where city water is provided, you'll find twin-tubs and front loaders, the former typically as portables hooked up to the kitchen sink, the latter where they can be permanently installed. Good for the Australians keeping their disconnected older TLs on hand as spares rather than throwing them out. (And this will also be a source for vintage machines in time, though getting them shipped from down under could be an issue!)

Re. silver as disinfectant: Interesting, I'd like to know how this comes out. The only problem I can foresee is if some kind of bug gets resistant, as has happened with regard to all the "antibacterial" products on the market.

Personally I prefer the occasional dose of bleach, occasional because it can then be used in smaller amounts and still take the bugs by surprise. And don't I wish I lived in a place where outdoor clothes lines were possible! Nothing like the sun to disinfect everything with solar ultraviolet. A trip through a hot tumble dryer is also a good way to sanitize a load, though at cost of high energy consumption; probably also best as an occasional measure.

 

[petek]

Hi Designgeek

How much are those Danby twin tubs selling for down there..I was shocked last week Sears Outlet here having two of them for around $411 each...in the store it's over $500. Ridiculous when you can buy other compacts and basic full sized Kenmores for less than that and Danby stuff like a/c's and microwaves are fairly inexpensive compared to big name brands. Even the Danby countertop dishwasher is less than $200 on sale most of the time. I've never owned any Danby items but they appear to be well made, if appearances aren't deceiving. I'm waiting to find a good used Hoover twin tub for my SIL's apartment, one will turn up eventually.

 

[Designgeek]

Pete, re Danby twin-tubs, I got mine for about $250 US plus shipping. Prices vary depending on where you get them, I've seen them for $350 in some cases. It's hard to find Danby appliances in general in stores in the USA, usually you have to order via internet. Danby front-loaders are available at Home Depot for about $450 US, which is a great deal. I considered both & bought the twin because I can integrate it into a general water-conservation system here (recycle final rinse water into the next wash cycle; recycle used wash water to a storage tank for feeding the toilet flush-tank; can't do both of those things with a front-loader).

Apparently Target is about to start carrying the Danby countertop dishwasher, for about $150 US, which is also a good deal and apparently a good machine (with a window so you can see what's going on in there!). I want one of these, particularly since it has a cycle that uses only 1.6 gallons of water (total) for normal wash plus sanitize rinse, and the sanitize rinse is useful for nuking any nasties that might otherwise escape dishwashing by hand.

However, it's 17" tall and I have 15" under my cabinets. And the length x depth are each 22" which sticks out a little from my counters. So I'm looking at designing some kind of portable or fixed storage unit in the kitchen for this stuff. Basically the twin-tub would go underneath, and the dishwasher would sit on a shelf just above it, and then there'd be another shelf or cabinet above the dishwasher for storing detergents and suchlike. Hmm...!

 

[agiflow]

I just saw the Danby fl in Home Depot today. Under $400,i was impressed. The quality seems good for the price and it can heat the water up to 200 F. Small capacity though, but for one person it would be a steal.