Finally Gave My Hoover TT A Good Work Out!

[launderess]

Much as one enjoys the new Miele, housekeeping waits for no one, and had a huge pile of bed linens to be laundered.

Over 12 flat sheets and twice as many pillow slips. All cotton, most are percale; a fabric that is rather crisp and thus does not compact down. This means to avoid poor laundering results and horrible creasing, a front loader needs to be lightly loaded. Using the Miele would have taken ages at about 2 sheets/3 cases at one time.

Time to fetch out the Hoover TT.

First thing was to alter my washing habits and used warm water for the wash instead of very hot. This would cut down on the creasing. Though only one king sheet could wash at a time without over crowding, once I got into sync, things flew by.

Would wash one load, move it over to the spinner, spray a bit of cold water, and allow that to spin. While spinning loaded the next sheet into the wash tub and started it to wash. Using the "Heavy Soil" wash time gave one ample time to do 4 spray rinses on the load in the spinner.As my unit does not have the automatic spray rinse, "spray rinsing" for me was lifting the lid, hosing down the load, and spinning again.

Found the secret is that with cotton sheets, one does not have to spin very long. I stopped the spinning soon as the unit made the sound indicating the pump was "empty".

After washing 5 sheets, changed wash water for fresh water/detergent and finished the remaining linens.

When all was washed, drained/cleaned out the wash tub, then filled with fresh cold water and one cup of white vinegar along with some starch. Each sheet got a "deep rinse/starch bath" and was lightly spun out as described above. Pillow slips were last and must say the rinse water was quite clear, aside from the starch. This means the spin rinses were very effective.

Results? All done in about 2 1/2 hours, laundry is hanging out on the line, and will be taken in damp for ironing.

Not too shabby, but allot of work. Still beats the ages it would have taken in the Miele.

L.

 

[appnut]

Laundress, you TT Vixenyou. I'm impressed.

 

[pulsatron]

Twin tub washing

Hi Laundress
I wash in my T.T. pretty much just as you have posted above and I find my clothes come out nice and clean and fresh.
I am not sure if you are aware, although I suspect you most likely do know this , the other way to wash in the T.T. is to wash everything first then drain the washtub and refill it with clean water and agitate for a few minutes for each load and then just spin dry and there you are! all done although personally I must admit I do prefer the first way you posted.
That is the beauty of T.T. washing you are in complete control and can please yourself how you do it.
Cheers.
Steve.

 

[mickeyd]

telepathy synchronicity or vinegar ephipany

It's has suddenly and quickly become deep winter here. My Hoover TT is in the garage--a summer machine--with a full load of frozen rags and a throw rug; otherwise, i would be more than happy to let you have it till summer, since where ever you live it's balmy enough to dry outdoors.

Your experience has a telepathic element with what happened to me while you were tendeing to your dozen percales. The spinner in the Easy has been "stuck" for a few years. No big deal, but the slow build-up of lint in the drain guard, located beneath the spin tub, has impeded the spray rinsing such that I have to stop the rinse until the draining catches up. Out of the blue, thought of using hot white vinegar, Calgon, and tide liquid, and afew gallons of water, then rigged up a hose, set the spinner to drain, and let the water recycle and drain over and over all by itself for about a half hour.

The goal was to soften and flush or disolve the lint stuck in the "hole-punch" drain port underneath the spin basket.

Miraculously when i allowed the pump to drain rather than recycle, I heard a whoosh of water and air. The VINEGAR had brought about a miracle. THE SPINNER HAD COME UNGLUED. Previously, I had given up, and never considered asking for help on the site because I considered the case hopeless. My friend Reno's father once hoisted and hung an Easy from the spinner with a thick leather strap over the rafters in the basement . He left it there for days; still, the spinner did not budge. The old repair men I know said that once a spinner gets stuck that long, you're screwed. You'll have to saw it out.

Imagine, we were both vinegaring in our Twin Tubs at the same time and you sent me a miracle.

Michael

PS: So telling that the Heavy cycle in the Hoover is only 5 minutes. Does any other washer have a swifter turnerover? Little wonder you flew through those sheets.

 

[peterh770]

12 sheets? You run a bed & breakfast or you let them accummulate over time? Wow!

 

[Designgeek]

The Hoovermatic seems to be the fastest washer ever made; it surprises me that they (or someone) doesn't bring back the same design. In this day & age where people are always in a rush, the idea of washing a load in 15 minutes would win customers like crazy, and a simple control to automate the spin rinses would simplify the learning curve.

You've got me intrigued about finding one of those, plus or minus the space to put it.

Generally my procedure is: wash 9 minutes, spin 2-3 minutes, overflow rinse 9 minutes, spin 5 minutes, done (and save the clean rinse water for the next wash load). 4-5 lbs. in 30 minutes; or 6-8 lbs. in 40 minutes (divided batches for spin cycles). I've lately taken to letting loads soak for 10 minutes before starting the agitator; I'm not certain if this makes a difference (will have to do some comparative tests one of these days).

In case of detergent overdose, a couple of spin-rinses after the wash cycle take care of the excess suds before the overflow rinse. (On the Danby TT, you can sneak the water fill hose under the spinner lid for this purpose, and run the water at a low rate of flow so it goes in via the center hole in the spin mat; turn on the spinmotor for 1 minute, then let it stop on its own while the water continues to run, repeat a couple of times.)

Speaking of clean rinses, I'm wondering if anyone else here keeps an eye on their rinse water, to see how sudsy or clear it is at the end of the cycle. I suspect that most of the time, most machines aren't rinsing all the detergent out, but people don't mind because a little bit of detergent smell says "clean clothes." In lieu of a highspeed spinner, one could probably reduce detergent dosages a bit without losing cleaning ability.

 

[mickeyd]

twin tubbing and white-water rafting

Peter--I bet L. changes her sheets every day.

Design--Sneak preview of Haier thread: You were hearing perfectly as you watched the Haier video. The spin cycle works like this: a three minute drain, followed by intermittent low speed spins: spins for a few seconds, spin switch disengages, pump stays on (this repeats about five times); next, click and whoosh !!! full speed 800 rmp. It's really cool--exciting and unique.

Here's why: The outer tub is really small, so it extracts the water incrementally: spin, drain --spin, drain--spin, drain. That way the pump has a chance to keep up; otherwise the water in the outer tub whirls all over the inner walls, resulting in sudslock. Of course, I skipped the intermittent spin to see what would happen; the whilrling water never reached the drain, leavinf the load wet at the end of the cycle. Quite an advancement--those Chinese are meticulous little thinkers.

Thanks for your generous posts. Those TT Threades from a few weeks ago were so satisfying and informative. I love TT's and I hope you get an Easy spindrier some day. She is the uber, earth mother of all TT's.

 

[foraloysius]

I would have loved to see a picture of all those sheets hanging on the line!! Nice workout for the twintub indeed!

 

[launderess]

Thanks All!

While slightly larger than my normal linen wash day load, yes, do tend to change bed linens at least once a day or every other day. Just prefer clean sheets, and it also prevents white bed linens from turning yellow.

Mike, glad you were able to get your Easy TT working, vinegar is truly a miracle substance to have around the house, wouldn't be without it.

Work out for the Hoover TT? What about poor me? *LOL*
Took ages to get my hearing back after 2 hours with the Hoover, and was that knackered from laundering slept like a rock. *LOL*

Do not think twin tubs like the Hoover will make a come back for several reasons. First unless one reuses the wash water for more than one wash, the unit is not very water efficient. Of course water consumption can be reduced by doing only spin rinses,which would help mitigate things. Next, do not think today's housewives/people doing laundry would take well to the concept of semi-automatic washing machines in enough numbers to justify production. Could be wrong as both Danby and Haier seem to sell enough twin tub washers.

Finally the washing action of the Hoover is a bit "rough" for delicates and even some men's dress shirts. Stories abound over on Yahoo Hoover TT club about shirts hopelessly damaged or creased by the agressive washing action of the Hoover TT. Mind you one could probably get around this with some creative thinking, like using mesh laundry bags, but still.

Finally, finally.. TT washing is not for those who do not like cleaning their floors while doing laundry. It is a very splashy, water filled day at the laundry.

Hanging sheets:

Actually had to fold sheets in half lengthwise to make all fit on the line. Normally when using the Miele, cycle times are so long that by the time one load finishes washing, the previous one on the line is damp dry. With all 12 plus items ready at once one hardly knew where to begin.

When all is said and done, yes a Hoover TT is probably as fast as one is going to get next to an automatic top loader; but quite allot of work for doing laundry.

L.

 

[chestermikeuk]

TwinTub Heaven

Sounds like a fine day was had by machine & operator...nothing like the sound of a Hoover Twinny to get the pulse racing...especially after 2 + hrs....fun to use but not for mass laundry...

I read your post and first thought "Are You Craaazzyyy"..with all that percale even I wouldnt cope with that lot and a Hoover Twinny, it would have been straight into the MaytAsko for me, then into the Dryer for 5 mins on hot to drop the creases and line dry till crisp.....

Thats the one thing I couldnt cope with in the Hotpoint FilterFlow, have 6 bedrooms and lots of guests and that percale, heavy cotton bedcovers used to float with big bubbles all over the top, even with the filter pan and extra water.

Thank goodness for tumblers n twinnies.

 

[launderess]

Was not that bad, actually. One just goes into a "1900 House" mode and gets on with it. As stated previously, the lot went much faster via the Hoover than with a Miele.

Percale simply does not absorb much water, therefore small drum washers like a Miele can only hold a certian number of large items like sheets. Overloading simply causes the drum to spin round and round with absolutely no washing action. Oh the Miele will keep trying to add water and such, but the nosies it makes tells one that it is NOT happy and you would be very much better off adjusting the wash load.

Like anything else, a little pre-planning goes along way when doing mass loads in the Hoover TT.

After setting up the unit and while the tub is filling, I make a long queue of the wash. Sheets are one to a pile and sorted in such a way one merely has to grasp the top in a bunch and the rest balance is free and unfolded. Loading into the wash tub is easy this way as one "drops" the unfurled sheet into the wash tub, shoves it beneath the water and start the timer. If done correctly the wash action will pull the sheet beneath the water, round and round. Soon one has the beautiful sloshing round motion that says the machine is loaded properly and washing fine.

When washing is done, I take up the sheet again by grasping either the top or bottm hems to make a bunch, then load into the spin basket lengthwise. This means no knots, or lumps to throw the spin basket off balance. It is almost like heavy rope coils round and round.

Oh did I mention used a bit of bluing in the wash baths? Nothing is as wonderful as seeing white linens washing in bluish water. Such fun!

L.

 

[pulsatron]

T.T. rough on clothes

Yes Laundress I agree with you about the Hoover T.T. being rough on clothes it is the same with my N.E.C. T.T. because it does not have a '"Normal/Gentle" wash action selector, I compensate for this by simply washing delicates for about 3 minutes only and I find this generally works.
Funny thing the other 3T.T.'s available here in Australia do actually have the above mentioned selector, trust me to get the only one that doesn't,just for the record the other ones available here are,
1.Hitachi 6kg capacity.
2.Hitachi 8 kg capacity.
3.Centrex 6 kg capacity
Haier used to make a HUGE 9kg capacity model but I don't believe it is on the market any longer, could be wrong though.

Cheers.
Steve.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover Wash Action

Hello Launderess

Do you place the sheets in the washtub and then "Switch On"??

I always switch on first and like you hold the sheet/towel/item at one end and then the "Hoover Boiling Water Action" actually snatches the darn clothing from you with such force that you need to let go of the clothing just before your arm hits the paddle...LOL

The older machines like yours has a much stronger wash action than the later machines as yours has the wash motor and belt tensioned tightly, the later machines had the motor floating or hanging on the belt so it tended to wash by load. i.e. slowed down if items bundled together or big loads etc...

I like to rinse in the spinner (the first Servis models where best for this as they had a solid spin-can, so you can do an overflow rinse etc, the motors where rated to cope with this.)and then do a final rinse back in the twin tub with conditioner or blueing.

One finds with any machine you quickly become used to how it works and adapt your laundry habits accordingly.

Mike

 

[Designgeek]

MickeyD:

Which Haier video?, and where can I find it? Would that be a Haier TT or one of their compact automatics? I did see a video of a Haier compact auto around here last year; it was interesting to watch and the sound is pleasantly harmonious.

The machine I wrote about is my Danby DTT-420, where I sneak the fill hose under the spintub lid for spin rinses. The motors on that unit (there are three: agitator 250 watts, spinner 150 watts, and drain pump 27 watts) are each designed for maximum energy efficiency for their respective applications, so one needs to be careful to use a low enough water flow for spin/rinses as to not lag it and cause excess wear on the motor. When I'm doing the spin/rinse procedure, the motor draws 180 watts, which is 20% above normal load and I don't think would cause trouble.

Suds lock: I've seen that also. The way Danby deals with it is, while loading the spinner some water drains through the holes at the bottom and into the outer tub; this fills the outer tub just enough to provide water to prime the pump. When the spinner is turned on, the pump goes on at the same time. As the spinner gets up to speed, more water comes out at the beginning and gets sucked out by the pump; all of this develops sufficient suction to cope with the sudsy stuff that comes out just a little later in the procedure. Thus in normal operation and in the hacked spin/rinse cycle, it doesn't suds lock.

One can cause the Danby to suds lock by prematurely draining the water that initially collects in the outer spintub, at which point the pump doesn't prime easily and the rest of the water gets whirled around in the spintub by the spinner, and the motor is definitely "not happy" with that. This is easy enough to solve by fiddling with the drain control until the pump primes itself, and easily prevented by not turning on the drain pump prematurely.

I agree, Chinese engineering is getting quite good and coming up with some subtle innovations.

More later; I gotta scoot for now...

 

[hoovermatic]

As you say, washing with a TT takes a bit of getting used to but once you have a routine and have mastered the 'knack', it is a breeze. I no longer have my Hoovermatic and sometimes wish I did when there are mountains of laundry as it takes a fraustratingly long time to put through my auto

 

[stainfighter]

re TT action!

I have lots o' fun with my Fridgette TT and need to post snaps. I have it set up to minimize splash over in our garage. It seems happiest washing tee shirts, tighty whities and gym socks. It does not like dress shirts as they do tangle. I love being able to wash in HOT water with a little bleach at the end. The metal tub really holds the temperature well. I found that I can stick the hose inside the spinner and not have it stop so I am doing a spin rinse (usually do 3 to 4). No gentle action cycle on this baby either - just a timer. Even heavy soil only takes maybe 5 minutes to come out. I like to have a constant "wash/spin rinse/ drain the tub for rinse water/ spin rinse(s) then on with the drying" method like Launderess. Clothes feel drier than from our Frigidaire FL. Don't know the rpm of the Fridgette but it must be more than 900 rpms.

 

[launderess]

Yea For Metal

One of the main reasons I wanted my SS tubbed Hoover, was the metal tub is great for soaking. Fill that baby up with warmish or hottish water and with the lid closed it will stay warm for hours. Just the thing for doing long enzyme pre-soaks.

Shirts are best done one or two at a time, and if good dress shirts, in a mesh bag to prevent snagging/fraying of cuffs and collars by contact with the impeller.

 

[stainfighter]

trouble posting my snaps...

is there a size limit on jpegs for the website? I attempted to post them (at work) and got an error message back stating something like that pictures larger than 300k (something) are not allowed Do I need to scale them down?? Suggestions please. tyvm

 

[Designgeek]

Back a ways..

Launderess, sorry I forgot about the famous Hoovermatic Howl there... maybe next time grab a couple of pinches of cotton wool, wet them down, and stick them in your ears? (we used to do this in the punk rock days to protect our hearing in small clubs where the sound got l-o-u-d, it works right up to about 110 dB, as per actual measurements)

Re. splashing, that seems to have been partially solved in the newer machines. The Danby on "gentle" doesn't splash, though on "normal" (i.e. vigorous) it does a bit if it's loaded to full capacity. This suggests ordering a second set of lids and cutting circular port-holes in them and fitting clear perspex in the holes, or just making a clear perspex lid that's cut to size for the washtub, so one can keep the water in while being able to see what's going on. I see a project coming up...

Interesting point about loading procedure, letting the water action grab the sheets and pull them in. And it sounds to me that the Hoover would have no problem with blue jeans, which otherwise are a bit uncooperative in other small washers.

Pulsatron, you've got me wondering about trying 3 minutes on "normal" to get the same results as 9 minutes on "gentle." That could be quite a find in terms of efficiency. Two consecutive loads of 4 lbs. each using that method could save more water and more electricity. Hmm... More experiments to do & report back.

 

[mickeyd]

Designer

I can't find them. I just enjoyed them again the other day. One thread had the word Twin Tub in it; the other was called "Another way of washing." Somebody had FIVE !!! different Haier washing machines. Late in the Threads, one of those cool Texans, either Uncle Bobloads or "Dodads" posted videos. They were fascinating. One showed a machine whose tub rotated as it shot aprays of water--four of them criss-crossing the tub; another showed a turn and spray cool-down; finally one ran a spin cycle that really piqued your curiousity. You thought you "heard" the spinning being interrupted. And so it was. I have the machine, a small portable, the 22C, which I have used exclusively since Martin L. King Day, because I like it so much, hearing all of its hums and clicks, right in the kitchen hooked up to the wet bar, washing just like my ancestors did.