Help me to become more Eco Friendly

[MrX]

It's pretty simple, follow the instructions that come with your machine!

If you're not using it regularly, just leave the door open. It's as simple as that.

We've had front loaders for my entire life and I've never had ANY issue with mould or smells in any of them. In fact, if you take a whiff inside the drum of most washing machines they unsurprisingly smell like laundry detergent and quite pleasant.

Front Loaders MUST either be used every other day, or left open. It's as simple as that.

Also, it's best not to dose the machine up with huge amounts of gunk like waxy fabric softener. Particularly, if you're not doing many warm washes or are using very gentle detergents.

 

[foraloysius]

Toploader

The Maytag Atlantis models had issues with mold, but these machines have a seal on the lid. If the lid is closed there is no ventilation. Most of the mold was found on the bottomside of the top panel and was hard to remove if the machine wasn't opened for cleaning IIRC.

 

[pierreandreply4]

hello

here is my tip regroup into a single wash pile all of your hot water wash load and wash those toghter but the rest of your clothes wash them using cold water this might help you reduce your bill and for rinse water use a cold water rinse and when its nice and sunny hang your clothe to dry outside and use the dryer when its raining or late at night?

Hope this helps you

 

[phillygrl]

I've only owned front loaders. I've never had a problem with mold in a machine. I have always let the door stay open, run my whites with hot water, and my clothes and washing machine are always clean and fresh. My first washer was a White Westinghouse Spacemates stack. I had 27 good years from it, and passed it on to a member of this board. Hope he's enjoying it as much as I did. Now I own Thomas' Affinity stack. It is a wonderful machine. And I can see the water level. It uses less than the Westy, and produces superior results.

You do not need a top loader to remove mildew and odor. Years ago a load of towels was accidentally left in the washer over a vacation. Talk about stink! Borax, soap and hot water got the odor out of the towels. A chlorine wash without laundry cleaned out the machine. I love my front loader and would never buy a top loader.

 

[thomasortega]

Thomas' Affinity?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Woooooooooow

Affinity is not my project!!!
I just helped to create 2 of it´s programs...

All the other parts were designed by other team.

 

[thomasortega]

Lisa

Please take a look at your messenger.

 

[electron1100]

Smelly Washing Machines

Wow what a thread!

Over here in the UK since the introduction of the new green religion, washing machine manufacturers have had to deal with making machines more efficient, which is not a bad thing in itself.

Also consummers are generally using lower temperatures to wash cloths in and of course the machines are using pathetically small amounts of water to do this.

Whilst I am on this the adverts for "turn to 30" from Aerial are a joke as they forget to mention the evil chemicals in the powder that will also destroy the enviroment

Constant washing in low temperatures (30-50 degrees) does not get rid of grease and fat........this just builds up in the machine and eventually you end up with black goo and a rotten smell in the machines.

A service wash (90 degree) will help get rid of this, but an even easier option and very cheap too is to use a table spoon of washing soda with each wash, this is a very strong degreasant that is as old as the hills your gran would have used it .

It is safe for all types of fabrics and is cheap as chips, it also softens water, it is one the best kept secrets in the washing world that i know of

I have old front loaders that wash in realistic amounts of water and wash in a fraction of the time my modern Bosch front loader does with excellent results. The Bosch manages the same providing it is used with "aqua plus" and "wash plus" but of course it takes over 2 hours to complete a 40 degree cottons wash, where as the old front loaders take 55 minutes to do the same.

This green religion is a worrying and dangerous trend even though our goverment are spending billions trying indoctrinate this nation fortunately people in this country are waking up to the fact that it is a political scam

Right thats my advice on washing and my opinion on all this green crap

Gary

 

[retro-man]

Maytag Neptune front loader. Have forgotten laundry in there for 3 days opened the door smelled just like it had finished the cycle. I never leave the door open. Never a mold or smell issue in 9 years now. Maybe the luck of the draw and I got a good one.

 

[platinum6]

Interesting thread here, it's funny how different machines operate and how they use varying amounts of water and energy lol.

Maybe 1 day all machines will have an Eco-Meter to show you how energy efficent they're being, the only machine that has it so far is the Hotpoint Aqualtis. The other brands should hopefully follow suit lol.

 

[rolls_rapide]

And now my tuppence-worth...

I was in Tesco the other day and bumped into a friend. He bought a Hoover front-loader last December and it was fine until recently. He was complaining about brown gunge on his white articles and a musty smell. He said he had tried a boil wash or two, but never had much success at removing the residue.

He told me that he used liquid detergent AND washed all items at 30 degrees C.

I told him to use a powder with a bleaching action (he chose DAZ) and do a couple of maintenance washes at 95 deg C., and to wash his clothes at 40-60 deg C.

I'll be sure to ask him the result, the next time I see him.

 

[irishwashguy]

My two cents

I have a Miele and see no harm in using the higher temps. I have a load going at this moment that would be equal to 75 (170). There is just no way to get them clean any other way. Maybe use the shorter program, although, I do not have my machine even hooked up to the water heater, that does save as far as that goes. My machine has a heater, it only heats what it needs, and leaves the rest for other things. I have never believed in using chemicals like bleach. That is really bad for your clothes, for you if you ingest it, and for you machine, especially the rubber gasket. I had to replace that once, and trust me, that is not cheap. I would say go with your gut. I use shorter program times with things that are not as dirty, and longer when it requires. Most of my clothes, I usually try to keep it at: for dark colors 105 f (30) and for whites, 140 or (60). Don't forget that the soap is there as well to help in your crusade against germs. Washing a full load is the first thing. My Miele is quite intelligent. Sometimes I will pic a program time, and it will shorten it and in some cases with the rinse, make it longer. Don't sweat it!