HIGH SPEED EXTRACTOR

[Designgeek]

You can still buy centrifugal extractors for home use, e.g. the Spin-X in the US, at 3,400 rpm. And of course twin-tubs have smaller ones built-in, 1600 rpm in the US, and as high as double that on older UK machines.

Here's my prediction that highspeed spin, whether as a feature of automatic washers or as a separate spin-tub or a standalone appliance, will start to get in higher demand as energy prices take off during the next decade or so. Liability issues can be solved with appropriate interlocks. Though on the other hand, maybe we should just start teaching science to our kids again. "This is angular momentum...."

 

[MrX]

Doesn't the G force increase as the size of the drum increases ?

Thus a very narrow bore drum like in an old Hoovermatic Twin tub spinning at 3000+ RPM and a larger front loader spinning at 1800RPM may give similar results ?

The spinning performance of some of the US toploaders isn't great but, it's not bad considering they're <800 RPM so I assume the larger drum diameter means you're getting slightly more Gs?

 

[foraloysius]

Mrx,

Here's a link to a G-force calculator. If you do a little calculating you will see that the spinspeed has more influence on the result than the radius. Probaby a spindryer of 3000rpm will make things a bit dryer than a frontloader with 1800rpm. But practically the results will hardly notice a difference.

 

[toggleswitch]

Cover the top!

I remember the bit of folk wisdom in NYC was to use a towel over the top to make sure nothing flew out... 'cause fishing it out between the inner and outer tubs was a PITA. (large space but still difficult.)

One time someone put a comforter in "the wrong way" and the corner crept up and was being rotated against the lid. Well... the printed instuctions (on a huge "Sticker" on the lid) were scraped off.. and the comforter was burnt where it met the lid. Poyester stinks when it burns. LOL

The laundomat owner installed it around 1985. It was in Queens where, for some reason, everyone had a washer, but not dryers. So, in people would come with loads and loads of wet laundry and tie-up the dryer for us paying customers. The owner would force anyone who did not wash there to use the extractor, if they wanted a dryer. (after months of throwing them out during peak hours)

Also... during extreme back-ups of the dryers the owners would hand out quarters for the extractor for anyone who washed there.

The whole place shook like crazy as it was speeding up and slowing down. Even the "Emergency Stop" took a while to stop the tub. (Used it for the comforter HE HE HE just as the attendent smelled the burning too.)

and you KNOW I would talk to all the cuties saying something like "These wascomats wash twice and rinse three times.. did you use detergent twice?" Quite the ice-breaker.

If they asked how I knew this, it was better to say "Germ and clean-freak mom" rather than "Get a clue and read the directions printed on the machine".. LOL or "It floats my boat"

 

[Designgeek]

Ha, yes, stuff getting loose in the extractor. For decades, twin-tubs have come with "spin mats", the spin mat being a perforated plastic cover that fits firmly into the spintub over the load to prevent "escaping mystery-socks" and similar slightly-humorous emergencies. I can only imagine the sound effects of an escaping sock at 1,600 to 3,400 rpm, much less the situation you described with the discomfited comforter. Seems to me the modern stand-alone spinners such as SpinX and the new inxepensive one from China, have to come with spin mats; it stands to reason.

For a while (many years ago) I did the reverse of what you described at your local laundromat: In the summer I'd wash in the front-loaders and take the load home to hang on lines in the attic. A hot summer attic dries clothes surprisingly quickly, though they did come out somewhat stiff.

Re. G-forces: Yes, a small diameter and fast speed are equivalent to a large diameter and slower speed, within reason. Last time someone here posted the URL for the G-force calc, I put it into my browser's list of bookmarked pages so I can refer back to it easily (thanks). It still amazes me that automatic TLs and FLs last as long as they do with all the vibration from spin loads in large-diameter washtubs, that is clearly good engineering.