gas costs
I'm aware that natural gas is relatively inexpensive in Holland (due to gas fields in northern Holland around Groningen) and maybe not so inexpensive in Italy. I was an exchange student in Nijmegen (Netherlands) and I recall that most appliances in the house were gas: gas cooking range, point of use gas water heaters in kitchen and bathrooms, etc. I was not there in winter, so I never saw the heating system being used, but I think it was radiators (whether the hot water in the radiators was gas or electrically heated, I do not know).
The old rule of thumb (that means, general rule or custom) was that it cost four times as much money to dry a load of clothes with electricity as with gas. So if the laundry area has both a 240V plug and a gas line, most people will choose gas. In some areas of California, the building regulations now prohibit the installation of a 240 V plug in a new home, forcing the owners to use gas only, in the interests of energy conservation. With the rise in the cost of natural gas, I am not sure if the 4:1 ratio is still true. I have read estimates however that the ratio is still 2:1 or 3:1 in favor of gas to dry clothes or heat water.
Remember, in USA we only have 240V at locations where two hot wires are joined. That means at most in the laundry area, perhaps in the kitchen, and perhaps an outside connection for a spa.My home was built in 1989 and has only 120V and gas in the kitchen, so all cooking must be gas. However, most of the appliance manufacturers make gas ranges with convection that can run on 120V, so my cooking range is up to date with the newest features. Ten years ago, such features could only be found on an electric range. I cannot use a so-called dual fuel range (gas cooktop, electric oven) because such a model requires 240V electricity. To create a 240V outlet in the kitchen, they would have to rip out a wall and cabinets to have access to the wiring (no thanks!!). The prong arrangement on a US 240V plug differs from a 120V plug, so the two cannot be used interchangeably by accident.
I have a Frigidaire gas dryer (the company is owned by Electrolux). It heats with gas and uses a 120 V motor to spin the drum and operate the controls. I believe the heating unit is rated at about 18,000 BTU (british thermal units). It can dry a load of permanent press clothing in about 30 minutes. A big load of towels takes about 50 minutes. A king sized comforter might take a bit over an hour to dry, because you have to remove it and turn it over to get everything dry (my dryer is average size, about 5.7 cubic feet, you can buy dryers up to about 7.5 cubic feet which probably could dry a king size comforter without having to turn it inside out).
I live in Southern California near the ocean. The house is 120 square meters and does not have air conditioning (not very hot here), but some heating is used (forced air ducted heating with gas furnace) in winter. In summer, gas is used to cook and to heat water only (for bathing and for laundry). My typical monthly gas bill in the summer is $11-12, to give you an idea of the costs here. The electricity bill tends to be $30 in summer, $40 in winter (the heating fan is electric), but I have a 100 gallon/400 liter aquarium which probably adds $10 to the electric bill due to the lights and pumps.
My gas bill in winter can be $30-40 per month due to the additional gas used for heating. But by showing you my summer gas cost, you can see that it does not cost much money to heat water for bathing and washing. Also, be aware that US machines fill using both the cold and hot water pipes. Most US water heaters produce hot water at 140 F or 60 C. So if you require a wash with 30 C, 40 C, 50 C, or 60 C, the washer does not need to heat the water...it simply mixes the water coming in from the cold and hot water pipes. (there are exceptions....you can buy a 240V cold water-only filling Miele here, but I mean the typical US machine, like Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Maytag, etc.).
Many US machines do not have a heater built into the machine, and when a heater is available, it is offered usually on the top of the line models only....expect to pay $100-300 extra for a heater, something Europeans take for granted! The heater on a US machine would be used to heat water if the incoming hot water is below 60 C (say, someone is taking a shower at the same time) or if you select a temperature setting about 60 C. The heating capacity is not as robust as in Europe, since it is usually only 120 V, but the machine isn't heating cold tap water up to washing temperature. It is simply boosting it to 60 C if the hot water runs out, or taking 60 C tap water and boosting it to 70 or 80 C if the user selects a high temperature cycle.
My machine lacks a heater and can wash only at a maximum of 60 C (unless I modified my water heater to make it hotter). Even on machines with a heater, the heater is not used, as I outlined above. Consequently, cycle times are shorter than in Europe. You would not see a two hour cycle unless someone selects the "sanitize" cycle with very hot water. Machines vary, but my washer cycle times are about 40 minutes to 75 minutes, the latter for heavy cycle with extra wash, extra rinse, and extra spin all selected. Two hours for a NORMAL load, as I experience in April on my Stockholm friend's brand new Bosch, would never happen here, and machines that took two hours to run a normal load would not sell well here. The top loaders often required only 30-40 minutes for a cycle, so people here are not used to waiting so long, and it is a matter of education to train them that they have to wait an hour or more for their washer to complete its cycle.
In answer to your question about consumer information, we are in the dark. As someone else said, the government protects manufacturers, not consumers. In addition, many Americans who buy a front loading machine are doing so for the first time in their lives.
Imagine your grandparents when they bought their first automatic washing machines after the war.... that is what many Americans are like. They grew up with top loaders. That is all they know. Many of their friends still have top loaders, so they cannot rely on the advice of friends or family in many cases. You may THINK of the USA as a wealthy consumer society, but having money does not always mean well-informed or having much experience.
We do not receive any comparision tables with letter grades for cleaning and spin effectiveness (your A B C system), nothing about spin speeds, nothing about water used per wash. We do get information about energy efficiency, the yellow sticker on each appliance as someone posted earlier in this thread. Appliances that are more efficient and meet certain standards are designated "Energy Star" by the government, and you can use their website to compare energy efficiency, and to some degree the water efficiency. If you hunt for it!! But we do not get easy to use information to compare models the way Europeans receive.
Some manufacturers with larger tubs now use the tub capacity as a selling point, so that information is easy to find. But speed of final spin? You might have to call customer support to find that information. They can get away with this because the average US consumer is far less savvy about this area than a European. They are better informed about buying a TV or a car, but a front loading washer is just unknown territory to them. Since the consumers don't ask the questions, they aren't given any answers.
The group of people on this website as a whole are very well informed, but their expertise is FAR above the average American walking into an appliance store. If you asked an average American who just completed a purchase of a new front loader some questions about the machine, such as final spin speed, water efficiency, energy efficiency, etc., they would have no idea. Because the machines use 2/3 less water than top loaders, they know they are saving water (compared to the machine being replaced) and that is all they know. It will require another generation of front loaders to die and have to be replaced before you will have consumers who are as knowledgeable as Europeans.
Until I bought my Frigidaire (Electrolux) front loader last year, the only times my clothes had ever been washed in a front loader were on trips to Europe in the homes of friends.
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