Is There a FL Washer Available in the U. S. That Heats Wash Water to 206 F?

[Iowegian]

@tomturbomatic:

I'm not really bothered by high wash temperatures where they are appropriate for the fabric. But like lots of other things, like spin RPM and drum capacity, there seems to be a prevailing thought that "More is more better". The same thing happens with home theater stereo receivers where everyone thinks that a 80 watt home receiver is "10 more better" than a 70 Watt receiver, when in reality an 80 Watt receiver will only play about 0.3 dB louder than a 70 Watt one. Most people need a full 3.0 dB (ten times) difference to detect a loudness change, and 3.0 dB requires a doubling of power - so for most people to reliably detect a significant difference in volume, the would need a 140 Watt receiver to sound very much louder.

It's just the specsmanship thing thing that I find irritating.

Sure, bleaching sailcloth is great, but most people wear clothes made of fiber blends, a lot of which wouldn't survive a true boiling and still be wearable. I don't know much about sailboats but do they even use real cotton anymore? Aircraft that used to be covered in cotton and butyrate dope now use polyester fabrics and modern glue and coating systems that last 3 to 4 times longer.

BTW, I remember the days of people buying 501s and wearing them wet, but I left that to my sister. She married better than I did, though, so maybe there really was something to that concept...

 

[carlvs]

Our family still uses linen tablecloths and napkins and the best way to remove the stains is by pouring boiling water thru. Infact, we still dunk the napkins in a kettle of boiling water to get the grease and any stains out. Some sets of linens are over 80 years old and look brand new - and with out bleaching. If this type of washing machine was easily available, and I was in the market - I would probably buy one just to wash linens and sheets in.

 

[tolivac]

With the ideas of heated washers--instead of dealing with the 120V or 220V heaters-how bout the washer makers making them with the option of a GAS heater instead of the electric-would be good for users that have gas service.
For sails-most are made of Dacron-DO NOT BLEACH-the bleach can weaken the fabric-also when washing sails-you will need to reapply the resin "stiffener" to them to make the fabric stiff again-limp sails don't work well-even with battens-from what little expereince I had with this.Most boaters don't wash sails unless its absolutely necessary.they simply air them if they get damp or wet before repacking them in a sailbag.Mildew will wreck any sail fabric.when I was a boy-my Dad did have a sailboat that had cotton sails-remember spreading them out in the yard several times after boating sessions to dry them before refolding them into the sailbag.and when these did get wet-they were very HEAVY!!

 

[launderess]

Gas Heated Washing Machine

For domestic use would probably be a very hard sell.

First depending upon local code gas appliances must be installed by a licensed plumber (that is how NYC does things), which would drive up cost. Suppose one could simply ignore this and DIY or find someone cheaper that knows how to do the thing, but if something went wrong not sure how one's homeowner insurance and others would take things.

Then am thinking of the various safety design issues to prevent injury and or liability issues, again costly.

Commercial laundries long have had access to gas heated ironers and of course dryers. If one had the space, zoning and so forth would go for one of those smaller gas heated flatwork ironers in a NYC minute. Natural gas being way cheaper than electric around here it would probably make my "ironing" bill a bit less. *LOL*

Back in the day Ironrite (also badged as Maytag) had gas heated ironers for home use. From what one has been able to find out only a limited number of units were produced and even those were for mainly sale by gas companies to their customers. Guess there was lots of competition between gas and electric back then.

 

[mikeklondon]

Bed Bugs

Think I'll keep washing at high temp when possible, and a good run though the roller iron.

 

[mikeklondon]

Bosch2460

HI Your so right, I would love to have the space for a TL but as a daily driver? the wash performance on all the TL's I have looked at in the UK are rated at G where the Miele FL is rated at A+ for wash A+ for rinse and A+ for spin.

 

[mrboilwash]

Those compact Bosch washers sold in the US only go up to 161°F in the Sanitary cycle. I wouldn`t call that a boil wash.

On the other hand I don`t believe that my Miele really heats up to 203°F when I choose the 95°C.
190°F is a much more realistic temperature in the "boil" cycle of a modern Euro-FL no matter what the dial says.
Otherwise there would be way to much steam and even possible damage to the detergent drawer.

 

[tolivac]

so,guess the idea of the gas washer may not fly-it was a thought for homes with gas service-would figure the appliance dealer would install the machine.Think of it-electric heaters for washers and dryers are convenient-but it is costly to use electricity as a "fuel".I don't know what the codes are for gas in my area-but the appliance dealers here usually install any gas type machine.My home doesn't have gas service-it would be easy to get it-a gas pipe runs in front of my house-some of my neighbors use gas for heat and cooking.Or for the heated washer-you have to decide wether to put in a seperate 220V circuit for the 220V heated washer-or use a washer whose heater runs from the 120V 15A circuit-would work-but VERY slow.A person I know in this area put in a Meile appliances in his house-he sells Meile vacuum cleaners-so he got a good price on the machines.He had to have a 220V circuit installed for his Meile washer.His large kitchen appliances are Meile-he got them from the Meile distributer in Raleigh.Same place that supplies his Meile vacuum cleaner stock.

 

[launderess]

Leave Us Not Be Hasty

IIRC there were one or two vintage combination W&D units that used gas both to heat water and for drying. So the idea isn't totally out of the ballpark, though what flew fifty or more odd years ago appliance wise may not meet today's safety and or liablity standards.

 

[logixx]

Max temp on Miele

I have also read several times that the European Miele washers stop at 85C (185F) when set to boil wash. I *think* that has to do something with water boiling at different altitudes - but could be completely wrong. Maybe it's just energy-saving.

Besides Bosch, there's also ASKO. They offer a 205F temp, too.

 

[gredmondson]

Miele Washer model W1215

I just found a Miele Washer model W1215 (stainless steel cabinet) that is available in Burlingame, close to San Francisco, at the Atherton Appliance Warehouse. It has the 95 degree Centigrade Sanitize heated wash cycle. In fact, it looks a lot like the W1203 that I have in my house. It is new, still in the box, but it is about three years old, or so the salesman said. They are asking $600.00 plus $150 for delivery and set up (needs to have a European 240 volt plug)). I do not thnk I can find a better deal.

 

[launderess]

Max temp on Miele

Haven't run a 200F wash for ages in my Miele 1070 so have no idea if that is the actual temp reached. The only way to find out would be to drain water out of the machine after it reached the temp but before the "cool down" rinse starts. Door won't open if water is above a certain level and one dare not use the manual release! *LOL*

 

[sudsmaster]

Surgeon's hands...

If you've ever watched a surgeon wash his hands, it a long and extremely thorough procedure. They have special soaps and brushes and they get their hands squeaky clean. On top of that, they don sterile gloves so even if there are bacteria left on their hands (likely, at least some) the gloves will block them. In the operating room they keep a sterile field and if there is any breach of the field they go through all sorts of routines to re-establish it.

That said, for most healthy people 160F is hot enough, coupled with modern detergents, to get clothes clean, white, and "sanitary". Bearing in mind that the only really sanitary condition is achieved by subjecting the fabric to moist heat in a pressure cooker (autoclave). Even then, there are some organisms (like raccoon worm eggs) that can survive even that (they need to be flamed to kill them), and quasi-organisms like prion proteins (which can cause mad cow disease) that also require flame treatment for complete inactivation.

There is also a growing body of medical thought that too-clean conditions when a child is raised has resulted in an increase in problems like allergies. There's also a school of thought that the lack of intestinal parasites in the modern western world has led to other problems like irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease.

I have a Miele that can do boil washes. I don't use it at that temp very much if at all, because it's extremely hard on fabrics. I would call it the diaper setting.

 

[launderess]

Surgical Pre-Op Scrub

Is ten minutes at least and there is no way to "sterlise" human skin. What the prep does is reduce the number of *germs* to a level that is about as minimal as one is going to get.

Again the word to remember is biofilm. Germs are often remarkably sticky things and thus to remove them you've got to disloge whatever layer/surface they are clinging to; happily the human skin has many external layers and grows more to replace what is shed so there is normally no problems.