Leave Our Washers Alone!!

[kirk280980]

Couldn't agree more )

Having had a washer with super-stingy water levels (Zanussi Jetsystem), I would never want another one again. It did wash well, but a normal cottons cycle with extra rinse took 2h 26m to complete, and even then the rinsing performance was consistently dreadful. Nothing particularly unusual for a Euro machine at the time, but I too am glad this trend is reversing somewhat and we now have other choices.

About a month ago I had a Hotpoint Aqualtis delivered, and the difference between the two machines is like night and day. Gives a nice, splashy wash followed by three deep rinses, or four with the extra rinse option selected. The Shirts cycle fills halfway up the door glass in each stage of the programme. It also takes a much bigger load, and the normal 40c cotton wash almost a whole hour quicker. What's not to like about that? Have to say I've been very impressed with it so far, and am not missing the old machine one bit. Only downside is the lack of a rinse hold facility, but I'm sure I'll survive without that.

There's a very fine line between being *too economical* purely for the sake of it, versus being *economical enough*. Give me the latter any day! There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a sufficient amount of water to do the job properly, as long as it's not being wasted unnecessarily.

 

[toggleswitch]

1 U.S. gallon (as opposed to an imperial gallon) = 3.78 litres. Therefore 4.0 litres per gallon is a quick an easy mnemonic device/method.

Let me bring you up-to-speed on the English system. (That's TRES ironic isn't it?)

1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 230ml.
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart (a/k/a 4 cups)
4 quarts = 1 U.S. gallon

There will be a quiz next week.

1kg of water is the definition, IIRC, of a litre.

One U.S. gallon of water weighs 8.345 lbs. (pounds)so figure 8 lbs. rounded. Since a U.S. gallon of water is 4 quarts with 4 cups in each, then a gallon of water is 16 cups. Therefore each cup weighs half a pound. Since there are 16 ounces per pound, each cup then weighs 8 ounce or 1/2 a pound.

How's that for useless tid-bit?
There will be a quiz nex week.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/waterweight.htm

 

[dirtybuck]

Uh, Toggle...

In regards to the quiz, I won't be here...I'm gonna have a uh..er, headache or something. How much will it count towards my final grade?

 

[toggleswitch]

Cracks whip....

oh a headache is certainly not the way to get a make-up grade.

 

[decodriveboy]

"The Shirts cycle fills halfway up the door glass in ea

Something that you will never even come close to seeing in the US!

I wish our country would import some European sense.

 

[toggleswitch]

What I don't understand is why go from one extreme to the other----from top-loaders with plenty of water to a few tablespoons in a front-loader.

Why not a front-loader with a nice decent water-fill level?

 

[mayguy]

Front Loader vs Top Loader

I guess it depends on the Brand of washer. I have the FridGEmore front load washer, and very please with it.. I did not want to spend over $500 for a washer. Got this washer on sale for $400, and does the job.

On normal cycle it takes about 40-45 minutes to do a load of wash.

Water is cheap here, but saved over 13,000 gallons of water in year, gas bill droped from $88 a month down to $66 a month. (dryer and water heater is gas.)

I don't know about the other guys out there like LG how long it takes to do a load. But I see no point of spending that much money.

 

[tuthill]

Why not a front-loader with a nice decent water-fill level?

Isn't it because they clean better with little water? It's better when the clothes are actually DROPPED into water, not merely twirled around with it, which was the case with earlier front loaders that did not clean very well.

Btw, if you look at my thread showing a new Whirlpool Duet, it does do a high-water level rinse, so rinsing is NEVER a issue, and the normal cycle only takes 51 minutes.

And as fas a top-loaders, they are WAY past their prime. New TL's just plain suck these days. I'd rather enjoy the rich heritage of TL's, but move on when it comes to new washers. Fl's are just a better design.

 

[kirk280980]

Why not a front-loader with a nice decent water-fill level?

Indeed, and we're not necessarily talking about vast increases here either. Raising the water level by just an inch or two would be more than enough to satisfy most users, while still maintaining sufficient lift-and-drop wash action. Overall this would make little difference in total water consumption... a few gallons perhaps? Point is there would still be considerable savings when compared to a top loader.

 

[thomasortega]

It reminds me the best FL washer ever made by Electrolux
LE750
the largest cycle is 2 hours (pre wash, whitest whites and 5 rinses)
Water level is excellent, the capacity is small (5 kg) but enough to wash king size comforters.
The only contra is the spin speed, only 750 rpm, but for a 40 years old project, it´s fantastic.
This washer was discontinued in Brazil 1 year ago and many people miss it.
Hehehe i have mine and i´ll never sell it.

 

[vivalalavatrice]

Every once the same....

TLHA! Why not?!

Just this to say... nothing else.

Diomede

 

[MrX]

kirk280980,

I have to agree the Aqualtis wash gets the water usage spot on. It's not wasteful, but it's not stingy. It's certainly 'Deeply different' to quote the slogan.
It's still an A,A,A rated machine!!

 

[kirk280980]

Hi mrx,

I take it you have an Aqualtis too? It really is a cracking machine, very well thought out and unbelievably quiet too. Hopefully it will prove to be reliable in the long term, but time will tell on that one.

Now all they have to do is bring out a matching dryer!

 

[MrX]

Yeah, so far it seems like a really nicely engineered machine. I have the silver 1600rpm version.

It's really improved Hotpoint/Ariston's reputation and really has absolutely no relationship to the Hotpoint machines of the last decade +. It's a high end Ariston.

 

[newwave1]

Good news Kirk & MRX,
If they get their finger out at indesitcompany, the tumble dryer is due out the end of this year!

Darren

 

[kirk280980]

To date I haven't heard of any Aqualtis horror stories, and the online reviews from actual users appear to be overwhelmingly positive. That's no guarantee of course, but it's a good start. The fit and finish of the machine is good, and it does run very smoothly... so yes, nothing at all like the later WM and WMA Hotpoints!

Good news about the dryer too, will be sure to check those out when the time comes. Any idea if there will be a vented model, or are we just looking at condensers only?

 

[newwave1]

Only a condenser for the moment!

 

[MrX]

What's with the fixation on condensers?

They're terrible!

 

[newwave1]

Well from a sales point of view, They can be placed anywhere. Opens up to more people.

They dont half kick out some heat!

Darren

 

[launderess]

Vented tumble dryers are fine if one has a wall opening for the vent, or can make one. Many parts of Europe, such as Paris for instance forbid cutting holes into outside walls hence condenser dryers and those "portable" air conditioners that have hoses one sticks out of window, or worse collects water in a drip pan.

If you own your own home,or modern buildings things may be different, but you simply cannot go around making holes in 100, or even 200 year old buildings, well at least not in Paris.