Lint Removal On Modern Washers

[westyslantfront]

I am washing a batch of flannel shirts in my Norgetag Maytag. There is a lot of lint floadting around in the tub. I am not sure if it will all get flushed away during the final spin. Always wonder if all that lint getting expelled from the washer might someday cause a drain clog. Sure miss the old lint filters in washers.

Ross

 

[spookiness]

Keep this thread going

I had a Norgetag and I did not experience nearly the amount of lint that I seem to have with my Admirpool. I usually ran the Norgetag on the gentle agitation speed, so that probably had a lot to do with it.

I hang-dry a lot of clothes, and when I am in the market for a new machine, I definitely want to research what models are best at both 1) preventing, 2) filtering lint.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Ross - I don't know if your Norgetag has a filter in it or not, but you shouldn't worry about clogging the drain. MANY washers have been expelling lint down the drain for many decades, either like yours is now, or in a self-cleaned filter 'blob' all at once in the initial drain. Unless the drain is prone to clogs or already compromised, I don't think this is an issue.

As to the Admiralpool and recent top loaders, I am unaware of any that come equipped with filters now. WP seems to have eliminated them from their DD machines several years ago, the last used being those disks on the bottom of the baskets. Before someone goes lamenting about the disk filters, they did work, just not as efficiently as some other self cleaning designs. They were definitely the most cost effective to plumb for in the machine (none) and manufacture.

Maybe its just me, but I don't think clothes today make as much lint as they did some years back. It is either that or good detergent isn't causing as much? Neither of my dryers seem to get as much it the screens, and I don't see as much coming out of the washers either. I can leave the filter in my 1979 Kenmore 500 machine, with the manual bed of nails filter, for as many as five or six loads before it needs to be cleaned. Of course it depends what I'm washing, but that would never have happened when I was a kid.

Gordon

 

[DirectDriveDave]

Your washer should be fine My bro has a 2010 Whirlpool DD and has not had any lint problems.

Is it possible that maybe brand new clothes will have more lint?

 

[mrb627]

Tub Design

Some manufacturers claim that the hole design in their wash tub allowed lint to exit but not return into the inner tub. Not sure if it works or not.

Malcolm

 

[whirlcool]

I think that manufacturers gave up on lint removal in washing machines and let the customer depend on the dryer to remove the lint.

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>Some manufacturers claim that the hole design in their wash tub allowed lint to exit but not return into the inner tub. Not sure if it works or not.</blockquote>F&P touts that method of lint control.  My IWL12 drains where I can observe the flow.  I have seen what appears to be lint particles flushing out.  I can't say if they're actually being held outside the basket or flowing freely through it during agitation, but I've never had a lint problem with either of my F&P machines.

I've also observed linty-looking water draining from my Neptune TL, but don't know what claims for handling lint.

 

[yogitunes]

Even though a few of my machines have the manual filter, I never leave it in during use, and never notice a lint problem on the clothes, or in the drains......

Some people who have their machines draining into laundry tubs will use a filter or a screen of some sort, because strings of lint will clog the drain at the bottom.......and I only do this because my tub drains into a sewage ejector, lint really isn't the issue, loose strings are!.....

Proper sorting, temps, and detergents will minimize lint issues....your mileage may vary....

but there is something about watching a manual filters water flowing........

 

[laundromat]

Lint filters were a way for washing machine manufacturers to upscale from the bottom of the line models to the more deluxe ones.Lint is caused by the loose fibers from daily wear and tear to the vigorous agitator blades causing those fibers to loosen and come off the fabrics.If you have a front loading washer AND a top loading washer, after their cycles are over, put each load in the dryer seperately. top loading load first. Once they're dry, take the lint out and put it on a plate. then, put the front load washer load in and,once dry, remove the lint and you'll see close to half because the clothes weren't as damaged in the front loader as they were in the top loader.I may be incorrect here but, if I remember correctly,Whirlpool introduced the washer's lint filters back in the early to mid 50s.GE was close behind with their Filter-Flo pan.Bendix had a trap similar to the ones on most of the newer front loaders and WCI in their earlier years had one similar to GEs.Norge too.My thoughts are that,if they worked so well, why was there so much lint accumulating in the dryer after the clothes were already "filtered out"?

 

[alr2903]

Some of the older dryer manuals stated "new users may be shocked by the amount of lint in the filter"  followed by if i remember correctly, "as fabrics dry on the line, the lint blows away".  Of course that only applied to first time dryer owners,  and is really not new information in 2011.  For clothing i could really go 2 or 3 loads with a Kenmore 29 inch dryer.  Towels and bathroom rugs are the big lint producers here.  As Yogi posted strings are another issue, Id rather have to buy new towels than pay a plumber.  We had a new frigidaire gas dryer that came with the house when i was using it, i could empty its small filter twice while drying towels.  Thank goodness for Craigs list.  Yogi you are right there is something about a flowing water filter. alr

 

[whirlcool]

I had the same experience recently too. I bought 12 dog drying towels. They are made of 100% Cotton and are very fluffy and really suck up the moisture off of a dog after bathing. I washed them before use and when they were in the dryer it stopped due to a clogged lint filter three times! I have a Whirlpool dryer with the filter on top. And you know how big those filters are!
In successive washes, the lint from those towels is almost down to normal lint that would be expected of such items.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Washer manufacturers gave up on lint filters when phosphates were removed from detergents and mineralization began to ruin machines and clog up lint filters. Detergents, fabric softeners and clothes dryers probably deal with lint better than lint filters in washers alone.

 

[matthewza]

well...

on my 13kg samsung top loader, pulsator type, it has a "majic filter" (cartridge filter) and i must say its fantastic at getting lint off, even in full loads. my 8kg LG has a sck filter and only reali works on loads bigger than half (luckily because of the smaller drum on that 1 i always have a full load). our previous speed queen was bad though. there was quite a bt of lint and it woud cause jerseys to bobble (so i washed them in the front loader that time. i never had lint issues when i had a whirlpool heavy duty for about 3 months, not even on jerseys.
so bottom line get a pulsator machine with a cartridge filter
Matthew

 

[Jsneaker]

Lint Filters

Wow, does alr2903 actually let his dryer lint filter go for 2-3 loads before cleaning? That is not good! I always empty my Lady Kenmore 27"'s lint filter after every load-it pays to do so. Yes, front-load washers make less lint from laundry, I noticed that fact immediately after my first washed load dried last year. I never ever use fabric softener, it actually softens fibers so they break faster, thus producing more lint. Also, the vapors from softener, along with lint, clog dryer filters, ducts and vents. Besides, softener perfume stinks to high heaven!

 

[DirectDriveDave]

Not much lint difference.

I honestly have not found any lint differences between a TL and a FL.

I always used a FL when I was in college and the lint filters on the dryer seemed to be the same amount regardless of the type of washer.

 

[kenmorebd]

Kinda off topic, did whirlpool dryers hum when the lint filter was full? Or was that just do to the venting? Any who The Shredmore looks kind of linty sometimes. The ge washer seem to not have this issue the dryer filter looks clean after a load. Maybe it has to do with wash action and not with the filter so much?

-Andrew

 

[sudsmaster]

Older Whirlpools had automatic self-cleaning lint filters. It was a sort of rubber disk affair with internal hooks that caught lint during recirculation, and then expelled it during drains. Later Whirlpools shifted the lint filter to a plastic comb at the recirculation outlet above the tub. From the one I had in the 80's and 90's, it never seemed to catch much and it was a PITA to clean anyway. The GE Filter Flo design seemed to be better at it. But if the original Whirlpool self-cleaning lint filter was any indication, lint down the drain was no big deal.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Wow, does alr2903 actually let his dryer lint filter go for

JSneaker, the lint filter in a 27" dryer does not have the surface area that the top mounted screens have. I do the same thing that alr does - my 2 in service 29" dryers fill at max. about 40% of the screen in one load, and that's on a linty load. It is not going to hurt anything to let the filter go for two loads.

When I wash a load of gym clothes, which consist of old washed-out towels, t-shirts and nylon lint-free shorts, there is hardly any lint at all in the screen. My thought has always been "why remove the screen if its hardly got anything on it, it just wears the screen faster by taking it out."

Gordon

 

[revvinkevin]

Lint going down the train…..

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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">My best friend and his wife have a 5 or so year old WP set in their detached garage and what ever they are washing is pretty linty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>So much so that the utility sink drain backed up and they had to have a plumber out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>Turns out there was so much lint going down the drain that it was causing the drain to clog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">    </span>My friend had to buy the wire mesh “lint catchers” and add one to the drain hose to catch all the lint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>He has to replace this lint catcher every 3 - 4 weeks due to it getting clogged.</span>

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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">It seems to me that lint filters (at least in most washer built and sold in the US) went the way of the dinosaur about the mid-80's.</span>

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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Kevin</span>