Louis: Belgian made portable horizontal washer?

[petek]

I saw this sort of neat counter top washing machine/dryer this morning at a thrift store that was made in Belgium. The closest I can describe it is a large Rubbermaid storage tote box or Coleman plastic cooler with a hinged lid, two dials on top and a faucet fill hose and drain hose coming out the back. About 2.5 sq ft all sides. When you lift the lid there is a small horizontal mounted wash drum with a sliding cover. It's like those Euro top loading dryer in that respect. The name on it was Scirocco something Wash and it had the ITT name as well. The store owner was out so I don't know what he wanted for it. it was pretty much all plastic but very cool

 

[nmaineman36]

That washer sounds like that Avanti washer/dryer that was marketed some time ago. it was made of plastic and fit on the counter. You would set the timer for wash and then stopped it...took the clothes out to wring them out by hand and then put them back in to rinse...unless you wanted a constant overflow kinda rinse you could do that. Wring them out and set the dryer timer to dry the load...didnt hold much.

 

[foraloysius]

Yes, these were sold under a lot of names, overhere in the Netherlands as the Nova Scirocco. I didn't know these thingies were made in Belgium. Perhaps Askomiele knows where they were manufactured. I never liked them because they don't spin. I have a few pictures. Here's one of the top with the controls.

 

[foraloysius]

And here's one of the inside with the sliding cover. A while ago I saw a different model, without the drying function. I found the inside of the drum to be quite rough, i wouldn't trust my silks to these plastic drums.

 

[askomiele]

Jup they were produced by NOVA the belgian brand for small electric appliances. Deep friers, mixers, wafflebakers,... and countertop washers. Never saw one in personal. They say that those things wash rinse and dry but how... no one knows. Today tefal, domo and calor are selling them. Until last year they were produces here but NOVA closed his factory and sold the name to princess.

 

[petek]

That's exactly it. On the right hand side near the back there was also a water level indicator and a switch for wash or dry iirc. I was surprised how lightweight it was as well, couldn't have weighed much more than approx 10 lbs (5 kg). According to the instructions which were enclosed after washing you were to remove about 1/2 the load to dry. Me thinks I should go back and grab it LOL if he doesn't want to much for it.

 

[bellalaundry]

Hey Pete...

Go get it! I've got one (called Nova) It's colour combination is off white for the bottom and 70's yellow for the hinged top. It is a wash only model.

I payed $1 at an auction. I actually use mine from time to time. I put about 5 to 7 lbs (even heavy jeans). It's very robust and has never stalled out. It's handy if you have a spinner/extractor.

Good Luck

Guy

 

[foraloysius]

I dunno

I have a Nova miniwash with a wash plate. Together with my Velo that is non-automatic enough. Not only do you have to spin it in a separate spinner, but rinsing is a hassle too. Give me automatic anytime. I would prefer a little Haier or so over a such a Nova.

 

[foraloysius]

Here's a picture of the inside.

 

[foraloysius]

Guy,

Is this the one you have?

 

[Bearpeter]

Ahh memories!!!!

Whilst I worked as a holiday rep in the mid to late 90's. I started with one of those mini wash machines. (i used to put all my toiletries in it and then send it as hold luggage!! It was flippin' powerful as a washer but when you live in a single room in a hotel, it was great for washing clothes! I then moved on to the sirocco. I didn't have a spin dryer but once the clothes were drip dried for a while, the dryer was pretty effective (and great when you needed a heater in a cold room in the winter in Spain!!!). The washing action was more like the speed of a normal washer when doing a slow wash for delicates or wool. The overflow/siphon rinsing was very good! Much better than the spanish laundry service! You can imagine how blessed I feel now.... even with the most basic of Indesit lol!

 

[MrX]

I think these machines were predominantly aimed at people on camping holidays who just needed something to quickly wash a few items. They were never intended to be a regular use washing machine.

 

[panthera]

That

was my very first European washer! I had rented a room. The guy I rented from had a 2,800rpm. spinner in the bathroom but no washer.
So I bought this. Cost a small fortune, but used it for two years to do all my washing. The dryer worked great on clothes which had been spun at that speed. It washed between 1/2 and 2/3 of a 'normal' European full size machine load, but it worked perfectly, the reversing action on the drum made it dry with relatively little wrinkling (let's be real here, that drum is tiny). I gave it away when I got my first apartment, friends used it for another two years in their Wohngemeinschaft - three people, constant use.
Very well built, very elaborate set-up to reverse.
If you can get it, do!

 

[launderess]

You can find the Avanti, and it's clones all over including eBay. They are merely slightly advanced forms of the portable tabletop or "camper" washing machines sold for years by Hoover, Kenmore,Rival, and many others from about the 1940's onwards.

As another poster stated, these units were meant for laundering perhaps milady's danties, or small loads such as diapers or doing small baches of family washing while out on the road such as when camping. Aside from the "Whirldry" units, none spun out water. Some units offered wringers you mounted onto the side of the unit, others you simply pick up wet laundry and wrung it out, or dumped the lot into a sink, and wrung out laundry as you put it back into the machine to "rinse". Suppose it was better than manually washing out a few things, but only just.

L.

 

[panthera]

a difference

There is a big difference between the 'washplate' machines, which, as Laundress pointed out might just manage one pair of (slim) panties and these Nova machines. They had reversing tumble action. If we discount that you had to fill and drain the water yourself (the cycles were timed) they were just as effective as any other non-heating FL of the period, just smaller.
If I find one, I'll pick one up the next time I am back in Germany and see if I can't do a short video clip on it with pictures of the reversing timer.
The heater was only possible because of the 220V circuits used in Europe, mine back in the early 80's ran at 2000 W. That is quite decent, all things considered. Some units had no heat, others smaller heaters, etc.
The overflow rinse is the only function I avoided - I just couldn't see using that much water when I had a 2,800rpm spinner available to me...

 

[bellalaundry]

Hey Louis...

That is exactly like mine! Do you have the same one?

Guy

 

[foraloysius]

Guy, no, this is just a picture from the internet. The baby blue one is mine.