New member’s question

[alldim]

Firstly I would like to say hello to everyone. I have been observing this forum for some time and now I decided to join your company.
I am 25 year is old guy living in Budapest who has always been interested in mostly washing machines, but also dryers, dishwashers etc (generally
I used to have Polar, Candy, Electrolux, Siemens and Bosch washing machines at my home. I rent apartment now and I own Zanussi ZWG1100M. Generally it’s okay machine, but has some disadvantages.
My main reason of joining you right now is question that I can’t find good enough answer for it.
I would really like to ask you to explain me differences in American and European washing machines and also maybe Australian. If you agree I will ask you other questions regarding this topic during conversation, because I really don’t understand this differences.
Firstly please tell me what are general differences and why are these differences? Why US washing machines are bigger and didn’t use to have heater etc?
I would really appreciate it, because I have wondered about it for a long time.

 

[eurekastar]

Welcome to the site!  I can't answer your questions, but I know many people here will have the answers to your questions!

 

[alldim]

Woow. No one wants to answer?

 

[maytagbear]

This is a holiday weekend

here in the States...........

That said, until fairly recently the price of energy-- electricity, gas, heating oil was very inexpensive compared to most of the rest of the world. Therefore, heating enough water to do an "American" size washing was no real problem.

Welcome.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[ozzie908]

Hello and welcome

I think the main difference with UK and USA for example is

1 Electricity voltage in UK is 230/240 in USA is 110/120

2 UK homes were smaller and so washing machines were smaller to fit and most often are in the kitchen making big machines unsuitable

3 UK only just catching up with having a dryer as lack of space prohibited use

4 Most homes in UK no longer have hot water storage tanks mostly use combi gas boilers and 99.5% of machines in UK are cold fill only

There you go that's a start for you :0

 

[tomdawg]

Agree with reply #4

I agree with reply #4 but here’s my say- maybe it’s not totally accurate.
I haven’t been over seas, but I think it’s because Americans are busy people.. they fill their schedule too full causing them to stress out... this is what I’ve heard from my friends that have gone overseas. They notice they aren’t as fast paced like Americans- Believe me, I would like to slow down but it’s hard!
I do believe this causes a demand for larger machines. Not to mention. Americans have bigger houses and have room for a large dryer. I know too many people who just throw everything into one large load. “Just to get it done”

 

[tomdawg]

Agree with reply #4

I agree with reply #4 but here’s my say- maybe it’s not totally accurate.
I haven’t been over seas, but I think it’s because Americans are busy people.. they fill their schedule too full causing them to stress out... this is what I’ve heard from my friends that have gone overseas. They notice they aren’t as fast paced like Americans- Believe me, I would like to slow down but it’s hard!
I do believe this causes a demand for larger machines. Not to mention. Americans have bigger houses and have room for a large dryer. I know too many people who just throw everything into one large load. “Just to get it done”

I am looking at a new machine to buy. The one thing I refrain from those “compact” machines- is capacity... just the thought of doing more laundry is terrifying to me, not to mention they take hours to do a load. Or so that’s what I’m told...

I feel this thought or opinion might offend some people who live in different areas of the world. If I’m wrong, please correct me. I would like to know as well.

 

[retro-man]

My take on this is, that in the 70's and 80's in the United States we had machines that were taking on 18-20lbs. of laundry in one load in top loaders. The majority of homes in the US also have a large abundance of hot water waiting to be used. So the need for heaters in machines was largely unnecessary. So with the advent here in the US for front loaders trying to take over the market over top loaders, they had to have the capacity that we were used to and not start back over with 8-10 lb loads. So in essence we needed to have a large enough dryer to handle the large size loads the washer created. Hope this helps answer your question.

Jon

 

[gorenje]

Hello "alldim"

Welcome to the site ;-)

 

[vacerator]

Ditto

what Ingemar said!

 

[alldim]

Thank you for replies.
But what about wash temperature and capacity?
European washers wash in much higher temperaturę than US. How is it with US wash habitts? Do you have other detergents that need Lower temperature?
Moreover, I can see that in US washers drums are filled only maximum in half. I even found informations that US washers shouldnt be filled much, is it right ?

 

[gorenje]

I think that most of all depends on habits. There are huge differences in habits between continents. But I guess people get used to this and didn't even realize them because for them this is the standard or the normality.

In certain places it is given more importance to certain things than in other places. (speed, results, fabric care ....)

My father had an American General Electric filter-flo washing machine for 2 years. I knew very well how to use it but every single time I was so disappointed with the results in general.

The washing machine itself and the washing system was so primitive for me.
But this wouldn't be a problem if the results would be good, but they weren't.

The point is that probably the same shock could have an American using European washing machines, but for other reasons.

My shock as a European was poor washing / rinsing / spin performance, fabric care, detergent and water consumption because these are the things I care about.

But on the other side for an American the shock are long cycles, relatively small capacity, (front loaders can be loaded ful unlike toploaders), because they care about this and not else.

Habits, lifesyle, beliefs and other things are some reasons why we are used to different washing machines and other things. Something that it seems strange to someone is completely usual for someone else ;-)