suds return

[spinspeed]

I was thinking that suds return in modern washers would be a useful option. However, I guess as FL machines use such a small amount of water, it is probably not much point. I have Fisher and Paykel TL and I regularly catch the wash water in laundry tub and syphon back in for another load but it is a manuel process and involves hanging around during the cycle.

I was wondering what other people thought? Suds return was very popular on the older washers, especially here in Australia

 

[mayfan69]

Suds Return

Hi Spinspeed

I agree that suds return is a great feature. I sometimes re-us the clear rinse water on my 1978 Wilkins Servis for the next load, but i very much doubt many manufacturers will ever bring it back, mainly because of the cost of the extra parts needed. For instance, for an automatic suds save, you need 2 outlet hoses and the suds divertor assembly, which would ultimately add to the cost of the machine.

Cheers
Leon

 

[ronhic]

It is a shame that they have disappeared to be honest. It was something that my mother used all the time on her Simpson...

...and as a result, she felt that the difference in water usage between her doing 2 loads and reusing the washwater in the Simpson and 2 loads in her ASEA....was negligible...

....and before anyone starts the 'I told you so'...top V front load debate again, this was over 20yrs ago now when front load machines used to use up to 20ltrs (5US Gal) per kilo of clothes.

Asea - 90ltr per load - wash and 5 rinses...though you can reduce this to about 70 using quick wash) 4.5kg (10lb)capacity

Simpson - 26 imperial gallons or about 115ltr for a full load (I think...Leon am I correct?) wash and rinse. same capacity

 

[spinspeed]

suds return

Wow! your collection of washing machines is very impressive Leon, do they all work? I would love to have a collection like that. We live in an apartment at the moment but hope to move to a house next year and ship my very modest collection over from the UK

Simon (spinspeed)

 

[mayfan69]

Water Usage

Hey Chris

You are pretty much spot on with the Simpson water usage
The Fluid Drives used approx 26 gallons on a high setting for a full cycle and the '80 Series' with the perforated bowl from about 1972 used 26 - 30 gallons.

Simon...thanks...yes, most of the machines work. A couple of them need minor parts replaced which i have, just need to spend the time replacing them.

Leon

 

[ronhic]

Leon...

....Well it was a Fluid Drive I was refering to.....

....It must be well over 20yrs since I read the owners manual....

Speaking of which, if mum still has it somewhere, would you like it Leon as you have an identical machine?

 

[mayfan69]

Owner's Manual

Hi Chris

If your mum still has the manual, yes, i would be interested in getting it off you.

Just email me when you find out.

Cheers
Leon

 

[tomturbomatic]

About the best we can do today is to drain the wash water from one machine into a second machine, supplement the detergent and wash the second load while the first one is rinsing. I used to do this with the Maytags and between the GE and the KA, but over time, came to like washing almost everything in the front loaders and the wash water from loads of throw rugs done in the top loaders would almost qualify for soil replenishment if poured into the yard so it's not reusable.

 

[ingliscanada]

Popular in past generation.

In the days of my parents, suds saver was a wonderful option in saving money. But today, no chick is going to wash her fashionable clothes in the same water that she just washed her dirty underware in. This may be the major factor in the demise of suds saver. However, it would still be a convenient feature in a rural home on a septic tank.

 

[logixx]

Electrolux once made a frontloader (Euro size) with "water" return. The machine would pump the water from the rinse (the last rinse before the softening rinse) into an internal reservoir and reuse it on the next wash cycle.

 

[frigilux]

Personally, I'd love to see the return of suds-savers on toploaders. I grew up with one and we saved hundreds of gallons of water each washday.

One problem: They require a large, plumbed laundry sink next to the washer. Many homes don't have these, anymore.

Most washers were in basements when I was a kid in the 1960s-70s---at least in the upper-Midwest; they often had laundry sinks/tubs. That's not the case, anymore.

I also think the perception of using the same water to wash more than one load has changed since then.

 

[favorit]

Miele has ever made rinse water recycling modules for commercial washers extractors.

@alex : that E'lux frontloader was made by A.E.G. or by Zanussi ? Does E'lux sell in DE the Sunny hot/cold fill zanussi FL and the Affinity ?

http://www.miele-professional.co.uk/gb/professional/product/87_884.htm

 

[tomturbomatic]

Suds saving was something to make automatics seem more economical to people who had been using wringer washers for a couple of generations. They knew how to keep the wash water charged with sufficient detergent to satisfactorily wash successive loads. Another factor was that in many homes the hot water supply was not really adequate for the family and the washer with warm rinses so saving on hot water for the wash helped. Now, 60 years after automatics started being the home laundry appliance of choice and as more homes were built without basements meaning washers were often located in areas without space for laundry tubs to save suds, the concept of reusing wash water has slipped further from the public's mind and it's just as well with the ignorance surrounding laundry practices today.

 

[frigilux]

I think you hit the nail on the head, Tom.

When I was a young kid back in the 1960's, there were still a fair number of wringer washers being used as daily drivers. No one I knew changed the water on every load.

As automatics became more popular, it didn't seem odd to reuse water via the suds saver. In fact, it was a selling point for people who thought automatics were just big ol' water hogs---especially when it came to hot water.

 

[rll70sman]

Septic systems

Ingliscanada, you have a great point in reference to water usage and septic tanks in rural areas. There were many families in northern Minnesota where I grew up who had either a conventional wringer washer or a suds-saver top loader because of the burden on the septic system. If older systems with leach fields were consistently overloaded with wash water, there were frequent problems because lint, paper, and solids would stir up and float into the perforated drain lines in the field, plugging it up. And if the household also used a garbage disposer, the problems were even worse and could render a septic system inoperable.

My parents never have had any problems because our water is so full of iron deposits that my mother just takes all the clothes to the laundromat and washes everything in one shot. But we knew other people who used gray water systems or pumped the wash water outside either through a direct drain pipe or into a sump pump pit.

 

[ingliscanada]

Same with us...

When I was a child, our neighbourhood was a new residential area in a semi-rural area. There were no sanitary sewers yet, so we were all on septic tanks. Many neighbours either had wringer washers or suds-saver automatics. Those with non-suds-savers routed their drain hose into their sump pump. We had an early 60's Inglis set (WP), and the washer was a suds-saver. We had the suds routed into the laundry tub, and the drain routed into the sump pump. By the time we got a new washer and dryer ('79 Maytag), we now had access to sanitary sewers, so we no longer needed a suds saver.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Sometimes houses with septic tanks drained the washer into a dry well to avoid overloading the septic tank. A friend's house just had an underground pipe for the washer drain that went to the edge of the wooded lot. When the 57 Frigidaire drained, you could see a little nest of suds in the pine needles and fallen leaves.

 

[rll70sman]

"A little nest of suds in the pine needles and fallen l

Oh, how that brings back memories. My mother cleaned my first grade teacher's house each Friday, which she still does but not as often. On Fridays when my teacher was planning to go directly home after school, I'd ride back with her since my mother would already be there to clean.

My teacher referred to me as her "Chinese laundry service" because I would wash and dry the mountains of laundry she had each week. I did it because, first of all, I loved to watch her 1980 Maytag extra-large capacity center-dial washer (someone on here may know the model) agitate and spin the clothes. And, second, that machine drained directly outside where I could watch the water. Those old Maytags must have had a powerful pump because the water would just shoot out the end of that pipe.