UK bleach dispensers

[hoovermatic]

Does anyone know in what part of the wash cycle bleach or additives are dispensed into the wash in UK machines? My last 3 h-axis machines have had a four compartment dispensers (pre/main/softener/bleach) but I have never been able to work out when the bleach is dispensed. I am assuming it is at the beginning the main wash but even the manuals don't say. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[nrones]

Candy

I dont know about the others, but I am sure that Candy models that have bleach dispenser dispense it either on cooldown (70s and 80s models) or in the first rinse (90s 2000s)

 

[ronhic]

Paul

It is highly unlikely to be the wash part of the cycle as LCB will cancel ruin the detergents function...First rinse is the most likely scenario, though you would need to watch a full cycle to find out for sure.

 

[aquarius1984]

Mums Candy ACtiva AC101 had a triangle on the dial between the 40 cottons symbol and the Rinse shower symbol. The activa washing jet used to come on while wash water circulated through the dispenser drawer to flush out the bleach in the last 15 mins of the cycle or so.

Id be inclined to believe all the Hoover/candy machines used it in the last stages of the wash like the AC101 did.

 

[hoovermatic]

thanks for all the responses - so, something like Ace for example would be wasted if dispensed in the first rinse or cool down of the wash. I have never used the compartment but recently acquired a bottle of Ace and was just wondering.....

 

[aquarius1984]

Ace,

Oh that can go in with your powder, its not affected by detergent and is designed to be used in the main wash.

the bleach compartment is for "Thin Bleach" like the Americans use to get whites clean in a TL. Ace can be poured onto the fabric directly to treat a stain and its great for woolens, or used like vanish powder in wash style.

 

[optima]

BLEACH

Very interesting on my performa washer-dryer the bleach section is at the front of the fab con section & the fab con is at the back in the same compartment so if you wanted to add softner & bleach at the same time it wouldn't be possible because they share the same compartment & both would get released at the same time on the last rinse. I think hoover have made a mistake with this. Unless your only meant to use bleach on it's own but then it would only be released on the last rinse which would be usless. This really has me beat!

 

[aegokocarat]

@optima

perhaps its if you wished to run a special treatments cycle (rinse and spin)
to pre treat stains you could
Tom

 

[optima]

special treatments

It's just strange that there's nothing what so ever of what programme number you should be using in the instruction book when using bleach. Plus i can't imagine it doing much on a 3 minute last rinse cycle.

 

[haxisfan]

At Optima...

Are you sure isn't there something missing in your Hoover Performa's detergent drawer? My parents' old Zerowatt (Candy) had the same kind of thing, the compartment for the conditioner and the 1 for the bleach share the same section but there are two extra little compartments underneath which keep these 2 separate... so, unless you've taken the drawer apart, you might be deceived into thinking that they share the same container. On this machine the bleach compartment gets flushed out on the 1st rinse on cotton cycles only, on synthetic cycles this compartment can be used if 1 wishes to put extra fabric conditioner as it gets flushed out on the softner rinse together with its next door compartment.

I got ACE once... haven't bothered with it much... um... it's still in the cupboard... I wonder... do these things ever expire? B.t.w. you're suppose to put it in the wash cycle according to the instructions on the bottle... which is just as well... my Hoover doesn't have a 4th compartment :-O

 

[optima]

No it's definitely just got 1 section & there's nothing missing.

 

[joe_in_philly]

Liquid chlorine bleach only takes a few minutes to work, which is why it is usually added at the end of the wash cycle or during the first rinse. It works in hot or cold water. You wouldn't want to add it to the last rinse, as it would not be rinsed out of the clothing.

It also deteriorates fairly quickly, which is why you don't want to buy too much.

What Is Bleach and How Does It Work?

Learn about the different types of bleaches and how they work. Bleach chemicals are powerful enough to remove or lighten color, usually via oxidation.

chemistry.about.com

 

[arbilab]

Liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite, American) bleach tends to upset the pH chemistry of (American) detergents so generally you don't want them in the tub at the same time. My Frigi Gallery and the industrial machines I've seen bleach the first rinse. I don't use bleach. I can't afford to throw clothes away for the sake of blinding whiteness. I can't comment on Euro chemistry at all, evidently it's a whole 'nother thing from the colonies.

Sodium hypochlorite greatly upsets fiber integrity in cottons where it's most commonly used. Unfortunately, so does Oxyclean though it implies it doesn't. I used both (seperately) on all-cotton martial arts uniforms according to directions or less and both destroyed fabrics prematurely. I don't know what it does to synthetics but it's very unlikely to be better than what it does to cottons.

 

[gorenje]

Candy

Hi,
On Candy machines ('80 & '90) or those that has the triangle the bleach is dispensed at the 2nd rinse. And I will tell you also why.

If you are not using an entire cycle but only the "bleaching" one - setting the programe on the "triangle", the machine perform first a rinse to wet all the clothes and than on the 2nd rinse it flushes the bleach, because if the bleach will come in on dry clothes it may damage or cause spotting on the clothes itself.

Ingemar

 

[gorenje]

Correction - on the first rinse !

Sorry guys I have to correct myself!

Not on the 2nd rinse but on the first rinse. I made a mistake because I was counting the filling the machine performs on the "triangle", but that is not yet the rince cycle.

Thanks,
Ingemar

 

[nrones]

Candy dispenser

Ingemar is correct, you put it on the triangle (which is end of the main wash) it rotates 4 times in it, and then drains (no spin), and then it does the only one rinse that is rotating while filling with water (all others machine just fills up and when it filled starts rotating), to ensure deep water level.

Today, new Candys dont have bleach dispenser, because most people here dont use it, and when they do, its ACE that is recommended to be dispensed in the main wash. However for those who want to use a liquid chlorine bleach there is nice text in the instruction manual, that says first to put things we want to bleach on the Rinse-only cycle, and when its finished do the normal one

Heres Candy dispenser with bleach
And in the link, there is whole process written, just starts from the draining, and you can see on the dial that it just passed the triangle sign



View attachment nrones++7-27-2011-05-14-20.jpg

 

[gorenje]

Hi Dejan,

Now I am using an old Candy from 1988.
In this washer (and in all similar Candy washers) you can use the bleaching in two ways.

1) as an indipendent bleaching alone cycle - setting the programe on the "triangle". The machine will first fill water but NO bleach to wet the clothes, than drain and than when it steps to the rinse cycle (with the symbol of the "shower"), on programme 6 it flushes the bleach and performs the entire rinsing cycle as normal.

2) as part of the white wash - the washer performs the wash cycle normaly, than when it comes to the "triangle" nothing happens since the clothes are already wet, and than when the first rinse begins, on programme 6 it flushes the bleach and steps toward finishing the rinse cycle as normal.

Yes now the modern washers has no longer the bleaching option because most (quite nobody) people here don't use the chlorine bleach in the washer. As Dex has said when needed we use the All-Fabric Bleach (non-chlorine) in the wash cycle.

Ingemar

 

[aquarius1984]

Ingemar,

that dial and the font looks very Zanussiesque!

 

[gorenje]

some more pictures of my Candy

pic. # 2