Why The "Older" Generation May Have Thought Twin Tubs and Wringers Gave A Cleaner Wash

[launderess]

Here's me the past few days reading various posts rearding soild tub Hotpoint washers, wringers and even watching again the video clip of a closing British wash house. Time again one would hear how women from previous generations thought using wringers or even a twin tub gave a cleaner washer than automatics, then it hit me! Each of the older methods involved taking laundry *out* of wash water and extraction (by wringer, spin dryer or whatever) as opposed to the method of many *top loading* automatics where water is drained down through the wash.

Taking the wash out of the water leaves the muck and even a good part of the hard water deposit containing muck behind. If you drain the water down through the bottom of the machine it causes textiles to act as a strainer, filtering aforementioned gunk through the laundry.

Case in point did a large load of dust cloths in the Hoover TT last weekend. While the water spun out of the load after being taken from the wash was soapy, but not very muck laden, the same couldn't be said for the wash water. As one drained out the wash tub one could see all the dust, dirt and other matter gradually making it's way to the bottom of the tub.

Now modern frontloaders because they keep laundry in motion whilst draining probably do not suffer from this problem. However do notice when wash is done in the Whirlpool portable darks and one assumes lights as well are often covered here and there with link and fluff (along with god only knows what else that one cannot really see), due to the water having been pulled down through the wash.

Thoughts?

 

[arbilab]

"If you drain the water down through the bottom of the machine it causes textiles to act as a strainer, filtering aforementioned gunk through the laundry."
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It sure does. Oil doesn't dissolve, it lifts and gets sequestered. I can see it splashing against the window of my FL. Milky. Sure don't want that left behind.

 

[jetcone]

I always said

the WP neutral drain was just like making drip coffee! Strain everything through the clothes. Thats why a solid tub EASY does a better job because it throws wash water and lint and scum up over the rim away from clothes.

 

 

[washerlover]

I tend to agree that a spin cycle beginning right away throwing the water out will get rid of any floating scum, etc. I believe the "neutral drain" was designed to help keep the weight of the clothes at the bottom of the tub, thus reducing the chance of an out-of-balance situation.

 

[blackstone]

The Blackstone 250 & 350 tub had both means of draining water--first, a gravity drain through the holes in the bottom of the tub, and second, overflow drain as the tub spins. The "washboard" design in the stainless tub allowed the water to drain behind (if that is the right word) the clothes. The water would climb up and over the tub by centrifugal force.

The tub doesn't really prevent wash water from draining through the clothes; however, a lot of the water does drain without doing so. By any means, this tub did a great job of extracting the water. Even if the holes in the bottom became plugged (either by lint or by corrosion), water would still overflow drain.

Also, if there were sufficient water pressure going into the machine, the tub would fill to the top and flow over the side of the stainless tub, before washing or rinsing started. This would help remove scum before it had a chance to circulate throughout the clothes. These machines had time fill, not pressure fill. So, if you had lousy water pressure, the tub would not even fill to the top, unless you turned back the knob for additional fill.

 

[vintagekitchen]

While laundress is spot on as always, ^__^, another reason for the older generation preferring twin tubs or wringers, at least in my area, was the full control of time, temp, etc. Especially time. If something wasnt clean enough, you simply let it was longer, instead of having to start all over again..

 

[jetcone]

Nice tub

shot there Fred! And I can attest to the cleaning ability of that Blackstone, the water rushes out the bottom it really doesn't "drain"away!

 

[easyspindry]

Scum settling back on clothes . . .

. . . in neutral drain machines was one of the selling points GE used in their ads in the early 1950's. They had solid tub machines that spun the water (and scum) up and over the top of the tub rather than letting it settle back down on the clothes. A slam against the Kenmore and Whirlpool method of draining water.

These ads were the first time I had ever thought of the soap scum settling back onto the "clean" clothes.

Our Maytag AMP had a perforated tub, but the water was spun out rather than simply drained out.

Made sense to me.

Jerry Gay

 

[wringer]

I don't

have a washer/dryer hookup but do have a 5 year old GE portable laundry pair. The washer hooks up to the sink like a portable dishwasher and the dryer is 110 and I vent it out the kitchen stove vent. I thought they did a great job of getting my clothes clean. The washer drains out and then goes through a pulsing spin process.
I recently bought a 1981 Maytag Wringer E2L and it is now my daily driver. I only use the GE auto to spin out the clothes prior to drying since a wringer doesn't get as much water out and takes longer to dry. I swear on the Bible that my clothes are much cleaner now using the wringer. It may just be me but I see a difference. You must change water after it looks a bit soiled but that is a fast job. I also rinse in the wringer rather than rinse tubs and I feel that rinses out more of the soap than using rinse tubs. I also use 1 cup of white vinegar in the rinse rather than fabric softener and that also works great to remove any left over soap.

So, I am sold on my Maytag Wringer even tho all of the above may just be in my mind. Also, it is fun using the wringer LOL. Maybe I am all wet but I am a wringer washer believer

Jim

 

[ironrite]

My mom was part of that older generation. She had a Maytag square tub wringer. Then in 1968, she bought a new Maytag square tub wringer as her old one, bought after WWII started to leak oil. It wasn't until 1978 that she finally bought an automatic and didn't like the machine.

Her reasoning was that automatics didn't wash the clothes long enough to get them clean. She'd usually let the clothes run about 45 minutes or so in the Maytag.

 

[iheartmaytag]

My grandmother didn't have an automatic washer until 1974.   She got a Ward's Signature washer and hated it.  Claimed it didn't get clothes clean, and "used too much water". 

 

She was always consious of water usage as they had to haul all their water on the farm.  Back in the Missouri hills you sometimes ahd to drill 300 ft or more for water.  There was a natural spring about a mile away and that's where they got all their water.   When she moved to town, she was still very cautious of water conservation.

 

[cleanteamofny]

the WP neutral drain was just like making drip coffee!

That may be true, now if they would have used a bigger pump and a larger drain hose then the straining would be less.
But I look at it this way...., Kenmore/Whirlpool machines goes right into the drain portion after agitation while other machine has a long pause that really contributes to redeposit and since the Whirl-More machine is draining, the motor with a slight wig/wag agitation acts like a ultrasonic cleaner.

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The only machine that does not pause between cycle is this:
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[akronman]

Neutral drain versus spinout

I have a 70's Filter-Flo(spinout), 70's Maytag(Spinout), and 60's Whirlpool(neutral drain) and I think that the WP's excellent filter (sort of like a hairbrush) probably cathches far more suspended gunk than the FF or the MT. That filter is just gross after each load, as it should be. Then, FF and MT spinout and I have watched closely and plenty of the water runs right through the clothes sideways instead of straight down, so what's the difference? I rate my FF and WP the same for cleaning overall, MT is second place due to plain old slower action. But the neutral drain on WP never bothered me a bit, I've yet to notice a difference. In the old days of soap scum, I can understand why an overflow rinse was needed, but these detergent era machines and their various drains all seem about equal to me in end results.

On the other hand, for true filth and worst horrible dirt needing tons of detergents, any of these machines need a second rinse for those loads. And towels/blankets/thick stuff too, always a second deep rinse.