In fairness to Jon, it is quite difficult at times to compare drum capacities, especially across different manufacturers and even across one company’s products – Electrolux, for example.
A 6kg drum from, say, Electrolux (Zanussi, AEG and Electrolux brands, etc.) cannot necessarily be compared with, say, one from Miele. The reason for this is that the capacity in terms of weight, expressed here in kilograms of course, ignores the other measurement for capacity – volume. Volume in these cases is measured in litres, and I know that the two tumble dryers I was recently looking at – a Miele and a Zanussi – both has 6kg drums. However, this did not tell the whole story – the Miele had a drum with a larger volume!
The problem with comparing drum capacities is that not all drums are created equal. The Hotpoint WD860 washer dryer we had until recently suggested it had a 6kg wash load (cottons of course) and a 5kg drying load (cottons again). Now, I would say the latter figure is ridiculous – there is no way that machine was capable of drying 6kg of cottons in the same was my 6kg Miele could. Yes, there is a vast difference in price. However, the Hotpoint was completely incapable of drying a full 6kg of cottons in such a drum – tumble dryers needs to have larger drums and better designed drums in order to minimise creasing.
Also, I would not say that my 5kg Miele washer’s drum is considerably smaller than the 6kg Hotpoint one. I have not actually looked at the figures in any case. I would hazard, at a guess, that the Miele drum would be something like a 5.5kg Hotpoint one. That’s a daft way of putting it, perhaps, but it may go some way to explain that drum capacities, sizes, whatever are not necessarily comparable. The wash action and design of the drums themselves play a major part in determining the effectiveness of washing, rinsing and spinning in a washer. Also, remember that the maximum load for synthetics is usually half that of cottons.
Other factors to consider are of course the detergent used, the cycle, local water conditions and the types of fabrics in each load.
Not wishing to go over into vacuum cleaner territory – I know that is for another place – but a similar issue applies when it comes down to motor wattage. The wattage of a motor does not automatically determine the cleaner’s overall power – the air watts measured do. How the air watts are sustained over a given period, depending on a bag or bagless system, determines the cleaner’s overall power.
Again, this also applies to hi-fi, which is another of my interests. The correct way to measure a hi-fi’s power output is to measure it in watts RMS. However, this alone is not enough – very similar to the drum capacities above! The impedance (ohms) of the electrical signal is important, too. If the hi-fi (its amplifier, specifically) is rated at, say, 50W per channel (each speaker providing 50W each, totalling 100W) the real ‘loudness’ of the hi-fi depends on what impedance this power output is given. I’ll explain more later!
Carl
