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Thread Number: 59409
/ Tag: Modern Automatic Washers
What gets the clothes clean? |
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Post# 820134 , Reply# 3 4/20/2015 at 08:43 (3,287 days old) by henene4  (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany)) |
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@practigal Planned obsolence is a thing. Sad, but true. However, that's completly of topic. To build a bridge: We had a Panasonic NA148VG4. It was by far outperforming anything I washed with before. It only lasted 1 1/2 years. | ||
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Post# 820162 , Reply# 5 4/20/2015 at 13:35 (3,287 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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 I don't think service life or obsolescence has a relation to whether a washing machine is HE or a water-guzzler. It just happens that newer machines nowadays are much more likely to be HE. Among the various factors that come into play on service life and creating today's throw-away economy: 1. Consumers nowadays are by-and-large not having broken appliances repaired for even the simplest of problems, particularly after 5 to 7 years of age. Thus, it's commonly said "Such-and-such brand/model washer only lasted 5 years" ... without qualifying that it was the consumer's choice to replace instead of repair a simple problem. I've brought up several times that the Whirlpool toploader my parents bought in January 1962 had *many* repairs over its 15 years of use, including belts, pumps, wigwag, leaks and overflows, complete bearing replacement, the bakelite agitator cracked, lid switch bracket rusted off, etc. 2. Contributing to the no-repair situation, manufacturers are discontinuing some kinds of replacement parts (particularly electronics) within 10 years or less, so some repairs can't be done even if the consumer desires it. 3. Cost of repairs, which may include separate line-items for diagnostic, trip, labor, and parts. Calling-out a servicer to replace a $5 to $10 part may result in a bill of $150 to $200, instead of $20 to $40, which makes it hard to justify the repair when a new lower-end toploader can be had for ~$350. | ||
| Post# 820530 , Reply# 10 4/23/2015 at 04:43 (3,284 days old) by laundromat (Hilo, Hawaii) | ||
Gravity,friction, soft water from Luke warm to boiling hot,detergent and oxygen or chlorine bleach. Vertical oscillating agitators stare fabrics from too much friction and eastern water,detergent and electricity. The impeller type are better but also are more abusive in fabric care. Front loaders not only use less water and detergent but save the fabrics by tumbling them,not tearing the fibers like top loading machines. They spin out more water,hold more fabric per square inch including bulky items like bedspread,sleeping bags,shoes,pillows and rugs. They have as many as seven rinses (Asko) and can spin up to 2,000 rpms. Being the first automatics,theyve made a great comeback in the appliance industry and filled me full of joy to see the industry reinvent them to almost commercial quality. I know a lot of folks here disagree. I'm their Koolaid,not mine. My neighbors swear I wash my laundry twice. They see me hanging the clothes out to dry and say I hang the cleanest line from here to Mona side. I use Gain and Persil,Clorox,Oxyclean,Calvin and Gain fabric softener. No pre treating. No pre wash. No soaking. I wash towels and clothes together. Separate from clothing without fabric softener to keep the absorption in them thirsty. Whites separate from colors and color fast separate from fading,bleeding fabrics. Hot or warm wash with warm or cold rinse,highest spin speed and at least two full rinses
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Post# 821487 , Reply# 12 4/29/2015 at 19:49 (3,278 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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OP's Advice Was Actually 
For the most part quite correct.
Long before washing machines were invented (semi, non or automatic) and before detergents or even soaps it was discovered you could clean textiles by mere chemical action alone. In France and one assumes elsewhere in Europe laundry was done by merely steeping things in a vessel and pouring water over ashes. That percolated down through the wash was caught and simply poured over again and again. This went on until whomever thought things were clean enough. Things were then hauled to a river or another body of water/vessel and rinsed. Perhaps any remaining soil would be soaped and or beaten out of the wash, but by and large that was it. Alkaline substances work quite well in opening up textile fibers, saponifying fats/oils and so forth. The proplems start in terms of damage when you begin going higher on the pH scale. Have to see if one kept the bookmark but there was an old laundry manual; IIRC it was for Thor washing machines that explained to housewives that it was the chemical (soap) that did the work of cleaning laundry. This was opposed to the scrubbing, beating and other mechanical methods employed of the day. Yes, mechanical action does work but it does so by pushing whatever chemical through the fiber thus shortening the required contact time. Have said this before; it is totally possible to "soak" laundry clean especially with today's modern detergents. Have left soiled/stained table linens soaking overnight and upon next day 99.8% of the stains/soil were gone. I do this often for fragile items that do not want subject to long cycles in the Miele or AEG. Mechanical action does help with soils that are deeply embedded in textile fibers. Again more because you are pushing chemicals through the material than anything else. It is the properties of the detergent or soap that are doing a bulk of the work. Just pushing plain water would remove *some* of the soil but not all. When you add enzymes to the mix it changes everything. Like Piranha fish the stuff is attracted to specific soils. Enzymes will continue to work with or without mechanical action until they are stopped. | ||
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