Thread Number: 19355
Toploader advice |
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Post# 311719 , Reply# 2   10/27/2008 at 09:23 (5,652 days old) by peterh770 (Marietta, GA)   |   | |
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Jon, You are stuck with the machines. It appears they work exactly in the UK as they do here in the States. My guess is that they are set for a 10 minute wash with a 1 minute cold rinse. The hot water is tap hot and probably not hot enough lest they scald students in the shower. I also guess that the "super" wash feature is disabled. Do like we do here in the States: use liquid detergent and Clorox. I take it that the launderettes have frontloaders that are US based also. You might have better rinsing there, but wash results will probably be the same. |
Post# 311723 , Reply# 3   10/27/2008 at 10:14 (5,652 days old) by mrboilwash (Munich,Germany)   |   | |
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My experiance with toploaders is rather limited but I always had similar problems as you have. Cleaning performance seems to be poor compared with European frontloaders, but if you pretreat all visible stains it should be much better. Perhaps its worth a try to use a high sudsing handwash-twintub detergent instead of overdosing a standard one. I also found TLs very hard on clothes, its amazing how much lint a fast stroke Maytag shreds off a load which would be normally almost lint free after a 2 hour cycle in a FL. The remedy might be to turn insides out whenever possible. I found most TLs rinsed better than I had expected, at least clothes never felt soapy at the end. Toploaders are so much fun to use so that makes up for a lot, doesnt it? |
Post# 311813 , Reply# 10   10/27/2008 at 16:14 (5,652 days old) by xyz ()   |   | |
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Take them clothes to the creek for a country clean. |
Post# 311941 , Reply# 14   10/28/2008 at 10:14 (5,651 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)   |   | |
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Post# 312232 , Reply# 17   10/29/2008 at 17:45 (5,650 days old) by lavamat_jon (UK)   |   | |
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Thanks David! Would you suggest getting maybe 3 sets of 3? Seeming as a lot of my t shirts are delicate, would this suffice? Sorry to be a bit of a pain - just want to get it right :-) Jon |
Post# 312421 , Reply# 19   10/30/2008 at 17:14 (5,649 days old) by irishwashguy (Salem,Oregon.............A Capital City)   |   | |
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I would take it to the laundrymat that has the front loaders. Toploaders m at least a Maytag top loader ) just will not get your clothes as clean as a FL. I grew up with a Maytag, at speaking of which, my brother moved home where mom still has one and complains that his clothes don't get very clean. I had the same problem growing up, and always wondered why. I have a front loader and would never want to use anything else unless maybe it was a Unimatic. If worse come to worse..................
CLICK HERE TO GO TO irishwashguy's LINK |
Post# 312525 , Reply# 20   10/31/2008 at 18:30 (5,648 days old) by ronhic (Canberra, Australia)   |   | |
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Jon, I grew up surrounded by top load machines and from what I can tell, there was never a problem (that I know of) with stain removal. Front load machines have only recently (last 10years) started to become popular here. As with all other posters, I can appreciate that you want to get the best results for your investment, you don't want to do any damage to your clothes and would rather not have to lug them to the laundrette.... So I suggest that even though it will cost more, you may need to try this... -only fill to 2/3 or 3/4 with clothes - this will let them move more freely and reduce linting...wash more loads rather than load to the recommended capacity -if the water temperature is hotter than about 60c, then the enzymes in your detergent will be pretty ineffective - they die - try the warm wash as the enzymes will be able to work. As an example, my old Oz made Hoover Electra's longest 'wash' component was 21min....and I never, ever had a problem on a warm wash. -Which magazine tested powders and found Ariel was best in warm water 30-40c -remember, European front load machines generally heat from cold - the machine you are using does not which doesn't give modern detergents much scope to be effective -when using front load (British automatic) powder in a top load machine, you may need to increase the dosage to about 1 1/2 - 2 times recommended...there is a lot of water in which to get effective cleaning power and the cycle isn't long for it to work... -rinsing may be compromised with increased detergent so you could try 1/2-1 cup of cheap WHITE vinegar instead of fabric softener...it will disperse the residue better and fabric will be soft (though not 'conditioned' soft)....when dried you shouldn't smell like a chippy...try it...it is cheaper than conditioner and is an option to iinvestigate -pretreat stains both front and back of material...try vanish spray or similar. They should be sprayed and washed virtually immediately or you risk fabric damange....or soak in a bucket in your room, ring out and put in a plastic bag to transport...the soak option is a better (and cheaper) option especially for tough stains like food spillage -if you continure to use conditioner, use a front load amount of fabric conditioner and mix with water. It will disperse more evenly...you should still get good results and it could actually be aggravating your skin - it nearly kills mine so I avoid it regardless of how pleasant it smells and especially if tumble drying I'd be interested to know how you go.... |
Post# 313103 , Reply# 23   11/4/2008 at 15:46 (5,644 days old) by toggleswitch2 ()   |   | |
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so you could try 1/2-1 cup of cheap WHITE vinegar instead of fabric softener...it will disperse the residue better and fabric will be soft (though not 'conditioned' soft).... But not not not with a porcelain tub! |
Post# 313598 , Reply# 27   11/7/2008 at 06:52 (5,641 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)   |   | |
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I see you have mastered the use of the shitty university washers eh, I had to put up with a year of using crappy speedqueens which didn't wash properly, and I found out to save money they only connected them to cold water so they never heated the water. No wonder the stains didn't come out lol, what ever detergent i used it was the same result lol I have a proper washer now, in my house and its great :-) |
Post# 313599 , Reply# 28   11/7/2008 at 06:54 (5,641 days old) by zanussi_lover (Nottingham, UK)   |   | |
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