to love my American washing machine and its speedy ways

[Tech]

I am a saddo and love my American washing machine. There. I've said.

My supposedly fancy Bosch washer in London used to take up to two hours to do a 30/40° wash. Here, a regular Frigidaire front-loader gets the whole lot done in 30 minutes or less, and the washing is just as clean. I sometimes stand looking at the machine just marvelling at its abilities.

Do I need to get a life?

[Alouiseg]

I have just discovered "Method" washing liquid. It's a whole new world! A squirty pump bottle that you just pump into the drum or drawer. No little plastic measuring things. Smells divine too.

I can't comment on it's cleaning prowess cos my machine doesn't clean anything properly anyway.

[FellatioNelson]

I'm a bit at the advert that says you can go down to 15 degrees with whites with that new Ariel and persil gel stuff. My machine doesn't go below 30 anyway!

[Alouiseg]

Grrr. I've just washed white bedlinen on a 60 cycle which took nearly 2 hours. Guess what it's not that clean. Couple of stains still there, doesn't smell fantastic. I used persil non bio.

8 days and I'll be in America doing heaps of laundry and stocking up in Walgreens and Vons.

[FellatioNelson]

I love using the American top-loaders and they are really fast (my LG at home takes about three and half weeks to do a 40% cottons cycle, but it is very good) but I must say I don't find the American ones get the stains out as well. I agree we all need two - one for heavy duty washing and one for American style quick washing. You can buy them in Costco I think.

Alouiseg - I derived an obscene amount of pleasure from hanging out in the laundry room every day when we rented a house in Florida. It's not really normal beahviour is it? And don't get me started on their supermarkets and pharmacies. I get soooo excited that I barely recognise anything. I'm in there for hours, looking quizzical and fascinated, like it was the V&A or something.

[RatherBe]

I don't like my American top loader at all - it doesn't get stains out (unless I use huge quantities of stain remover, which adds to the environmentally unfriendly aspect) but it does destroy clothes. I have a couple of tops that were ruined after two or three washes.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Well how you doin?

[Tech]

Hi B-A-L-D, yes it is me. I'm back working for MN for a time, but from the US, hence the washing machine, which I hasten to add is a front-loader (or high-efficiency machine, as they seem to call them here) and looks just like a regular UK one. Except maybe it has a bigger drum. None of this old-fashioned top-loading carry on

[PosyPetrovaPauline]

bibbity yes thats what my friend said - ruined stuff

[bibbitybobbityhat]

My mum had a toploader (she had lived in the States and insisted on having one here when she got back) and I used to love the sound it made. But it must have been rough on the clothes.

Come to think of it, when I first left home and used to do my washing in launderettes, they usually had toploaders.

But nowadays I am very suspicious of washing that is done too quickly .

[elsiepiddock]

Have always suspected that American machines are not eco-friendly (but not known details)

But they're so blimmin' good and you can fit shed loads of clothes in a wash. My washing machine here takes about an hour on its quickest wash.

And don't get me started on their tumble dryers (10 minutes!). Roll on the end of August - it's the only time of year that I become domesticated!

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

tech, is it you?



are you back or are you flitting in?

[AnyFuleKno]

oooh this is interesting, I am learning lots here.

Are the driers different too? Are they toploaders?

My mum had a toploading washing machine and I used to stand and watch it for ages! so relaxing

[PosyPetrovaPauline]

my bf lived in the states for three years and she LOATHED american machines and LOVED coming home to her bosch

[NonnoMum]

Ooooh - think this might be my favourite thread ever! (And I've chatted with Gordon Brown, doncha know...)

Have lived abroad for awhile (not the states but in the Caribbean where everything was American) and was quite impressed with the top loader. Yes, indeed, I was dancing in the moonlight with glee at their seeming efficiency.

And I thought that being America and super-efficient, they would be better for the environment. But, oh no, duchesse has corrected my slack thinking with damn statistics...

So, can I be a bit less guilty about putting my Euro-front-loader on twice, or indeed thrice a day, to keep the Nonnoses clothes clean? (6 of us - and 2 and a half of us are incontinent) And can I at last justify my £150 a month energy bill or could I do better?

[Tech]

The main problem with the two hour washes for me was short attention span. By the time it finished I'd have forgotten I put it on and then leave it to get smelly for a couple of days before remembering.

If you have someone sick in the house and have to wash bedding etc, which can take more than one load to get done, you can end up feeling like you spent the whole day dealing with washing and might as well just stand at the sink and get a mangle.

[ljgibbs]

My Zanussi gets things clean in 55 mins on a 40 wash.

[Alouiseg]

Dyson was great because it agitated.

Bosch is just pathetic, it's a tickling soaking drum. It has to go.

[fernie3]

tomorrow I am going to time my washing machine, I have no idea how long it take I just always put it on "40" and press start.

[duchesse]

Our experience of American and European machines was that they do get the clothes just as clean and in a fraction of the time. You can wash and dry a 10 kg load in Canada in less than 2 hours.

BUT

And this is a big but, they are massively energy and water-greedy. Although this may be compensated by the fact that they twice the capacity of a standard European machine, they use more than twice the water (about 170 litres per cycle vs 50 or less in a standard European machine).

We loved our US machines in Canada, but the ticket price included a big side order of environmental guilt. Back in the UK, we still have our lovely Dyson, still going very strong after 10 years. 7kg+ loads, very efficient and uses nowhere nearly as many resources as our US machines did.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

What is the problem with two hour washes? I just don't get it.

Me, I like my clothes to come out clean.

[MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry]

I spent a month in the US and Canada last year and was seriously disappointed with the laundry. Everything came out stained.
Yes, it was convenient to line up four machines in the laundromat and only have to wait 20 minutes to transfer the clothes to the driers, but I would have preferred to have them properly clean. I never have that problem with euro machines that take ages.

[Alouiseg]

Me too. We're in US for three weeks this summer, the first half In hotels but the second half we're renting and I can't wait for the laundry room.

[elsiepiddock]

We rent a house in the US each summer and I have to say, I get ridiculously excited about the washing machine.

So quick! So efficient! I could live in America for this alone..