How long does your laundry take?

Not the weirdest thing I've asked here, but still a little odd. Sorry

How long does your washer and dryer (if you have them) take to complete one load? I ask because now that my mother has moved into her new place, she's finally gotten around to trying the washer/dryer combo out (a nice set of Bosch Nexxt models).

But there's a problem. On the permanent press setting, it took about 90 minutes just to wash her clothes. Usually at my place it takes about 90 minutes to dry, and maybe 30-45 minutes to wash. She tried the normal "whites" setting, and that still took about 70 minutes.

I haven't had any luck on the net finding out if this is normal. I found one commenter marveling about how you could get one load of laundry through the two machines in just under 200 minutes!! Uh, that's over three hours for one load! That can't be right.

Any ideas? What are normal times in your homes?

The two most common settings I use to wash my laundry take 63 and 74 minutes with a +/-3 minutes depending on the water temp I pick. The dryer can take 45 to 75 minutes depending on the amount/type of clothing.

Does she have a front loading washer?

Our washer has a handy timer on the front showing exactly how long the programme will take.

The shortest wash it will do is 52 minutes, the default cotton wash is 130 minutes. It almost always gets used on the 52 minute cycle...

It doesn't dry.

I got an LG front loader and it has a 30 minute quick-wash setting which seems to clean my normal clothes adequately, although I would probably wash bedding on the full cycle. For some reason the 30 minute wash defaults to 400rpm, I switch it to the 1,200rpm setting which makes it 36 minutes total.

I have a tumble-dryer but I haven't used it enough to give an estimate, I have taken stuff out early and hung it in the bathroom to finish. (A combination of poor weather and poor planning means I haven't hung any outside yet)

My old GE set took 30 to wash and, originally 60 to dry. When I replaced them, it was taking about 3 hours to dry and the washer gearbox was dropping shrapnel.

The new set is Sears (actually Fishy/Painkill) and the washer takes about 45 mins, the drier about the same.

My house in Singapore has a LG washer, which takes 60 minutes, and includes the mega centrifugal drier that's common here in Asia. Nothing here is ever truly dry...

I have a Maytag Neptune set. The front-loading washer takes 53mins on the 'Normal' cycle, as little as 25mins on the 'Quick' cycle. The dryer has a humidity sensor, so the time to dry depends on the material. I would guess around 45mins on the 'Normal' temperature and dryness settings, but the waist band of jeans and sweatshirts would still be damp. The wrinkle prevention timer means it can be ignored for an additional 95 minutes though

I think I am a little strange.

I still use a laundrette even though I have owned my own house for 5 years now. I just find it much more convenient, it's also quite a social thing to do at my local one. I've been going there for maybe 8-9 years and it's a hard habit to kick. It takes me about an hour and a half to do every bit of washing and drying for a whole week in one massive load and I fit my weekly shop into that time too.

I just don't get why I should have a noisy machine that breaks down all the time and costs a fortune to run. I also find it weird that you can fit so little in them, and you always end up with washing all over your house, here everything goes in one massive laundry bag and comes back folded etc...

And if yo are wondering how a I cope with running colours, pretty simple I just buy everything in dark colours

Cheers

Cris.

European (German) front loading washers take longer than American machines. But. They use less water and they (usually) spin faster and longer, leaving the clothing less water-logged. Which means the drying time should be a lot shorter.

A normal cotton load with water at 30 or 40c in my AEG takes about 120 minutes. After the spin cycle completes at 1400RPM the clothes are almost dry enough to wear. Ok, not really, but I'd call them more "damp" than "wet."

My AEG machine has a quick option which will lower the time to about 60 minutes if your clothing is only lightly soiled. It's also got a refresh setting which is even quicker (about 30 minutes), which is great for washing brand new clothing before wearing them for the first time.

Anyway, the wash times seem perfectly normal for this type of machine. Miele machines will be similar.

Our Miele has an 'express' setting which only takes 30 minutes. A full cycle takes 70 minutes or so. But the express setting is adequate enough for 90% of the laundry so that's what gets used most of the time. It actually spins at 1600 RPM and indeed, the clothes are almost dry when then come out of the machine.

Our drier, also a Miele, is another story. But that is because that machine is of the "condensation" type, so without an 'exhaust'. These types of machines are more convenient to use inside the house (they don't make the room damp and you don't have to make a hole in the wall or open up a windows when you're using it, but they take longer to get the washing dry) Our machine takes a bit more than an hour. My parents' Miele, with an exhaust, does is in less than 45 minutes.

I'm a little confused. I get the impression that your "laundrette" has machines for you to wash and dry your own clothes. But then you say that it comes back folded. How does that work? Or is my assumption wrong?

Also, the reason that people in the US do it is because laundromats are seldom close by (the closest one to my house, for example, is an 11 minute drive away), and often … scummy.

Some of the laundromats around campus at OSU served beer.
http://www.dirtydungarees.com/

That because I fold them as I go. You can open the door on the commercial machine while they are still going, so I can take out the stuff that dries quicker and fold it as I go. I think this makes the clothes last longer as they are not over dried.

I drive about 3 miles to mine, takes about 10 minutes. There is one closer but I prefer my regular one. I think if more people used them there would be more of them and they would be nicer. I am lucky that the one I go to does mostly service washes so most clients don't hang around too long unless they are regulars like me. In the time I have been going there the owner and I have become somewhat friends, so it's always a lot of fun. We discuss many topics, mainly women and religion, and although our differences are great we always end up laughing.

I think if you have children then having your own washing machine starts to makes sense. But it would be far from a labour saving device for me at the moment.

Cheers

Cris.

I think the same logic about going out to do the laundry can also be applied to children and certainly girlfriends or wives. Though if you have those at home, you can probably have them do the laundry and folding while you're out doing something even more interesting.

My washer has a separate option for the "Extra Rinse" cycle, which affects the outcome. I've seen others with this option, too. Which are you choosing?

The amount of time for the wash cycle itself is variable depending on where I twist the dial. I can go for a very short 5-minute wash (not counting rinse(s)) or a longer 15 to 25-minute wash. I think the rinse cycles are 5-10 minutes each, and I think it takes about 5 minutes to drain the water and spin off the excess water at the end of each of the above stages. So on average, about 30-60 minutes per wash cycle, depending on the options I choose.

As for drying: My gas dryer in my old house would get average clothes dry in 30 minutes, but my new electric dryer takes 45 minutes or more to accomplish the same task.

It's funny, the dial on the electric dryer seems to be interested in getting you to save energy. It has a label for its highest drying cycle on the timer dial, and then a significant blank space past that highest point. Each postion on the dial has a description of how dry you want the clothes, so it looks something like: Dry, more dry, very dry, {blank space}. You can position the dial so that it starts in that blank space and get up to 20 minutes extra of drying time. It turns out that the pathetic electric dryer still leaves the clothes damp on the "very dry" setting, so you have to always put the dial in the blank space to get anything useful accomplished. I took a pen and marked the blank space "Actually Dry".

My dryer (in Alaska) had a moisture sensor, and would run until the clothes were dry and then shut off.

tanstaafl.

It looks like you guys were right about the European washers/dryers. I took a look at it today, and basically saw that it was a combination of a shift towards the washer taking more time than the dryer, and the incorrect settings being used. When I fiddled with it, the basic washing modes were showing a 56-60 minute timeframe, and the dryer was showing 30 minutes.

I assume that this is an environmental decision, and that the washer takes less energy than the dryer over a similar time. Otherwise I don't really like one device taking twice as long as the other. The total time you spend doing laundry is determined by the device that takes the longer amount of time. On my parents' old washer and dryer, they both took 45 minutes. That means 4 loads takes 3.75 hours. But now, with the new washer, the total time for four loads is basically 4.5 hours. Not long, but what about larger families?

There was a quick mode, though, which I'd be interested in trying. It looked like it would take about 36 minutes.


And as some have said: yes, the dryer does sense when the clothes are dry. I think most do this, though, even my SUPER low-end dryer at my place is automatic. By the way, if you're sensitive to noise, don't get the lowest-end GE dryer. Ours was there when we moved in, and it dries fine, but when it's done it emits the LOUDEST BUZZ YOU'VE EVER HEARD!!! It pierces the eardrum. You can hear it anywhere in our two-floor apartment, even in the closet. I suppose if you want to be alerted the instant the dryer is done it's a good thing, but have I mentioned that it does this three times, about 15 seconds apart? I hate it. And no, there is simply no way to turn it off. I've researched it to no end, and it turns out that the ever so slightly better version of this dryer gives you some switch on the back that turns the buzzer off. Not this one, though.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, I just had to vent Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

My old washer was done in half the time it took the old dryer. From a time management it's largely a wash, no pun intended. I'm not sure of laundry habits in Europe as a whole, but I suspect that many people, at least in Germany where the good machines are designed and manufactured, must do laundry at least 3 or 4 times per week. It makes sense since they don't bathe nor wear deodorant.

You should experiment with the timers, as I'm sure the machine(s) you're talking about have them. Also breaking up the laundry duties throughout the week.

On top of dealing with machine capacity and timing issues, we've also got tiered electric power billing to factor into the schedules. We can even monitor power usage hour-by-hour on the web, though I've never done it during a dryer load - too scared.

Not so, Grasshopper. Amazon sells just the thing for quieting that buzzer.



tanstaafl.

Exactly. We had a buzzing drier in a house where the laundry closet was just outside the baby's room. While my wife was still pregnant, I dismantled that sucker and terminated that buzzer with extreme prejudice.

Fortunately my newest house has a drier with an on/off switch for the buzzer.

Who in their right mind would design a drier without a defeatable buzzer? The people responsible for that particular design "decision" have a special hell reserved for them, a hell where, when they sleep, every time they get to the deepest, most relaxed part of their sleep cycle, they are awakened by just such a buzzer. Every single time.

I'm not sure that part will work for American machines. You might have to use this instead.

I had that idea, but I'd spoken to several people about it and they advised me not to pursue it! Any idea where I could get started on using that tool? I'd LOVE to go ahead with that little project...

It was easy when I did it...

First, I deliberately set off the buzzer a few times so that I could triangulate approximately where inside the body of the machine it was located.

Then I set upon the machine with a screwdriver and other tools, dismantling it until I could reach the buzzer. When I finally reached it, it was easy to disconnect. Electrical tape over the ends of the wires to which it used to connect, re-assemble the machine, and all was right with the blissfully silent world.

The last time I had an irritating klaxon that was unconfigurable, I just muffled it by taping a piece of closed-cell foam over the speaker. Less invasive.

Every laundromat (as we call them) I've ever been in seemed like a crack house to me. Not that I've ever been inside a crack house, but what I imagine a crack house to be -- dirty, poorly ventilated and with lots of drug-crazed poor people and welfare moms hanging around in it.

That's not entirely true, I guess. Near the universities the laundromats are dirty and filled with poor student potheads. A much friendlier and less edgy scene...

Anyone for a custom klaxon for your washer and dryer? I think that would be cool. You could stick an MP3 player board with a small speaker, amp and circuitry to trigger from the buzzer signal!

Stu

The few times that I've done this sort of thing (snipped off a buzzer), the buzzer in question wasn't a speaker with an outwardly accessible speaker cone that I could muffle. It was a piezoelectric buzzer mounted somewhere deep inside the casing of the device, loud enough to be irritating even when buried deep inside the plastic or metal casing. That was the situation with my dryer machine, and I'll bet it's the same with pretty much every dryer with a buzzer.

The one I did was a piezo beeper that looked more or less like this one. Covering that hole with something elastic and airtight nearly silenced it.

For the record I recently purchased a Maytag Bravos set with top load washer. These are mid-range HE units with electronic controls, etc. Set to 'Normal' they take about 40 minutes each to complete. Oh and the chimes are not very loud on them and can be disabled.

Stu

Well, it looks like my mom has an entirely new issue with her washer. It seems that without excessive care after every wash day, mildew will quite easily build up in the unit. The problem (and the smell) is so bad currently that she's starting from scratch and having a technician simply replace the part.

According to some owners of this model, the washer will also leak out the front during the wash cycle. Apparently Bosch's only solution to this is something out turning the water off when the washer isn't in use.

I've never heard of anyone doing either of these things with their washers. My parents owned a front loader in the old house for about 10 years, and they NEVER cleaned it out, and it smells just fine. And here's this new, supposedly high-end washer that smells so bad I had to leave the laundry room when the door was open. Yikes!

My washer has a clean washer cycle to clear out odor build up. You have to use either chlorine bleach or a washer cleaner like Affresh. Maybe that's all mom's needs?

Stu

If the machine smells bad and it's being properly maintained between cycles, then something could be wrong with the machine (not draining all the water, partially clogged with some gunk, including undissolved detergent). If the machine is not being cleaned at all and the smell comes on strong within only a day, there could be something wrong with the water. Machines also shouldn't leak under any circumstances.

With any front loader it's important to wipe down the rubber door seal when you're done your laundry for the day. The door should also be left open/ajar for at least a day or two after your last cycle to give it a chance to properly dry out.

Mildew and/or mold or that type of smell shouldn't appear in a single day if the machine was clean or free of those contaminants the day before. Does your mom's water have an unusually high amount of dissolved organics in it? Has she had the water tested? Is the detergent rinsing completely out of the clothes and machine? What kind/brand of detergent is she using?

Also many machines are not suitable for use with chlorine bleach and go so far as to warn against it in their manuals. You shouldn't need to take any extreme measures to keep the machine odor free. You might want to take a read over at the laundry forum on Gardenweb as they're the biggest appliance forum on the net that I know of - and especially because people are REALLY into this type of thing.

I've been seeing all these maintenance tips on the web since we discovered this problem, but the thing that we find curious is, as I said before, that we've had a front loader for years, never ever cleaned it like people are saying, and it always smelled just fine!

I can't explain that definitively, but a bunch of factors could be at play, including the water quality and detergents used, plus the relative dryness/humidity of the environment (the room/house).

The smell isn't caused by the machine itself, but the physical design of the machine can contribute by trapping more standing water - including in the seal for example.

Anyway, once the new machine is in, just follow the basic tips of wiping the seal and optionally the door, while leaving it open/ajar for a day or two at least. If the problem persists then you can start looking elsewhere.

Hahaha - leave a day or two? With our 6kg front loading washing machine we average 3 full loads a day, every day (family of 5) but sometimes it is used a lot more. Luckily we have a wide range of programmes, and the most useful are the 24 and 40 minute cycles with ultra high speed spin which leave the majority of clothes so dry a 30 minute tumble has them perfect for putting away.

My machine does get mildew around the rubber ring. I just clean it down with bleach and run an empty cycle with more bleach to clean it. There hasn't been any smell from the mildew, though.

Are there really people who close the washer lid after removing the clothes?

Um, yes. Why wouldn't I if it's never caused ill effects in the past? Like I said, the old front-loading washer never had any of these problems. I've used at least 5 different washers (three top-loading and one front) on a frequent basis in the past, and none of them had mildew issues, I didn't leave any of their doors open, and I never cleaned any of them out.

If it's a front-loader and you've got an inquisitive toddler in the house, then yes.

Really? How do they get out if you close the lid?