Machine Washing

u751904

I think in the states they have top loading machines? or more of them than we do. I wonder why they went out of fashion here. Does anyone know if they are better / cheaper etc. I am guessing you can wash more in them.

GreyQueen

u751904 wrote: »

I think in the states they have top loading machines? or more of them than we do. I wonder why they went out of fashion here. Does anyone know if they are better / cheaper etc. I am guessing you can wash more in them.

I think they went out because most of us only have room to keep our washers under kitchen counters. Top loaders are supposed to use more water than front loders but I saw a tip from Kim of Kim & Aggie fame that when she was a pro housekeeper in the USA, one of the things she used to do was stop a white wash part way thru so you could let them soak overnight and then continue the cycle; brought them up lovely, apparently. HTH.

[Deleted User]

suzybloo wrote: »

JackieO -I would love to see all these white shirts blowing on a proper washing line - sad eh?????????? :rotfl:Bit like seeing a line of white terry nappy squares years ago.

I too loved seeing my two Dds nappies blowing on my long line I had one that went from our bedroom window to the bottom of our gardenWe lived in an upstairs flat of an old house and the line stretched almost 150 feet.My best friend (who sadly died 5 years ago) lived across the road from me, and she would bring her washing to dry on my very long line and we would sit and chat and drink tea and watch our children playing well over 40 years ago while her washing was getting a good blow on the line .An hour at the most and it was dry enough to iron and the smell you just couldn't bottle No conditioners in those days either we both only had Baby Burco boilers and the rest we did by hand in a tiny sink with a minute gas waster geyser with a very thin arm that went over the sink I also had a big black cast iron pot that went onto my gas stove to boil up my OHs vest and pants and hankies ect.If really grubby I had a glass washing board that I scrubbed his collars and cuffs of his shirts on before boiling them

Justamum

u751904 wrote: »

I think in the states they have top loading machines? or more of them than we do. I wonder why they went out of fashion here. Does anyone know if they are better / cheaper etc. I am guessing you can wash more in them.

Personally I don't think they are as efficient as front loaders. They are popular in South Africa too and I had one there. They use an awful lot of water so I was surprised they are still used in a country which has problems with water.

Rainy-Days

u751904 wrote: »

I think in the states they have top loading machines? or more of them than we do. I wonder why they went out of fashion here. Does anyone know if they are better / cheaper etc. I am guessing you can wash more in them.

It's not that they went out of fashion it's more to do with our kitchens. Front loaders look better and are more suited to our kitchen designs whereas in the states they have their laundry rooms either in the garage or in the basement. The boon of top loaders is that you can stop the cycle midway through a wash and leave the clothes to soak in the biological solution and then switch it back on a couple of hours later. Doing tis gets really dirty stuff clean. If we want to do it we have to use the bath instead!

[Deleted User]

baby burco and gas geezer, now that brings back memories of washday. I was a dab hand at 13 as I was the oldest of 7. We used to soak washing overnight in the bath and it made a big difference and collars and cuffs were rubbed with household soap. It must have been a nightmare trying to get all that washing dry on 3 small lines hung back and forth across a yard and then finished off later on a big ceiling airer in the main living room. The twin tub was a godsend later on and at first it was boiler, sink and mangle. The same water for lots of clothes in the twin tub, starting with cool and then getting hotter and hotter and fishing them out with tongs

I use soapnuts or eco balls and generally a short wash as I don`t need the extra rinsing. For brighter whites I use ecobleach and sunlight and for stains just a squirt of diluted stardrops.

exlibris

I had a top loader in the 70's and being tight I used to save the hot water for the next wash rather than let it run out. Thewasher was under the window so the steam went straight out.

It did mean that I had to organise the washing - light and hardly soiled through to darks and downright filthy (2 teenage boy who played football a lot!!)

Although it did involve a bit more work what I really liked about my system was that I could wash those yellow dusters which ran and even old floor cloths on the last wash. I now throw the cloths away rather than wash them and use microfibre cloths rather than yellow dusters

goobergirl

kittie wrote: »

We used to soak washing overnight in the bath and it made a big difference and collars and cuffs were rubbed with household soap. It must have been a nightmare trying to get all that washing dry on 3 small lines hung back and forth across a yard and then finished off later on a big ceiling airer in the main living room. The twin tub was a godsend later on and at first it was boiler, sink and mangle. The same water for lots of clothes in the twin tub, starting with cool and then getting hotter and hotter and fishing them out with tongs

I can remember my mum soaking things and using a big sqaure bar of soap on cuffs and collars, soles of my white school socks etc! She had a big machine when we were little that she used to wheel out of the back cupboard. It was huge thing, top loading, with a big rudder thing that twisted back and forth and a built in mangle. She had a separate 'spinner' for after. She used to covet a 'twin tub' but never actually got one. My grandparents bought her an automatic washing machine in the late 80's!

u751904

I am guessing it costs more money to do a wash at 40 or 60 or 90 degrees than a cold wash as the machine I am guessing must heat up the water. I keep meaning to get one of those energy monitors to see what the difference is. I have started to experiment with the cold wash option on my machine to see how well it works on dirt ! I use the aldi liquid for colours at the moment. Tempted to make that gloop but not sure whether it would work so well at a low temp.........

mcculloch29

I've managed to track down a bucket with a lid for storing Laundry Gloop - this was harder than you would think, I didn't want to use a brewing bucket but wanted a proper OS nappy bucket. I've got it on order from Boots and it will be delivered to my local store this week.
I've got a huge stockpot that I bought half-price in Wilko's for cooking up the gloop.
Like previous posters I've discovered that one only need use about half the recommended dose of washing product. The only format that you couldn't do this with are those odd liquitabs. Currently I use ordinary concentrated liquid but put it in one of those gel dispensers so that none is wasted in the drawer. I would be wary of gloop clogging up the pipes so that will go straight into the drum too.