Spin And Spin Again

MATH

I've got an American washer with a top spin speed of 650rpm. Bog standard in the US but very weak compared to European machines. As you can imagine jeans and towels are still quite damp when they come out of the machine and certain thick and heavy things like my dirt-grabber door mat actually drip-dry on the line even after enjoying a full spin cycle:eek: So I've been a hunting for some advice and my sis who lives in Texas told me to spin each load twice. I must admit I was sceptical cos IMO if the spin speed is no faster second time around I don't think any more water is going to be extracted. Also I can see that my drain stops dripping after a few minutes spinning so I guessed that all the water that was going to come out had come out and the rest of the spin cycle was just for show.

Bottom line is I've given it a go and my door mat is noticable dryer and not dripping as it basks in the April sunshine. Not much of a moneysaver in the summer but my sis tells me that double spinning knocks about 10 minutes off your tumble drying cycle in the winter and would certainly make drying indoors more pleasant.

I don't know if this is just a 'top-loader' phenomenon or whether it works for all machine. give it a go and post back. If you are totally Ol'Style @nal you could weigh the load after spin one and spin two - now I wonder who would do that......:rolleyes:

ET03

sounds good and if it's worked for you then stick with it

cristin

Hi Math, just wanted to add that I do the double spin myself when washing woollens in my front loader. My washing machine is brilliant, and the wool cycle is very gentle but leaves my woollies very wet - so when it has finsihed, I just switch the machine off and set it to drain and spin again. My woollies have dried much quicker. In fact I use this method whenever I need to get my clothes just a little bit dryer - but then I don't have a tumble drier

Lillibet_2

My (regular) washing machine has a top spin speed of 1450rpm & I have been known to spin twice when in a hurry to get something dry or when I can't get laundry hung outside to dry, it does seem to speed up the drying time in my opinion;)

Ticklemouse

If I do my mum's washing, or more accurately, if she's put it on and I get it out, I often put it on for another spin, albeit a faster spin (which I know isn't the same as you) because she tumble-dries a lot of her clothes. She thinks it will make them easier to iron if they've not been spun so hard. As I do her ironing, it's not great hassle, but she's never noticed when things have been spun hard a second time eg bedding that doesn't get ironed.

I suppose that some water does stay in your machine when spinning, so that a second spin will remove that little bit extra from the wash, but not really enough to be seen coming out of the pipe. Your only other option is you have a slow spin is to buy a separate spinner. After all, is the extra spin going to make your drum/bearings wear out that much faster?

elona

I have an "intelligent " machine so it does what it wants and not what I want GRH!

Lucie_2

I have been known to take a relatively wet pair of jeans out of the washer & roll them up really tight in a towel & twist it. It gets loads more water out, saves the power of a second spin & cuts down tumble drying time. The towel can then be pegged on the line or dried on a radiator.

Austin_Allegro

I have a seperate spin dryer that spins at 2800 rpm, it cost £89 from Curry's and is one of the best purchases I've ever made. You just put the washing in and about 30 seconds later it's dry enough to just hang outside or in front of the radiator.

squeaky

Ticklemouse wrote:

After all, is the extra spin going to make your drum/bearings wear out that much faster?

Not if the load is balanced properly.

If you've ever tried waving a soaking wet pair of jeans or a towel around in the air you'll know the weight rocks your body about all over the place. They would do the same in your washing machine at hundreds of times per minute and beat the poor thing to death in no time.

You'll have noticed that your machine will spin at a slightly faster speed than the back-and-forth washing cycle speed for a while before it revs up to full spin cycle speed.

What it's doing is going at the best speed the makers think will help spread your washing evenly around the drum before changing speed and going fast.

Thing is - underloading, or single item loading, of your washer is not recommended. There just isn't enough clothing in there to balance properly.

And if you'd like to know how I know all this you can read it here

Queenie

Was worrried there for a mo ... thought, :eek: our MATH's in a bit of a spin today ... does that make you our Old Style 'Spin Dr', MATH

moggins

LOL, I have to admit that when I read the title I thought he was referring to the Labour Party