Why do British washing machines take two hours???

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What is it doing?? You've got 220V running through your house, fuckin use em dude!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Two hours?! WTF?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

because blood pudding stains are really really tough to get out.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer, just move back to NY. It's ok that you dont like England. We understand.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

welcome to sarf lahndan, sucka

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not our fault that no-one in north London knows how to wash their clothes. I saw Stevem prodding his with a stick one night.

Zoom lens, marvellous.

― Sarah (starry), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I shall leave what he was prodding to your imagination. (Kate to thread).

― Sarah (starry), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i have informed the police

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Like, you don't have to sit there and watch it!

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe your washing machines just Love Clothes.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

jel I can't take my eyes off it, the "2 hour wash" - it's like some rare golden bird.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)

2 hours? how old is your machine?

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Fair enough...I really enjoy sitting on front of the tumble dryer.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I bet they don't even have tumble-dryers in America!!

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I've had more tumble dryers (driers?) than you've had hot dinners, mate. They're as American as SUVs. Here, on the other hand, I've had people tell me that they "ruin your clothes" - ?? No they make them soft and warm and fluffy!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Someone once told my mother that she missed the feel of clothes that had been dried on a line "in freezing weather" - my mom's like "you crazy, chile!!" but apparently the tiny little ice crystals that form inside the fabric act like zillions of miniature "fluffers" so that clothes dried in such a way are unrivalled in their soft flufficity.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

clothes are not meant to be warm and fluffy. they are meant to be sharp and angular. who are you, barbara bush?

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, it's probably driers, dryers is the olde English.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

don't you mean brown and angular, carlton?

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

we do a proper job here, hand.

(we don't really)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

William it's fairly new. The one at my place off Holloway Road also took two hours and it was even newer, so racialist steve is off the mark there.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

California's don't need washers and driers. We just buy new clothes, and if they get damp, hang them on the line in the glorious, year round golden sunshine.

― andy, Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

gareth is auditioning to be on Sprockets?

― Allyzay, Thursday, 8 January 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

220V running through your house

i thought it was 240V. Incidentally I can't remember the last time I dried any clothes out of doors. Maybe it was the traumatic occasion when i tried to unfold the rotary drier in the garden and it came down on my head with a kerplunk.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to know how long these fancy-pants American washing machines take. Are we talking a matter of seconds for a full pre-wash, wash, rinse and spin cycle? Where can I get one?

― robster (robster), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

230V to be exact, used to be 240V the those damned Europeans capped our voltage and banned our sausages and straightened our bananas you know the one that roam wild in yorkshire < / foams>

― Ed (dali), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:36 (twenty-two years ago)

my parents have a fancypants washing machine. it has almost as many buttons on it as my computer keyboard! And aan array of LEDs so big and bright that I thought they'd put Christmas decorations in the kitchen.

I remember reading an article about 3 years ago (and not on April 1st either) that said that in a few years we would have machines that did not require water to clean clothes. This does sound rather unlikely, but then I suppose there has been a tendency to use less water and wash at lower temperatures so maybe the author of the article was simply being over-enthusistic in extrapolating current trends in clothes-cleaning technology.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

The latest technology is geared towards machines that tear your clothes to bits.
http://www.ogormans.co.uk/images/cr01_memory.jpg

― robster (robster), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer your washing machine is clearly RUBBISH. Mine takes about an hour and ten minutes and its ancient.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:51 (twenty-two years ago)

my washing machine idea would be to have an extractable sphere which spins on a variety of different axes. The sphere would slide forward and you could unhinge one half of it to make loading and unloading of clothes easier.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:51 (twenty-two years ago)

how long does it take to carry your clothes to the babbling brook and bash them with stones?

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

My new one takes much longer than the old one in my last flat. There must be a white goods manufacturers' conspiracy to do down Britain by making the nation's washing machines progressively slower, thus making us the laughing stock of the Western world.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

My brand-new excellent Swedish washing machine takes 3 hours to do a proper wash! I was always suspicous of the 40 minutes Canadian wash when I stayed there, that half-assed joke of a washing machine didn't even get the simplest stains out and all my white shirts were ruined. I fully believe that the longer you wash, the cleaner it gets!

(Though our post-washing machine electricity bills are vicious, I tell you.)

― Hanna (Hanna), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Why does it matter how long it takes when you need to hang them overnight to dry in any case? Do Americans like put a wash on when they get up and then wear their newly clean smalls to work?

(correct answer - the fact that we're not ADD-addled consumerist freaks who view every minor inconvenience as a knife in the ribs means that we don't mind if it takes a bit of time to do something properly)

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Saucer of milk there, Barry?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Er, yeah, calm down old boy.

I personally would like a marginally quicker washing machine, just so I can do two loads in one evening without unduly annoying my downstairs neighbours.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 9 January 2004 10:27 (twenty-two years ago)

And just to clean up an important point, clothes dried on the line are FAR nicer. Not only extra fluffisation, they're also easier to iron.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Friday, 9 January 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

iron? haha, now i remember why i don't own a suit

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry. I sometimes forget that I am by definition excluding all American ILXors when I generalise about their country.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

you generalised about the British as well ;)

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

my washing machine can do it in under an hour, seems to be ok.

but i'll toe the american line and say that i really miss having a tumble drier. i miss having fluffy towels and sheets and socks. line drying either outside or on the rack in my bathroom just leaves everything a bit crisp/crunchy.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

tumble driers rule and i wish i had one

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a tumble drier and washing machine in one unit. It is an elderly Hotpoint machine which looks like the crappest most basic one ever.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry. I sometimes forget that I am by definition excluding all American ILXors when I generalise about their country.

Like 'oh I hate all those nasty pakis but oh of course I don't mean you Mr Patel'?

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I had a garden to hang my washing in.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

trouble with tumble drier and washing machine in one is that the drier won't dry a full load of washing effectively. You therefore have to unload some of the washing and dry it in two batches or else dry the whole lot over and over and waste electricity.

Ricardo is OTM.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

The difference a tumbler makes is ludicrous, I'll certainly want one when we end up moving.. again.. yawn, but thankfully this isn't for a while. Crunchy clothes = dud-tastic. They go crunchy on the washing line too, Ed, as I found to my disappointment over this summer.

― Sarah (starry), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

They still go crunchy but they feel crisper and cleaner, don't ask me why.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 9 January 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I dry mine on the radiator and they don't go crunchy.

― leigh (leigh), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I always hated going down into the dank basement to change over the clothes when using US washer/tumble drier setups. I love having a washer in my kitchen and don't really care if I have to wait for clothes to dry. This would be annoying if I were still taking martial arts classes and had to wash out my double-weight judo-style gi all the time and then wait days for it to dry.

It's the extra rinses that make clothes cleaner. My aged washer does a decent wash in under an hour. I am happy I don't have to go to a laundromat, where I would certainly have to use the tumble dryer, since carrying wet clothes home=dud.

― sgs (sgs), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

that's true sarah, i also like having the washer conveniently located in the kitchen.

and i have a garden, but stuff actually feels dirtier when i dry it out there. could be typical american germophobe stuff, could be the family above us that is full of chain smokers so there's always smoke pouring out of their windows.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I can recall my mother's mishaps with line dried washing - washing becoming unpegged in high winds, washing catching on trees, washing "decorated" by birds ect ect. Doesn't seem worth the effort.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

and the whole thing of 'oh, it's a lovely sunny day, i'll put my wash out to dry' inevitably is yet another day of spontaneous rain showers. this has happened more than once.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 9 January 2004 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

In Chesterfield it used to be that if the usual prevailing west to east wind was reversed, everyone's washing would go a lovely shade of yellow due to the chemicals being poured out by Coalite.

― chris (chris), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I just want the opportunity to link to this thread once again.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Coalite sounds very much like the Carbon Black factory at Avonmouth, Bristol. This is where they make the stuff that makes car tyres black (apparently if they were left natural-rubber coloured they all be the colour of cola). Not only is it inadvisable to hang washing out downwind of the factory, but the Carbon Black ppl "generously" pay for ppl round about to have their window sills etc repainted each year.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

don't you mean brown and angular, carlton?
-- jel -- January 8th, 2004. (jel) (later)

HA! this reminds me, when we were on the train to farnborough last week, the ticket bloke on the train was called:

CARLTON LINDO!!!!

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry RickyT, I shall start watching my ps and qs. Imagine if ILXors were given free rain to mouth off scattergun style without having to justify their actions!

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha Steve, I saw a small drinks stall on the north coast of Malta called Gozo Kiosk.

I wish, wish, WISH I hadn't left my camera behind that day.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

i passed a pub called The Gareth Head t'other day

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I drank in The Old Cockfarmer last week.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

on Tuesdays i'm usually up The Old Seadog

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 9 January 2004 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"the traumatic occasion when i tried to unfold the rotary drier in the garden and it came down on my head with a kerplunk"

"rotary drier" = umbrella?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

they are at least as irritating and prone to break.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Whatever your foldable rotary outdoor dryer is, MarkH, it's going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Just waiting to fall on my head from some height.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.brabantiaonline.com/thumb/Rotary_dryer_LiftOMatic__50_m_drying_length_small.jpg

You stick it in your lawn and hang clothes on it.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe the US is completely and utterly devoid of them.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

So it IS an umbrella - a dead one. So that's where they all go. England!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

In the US you are not allowed to dry your clothes outside as it makes the neighborhood look poor.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Stuff and nonsense. I've only heard that from Brits who, when I ask them why they don't dry their clothes outside on the line, say "this isn't SPAIN you know."

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

It depends what kind of 'outside' you have I think.

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

our new washing machine takes getting on for two hours, too, which is way longer than the last one. it seems to spend a lot of time spinning, though, so the clothes don't come out as damp. so on balance i don't mind.

i really don't understand people who like tumble driers, they *do* ruin clothes. they're ok for towels and bedding but i don't miss them, having had one for the last 6 years or so.

― toby (tsg20), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe they only ruin cheap clothes.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Miaow.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I accidentally washed a lambswool jumper which said 'do not use biological or enzyme-containing washing powder' in biological washing powder. it looks fine but what should I expect to happen? gradual disintegration over a period of years? Or just a bit less softness? or fatal allergic reaction?

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I think what happens is the wool starts growing again, as if you were a lamb.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

MarkH, you are wrong, my grandparents use one. My parents also used one at their old house.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 9 January 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.brabantiaonline.com/thumb/Rotary_dryer_LiftOMatic__50_m_drying_length_small.jpg

Australians to thread please! The above picture is an inferior version of the fab Aussie invention, the Hills Hoist. Witness the glory:

http://john.curtin.edu.au/1940s/graphics/00632_035s.jpg

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Aussie invention! Pah!

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The best indoor drying apparatus is the Glaswegian ceiling mounted pully system. Maybe it's seen elsewhere, but it only really works with the high ceilings such as found in Glasgow's tenements.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

My Cheshire/Staffordshire based Nan always had one of those pulley systems in her kitchen. Marvellous.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I miss the outdoor lines I had one my balcony in Turin. They had a cover to keep the rain off so you could even dry clothes in the rain.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got a ceiling mounted pulley in my bathroom, it's great - washing dries really quickly in the summer when it's hung there and it saves me carting washing down two flights of stairs to hang it out the back.

― leigh (leigh), Friday, 9 January 2004 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Damn! My old website is gone, and so now I can't show you all the photo of our old tumble drier :(

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 9 January 2004 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The problem with the kitchen pulley system = you can't cook while drying washing unless you want your entire load to smell like your last meal.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 10 January 2004 00:15 (twenty-two years ago)

My parents had a pulley drier in their bathroom and now have one in the little pantry-type room the washing machine lives in. They remind me of my childhood.

(hmm, must empty washing machine - thanks, thread!)

― Markelby (Mark C), Saturday, 10 January 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe they only ruin cheap clothes

i think if anything the converse is true.

― toby (tsg20), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Drying clothes on the line when drying machines exist = mentalism of a high order.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Using up large amounts of energy unnecessarily = americanism of the highest order.

― Markelby (Mark C), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

(dunno what's up with me and Americans lately, I love them indeed I do so in a very literal sense. I love America)

― Markelby (Mark C), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Using up large amounts of energy unnecessarily = americanism of the highest order.

Yay! But that's why I have an Energy Efficient Fridge, so I can fool myself into thinking I am wonderful.

(Also no car, but we've been down that road.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Our wash finishes in under an hour, too.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 10 January 2004 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Wash done in 20-30 minutes, drying done in 40 minutes. This is at the laundromat with their fantastic, wasteful energy sucking machines; it seems to take twice as long on my landlords' machines.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait, tracer, weren't you the one who started this thread? I assumed it was because your machine took two hours...

― sgs (sgs), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:22 (twenty-two years ago)

By "our" I meant Americans (you may have noticed I've started a spate of "whoa things are difft over here" threads recently)!! (Although a few weeks ago I did say "our" in a pub in reference to Britain's handling of the Exchange Rate Mechanism in the 80s - yikes)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah I see--the misunderstandings possible when Yanks migrate :)

― sgs (sgs), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

BTW, unless you're using the word as an adjective, it's generally going to be spelled DRYER - in any country.

Heh, Tracer obviously weilds more influence here than he should.

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, I shouldn't have such low-confidence in my spelling.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

don't worry jel, you weren't the only one. =)

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

"We didn't start the dryer"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry for that horrible cultural signifyer

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 10 January 2004 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never timed my washing machine. Should I have?

― cis (cis), Saturday, 10 January 2004 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, it's going to be a question on the next census.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 10 January 2004 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I read this thread as 'Why do brain washing machines take two hours???'

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 10 January 2004 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

ooh ooh timely thread! It took me forever to figure out how to do the wash in our little apartment here in Rome, and it does take forever! Like two or three hours. The drying-line outside the window is broken but there is a rack in the bedroom I hang the clothes on. But everyone hangs out the wash here, I think it's quite picturesque. I think it works better here because people are smaller, no joke!

When I lived in Arizona (and my family was poor and moved a lot) we always hung our wash out and it dried very quickly. Sometimes I see wash hung out in the midwest but mostly it's way too humid. There's definitely a thinking that if you hang out your wash, you're poor or something, and yes neighborhood associations would jump all over you.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 11 January 2004 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never timed my washing machine either, Cis. Surely the amount of time it takes varies anyway depending on which cycle you've got yr machine on - the woollens the coloured or the whites on my machine, or prolly one of abt 120 options on my mother's superduper whizzy one. So rather than comparing US vs. American washing cycle time mebbe we should actually be comparing ppl who predominantly wear certain types of clothes. Val Doonican's washing machine is going to take a different amount of time from a goth's, which will be different again from that of members of the Polyphonic Spree.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 11 January 2004 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

oops should read UK vs american before some smartarse corrects me.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 11 January 2004 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Most washing machines I've used only take about half an hour. After being amazed to no end by the English hot/cold tap thing, and the not rinsing soap off dishes thing, hearing that English washing machines take up to two hours doesn't even surprise me that much.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I think we should put on a little play to explaiin the whole thing for Americans, and cis should write it!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Can it be in blank verse?

― cis (cis), Sunday, 11 January 2004 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

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