Hot and cold fill washing machines

[Capitol]

About 3 months ago, her machine started to throw itself around the kitchen. I guessed at falling off weights as it's a pig to remove it and left it alone. Having listened to her noises getting louder, I decided to take the easy way out and buy a new hot and cold fill machine. Sounds easy but it has taken weeks to find a couple. Today for entertainment value I decided to try the local retailers as a source. The first, a small local man, told me they don't exist any more and he knows because the EU has banned them. I quickly enlightened him that he is incompetent in my best Victor Meldrew manner. The next call was Currys, who proudly announced that they only sell cold fill machines as they are more efficient and that mould growth in cold washing machines is a problem that customers can live with. The third call was the local Argos, who very nicely checked with their customer services that they did not for some reason sell hot and cold fill machines. Before I go on line and buy the Statesman machine, does anyone know if any of the major manufacturers offer such a machine? I even idly considered rebuilding the 10 year old machine, before common sense crept in! ie, new bearings,seals, springs and timer.

[Brian-Gaff]

Well, one other thing to consider is a mixer device. A friend of mine says a mixer device is available for cold fill machines that stops the high pressure cold going back up the hot feed and you set the mixing to a nice normally warm temp and it seems to work well. The issue of the hot running cold is not an issue as of course being a cold fill only it then just reverts to heating the cold water. I've not tried it myself, but I do wonder if dual connection machines are in fact just doing what the hose does inside the machine. Brian

[Tim Watts]

To be fair, hot fill is pretty rare - I did not know they still existed!

The general consensus is: they admit so little hot water that buy the time the pipe's run through hot or the combi's started up it's half full of cold anyway.

Personally, I'd give up and just accept cold fill and base your choice on other factors.

[Capitol]

Yes, I did consider doing that, as both hot and cold feeds are equal pressure a simple combiner will work. The advantage of your system is that rinsing will be done in warm water which is more efficient. I do not know of any modern washing machine which works properly. The wash is crap due to lack of water and the rinse totally inadequate for the same reason.

[harry]

(A) Little of the hot water makes it to the machine anyway. (B) Starting from cold enables a cleaner wash. Hot water on laundry sets stains in.

Cold water only is cheaper to make.

So that why nobody makes mixed fill washing machines these days. They told you the truth.

[harry]

Rinsing in hot water is not more efficient. You get slightly dryer clothes as the spin works better, that's all.

[Capitol]

But I can buy the product I want. Do you give up that easily when faced with a problem?

[harry]

There is no problem.

[Tim Watts]

I don't consider it much of a problem in this particular domain. Even on a hot wash, the machine will not take on hot on every fill (some rinses are cold).

You of course may view it differently, but is the trade off worth it? How many pennies will it save per wash and will you overly compromise on other factors?

[Bob Eager]

There is no problem. Cold fill works better. Buy the one you want, though.

[S Viemeister]

[Graham.]

The machine could just dump the first 3 or 4 litres to the drain, after all, that's what you or I would do if hand washing.

[F]

That's my understanding. The heating time is part of the pre-soak that the powder needs to get the most out of it.

[Capitol]

So why does the US market use hot and cold fill machines? You are regurgitating someone else's opinion as fact. Cold fill washing machines only work properly with bio powders. Go away and do some research. If I am prepared to pay for the product it should be readily available, not all us want to use washboards!

[Andy Burns]

I draw the cold leg from the mixer tap, so that when the W/M starts asking for hot water, it does get some ...

[Capitol]

I missed that one, but the 60 degree cycle time of 205 minutes is totally unacceptable. It's also too big to fit the space. IMO the spin speed is also too high for reliability.

[Martin Brown]

For once Harry is actually right. The market switched over about a decade ago so you possibly bought one of the last dual fill machines.

Even when you have cheap hot water freely available it still isn't worth it for the amount that the washing machine will require.

They still think top loaders are kewl too.

Which is now the majority of the market. If you want to use lye and animal fat to get the woad out of your shirt then expect to pay dearly.

It *is* available if you are prepared to pay through the nose for it and have a circulating hot water system that gives instant hot water. (US homes sometimes have this feature which in the UK is only really found in hotels and very upmarket large homes).

[Tim Watts]

Depends who makes it.

Miele can handle 1200, 1400 and 1600 (depending on age of machine). Mine is the older 1200 rpm and that's been chugging along on about 6-8 washes a week (kids!) since about 2006.

[Capitol]

So, thats why non bio powders are so popular with families who react to the bio ones. Is your other name Harry?

[Bob Eager]

The word is 'fill'. Not 'wash'.