any washing machines that still pump water through a lint filter?

Jan 20, 2015 33 Replies

Back in Ye Good Olde Daize we had a clothes washer which would take water from the tub and pump it back over the top of the clothes, passing through a lint filter (looked a bit like a shoe shine brush).



And the filter certainly trapped lots of stuff. We had to clean it each use.



Oh, and it also made sure that the clothes got wet instead of sticking out on top of the water..



This is such an obviously useful system that, of course, I can't find any washing machines out there that still do this.



Anyone have a pointer to such a unit? I'm getting really tired of seeing, for example, leaf fragments hanging onto my shirts...



Thanks



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I remember that when I was a kid, my mom had one...and it would sure make sense especially in places with water shortages.

I don't know of any machines today that will do that...but there are plenty of videos on-line that show you how to re-use water...I did not see any particularly good ones though

Hi, I don't know, our Whrilpool top loader has self cleaning lint filter, per every load it is reverse flushed cleaning it. That is what manual says. No problem. Matching dryer has big fine rectangular lint screen we clean every load. No problem.

You missed his point . The machine would pump water over the lint filter while agitating , had nothing to do with saving water . Had everything to do with getting lint out of your clothes . I suspect the reason this is no longer done is because now dryers do that . Except we don't have one , we line dry our clothes . And they often have lint on them that needs to be gotten off before she will wear them . I couldn't care less if there's a little lint .

well, more _throough_ the filter, but yea. And it wasn't just lint it trapped, but also things like small parts of leaves, etc.

And a pretty pisspoor job of it, especially if it's larger pieces like... those leaf fragments..

thanks

Me have a modern washer and dryer, and my wife uses a lint roller on fresh clothes before heading to work. She has a dark uniform. Seems a common problem. From what I see she could pick off the few strap pieces of lint and dog hair, but the lint roller is faster and cleans better. Haven't had any problem with leaves.

You must not live out in the woods .

"The woods" ain't the only place with leaves. We brush them off our clothes before coming into the house. Same with pine needles and burrs.

The best performing machines out there today are the front loaders.

Unfortunately when a front loader breaks you'll prolly need to take out a second mortgage to pay for repairs.

I remember those from the 70s in Australia. The washer had a heating element to get the recycled water back up to temperature. I think we reused the water only once. Reusing the rinse water wouldn't have saved detergent ("suds"), would it?

Perce

I've seen toploaders in years gone by that had a lint filter up top that was visible. I guess it circulated some of the water throught it and it caught lint and small debris. If I had to guess, I would think maybe they've moved the filter to an automatic self-cleaning one?

Things like lint filters on washing machines you have to trade up a model nowadays. Same goes for our new pool pump motor. Same model#, same design, but they eliminated the on/off toggle power switch from it. Gotta pay $50 more and buy a motor too strong for our size pool to get one with the switch. So back to plugging it in before use and unplugging it after.

Things ain't what they used to be...

The OP said it would take water "out of the tub"

which implied to me that it was the water-saver variety

since AFAIK they no longer make those washers, no lint filter is needed as clean fresh water is used with every cycle.

That said, no matter how well you wash the clothes there is always bound to be at least some lint produced while drying (at least with cotton)

Back in the last millennium I was told by an appliance salesman that the manufacturers had decided that the washer lint filter wasn't needed. Everyone has a dryer to remove the lint, and everyone is connected to sewers, so no need for a filter. Progress... Liz

And still you miss the point . It was pumping water from the tub , across the lint filter and back into the tub . Most automatic washers have always used fresh water for every cycle - though I remember a machine my mother had back in the 50's that would pump the wash water into a separate tub then back into the machine for subsequent loads . Though why on earth would anyone want to use dirty water to wash their clothes has always escaped me .

That was common some years back. You started off with the whites, then light colors, then dark colors. May have made sense decades ago when water was difficult to get in some parts of the country, not to mention cost. Maybe still makes sense in third world countries.

People still take baths, not showers. They relax in a pool of dirty soapy water.

There was a version I remember called the suds saver, that reused the wash water. I'd have thought it makes sense to use rinse water for the next load's wash. That would be reasonably clean.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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That's what I understood it to mean.

Most automatic washers have always

Agree. I've never seen a machine that used anything but clean water.

Don't go giving the govt ideas. They'll make that a reqt on all new washers.

Yeah I guess I did miss the point.

My 25 year old washing machine has never once done anything wrong.

I put the cloths and soap in and nothing else has even needed to be done.

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