Somethings Are Better at Home

I’ve talked a lot about what I love here, so I thought it was maybe time to acknowledge not everything is great here.  I much prefer U.S. washers and dryers.  I am not alone.  Without a doubt the thing most complained about by students is the washing machine and dryer.  Although Australian and U.S. students have many differences they agree on that these machines are problematic.   

Now I should say at the outset having an apartment with both a washer and dryer is a big plus.  Most of the apartments rented by the school are equipped with a washer and dryer.  There are, however, some limitations.  The machine and dryer are very small compared to what is standard in the U.S. (and I believe in Australia.)  In addition, the washer loads from the top but the tub rotates sideways to what they do in the U.S. In other words it rotates similar to a front loader, but loads from the top. (See the photo if what I am saying is not clear.)  In order for you to put your clothes in you must open the actaul spinner. Because of this design if you fail to re-latch the metal spinner before you start the washer, someething awful happens.  I am not sure exactly what happens if you don’t, but it is not good. 

My washer has a warning on it that I wil be charged a minimum of 80 euros if I start the washer without this latch being securely fastened.  On my way to France, I read a book about an American who brought a house in Brittany.  He had quite a problem when a guest used his washer without the latch being fastened.  Major repairs were needed and the guest couldn’t get her clothes out.    I can’t get out of my mind why isn’t there a sensor that prevents the washer from operating if it isn’t fastened?  You know like how your microwave doesn’t work if the door isn’t latched.  Microwaves in France work that way also so the French are familiar with the approach.

I freaked out the first couple of times I washed something fearing that I had fastened it well enough. When I attempted to stop the washer to confirm the inside latch was shut,  I discovered another weakness – you can’t stop or open the washer once you hit start.  Now the freaking out part goes away (okay I’m not the only student that has had this reaction to the warning) after you wash a few loads, but I’ve wanted to add an additional item after the washer started, but you cannot do so.  Once you push the start button, there is no turning back. 

Which leads to the next issue, it takes about 90 minutes for a load of wash to process.  (There is only one size of loads.)

Now on the good side, you have lots of choices about tempature and the speed of the spin.  The tempature is spelled out in degrees.  Of course there are in Cellsius so they mean nothing to me but you can choose from 30 to 90 degrees.  This clearly allows you greater control over the actual tempature of the water.  I think this is possible because the washer actually heats the water rather than using water straight from the tap.

It also gives you a choice of exaclty how fast it spins the clothes.  You can choose 100 to 900 something.  I have no idea what this means except the higher the number the less water in the clothes when the washer finishes.  And mine did fine, there are lots of complaints about the spin not wringing the clothes out enough so it takes forever for clothes to dry.

 The dryer too has its challenges.  To dry think clothes like jeans takes forever.  By forever, I mean longer than anyone I know has been willing to operate a dryer.  Last week, a collegue used my washer and dryer to do a load of wash.  He started around 5:00pm and when he came back a little after 8:00pm the clothes were still not dry. 

Interestingly the dryer collects water in a reservoir that you have to empty every in a once a while.  I was rather surprised the first time the dryer would not work.  A light indicated that reservoir was full.  (When hearing reservoir, my immediate thought was a place to swim.)  But I recalled seeing a green plastic thing that I thought was the lint filter.  Sure enough the green thing was full of water so I concluded it was indeed a reservoir.   A quick emptying of it and the dryer was back to operating. 

I later found the lint filter just inside the door.  It was much easier to empty than the ones in U.S. dryers.  It also seemed that it would avoid the problem of lint getting stuck inside the dryer and causing fires. This seems to be one way in which the French dryers are superior.

After a few weeks of using this equipment to launder my clothes, I still have several questions.  Do these models save energy over the ones that we have in the U.S.?  If not, what are the advantages of these types?  Where does the water go when removed from clothes by U.S. dryers if there is not a reservoir to empty?  And most important of all, why does someone not design a solution for what is apparently a longstanding design flaw that results in major damage to the machine so easily?   If you have answers to these questions, please let me know.  Or better yet, if you know how to fix the design flaw, perhaps we can go into business together.