"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
EricP writes:
On Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:11:40 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Wednesday, June 25, 2014 10:08:57 PM UTC+1, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Changes in wash cycle to meet EU regs also wears clothes much faster.

I am reduced to pouring in kettles of water through the detergent drawer
to get my eco washing machine to use enough water. I like to see my
clothes splashing through the Surf.

So I am not the only nutter that creeps into the kitchen to do this
arcane activity then.

+1

I kept my 1980's Hotpoint microprofile machine going as long as possible.
I bought it through GEC staff sales and talked with the Hotpoint engineers
who designed it (Hotpoint was also GEC back then - it's just a name now
used by Merloni/Indesit).

The standard wash cycle was designed to gently lift the clothes out and
drop them back into the water repeatedly, to wash the detergent (and
rinse water) through them. Variations for different fabrics would change
the level so as not to lift the clothes so far, right up to the hand-wash
wool program which filled far enough to never lift the clothes out and
just slowly agitate them. I used this to wash my dry-clean-only wollen
suit trousers many times, without causing any damage.

Today's machines are only allowed to use enough water to dampen the
clothes,
and then rely on rubbing them together to do the cleaning, i.e. back to
the wash-board.

Parts such as drum bearings are no longer replacable - the drums are
solvent or heat welded shut, and the inner drums can't be removed.
The machine is designed to be replaced when things like drum bearings
wear out.


Hmm. Interesting.
I used to repair automatic washing machines thirty odd years ago.
Some of them, it wasn't neccesary to open up the outer drum, the bearing was
replaced from outside.

But the earliest mass produced ones (Hoover, £100) were ****. They were put
out long before properly developed.
The range of fault was small but there were lots of them. Main bearing was
one of them. About four/five hours work to replace.
It had however a bomb proof induction motor.