the science of laundry - 3 elements
Jun 16 '00
This is not about brands, this is not primarily about features. It is not about manufacturers or retailers. This is mostly about preferences, benefit and value. These principals can be gained no matter what brand you buy and they primarily negate performance from your purchase decision.
Having worked in a major appliance manufacturer for 13 years in manufacturing, engineering, research & development and management I feel I know a thing or two about doing a load of laundry. I hold several patents or patents pending and many exclusive feature developments were with my involvement. More importantly I was participant to many great innovative ideas that revealed the true process we all bear benefit from each day we don our daily fabrics. The white goods industry is primarily US in source due to the hard work of its employees and value this industry has continued to provide for generations.
The laundry process is really a simple matter of energy, three energies to be specific: chemical, thermal and mechanical. I choose this order for it is prioritized in the manner we as consumers can do something about given a large white metal box in our basements already exists.
Stains and soils in our garments need energy to release the chemical and physical bonds that bind them to our linens. In reverse order to what we can influence after the purchase:
1) Mechanical energy speaks to the amount of motion and friction our clothing experiences in the wash process. Water level, clothes load, clothes material make up, and machine agitation speed are the primary factors that a user has at their option. Time in the wash action is aggregate or cumulative, so longer is better for certain soil types. The more soiled and durable the garment, the higher degree of aggressive action one should chose. Dual action agitators with low water levels are very aggressive and good for getting stains and soils out of durable cloth but significantly wear the material. Take note that some manufacturers, with consistent popular review ratings at the top of their class, sacrifice clothe longevity for higher standard cleaning ratings. These tests are performed with water temp & detergent amount and cloth test swatches are standardized. The side effect of this is evident by a high degree of lint in the dryer lint screen and amount of tangle in garments like long sleeve shirts. Manufacturers rate agitator effectiveness by number of turns a test garment makes in a load. Front loaders are obviously far more gentle
2) Water temperature is the primary thermal component, which at one point the Dept of Energy was looking at reducing for ecological reasons. If fabrics can handle it hotter is better as long as the soil is not “set” by hot water first hitting the clothing. Cold wash detergents DO have a minimum temperature where they are effective and it is not linear meaning 5% lower temp means 5% lower cleaning. Once passed, effectiveness of detergents below a minimum temperature is trivial. In cold weather/water environments half fill with warm water to insure basic detergent activation. If your machine has an automatic temperature control, its purpose is to guarantee minimum cold temperature wash cycle performance claims more than any other factor, (except higher purchase cost). For “hot” cycle durable fabrics, the hotter the better; a water heater thermostat setting factor.
Rinse temps above “cold” do relatively nothing for you so save the earth and use “cold” only.
3) Chemical energy speaks primarily to the detergent. The soil, fabric & stain are what they are. But how the detergent effects them is your biggest influence on success. Pretreats, soaking and prewash aside, you get better performance with more detergents. Good quality detergents. Manufacturers know which they are too – who do they sample in their machines when you buy them?
Horizontal axis front loaders elevate the temp based upon European clothing styles and extend the wash cycle to over come lack of mechanical energy of an agitator-less process. That may be obvious. But their detergents are also antifoaming high concentration formulae with far less filler than US style. Their concentration slurry in water/cloth is far greater by orders of magnitude as well. As much as fabric colour can tolerate, high concentration detergent is your most significant influence at this point. Not just 10% more either, 100-300% is more like it for top loader-like concentrations. If you use one cup, try three for heavy soiled and use less agitation time, less aggressive cycles like “gentle” for “perm press” or “perm press” for “cotton sturdy”. Perm press tends to blend higher and lower agitation speeds as well as a cool down cycle to lessen wrinkle setting for more gentle washing. Three speed machines provide even greater options for less aggressive cloth destroying agitations. Less aggressive agitation will result in longer fabric life (no more stringy towels and abraded streaky new blue jeans)
Spin speeds: the higher the better. Your washer is anywhere from 50 to 300% more energy efficient at water extraction than your dryer but that is a different study.
Happy washing....
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Member: D Pollack
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