A washing machine is simply meant to clean your clothes. However, the plethora of features and types of these machines made it difficult for common man to chose which one fits his requirement.
To shed some light on the same, below are some details regarding washing machines.
How does a washing machine work.
The WMs consist of a tub\drum where the clothes are put.
The machine will need detergent and water to wash the clothes.
The tub rotates to give a rinsing effect on clothes(after soaking the clothes in detergent for a while), to rub the dirt away. Depending on the design, it may use tumbling effect or rubbing effect to remove the dirt.
The next phase is to wash off the dirt+ detergent from the clothes. In order to achieve this, the machine will use fresh water(after draining off the dirty water from the tub) and rinse the clothes.
The last phase is spinning the wet clothes at high speeds to use the centrifugal force to dry the clothes.
^Some advanced machines use hot air for 100% dry clothes. The normal machines give an~90% dry clothes which could be dried further under shadow
Now, on the difference between the machines available in market:
Classification of WMs by human-effort: Semi-automatic & Fully automatic
a. Semi-automatic: will have separate tubs for wash and dry cycles. The user will have to put clothes+ washing powder in a tub, which will then take the amount of water needed to wash the clothes and will subsequently stop after rinsing the clothes for a predetermined time. The user need to take the clothes off(which is still pretty wet) and then put it into the tub which is meant for drying. Later, the clothes need to be taken off and hung under shadow for complete drying.
Pro:
Cheap to own and relatively trouble free in the longer run. Use less water compared to the fully automatic, top loading WMs.
Can wash more clothes than most front loading fully automatic WMs
Add additional clothes in between a wash cycle
Con:
Human intervention needed between cleaning and drying cycles. This means lesser productivity of user on other tasks. In winter, will be difficult to transfer the wet clothes off the primary tub to the dryer tub.
No heater option for water
No intelligent decision making on detergent \ water consumption based on type of clothes or load
Less effective in cleaning than Front loading WMs
b. Fully-automatic: Can be Top loading or Front loading:
- The WM will manage the entire process of soaking, washing and drying the clothes.
Pro:
No human intervention.
Most WMs have preset wash cycles for different type of clothes.
Top loading WM has an agitator or an impeller to move the clothes in for-aft movement for washing.
Front loading WM uses the tumbling action by rotating the clothes in the direction of an automobile tyre.
Pro - Top Loading WMs
Higher load carrying capacity than front loading WMs
Cheaper to own and repair, than Front loading WMs
Can add additional clothes in between a wash cycle
Con - Top Loading WMs
High water & detergent consumption than front loading WMs
Relatively more noisy compared to front loading WMs
Less effective in cleaning than Front loading WMs
No heater to heat water for better cleaning. However few products have the option to take hot water fed from a geyser etc.
Need a permanent water connection(always on) to operate
Clothes tangle in impeller designs while they tend to get damaged in an agitator tub
Pro - Front Loading WMs
Cloth friendly
Less water and detergent consumption
Less electricity consumption
Better cleaning
Silent operation
Heaters available in most models, which help in better cleaning and lesser detergent+ water consumption
Con - Front Loading WM
Expensive to own and repair
Most designs consume more space than top-loading WMs
Cannot add clothes once the wash cycle starts
Prone to leakage thru the front cover(usual suspect is the rubber ring around the cover or a misaligned cover)
Need a permanent water connection(always on) to operate
Now, into the additional features:
Steel drum vs Non-metallic drum: Steel drums have a better wash quality since it is less prone to getting damaged by metal buttons in jeans etc and will not lead to bobbly clothes. Also will have better wash performance in hot water. Life of these however will depend on the kind of water used for washing. Saline water tend to damage the steel drums if left unused for months at length. Even the smallest formation of scales within the drum will rub against the clothes damaging them.
Plastic vs. Crystal\Glass cover(Front Loading): Plastic tend to get scratched easier than the glass covers and are prone to leak more.
Automatic dispenser: Will release the needed quantity of detergent or fabric conditioner into the tub, basis the load.
Higher spin speed: Ensures better drying of clothes. However need more electricity to operate and will be expensive to repair than normal~600 RPM motors
Fuzzy logic - An electronic program which senses the load in the drum, in order to decide how much water and time is needed for the wash cycle.
Air-dryer: Uses air to be blasted thru the holes in the drum. These are relatively expensive than the normal WMs.
Pre-wash: Will wash the heavily soiled clothes in water before the actual wash cycle starts, so as to take off any sand\mud\greasy food etc
Extra-rinse cycles: Helps remove any possible detergent residue or heavily soiled clothes. Not needed if hot water is used for washing.
Ceramic water heater: Good for places where groundwater is the primary source for washing. This ensures low scale formation around the water heater, improving its life and efficiency.
Anti-microbial drum: This appears to be more of a myth to me since no amount of silver nano or other technologies can stop the microbial activity in a tub. The best way is to quickly take the clothes after the dry cycle is complete and clean the tub and the cover with a dry cloth. Once in a while use some antibacterial lotion to clean the tub and leave it open to dry.
Diamond Drum: A design of the holes in the drum which reduces friction between the drum and clothes, thereby reducing damage of clothes.
Important points to consider:
Semi-automatic WMs are priced as low as INR 4,000 where the fully automatic ones start at INR 8,500. The Front loading WMs start at a price of INR 16,000
Mechanical controls are anyday more reliable than digital controls
If the water is hard, prefer a WM with a heater. Most water inlets in today's machines have filters to remove suspended dirt
Usually a family of four would need a 6kg WM to wash the clothes on alternate days
If you mix clothes which lose color on washing, the chances are that your white cotton clothes will absorb that color. So be careful!
Wash the bed spreads \ pillow covers \ drapes separately. Make sure to remove any clips or other solid objects from the dress before washing in a machine. Even the coins in your shirt pocket could damage other clothes washed along
Avoid washing clothes or towels of newborns in a washing machine. No matter what their claims are, your baby will end up having skin rashes. Use normal baby soap or mild detergent+ hot water to wash those. Do not use Dettol to wash those clothes
Buy a WM with 4 star or higher rating, if you care for environment
No matter what you do, the personal attention you give while washing those oneself cannot be replaced by the washing machines. Life of clothes washed in a machine is however as long as those washed by hand(unless the washing is done without detergent)
More the technology, more is the probability of a failure and equally high will be the repair costs.not to mention higher operating power requirements.
Techno-babbles:
WMs - Washing Machines
RPM - Rotations per minute. Determine the speed at which the tub rotates, in order to use the centrifugal force to squeeze the water away from the clothes.
Agitators - have a pole at the center of the tub with designs that protrudes from the bottom of the drum and moves the clothes around.
Pulsator\Impellers - have fan\propeller like design at the bottom of the tub, which churns the water for-aft to move the clothes.
Pugilator - A function included in the impeller to improve the washing efficiency by blasting the clothes with a jet of water.
