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A friend of mine has just purchased a new washing machine that is ‘cold fill’ only. He was told by staff at Comet that ‘hot and cold fill’ machines were now a thing of the past and that European legislation states that machines from now on will have to be ‘cold fill’. Is this true and if so, any idea why?
Any info, ideas, thoughts please.
Paulouk
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
It’s certainly not legislation, unless someone changed the law pretty damn quick 😀
The main reason is so manufacturers can achieve the “A” rating they so badly desire on energy consumption etc (EU labels on the front of the machine) which seems to be a massive selling point for some reason 😕
It’s far easier to prove to those that govern these (very easily achievable levels) how efficiently cold water can be heated which is where much of the “energy” goes.
If it were warm water already partially heated in the household system it’s too variable…..
Don’t you just love salesman patter 😆
Dave.
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
Am I correct in thinking that in most of Europe they don’t store hot water as most of us do in the UK?
If so that would mean that we are keeping a tank of hot water on the go and then heating the water for our washing as well using more resources into the bargain, not very environmentally friendly I wouldn’t think. :con:
It does seem to get the washing cleaner though, even if it takes forever 🙄
Lynn
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
Thanks Dave and Lyn for that.
Yes it is certainly going to waste energy by heating water from cold when hot water is available in most house-holds that have central heating etc.
Another case of people ‘paying lip service’ to energy saving but having negative effects.
By the way what an interesting and useful site this is. Many thanks to those who run it.
Paulo
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
Hi Paulo,
If you read http://tinyurl.com/dq4ur that article I wrote it touches on this subject a little along with many others.
But in effect, the UK is (to my knowledge) about the only country in Europe that still insists on having a hot fill which, for many, many years has been pretty much a waste of space. On virtually any modern machine where the quantity of water is massively reduced from the old top loaders and twin tubs, hot fill is pretty much redundant and, should you choose to run the hot tap to get hot water to the machine to fill it is wasteful for a start and on top of that pretty much defeats the point of an *automatic* washing machine. 😉
K.
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
Just had the new Hotpoint brochures in and the new ranges are cold fill only too on all models.
Don
8)Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
kwatt wrote:
Hi kwatt,
((hot fill is pretty much redundant))
This may be the case in the cities and urban areas but in the rurals many house-holds have suplus hot water being heated constantly by Agas, Rayburns etc, often like us, all year round.
We do not have mains electicity and rely on diesel generators and a wind turbine for electricity so immersion heaters, electric kettles and elecctric heaters are to be avoided.
It would be nice to have the choice as to the methods of fill. It is just another case of the manufacturers cheapening their machines without passing the reduced cost on to the consumer. If some people want cold fill only it is just a matter of combining the hot and cold hoses with a ‘Y’ connector.
((should you choose to run the hot tap to get hot water to the machine to fill it is wasteful for a start and on top of that pretty much defeats the point of an *automatic* washing machine.))
Washing machines are not really ‘automatic’ anyway, you still have to put the clothes in, put in the powder and rinse aid and select the program etc so why not run off the hot tap as well. How lazy can you get?
Paulo
Re: Hot and cold fill washing machines.
Point taken where you use an AGA or suchlike, but then it’s a very small minority of people that do so these days in the grand scheme of things and any manufacturer tends to design for mass market appeal as far as possible.
There are other options, such as solar panel heating for water which is, to my knowledge, more readily available and cheaper than many other alternative energy sources but still not that efficient or widely used. However, with that and any other alternative energy source, both energy storage and (in this case) the storage of the heated water is the problem. That has to be transorted from the storage method to the actual appliance which is wasteful at best and as I said, by the time the hot water actually reached the machine most of the modern A rated (in particular) appliances would be up to level anyway.
Removing the hot valve removes a point of failure, cuts down on installation cost and simplifies installation. In stalling a Y-piece only gives you an additional point of failure and on that does frequently fail in my experience.
When you look at an automatic washer they are indeed very simple in comparison to what went before, twin tubs in particular or seperate washers and spinners and auto washers are far more efficient in many ways to those. You also don’t have to stand over an auto washer for hours as you would have had to do in the past, or lift the soaking washing from one section to another.
The top-loaders, like the Hotpoint, where essentially a big auto washer with a huge load capacity.
In effect with an auto washer you put in the clothing, the detergent and conditioner if required and press a button. The same cannot be said of its predessors and people these days just will not spend hours labouring over a washing machine washing their clothes.
K.
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