A Zanussi? Excuse my ignorance, but where’s that made in? Can one get it in Taiwan? Sure the high RPM spin will get more water out, but wouldn’t that make your clothes more wrinkly? The French-made Thomson top-loader looks a lot like your Zanussi. The problem with the top-loaders is that you don’t have the counter space on top if you have it in the kitchen.
I think they are all made in Sweden. I don’t think they have any production in China. Zanussi seems to be the upmarket brand for Electrolux. Electrolux produces a lot on the mainland and they have a poor reputation here in HK.
I’ve only seen a couple of models in Taiwan (that was about three years ago) and they were overpriced. I think I only saw one frontloading model and one toploading-sidespinning-drum model. Much lower RPM, but still seemed tough.
I haven’t had that problem. It starts out slow and builds up speed so that the load is distributed evenly in the drum. There’s hardly any friction put on your clothes compared to the Taiwanese rotating rubbish bin type of machine.
Yeah, there are a lot of brands that make models like this. If you go by what HK housewives say, Zanussi makes the best. They sell better than any other brand here in HK even though they’re more expensive. I looked at Thomson machines, but the ones available here don’t seem quite as sturdy as the Zanussis. I think just about all Thomsons sold over here are made on the mainland. I knew a couple of mainlanders who worked for Thomson in Shenzhen; they always bitched about the low quality of mainland made Thomson appliances. That was years ago, though. Thomson has an ok reputation here in HK.
Yeah, that is one drawback. However, it seems like this type is cheaper than frontloaders that have the same specs. I think it’s because the hinges and lock on a front-loading door have to be made a lot sturdier on a high RPM machine, or else the door might pop open. On a toploader like mine, the drum is all stainless steel; it’s probably easier to make it sturdier than a plastic door. Or I could be talking out of my ass.
If I were going to put the machine on the balcany, I’d buy a top-loader like mine. If I were going to put the machine in a small kitchen, I’d get a front-loader. We’re lucky, though, because our kitchen here is huge.
How do you hook up the hot water to your washer? I live on a rooftop. Any instructions? thanks :help:
This may not be the answer you’re looking for, but with all Zanussi models, the water is heated internally. It’ll go as high as 90 degrees centigrade. God, I want to go wash some clothes. 
I wash my clothes in the toilet. :taz:
Why? Cuz its All Tempa-cheer…
Or so he claims???
[quote=“hexuan”]The reason clothes get clean in cold water here is because the powder is full of bleach.
Despite what Wolf the Contrarian says, hot water alone emulsifies fats before the powder gets to work and is more efficient for some types of stain. If used with a biological detergent, warm water is as good as cleaning clothes as bleach but means your black clothes stay black and cotton doesn’t get eaten away by the bleach.
I’ve brought a few expensive shirts from England years ago which I had owned for years. Six months of Taipei washing machines and bleach detergents and they were ruined. The very act of yanking your clothes out of a machine in a tangled mess destroys them.
The vast majority of people here aren’t wearing clothes that cost them a huge deal of money. Many people I knew back home had maybe fewer items of clothing, but shirts and trousers that were over
This may not be the answer you’re looking for, but with all Zanussi models, the water is heated internally. It’ll go as high as 90 degrees centigrade. God, I want to go wash some clothes. [/quote]
I don’t have that model, i don’t think… :s
Can anyone suggest a place or service in kaohsiung?
If you wishs to wash your clothes, then go look for this, or print this out:
洗衣店
Now, if you wish to buy a decent front loader, then you can consider paying the nearest Carrefour a visit. They will even help you hook it up.
Well, this is an anccient thread, but it seems to be quite fitting for my issues that I do have with laundry here in TW. Basically, stains like deodorant don’t come out at all, and after a while a strange smell accumulates, something mouldy.
First of all, I am not a newbie, I have successfully done my own laundry for half of my life (~15 years that is). I ended up with a good Siemens washing machine & drier, some good quality european detergent and fabric softerner, and finally with clean, smell-free clothes.
Since I went to TW, I tried several local and American-sounding/looking brands of detergent in my standard Twnese top-loading cold water washing machine. Finding a good fabric softener was a small step in the right direction, but didn’t cure everything. So far the only solution I found is to dry everything as quickly as possible (thank god my living room is big enough to comfortably hide 3 clothes driers behind my couch), and sort out the mouldy smelling clothes (and more often, towels) as soon as I spot the smell.
The only way that I found to make these clothes and towels useable again was to soak them in very hot water from the gas boiler for an hour or so, also adding some standard detergent there. After that wash, and voila, clean clothes.
I was also thinking about simply hooking the washing machine up to hot water. But since the (chinese) manual says that “when the washing machine is frozen, don’t use water over 40°C to de-ice it”, I guess the machine won’t be so happy if I use hot water… since making sure its below 40°C could be a bit tricky with those gas boilers they have here 
Are there maybe, in the meanwhile, some better ideas, which help the crappy washing machines here to work towards actually cleaning?
I would buy a washing machine which actually heats the water. My current heats to 60C, and our clothes is clean.
Cleaning isn’t the problem, drying is the hard bit. I found a dehumidifier stops that musty damp smell.
Take the stuff that’s musty, at least the towels, soak them in a strong vinegar solution, like 1 part vinegar 2 parts boiling water.
Then wash them.
Pardon if this is obvious, but hanging everything to dry is critical, especially hanging them out where there’s air circulating and making sure they aren’t touching each other while hanging.
In the Taiwan climate, tossing wet clothes into the dryer straight from the washer is asking for trouble.
We only ever use the dryer to finish off the drying when it’s really damp out.
I tend to assume everyone knows this sort of thing, but I’ve learned to never underestimate single guys’ lack of hygienic consideration.
I once worked with this (American) guy in Hsi Chi who related to me, with no little sense of wonder, how he’d cured a chronic cycle of eye infections.
At the advice of his sister back home or something, he finally stopped it by…
washing his sheets and pillowcase.
Eeeeeeewwww
[quote=“the chief”]Take the stuff that’s musty, at least the towels, soak them in a strong vinegar solution, like 1 part vinegar 2 parts boiling water.
Then wash them.[/quote]
Yep, as I wrote for me near-boiling and some standard detergent water does the trick for me, followed by standard washing. But honestly, I would really be very reluctant to use vinegar on my towels, when the washing machine can’t even get “easier” smells out 
But I’ll try as soon as the hot water and detergent alone don’t work.
But can you please explain a bit about this:
I was under the impression that using an dryer (as in electic dryer) would be the fastest way to dry something, thus eliminating the chance for the strange smell?
[quote=“olm”][quote=“the chief”]Take the stuff that’s musty, at least the towels, soak them in a strong vinegar solution, like 1 part vinegar 2 parts boiling water.
Then wash them.[/quote]
Yep, as I wrote for me near-boiling and some standard detergent water does the trick for me, followed by standard washing. But honestly, I would really be very reluctant to use vinegar on my towels, when the washing machine can’t even get “easier” smells out But I’ll try as soon as the hot water and detergent alone don’t work.
But can you please explain a bit about this:
I was under the impression that using an dryer (as in electic dryer) would be the fastest way to dry something, thus eliminating the chance for the strange smell?[/quote]
Containment, baby, containment.
I’m willing to bet you have a goofy little Barbie-level Taiwan dryer (I do), which means it isn’t vented.
Hanging clothes, again, I stress, that aren’t touching each other, at least there’s a slight differential in wetness between them and the air, so you have the moisture migrating out of the garment, taking the mildew spores with, but the dryer, to me, always seems to be like putting them in an incubation chamber, there’s nowhere meaningful for the nasties to go.
FWIW, Mrs. the chief always washes every load 2 times, the second time without soap.
Aaaah, I understand. No, I have no dryer here in TW, only those clothes racks where I very losely hang my stuff to dry. Now, back home I had a “real” dryer, which expells wet, warm air to outside the room.
We had a dryer while in Taiwan that we kept on the balcony. It helped, especially with towels and bedsheets, but the problem was that is took HOURS to dry anything. It was still better than hanging stuff dry though.
The problem with most washing machines in Taiwan is that they do not heat the water. In a tropical, heavily polluted climate where one sweats a lot, that is not good. It’s best to buy a machine that will heat the water. They are probably the only machines that will actually get things clean.
Also, there is the rank water to consider. It has heavy concentrations of lime, untreated sewerage and god knows what else in it. That is what you are washing your clothes in, not to mention bathing in.
On a side note, I had bought some nice towels in Taiwan that I brought with me when I moved to the UAE. Even though I would wash them in a hot (90 degree) wash in a good washing machine here in the UAE, they still always stunk after one use. I think it was from a few years of washing them in cold water in Taiwan. For some reason, the mustiness just wouldn’t wash out, and I ended up dumping them shortly after moving here. It had become ingrained. Yuk. 
Ew, I thought guys just knew about this stuff? Didn’t realised you people need to discuss it online! Although I don’t actually do it myself, I’d always assumed it was a fairly simple process. Just realised I’ve been letting a bunch of amateurs wash my clothes!
[quote]It’s best to buy a machine that will heat the water. They are probably the only machines that will actually get things clean.
Also, there is the rank water to consider. It has heavy concentrations of lime, untreated sewerage and god knows what else in it. That is what you are washing your clothes in, not to mention bathing in.[/quote]
Huh? Our clothes get clean in cold water washes and I haven’t noticed rank water. Certainly doesn’t have lime in it – if anything, its soft water, not hard. Doesn’t have sewage in it either, at least not where I live – it was recently tested by a poster on here.
More important, unlike in the UK, my stuff doesn’t shrink and get the colour knocked out of it in a matter of months.
As the chief says, its all about the air. And the sun. I’m convinced that its having a yard that makes the difference, so we can hang our stuff in the sunlight. That’s a great bacterial agent.
[quote=“sandman”]
More important, unlike in the UK, my stuff doesn’t shrink and get the colour knocked out of it in a matter of months.[/quote]
My new stepdad (no 16, I think) is currently doing mine. You keep clothes for ‘months’? I always tear or lose mine! UK water is yummy-fab. Not Oxford; it stinks, tastes bad and furs everything up there, but here in Stockport, it’s as soft as baby’s tears. Fluffy hair, Persil fresh towels, mmm.
Taiwan was kind of cack for that. I sent it to the laundry, unless I was feeling guilty about wasting cash.