The High Speed Spin... Those New Energy Efficient Clothes Washers Editor’s Note: An Energy Office staff member tested this new type of washer and offered his assessment. Which is Best? You Decide The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACE³) web site lists the most efficient washers on the market today. Washers are listed in order of efficiency. High Efficieny Clothes Washers aer also listed at the ENERGY STAR® web site. Efficient Washers can save you up to half the cost of water and electricity normally used for washing. Look for the ENERGY STAR® logo. For people not familiar with the latest in clothes washing technology, there’s a new type on the market, which claims energy, and thus energy dollar savings. The source of the savings is a faster spin cycle, which supposedly squeezes more water out of the clothes at the end of the wash. With less water in the clothes at the end of the cycle, the clothes dryer has less work to do, and as a result, you save energy and money. There is also the added feature that the clothes in the dryer are done by the time the next load is done, which means less time spent on this task. Our family recently purchased one of these new clothes washers. It’s a lesser known top loading unit, that was actually half the cost of some name brand front loading models with the same “faster spin cycle” feature. The price was comparable to other models on the market which did not offer the faster spin cycle. Testing the Technology The day after installation, the new clothes washer got its first test. I was a bit nervous about how our purchase would work. Would it actually spin the clothes dryer than a standard unit? Had a mistake been made in not going with a name brand? So on this particular day, I’m making intermittent calls home for a wash day update. The answer to my first call was a don’t bother me type of “Yes it’s doing fine!” The answer to my second call was a quizzical, and alarming, “Well the washer seems to be O.K., but the dryer doesn’t seem to be working right!” Thinking to myself, ‘great, more repairs,’ I asked, “Why what’s wrong with the dryer?” “Well, when I remove the clothes from the dryer, they aren’t hot,” was the reply. Wet Clothes? With a picture of damp clothes hanging on a line, my first thought was that another high temperature switch needed replacement, which I’ve had to do in the past. Then it dawned on me: the dryer had a cool down cycle! I asked if the clothes were dry coming out of the dryer, and received an affirmative answer. This dryer had been in use for about ten years,

“I was a bit nervous about how our purchase would work.” but had never been able to take a second load of clothes from the washer without waiting on the dryer to finish it’s cycle, usually taking the clothes out while they were still hot. We had all forgotten about the cool down cycle. The new washer had not only removed enough water for the first load of clothes to be dry when the second load was finished washing, it had also allowed enough time for the dryer to go into the cool down cycle. Yet another added bonus: clothes have fewer wrinkles when the cool down cycle is used. Would this new washing style add more stress to the clothes, causing them to fade faster, or tear sooner? I’m happy to report that we’ve had our new washer for several months and have not noticed any increase in fading or wear. Does the new style of clothes wash does save energy? Yes, and it also saves wash day time, saves wear on your dryer by reducing it’s run time, can be purchased for about the same money as a conventional washer, and in our case, gives us less wrinkles. "> Home Energy Loans Energy Statistics mailto:energy1%40mail%2estate%2ene%2eus"> State of Nebraska Home disclaimer.htm"> Disclaimer feedback2.htm">Webmaster