I’m not sure whether this is a typically Dutch thing or not and I’m interested in other people opinions...
One of my Dutch teachers mentioned that another one of her students had pointed out to her that Dutch washing machine programmes are far too long. As soon as she said it I had to agree: the standard wash on my Zanussi Rubino II 1200 lasts about one and a half hours and for the past few months I’ve been choosing the “Quick” programme, as I’m fed up waiting for the damn thing to finish. The quick programme is still about an hour long.
However, I’ve just checked it out on the internet and it may not actually be a Dutch thing:
“These days washing machines are much more energy efficient, this is because they use a lot less water. This does mean that they wash for much longer though and it is not unusual for a machine to wash for 2 hours. So if you like your clothes in a hurry, check how long the fastest wash takes.” (http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/ba/14/Washing-Machine-buying-guide)
Has anyone else noticed that washing programmes are excessively long here? Is this a typically Dutch thing, or just a new washing machine thing? I’d like to clean this up!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Slow or not?
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4 comments:
It's a European thing. In the US, washes are typically done in 20 minutes. I'm sure the machines here use tons of water, but the load doesn't get very clean, because they use hot water from the tap and don't have an internal heater, like in Europe.
You could get a US machine shipped if you don't mind stains. Or take the laundry out to a wash & fold place. I love those places - do they exist in Amsterdam?
OMG, our dutch washer and drier require all day to get through a load! Also the dish washer seems to run on for hours. funny.
I live in Australia and my washing machine has 2 options, a short load which takes about 20 minutes, or a long load that last nearly 90 minutes, mosly i use the short load, but occasionally I use the long load for towels and sheets etc, it's not just an european thing, here in OZ its the same.
I'm from Australia and am used to my washing machine being "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am".
Since moving to The Netherlands, I have to plan my day around using the washing machine because it takes so darn long! The dryer is just as bad. I found it comforting to know it wasn't just me.
If it means it uses up less water and energy, then that sits ok with me.
But the thing is, our washing machine in Australia was energy efficient and didn't use too much water and you could still have a load done in under 30 minutes!
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