South Africa is a water scarce country – nobody needs reminding of the critical need to be water efficient and conserve potable water. One of the most ‘thirsty’ practices we engage in, is that of laundering our clothes and bed linen.
Conserving Water in a Top Load Speed Queen Washing Machine
We thought we would let you know what options you have to conserve water if you have a Speed Queen top load washing machine and are willing to make some compromises to your normal wash practices.
Top load washers of all types are less water efficient than their front load counterparts.
The water in the top load washer, as you can see in the diagram, needs to fully cover the clothing before you are able to start the washer and achieve satisfactory levels of wash performance.
In the front load washer, water is not required to cover the clothing in order to achieve the wash action, which is facilitated through clothing being tumbled through the water.
Consequently front load washers are more water efficient to achieve an equivalent wash result than top load washers.
Top load washers have other advantages over front load washers including wash time, electricity consumption, the convenience of being able to interrupt and continue the cycle, and greater mechanical robustness and reliability, but if water consumption is your most important criteria, front load washers outperform top load washers.
If you have a top loader, here are a few things you can do, (that you can’t easily do in a front load washer) to conserve water.
You can manually fill your top load washer for the wash cycle water if you have rain or other stored water.
To do this following process:
- Remember that the machine uses half of the water during the wash cycle and half during the rinse cycle. You will therefore have to fill the machine twice.
- Set the Load Size dial to Small and the temperature dial to Cold/Cold.
Remember if you are changing the load size setting you must first ‘RESET’. - Add detergent.
- Loosely throw clothing into the drum (do not overload or push the clothing down to get more of it in as this will affect your wash performance).
- Manually fill the washer with your stored water using a bucket or whatever system you have chosen until the clothing is completely covered with water. Take care not to spill water on the top or over the sides of the drum. This may damage electrical components of the machine.
- Close the lid and switch the machine on.
Wait a few moments to see if the machine starts to agitate.
If the machine does not start, or it continues to take in normal municipal water then it is likely you do not have enough water in the machine. - Open the lid and continue to manually fill the machine.
Close the lid and try again.
Repeat as necessary. - After approximately 2 minutes of washing, open the lid and ensure that the clothing is covered with water. If it is not, add water until the clothing is covered.
- The machine will continue with the wash cycle and then drain the water with a short spin.
- The rinse cycle requires that water be added again as explained above. Open the lid, add water similarly as above, close the lid and let the machine continue.
- After the rinse cycle, the machine will again drain the water with a short spin and then continue with a high spin to complete the process.
You can also manually recycle the water you consume in your washer by connecting its outlet to a product like ‘EcoGator’ for example (there are several similar products available on the market), and then use this water to irrigate the garden.
We do hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Thank you for your support.
The Most Energy-efficient Top Loader in SA
The AWNE8 top load washer is the cheapest to run and is the most environmentally-friendly top load washer in South Africa. It is also the top load washer with the best warranty in SA.
