Clothes Washers

A clothes Washer, washer, or Washing Machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets. The term is mostly applied only to machines that use water as the primary cleaning solution, as opposed to dry cleaning which uses alternative cleaning fluids, and is performed by specialist businesses or even and ultrasonic cleaners.

Modern washing machines are available in two configurations, Top Loading and Front Loading.

The top loading design or V-axis Clothes Washer, most popular in Australia, Canada, the United States and Latin America, places the clothes in a vertically-mounted perforated basket that is contained within a water-retaining tub, with a propeller-like agitator in center of the bottom of the basket.

Clothes are loaded through the top of the machine, which is covered with a hinged door. During the wash cycle, the outer tub is filled with water sufficient to suspend the clothing freely in the basket, and the movement of the agitator pulls the clothing downward in the center towards the agitator paddles. The clothing then moves outward and up the sides of the basket to repeat the process.

Top-loaders are not well-suited to cleaning large objects such as pillows or sleeping bags due to the tendency for them to just float on the surface of the water without circulating, and the aggressive agitator action can damage delicate fabrics.

In most top loading washers, if the motor spins in one direction, the gearbox drives the agitator; if the motor spins the other way, the gearbox locks the agitator and spins the basket and agitator together. Similarly if the pump motor rotates one way it recirculates the sudsy water; in the other direction it pumps water from the machine during the spin cycle.

Because they usually incorporate a gearbox, clutch, crank, etc, top loading washers are mechanically more complex than front loading machines but are generally lower maintenance since there is no need for a door seal.

The front loading design or H-axis clothes washer, most popular in Europe and the Middle East, mounts the inner basket and outer tub horizontally, and loading is through a door at the front of the machine. The door often but not always contains a window.

Agitation is supplied by the back-and-forth rotation of the cylinder and by gravity. The clothes are lifted up by paddles on the inside wall of the drum and then dropped. This motion flexes the weave of the fabric and forces water and detergent solution through the clothes load.

Because the wash action does not require the clothing be freely suspended in water, only enough water is needed to moisten the fabric. Because less water is required, front-loaders typically use less soap, and the aggressive dropping and folding action of the tumbling can easily produce large amounts of foam.

Front-loaders control water usage through the surface tension of water, and the capillary wicking action this creates in the fabric weave.

A front-Loader Washer always fills to the same low water level, but a large pile of dry clothing standing in water will soak up the moisture, causing the water level to drop. The washer then refills to maintain the original water level.

Because it takes time for this water absorption to occur with a motionless pile of fabric, nearly all front-loaders begin the washing process by slowly tumbling the clothing under the stream of water entering and filling the drum, to rapidly saturate the dry clothes with water.

Front loading washers are mechanically simple compared to top-loaders, with the main motor normally being connected to the drum via a grooved pulley belt and large pulley wheel, without the need for a gearbox, clutch or crank.

But front-load washers suffer from their own technical problems, due to the drum lying sideways. For example, a top Loading Washer keeps water inside the tub merely through the force of gravity pulling down on the water, while a front-loader must tightly seal the door shut with a gasket to prevent dripping water onto the floor during the wash cycle.

This access door is locked shut during the entire wash cycle, since opening the door with the machine in use could result in water gushing out onto the floor.