Washing machines are incredibly comfortable and simple to use appliances, but sometimes it is necessary to adapt to the characteristics of the various models. If you have just bought your first washing machine or are looking to do your first laundry, don't worry: you will soon learn how to use this appliance, how to use the most suitable detergent and softener according to the garments and how to avoid colorful clothes stain the whites.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Separating the Laundry
Step 1. Read the labels for special washing instructions
Most clothes are machine washable, but you should always check the labels for special directions. Some clothes may shrink in hot or boiling water; some may be bleached and some may not. Some items, on the other hand, should not be washed in the washing machine, such as delicate and silk items. Always read labels carefully.
- Set aside any clothes labeled "hand wash" or "dry clean".
- On most shirts, the laundry instructions label is located on the left side inseam or in the collar area.
- As for the pants, the label is mostly on the back.
Step 2. Sort laundry by "color"
Colored clothes, especially new ones, lose some color during washing. The dye could seep into the fibers of other clothes and damage the entire load. When you divide the linen by "color", you usually have to differentiate it by shade. The basic criterion is to separate the whites from the dark ones, but you can also do a division by color.
- The dark ones are the garments in black, gray, dark blue, deep red and dark purple.
- The clear ones these include pastel shades, white, pink, yellow, blue, lavender or light green dresses.
- Jeans or dark denim they tend to discolour a lot and should always be washed separately.
Step 3. Divide by weight of the fabric
You can protect your garments from wear and tear in the washing machine by dividing them also by thickness or weight of the fabric. Most washing machines rotate and shake clothes in the drum, and thick, coarse clothes could ruin light and delicate ones. For this reason, if you have to wash delicate or light laundry, you should also set a different washing program and temperature than you would use for heavy fabrics.
- Delicate items such as underwear, tights and washable silk items should always be washed separately.
- Heavy cotton trousers, towels, sweaters and jackets fall into the category of heavy fabrics.
- If you decide to divide your laundry by fabric weight only, you can save a lot of energy and money, as you won't have to load many loads based on colors.
Step 4. Place delicate clothes in specific net bags
Instead of washing them separately, you can put them in special mesh bags to protect them from friction. These bags are available in various formats and sizes and are used to shelter only one or a few items of linen. At this point you can proceed with a normal washing.
Keep in mind that mesh bags don't protect your laundry from color fading, so remember to sort your laundry by color anyway. In most cases, delicate items do not fade and you can wash them without fear with light-colored laundry
Step 5. Divide the stained clothes
Some stains need to be specially treated before washing in the washing machine. The typical dirt that must be pre-treated is that of grease and oil.
Avoid washing stained clothes and putting them in the dryer. With the heat some stains fix on the fabrics making them impossible to remove
Part 2 of 2: Setting Up the Washing Machine
Step 1. Choose the correct washing program
The two most important factors you need to consider are the speed at which the items are shaken and rotated in the drum during the wash and the spin speed. You have to adapt the program according to the type of laundry you are about to wash, to have clean clothes without damaging them.
- Normal cycle: this provides a high rotation speed of the drum, both for washing and for spinning. It allows you to wash heavily soiled and sweaty laundry and is probably the program you will use the most. You can use this setting for hard-wearing fabrics like cotton, linen and denim, for items like towels and sheets.
- Synthetics: depending on the washing machine model, this program could have different names but, in principle, it associates a high spin speed during washing with a low spin speed. All this makes it possible to prevent the garments from wrinkling excessively. Use it for fabrics like rayon, polyester, acetate and for knitted garments. Synthetic fibers have a tendency to form "balls" on their surface and the slow spin cycle combats this phenomenon.
- Delicate cycle: in this case both washing and spinning are rather slow, reducing the rotations to which the garments are subjected to minimize friction. Remember that the degree of cleanliness decreases as the drum rotation speed decreases. You should schedule this cycle for special items such as underwear, those with sequins, fabrics that are not tightly woven, lace or sheer items such as tights.
- Special cycles: the new washing machine models have special cycles for washing laundry in a particular way, for example when you have to sanitize clothes or expose them to steam, but there are also programs that promise to remove stains and keep the white bright. Refer to the user manual of your washing machine for this kind of program.
Step 2. Set the water temperature
In theory, the hotter the water, the cleaner the laundry will be. High temperatures kill bacteria and sanitize clothes, dissolve detergents better and remove encrusted dirt, making laundry cleaner and shinier. However, in some cases boiling water shrinks clothes, fades colors, fixes some stains and takes a lot of energy, causing your electricity bill to rise. For all these reasons you should set the maximum temperature that the fabric can tolerate for best results.
- If you set a delicate schedule, use cold water and do the same for garments that may release color or are not very dirty.
- USA lukewarm water for the washing cycle of synthetics, with dark colors and medium soiled laundry.
- Very hot water should be reserved for dishcloths and towels, sturdy fabrics and heavily soiled laundry.
- Cold water allows for low electricity consumption, since 90% of the electricity absorbed during a hot water wash is used only to raise the temperature. It also has a gentle action on clothes.
- In most appliances, the temperature is already predetermined by the chosen washing cycle. For example, for a normal program, almost all washing machines have a water temperature of 30 or 40 ° C.
Step 3. Add detergent and other washing additives such as fabric softener
For this operation it is very important to read the instructions of your specific appliance model to understand which type of soap is most suitable and where it should be stored. In most cases, you can use a liquid or powder detergent, as well as other products such as bleach.
- Front-loading models typically have a drawer dispenser with several compartments into which you can pour the bleach and fabric softener. The machine will pour the soap into the drum at the right time.
- Top-loading washing machines may have a dispenser or you will need to add soap to the drum yourself before starting the wash. It is always better to pour the detergent before putting on the clothes: this way you avoid the very concentrated soap from staining the fabrics. In some cases it is better to wait until the drum has filled with water and the soap dissolved before adding the laundry.
- The amount of soap needed varies according to the type of detergent itself and the model of washing machine, so check the product packaging and the manual of the appliance.
Step 4. Load the washing machine with the laundry
It is not very difficult: open the door and put the clothes in the basket without filling it too much. Linen needs space to move and wash. Some washing machine models allow you to indicate the size of the load (small, medium or large), in order to adjust the amount of water during the wash cycle accordingly.
- Small loads take up one third of the basket.
- Medium loads take up half of the basket.
- Large loads take up three quarters of the basket.
Step 5. Turn on the washing machine
Now all you have to do is press the power button and you are ready for the laundry. Remember to close the door!
Advice
- You can add fabric softener during the rinse cycle.
- Some models foresee the need to set the duration of the program. Most washing machines automatically calculate the duration of the wash, but in some cases you will have to do it yourself. Depending on the condition of the laundry, set the wash cycle to last an hour or an hour and a half.
