6 ms·

Washing machines use cold water and heat it up themselves, so I don't see the connection?

ChuckMcM 8y ago
Clearly not all of them do :-) But curious as to the relative ratio I discover that best buy has a separate listing for machines that include an internal water heater. According to their web site, of the models that Best buy sells the population is about 40% (54 models with internal water heaters over a population of 138 models)
refurb 8y ago
Only very specific models of washers in the US actually heat up the water. Most just use water from the water heater.
- distances 8y ago
  Good to know! I'm pretty sure I've only encountered self-heating cold-water-in machines here in Europe.
  - AdrianB1 8y ago
    Most machines in Europe are heating the cold water and are not able to use hot water directly.
    - xxpor 8y ago
      That must be why they're so incredibly slow.
      - distances 8y ago
        Not sure if you're joking, but no, that's not the reason. At some point I hooked up an electricity consumption meter, and it was a surprisingly short timespan that the machine used for heating. The draw was around 1-1.5 kW during the heating phase. Your machine has longer and shorter programs, my 60C wash takes about 3 hours by default while a quick was is obviously considerably faster.
        8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
        "Industrial" washing machines are typically faster (for reasons) than domestic ones, and the difference is pretty much that they simply use more water.
        xxpor 8y ago
        Nope, not joking. I just know that euro machines are way slower than what we have in NA.
        gambiting 8y ago
        I just find this broad statement incorrect - sure, my washing machine has a default cotton program that takes 3 hours, but it has a variety of other settings which are much quicker and just as good - I always use "mixed colours" setting which takes 1:20h, or if I'm in a hurry there's a "quick" setting which takes 60 minutes - surely that's not long by any standard?
        xxpor 8y ago
        60 minutes is reasonable. IIRC my mixed colors setting (what I use except for bedding or towels) takes 45 min. I don't have an eco mode. Since we don't have a water heater in the washing machine itself, the only thing that would really save any electricity would be to turn off the spin cycle, but I like dry clothes so that's not gonna happen ;)
        krageon 8y ago
        My "fast" cycle takes 40 minutes. How is that slow? Sure, if you set it to ultra power saving mode (in my case this is the default) it'll take hours, but that is just the environmentally conscious thing to do. Not to mention it's better for your wallet.
abfan1127 8y ago
my washing machine has 2 hookups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCy-N_qAZ8I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCy-N_qAZ8I
ars 8y ago
They do? Where do you live? I've never seen such a machine in the US. At most they give a bit of a boost to already hot water.
LargeWu 8y ago
Dishwashers typically do this, but generally not clothes washing machines.
- cimmanom 8y ago
  Do they? My dishwasher pulls from both the hot and cold water lines. This is evidenced by the fact that although usually one has to run either tap for 2-3 min to get non-tepid water, when the dishwasher is running both taps dispense water of extreme temperature instantly.
  - refurb 8y ago
    Most dishwashers have a heating element in the bottom that is used to both dry the dishes but also heat the water/keep it hot during the wash cycle. If you pull hot water from the heater and circulate it around for 30 min, it's not going to be that hot at the end of the cycle.
    - cimmanom 8y ago
      I guess it depends on whether you're more concerned about water efficiency or energy efficiency. If you're OK with not reusing the water, the building's water heater (especially in a multi-unit dwelling) is going to be larger and thus more energy efficient (also possibly slower, providing large quantities by dint of its tank) than the smaller heating element in a dishwasher. And you can just trickle a little bit in throughout the cycle to keep it hot.
      - refurb 8y ago
        Definitely. Heating water with an electric element isn't all that efficient at all compared to say a gas water heater.
        gambiting 8y ago
        I think you got the terms mixed up here - electric heating is far more efficient(for every 1kWh of energy used, almost all of it goes into heating water) than using gas, but electricity is also more expensive so even taking account lower efficiency of gas heating it's usually cheaper anyway.
rsynnott 8y ago
While vaguely modern European ones generally do, American ones often don’t. I suspect this is down to the 120V power; with normal wiring you can only get about 2kW if not less, vs about 3 on a European system.
- sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
  Don't most washing machines plug into a 240V circuit?
  - ars 8y ago
    No. Electric dryers do, but not washers. But that said, it would not be hard to run 240V to washer, so that can't be the reason. Do Europeans typically heat water with electricity? That might be the reason - if you are anyway using electricity, you might as well let the washer do it. In the US natural gas water heaters are very common (it's more efficient). And natural gas dryers too.
    - krageon 8y ago
      No, it is typically done with natural gas still (at least, that is the kind I see almost everywhere). A lot of new housing developments use electricity though (occasionally combined with solar heating tanks).
    - rsynnott 8y ago
      No, most water heating in most places in Europe is gas. Modern front-loading washing machines, especially those managing an A or better on the EC's energy rating system, tend to use very little water, though. Depending on the plumbing system, by the time the potential cold water in the hot water pipes had run through, you might not get very much hot water at all before you were done, so you'd have to heat electrically anyway.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

Clearly not all of them do :-) But curious as to the relative ratio I discover that best buy has a separate listing for machines that include an internal water heater. According to their web site, of the models that Best buy sells the population is about 40% (54 models with internal water heaters over a population of 138 models)

refurb 8y ago

Only very specific models of washers in the US actually heat up the water. Most just use water from the water heater.

distances 8y ago
Good to know! I'm pretty sure I've only encountered self-heating cold-water-in machines here in Europe.
- AdrianB1 8y ago
  Most machines in Europe are heating the cold water and are not able to use hot water directly.
  - xxpor 8y ago
    That must be why they're so incredibly slow.
    - distances 8y ago
      Not sure if you're joking, but no, that's not the reason. At some point I hooked up an electricity consumption meter, and it was a surprisingly short timespan that the machine used for heating. The draw was around 1-1.5 kW during the heating phase. Your machine has longer and shorter programs, my 60C wash takes about 3 hours by default while a quick was is obviously considerably faster.
      - 8xde0wcNwpslOw 8y ago
        "Industrial" washing machines are typically faster (for reasons) than domestic ones, and the difference is pretty much that they simply use more water.
      - xxpor 8y ago
        Nope, not joking. I just know that euro machines are way slower than what we have in NA.
        gambiting 8y ago
        I just find this broad statement incorrect - sure, my washing machine has a default cotton program that takes 3 hours, but it has a variety of other settings which are much quicker and just as good - I always use "mixed colours" setting which takes 1:20h, or if I'm in a hurry there's a "quick" setting which takes 60 minutes - surely that's not long by any standard?
        xxpor 8y ago
        60 minutes is reasonable. IIRC my mixed colors setting (what I use except for bedding or towels) takes 45 min. I don't have an eco mode. Since we don't have a water heater in the washing machine itself, the only thing that would really save any electricity would be to turn off the spin cycle, but I like dry clothes so that's not gonna happen ;)
        krageon 8y ago
        My "fast" cycle takes 40 minutes. How is that slow? Sure, if you set it to ultra power saving mode (in my case this is the default) it'll take hours, but that is just the environmentally conscious thing to do. Not to mention it's better for your wallet.

abfan1127 8y ago

my washing machine has 2 hookups. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCy-N_qAZ8I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCy-N_qAZ8I

ars 8y ago

They do? Where do you live? I've never seen such a machine in the US. At most they give a bit of a boost to already hot water.

LargeWu 8y ago

Dishwashers typically do this, but generally not clothes washing machines.

cimmanom 8y ago
Do they? My dishwasher pulls from both the hot and cold water lines. This is evidenced by the fact that although usually one has to run either tap for 2-3 min to get non-tepid water, when the dishwasher is running both taps dispense water of extreme temperature instantly.
- refurb 8y ago
  Most dishwashers have a heating element in the bottom that is used to both dry the dishes but also heat the water/keep it hot during the wash cycle. If you pull hot water from the heater and circulate it around for 30 min, it's not going to be that hot at the end of the cycle.
  - cimmanom 8y ago
    I guess it depends on whether you're more concerned about water efficiency or energy efficiency. If you're OK with not reusing the water, the building's water heater (especially in a multi-unit dwelling) is going to be larger and thus more energy efficient (also possibly slower, providing large quantities by dint of its tank) than the smaller heating element in a dishwasher. And you can just trickle a little bit in throughout the cycle to keep it hot.
    - refurb 8y ago
      Definitely. Heating water with an electric element isn't all that efficient at all compared to say a gas water heater.
      - gambiting 8y ago
        I think you got the terms mixed up here - electric heating is far more efficient(for every 1kWh of energy used, almost all of it goes into heating water) than using gas, but electricity is also more expensive so even taking account lower efficiency of gas heating it's usually cheaper anyway.

rsynnott 8y ago

While vaguely modern European ones generally do, American ones often don’t. I suspect this is down to the 120V power; with normal wiring you can only get about 2kW if not less, vs about 3 on a European system.

sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
Don't most washing machines plug into a 240V circuit?
- ars 8y ago
  No. Electric dryers do, but not washers. But that said, it would not be hard to run 240V to washer, so that can't be the reason. Do Europeans typically heat water with electricity? That might be the reason - if you are anyway using electricity, you might as well let the washer do it. In the US natural gas water heaters are very common (it's more efficient). And natural gas dryers too.
  - krageon 8y ago
    No, it is typically done with natural gas still (at least, that is the kind I see almost everywhere). A lot of new housing developments use electricity though (occasionally combined with solar heating tanks).
  - rsynnott 8y ago
    No, most water heating in most places in Europe is gas. Modern front-loading washing machines, especially those managing an A or better on the EC's energy rating system, tend to use very little water, though. Depending on the plumbing system, by the time the potential cold water in the hot water pipes had run through, you might not get very much hot water at all before you were done, so you'd have to heat electrically anyway.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]