Bring home a professional washer

When it comes to airing our dirty laundry, we wonder why the laundry services we pay for always do a better job than we can at home. With the help of "professional" washing machines, laundry services simply do a cleaner job. Professional laundry services count on front-loading

washers to impress the customers, while most Taiwanese households still stick with the conventional top-loading washers to get the dirty job done.

In the past, front-loading washers in Taiwan were so prohibitively expensive that only professional cleaners or laundromats could afford them. In recent years, to satisfy Asian customers, washing-machine manufacturers have been doing their best to develop inexpensive front-loaders that can still get clothes cleaner, save more water and electricity and use less detergent than top-loaders.

Moreover, the trendy aspect of nano-technology used in the latest washers is sure to please tech-savvy users.

More importantly, the overall price of a front-loader has now plunged to somewhere between NT$25,000 and NT$30,000, depending on loading capacity.

Huang Shih-liang (黃世良), the senior product advisor at E-Life (全國電子), listed the top 10 commonly asked questions about front-loaders and shared his expertise with us.

Taipei times: What is the front-loading washing machine?

Huang Shih-liang: This type of efficient washing machine has a door in the front instead of an opening on top of the machine. Clothes are placed in a horizontally-oriented stainless-steel drum instead of a conventional tub with central agitator.

TT: In terms of the operation, what is the difference between the the top-loading washer and the front-loading washer?

HSL: The top-loading washer is built on a vertical axis and uses more water to fully immerse clothes in the tub and scrub them clean with agitation. The front-loading washing machine, however, is built on a horizontal-axis and does not have an agitator that is used in a top-loading vertical-axis washing machine. With a more advanced structure, the front-loader generally uses less water, electricity and detergent.

TT: Why does the front-loading washing machine use less water and save more money?

HSL: A front-loader with the loading capacity of up to 10kg will consume 70 liters to100l of water in one load of laundry. Meanwhile, a top-loader with the same capacity will take 180l to 240l liters of water. Clearly a front-loader reduces water consumption by at least half and the amount of detergent used is also reduced in the process.

TT: If equipped with the same loading capacity, why does the tumble of the front-loader look smaller than that of the top-loader?

HSL: In a front-loader, the clothes are lifted and dropped into a more concentrated solution of water and detergent. The reversing tumble action kneads the water and detergent deeply into the fabric fibers. Since the washer never fills above the bottom of the washer door, much less water is used and less space is needed.

TT: Some front-loaders use warm water and nano-technology to do the laundry. Why do they do this?

HSL: Some front-loaders can automatically heat water up to 40?C to 60?C, which further reduces detergent use and helps tackle smelly clothing. Some manufacturers have even incorporated what they call "silver nano-technology" to enhance the anti-bacteria function. This is even more effective than the use of warm water for washing.