Wash and Dry

When we remodeled and moved into our last home we created a closet sized laundry room and purchased a new midline washer and dryer from Sears.  Goodness knows they weren’t fancy appliances but they did wash and dry clothes, which, let’s face it, was their only responsibility.  

There were a few dials on the top of the washer for selecting start or stop, high, medium or low water, and a water temperature control.  The dryer had low, medium and hot drying and a wrinkle free repeat tumble button.  The nifty buzzer went  off when the clothes dried appropriately to the dial setting. 

Washing clothes wasn’t complicated and Mr. Sears once again delivered an appliance that worked well, in fact when we moved after 27 years the washer and dryer were still going strong. 

Now we live in a newer home with a real laundry room.  I have to admit I was excited to see the spacious room with a counter to fold clothes and even enough floor space to set up an ironing board.  The gleaming space age washer and matching dryer looked perfect.  The Whirlpool logo was front and center signifying top of the line machines.  

In the two years we’ve been in this home I have failed to comprehend all the working of these monsters.  First off, on the washer there is a fancy dial to select from seven different wash cycles, there are also several lights that imply you have a choice of water temperatures.  But don’t be misled, once you have selected ‘light wash’ on the fancy dial you will get water level and temp that the machine has predetermined is correct.  Don’t try to express your opinion. I have finally determined the flashing lights are merely a decorative distraction.

When you push the Start button there is a  loud click and the machine is now locked. I fail to understand why a washing machine needs a locking mechanism but as soon as you push the start it is firmly locked.  Even if you find that errant sock in the hallway you have to hit the power off button to stop the machine, wait for the lid to unlock, toss the sock in and start the whole process over.  Apparently this is why Monty complains about only having one of a pair of socks.  The second sock will just have to wait  until next Tuesday to reappear.   

I don’t know about you but I’d like to check and see how the washing action is going, I want to know if the water level is correct, the temperature of the water is good  and I like to see the tiny bubbles dancing on top of the wet clothes.  I guess Mr. Whirlpool doesn’t think I’m capable of making a selection on my own so once he has selected how I’m going to wash clothes I can just leave the room,  no looking back.  

Don’t even get me started on the spin cycle.  I’m sure this washer has a spin cycle but it must be fickle.  Sometimes the clothes are reasonably dry and ready for the dryer to finish the job, other times the clothes are soaking wet and have failed to spin at all.  I can’t open the damn lid so I have no way of knowing what the hell is going on in there.    

In my ignorance I thought the fancy lighted countdown timing feature was a blessing.  After all, anytime you pass either the washer or dryer the minute countdown tells you just how long you have to grab the hangers and return to pull freshly laundered clothes out of the dryer and whisk them to the closet wrinkle free.   It’s just a guess on my part, but I think that is the way it is intended to work , however the clock seems to work in another time zone, I swear I have checked and have 35 minutes until the clothes are dry only to return in 20 minutes to find the machine has stopped and the still damp, very wrinkled clothes are in a pile in the dryer.  Since the clothes are still damp and warm I have two choices: try tossing them in the washer for another rinse and spin cycle and start over with the dryer or just hang the clothes until they are dry enough to iron.   I’ve been choosing to just iron the stuff.  After all I  have plenty of room in this laundry room for the ironing board set up.

Towels, socks and underwear are another story.  I select the hot and heavy drying cycle and the handy timer tells me this will take 40 minutes. But after 40 minutes the dryer stops and towels along with the tops of the socks are still damp. In frustration I hit the regular drying cycle and they all go through an additional 30 minute drying cycle.  Sometimes I just hang the damp towels back in the bathroom rack and drape the socks across the back of the dryer to collect later.   

I don’t know when these appliances were purchased. There was no receipt or instruction books in the packet that came with the house. I figure this is a ten year house for us, so with that in mind I can either suffer the frustrations of these two appliances for another eight years or throw in the wet towel and purchase another washer and dryer.  

The new washer and dryer arrived last week. No LED lights, fancy bells or whistles but old fashion knob selectors.  In fact, this matched set looks a lot like our old ones. May they wash and dry for many years.