Tips To Use Washing Machine In An Energy Friendly Manner

Home appliances use energy, while running. Its efficiency depends largely on the user’s way of using them. Inefficient use of appliance increases utility bills.

Doing your laundry needs lots of energy and it is responsible for minimum of 7% of utility bill. Buying an energy efficient 5-star washing machine is just not sufficient to cut down your electricity usage. Using it in the correct way will help in keeping the electricity bills low.

Tips for energy friendly washing

• Wash clothes on short cycle with low water levels.
• Use cold water, where possible. Warm temperatures are only needed for dirty clothes, underwear or bad stains.
• Soak heavily soiled clothes before washing and rub stains or collars with soap. Repeat wash because stains don’t get washed away easily and can get worse.
• Start washing after the tub is fully loaded to avoid water wastage.
• If you have to complete the wash in the shortest possible time, then ensure to fill machine with some lightweight clothes.
• Bath towels are heavyweight cotton and very large, so pick lightweight ones and save energy.
• If possible use high spin speed to almost dry the clothes and you don’t need tumble drying. Hang clothes for drying, if possible instead of using drier.
• If you often do low temperature wash, then include occasional hot washes. It helps to eliminate bacteria survival and odour build up within the machine.

Tips for energy friendly drying

Hanging clothes for drying is most efficient way. If you have to or wish to use drier, then below are energy friendly tips for drying.

• Dry same fabric together
• Clean filters every time, when drier is used, in order to ensure they are fluff-free. It even ensures that drier performs more efficiently.
• Avoid adding wet items in between drying cycle. It is better to hang them for drying.
• Make sure that tumble dry items get washed in a single load.
• Remove clothes as soon as they dry because advanced machines keep on rotating to avoid creasing. Thus, more energy is used.

Tips to buy energy friendly washing machine

Washing machine size

Bigger size machine consume more power while washing, so buy right size. An oversized washing machine for small family is a costly choice even in term of power consumption.

In the same way, an undersized machine for large family is insufficient to wash all the clothes in a single load. You will need to load the machine more than one time. It means the machine operates for long hours and consumes energy in every wash. Therefore select machine as per family and needs.

Types

Samsung washing machine with frontload is more efficient than top load. It uses less electricity and water in comparison to top load units.

Water consumption

Besides energy, if you are on water meter then this aspect will also affect your water bills. Use a tumble dryer for reducing water usage. Even washer-dryers consume extra water in the drying mode. Continuous cold water is used to condense warm vapours from drying clothes. Therefore pay specific attention to all the above tips, as it will make a significant difference over the life span of your washing machine.