Laundry woes

Here is a picture of the washing maching (if that's what you want to call it) that Todd bought before we arrived. Now to his credit, he put a lot of effort into picking out this particular washing machine. He researched and found out that many washing machines here have a built in heater. He thought this feature would be needed for our house because the water going into the washer would be coming from only one faucet and the temperature couldn't be adjusted on this faucet. The electronic/appliance stores are filled with these types of machines so he thought they must be popular. I've seen this for myself as we looked for a new washer and dryer. Aisles are filled with varying sizes and varieties of this style of washine machine. This could be for a couple of reasons. One, these types of machines are very popular here in Kuwait. Or there's my theory. The stores are filled with these machines because they don't sell.

Turns out this particular machine doesn't have the built in heater as thought. Todd said his first clue that that might be true is when he saw them unloading it from the truck. He said a small-framed, fragile Indian man hoisted it onto his back by himself and carried it to our laundry room.

One of the appealing things that caught Todd's eye with this one is that it has a HUGE washing drum. He knew I'd be so appreciative that I could wash a lot of clothes at once. This is true. I do like that. If you'll look at the picture, you'll see a line dividing the lid about 2/3 of the way across the top. Under the left lid is the washing drum. It is big. Under the right lid is the spinning drum. Yes, a separate drum to spin the water out of the clothes. This drum isn't near as big. I think--again just my theory--that Kuwaities love to hang their clothes outside to dry so spinning the water out isn't an issue with them. You can drive anywhere in the city and see lines of laundry. In our house is a door that leads to the roof and on our roof are some lines already set up to hang laundry. Hanging laundry is the thing to do here. Why else would they have these kinds of washing machines?

You should know that our laundry room is a separate room of the house. I go out a kitchen door to the outside and the laundry room door is a few steps away from the kitchen door. I tell you this only so you can feel even more sorry for me. There was a reason I wasn't born a hundred years ago. I am too spoiled.

So here are the steps to washing a load of laundry in this machine. Keep in mind, it is meant to wash large loads.

First you manually turn on the faucet and fill the washing drum with water. Remember, only one temperature for all the laundry. Then you manually turn off the water when it is filled as full as you want it. To save time, you can put the detergent and clothes in while the drum is filling. Then you turn a knob to set the length of time you want your clothes to wash. After that time you have to go back to the machine and push a lever so the water can drain out. Then you flip the lever back (so the drain is plugged up again) for the rinsing cycle. Again, you manually fill up the drum with fresh water. You can't leave during the filling up process because you have to be there to turn off the water. Again, you turn a knob so the clothes can swish around in the fresh water to rinse out. After they've swished for a while, you go back to the machine to push the lever so that water can drain out. You're supposed to keep doing this process until the water runs clear. This is only the washing of the clothes.

After your clothes are washed you take a few of them and move them to the drum on the right side to spin out the excess water. You have to turn a knob to set the length of time you want your laundry to spin (up to 5 minutes). It usually takes at least 3 times in this drum to get enough water out of the laundry that it isn't dripping anymore. There isn't room for your entire load so again, you will have to repeat this process several times to complete the spin cycle.

After the numerous trips to and from the laundry room, the laundry is finally ready to be hung on the line.

Needless to say, I lasted less than a week with that washer. We chalked it up to a learning experience and now I have a "real" washer and dryer. Unfortunately a general policy here in Kuwait is that nothing can be returned. It has been a somewhat expensive lesson learned. The troubles didn't end though when I got the new machines. We had to rework some plumbing so that both hot and cold water go into the new washer and rework some electicity since the outlet for the dryer was only equipped for 15 amps whereas the dryer itself was 30 amps.

We're set now. The kids have clean clothes now they can wear to school.