Washing Machines : A Necessity for Every Home : How to Select Right Model

This is the age of nuclear family and women empowerment. A house without a Washing Machine misses one count to be a ‘Home’. The Washing Machines have advanced a lot and deliver satisfactory results. Washing in these machines takes place as per one of the three principles of washing technology to provide turbulence to the clothes in order to separate dirt from the fabric using centrifugal force. These are :

A. Pulsator Wash
B. Agitator Wash
C. Tumble Wash

All these types are available in Indian Market. Different manufacturers endorse any or all of these depending upon the technology available with them and as per their marketing communication and sales strategy.

There are four options available in the market :

1. Washers : These are single drum machines which only wash the clothes with the detergent and remove dirt. Everything else has to be done manually. Its availability is low. Available Capacity : 3.0 Kg. Price Range : Rs. 2000/-

2. Semi Automatic Washing Machines : These are twin chamber machines which offer total solution from wash to rinse and then drying. As the name suggests being semi automatic, these require manual intervention in shifting the clothes from one chamber to other and changing the flow of water etc. You may select your wash cycle depending upon the clothes you are washing viz gentle, normal, heavy or denim. These may be used effectively even if there is irregular water supply. Pulsator and Agitator models are available in this category. Available Capacity : 3.5 Kg to 9.0 Kg. Price Range : Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 9000/-

3. Fully Automatic Machines : These are total rejoice. The principle is ‘fill it, close it, forget it’. You have to put your clothes and detergent into it only to get dried clothes approximately in an hour’s time. That’s the convenience. These machines also come with memory back up to handle irregular power supply as these may start again from the point where power tripped. You may effectively control these machines using the programmable options to suit your requirement in terms of wash cycle, rinse cycle, timing, load, water level etc. Normally, top load Pulsator and Agitator models are available in this category. Available Capacity : 5.0 Kg to 8.0 Kg. Price Range : Rs. 8000/- to Rs. 15000/-

4. Front Loading Washing Machines : These are also fully automatic machines with two differences. One, that the clothes are loaded from the front and not from the top. Two, these work on tumble wash principle. These are supposed to be the premium machines and some customers claim to have experienced best wash quality in these machines because of its technology being near to the hand wash technique. Available Capacity : 5.5 Kg to 6.5 Kg. Price Range : Rs. 18000/- to Rs. 26000/-

Some models from GE and Siemens etc. are also available in Top Load Tumble Wash in capacities around 6 Kgs and price around Rs. 20000/-

For a family of 2+2 a washing machine with 5.0 to 6.0 kg capacity is sufficient to take care of that occasional weekly/fortnightly/monthly load of towels, sheets and curtains etc. besides the regular washing. Choose the models depending upon your budget and requirement. With these machines at home you will never go by your watch for washing and will never feel tired.

The leading brands widely available in India are Whirlpool, LG, Samsung, Godrej, Videocon, IFB.

Washing Machine in all sense is a companion.