My long haired kitty loves to sleep on our couch blankets & I've always washed them weekly. When I wash the blankets, the cat hair seems to disperse and flatten into the fabric here instead of being removed. Is there something I can do to change this? A different setting, (everything is in German on the machine) something I can buy at a Home Depot type store to throw in? Anything? I know many Swiss people have pets and have clean homes, so there must be something. Thanks!
This is an odd question, my building's washer and dryer doesn't seem to work as well as the set I've always had in the States. (And the set I had was rather old from my college days!)
a good brushing before you put them in the machine...
Washers here work rather better than worse than the american standards, they heat the water so you can wash at higher temperatures if needed, are more delicate and lift stains better. BUT they are smaller. That means that there is left space to "swish" around, and pet hair stays in the fabric.
That is my guess...
I agree that they are more gentle to clothes and I love that! Plus you don't really have to throw your clothes in the dryer.
But it would be impossible to brush every item I throw in the washer, since there's usually a bit of kitty hair on our clothes etc. as well. Oh well.
I think the washers here are just as good, if not better, but smaller and take more time. The water is generally a lot harder here so you have to work with that.
I think that the condensation type dryers might be a bit more tough on clothes... Stuff seems to get hotter in the dryer even at low temps. But the secomat fans are great.
Hi there,
I groom dogs once in a while and my clothes are than filled with dog hairs. My husband would sincerely disagree if I would put my clothes in with his since he will than to look like a dog groomer after his clothes come out of the washer ;-)
I sometimes put my clothes in the tumble dryer before washing them. You can't do this with delicate clothing but for me it helps to take some of the hairs out. I put it on a low dry and it takes away a lot of the hairs.
I hope this helps you, good luck anyways.
Cheers,
Kerstin
As dog fur has become my fashion accessory of choice, I'd give my left lung for an American style top loader. I've had four washing machines here in 12 years; none of them can hold a candle to my good ol' Maytag. The machines I've had here - Miele, Titan, 2 Bauknechts - just seem to be too delicate. And at these prices, replacing a machine every 3-4 years is painful.
What I end up doing is vacuuming the muttley crew's bedding before washing it, ditto with the worst of our things. And I check the washing machine filter every few loads, even if the little light isn't lit up. Sometimes I find that running the clothes through twice is needed.
As for the dryer: My Titan and Bauknecht machines did an decent job, but needed frequent repairs. Despite cleaning the filters every single load I still had to vacuum out the whole filter housing area as fur seemed to collect everywhere inside the machine. I now have a Bosch which is much more robust - very happy with it.
Now, if I could just find a dryer that automatically turns off completely - not just runs on fluff until you do the honors - I'd dance for joy. It's the little conveniences of home that one misses...
Question: Do any of you have a Bosch washer? Since I've been happy with their dryer I'm thinking of going with Bosch for my next washer - any feedback would be appreciated.
Oh duh. Totally missed the dog hair question. Yeah, I find I have to shake out the stuff a lot more here, and I use lint remover (a piece of tape) on a lot of my dark knits. On the other hand, I"ve learned not to give a crap.
A friend of my dad's reckons that Bosch is a great brand for washers / dryers, he sells and repairs household appliances and it was among the brands he recommended to us. Can't remember which ones he told us to avoid, sadly, I'd have to ask again.
Guess there's no easy solution...it's funny the small things you miss about home when you were SO ready to get away from the big things.
Well, I've always wanted to wear fur but felt too guility about it...I guess this is my chance! In a much less fashionable way.
I don't have pets but I have flokhati rugs which shed like crazy. I have found this new gizmo by Pledge called a Pet Hair Remover. I run it over my other area rugs after I vacuum them as well as my furniture and, voila, no more white fuzz embedded in everything.
I've noticed that certain stains are really hard (speak impossible) to get out. I'm not a chemist...but I suspect, that it might has something to do with the water (Swiss water tends to have a lot of lime (not the fruit)) or the detergents, which may be not as effective.