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Technology in Spain

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Clarissa

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I discovered two new (to me) pieces of technology in Spain. One I hate and the other has potential to be good but I haven’t tried it yet.

The one I don’t like is the digital lock that connects with an app and can’t be opened without it. The lock pairs with my phone while I’m still in the elevator and starts making happy, chirpy noises as I approach. I feel pressured to come in when it does that. Why can’t a person come in when she feels like it and not when an overeager lock tells her to?

The lock can’t be opened without the bloody app. I’m developing a neurosis where I’m scared my battery will die and I will be locked out of my apartment in the middle of Tetuán (a residential neighborhood in Madrid). I’m also developing another neurosis where I keep checking that the app didn’t accidentally unlock the door while I’m inside. The app not only unlocks but actually opens the door. As you can imagine, the situation is ripe with generating fresh, juicy neuroses.

The technology I still need to try is a washer that is simultaneously a dryer. I’ve heard from Ukrainians that it exists but never seen it before. Has anybody on here tried it? Are they any good? I’d love to be able to do my own laundry, especially because of all these new neuroses I’m picking up.

15 responses to “Technology in Spain”

  1. Stille Avatar
    Stille

    Hmm so most of the washing machines I’ve seen also have a dry cycle, which gets clothes from dripping wet to moist, and then they dry off in 1-2h after being taken out and don’t drip all the way to the balcony. Or are you thinking of something else?

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  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    “washer that is simultaneously a dryer”

    I think home laundry technology is so different in the US and Europe that nothing readers in Europe can tell you (apart from the differences) will be useful in the US.

    European washing machines tend to take much longer to wash clothes (around two hours for warmer loads) but then they have extraction cycles at the end that leave the clothes merely damp not dripping (the usual case in the US). When my brother and fiancee visited a few years ago she was amazed at how dry the laundry was after the normal cycle.

    I had a European washer/dryer but I ended up using the dryer so rarely (a few times for jeans) and it didn’t really leave them that much dryer than the regular extraction cycle.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I feel like a person attempting to practice a foreign religion as I approach this new washer.

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    2. Peter Avatar
      Peter

      I had a European washer/dryer but I ended up using the dryer so rarely (a few times for jeans) and it didn’t really leave them that much dryer than the regular extraction cycle.

      Thanks for your comment, I’ve done a detailed reply below for Clarissa, but the above quote surprised me.

      I’m in the UK and jeans coming out of the normal wash cycle would take about 3 days to dry inside my house at a normal unheated temperature of 17C. When I used the dryer they could be worn immediately without dampness.

      I agree that my main reason for owning a washer/dryer is to bond the Nikwax water-proofing on my outdoor coat and trousers.

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      1. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        “jeans coming out of the normal wash cycle would take about 3 days to dry inside my house “

        I don’t have a dryer now but it only takes less than a day (overnight if turn them inside out) after the 1200 rmp final spin cycle.

        But Poland is generally a lot less damp than the UK I’m told.

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  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    My sister has a combined washer/dryer, she likes it. It is quite slow however, taking many hours to wash and dry one load.

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  4. donbenham Avatar
    donbenham

    The Washer Dryer one-machine-combo is nothing new. My parents had one in the late 50s early 60s, made by Westinghouse.

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  5. Peter Avatar
    Peter

    Interesting comment from Cliff, which explains a lot!

    I’m in the UK and have a combined washer-dryer. It is front-loading and takes a few kg – say a pair of jeans, trousers, 5 shirts, 5 t-shirts, a large hoody and associated (male) socks and underwear.

    Front-loading is important because in the UK top-loading machines are associated with 1960s technology twin-tubs where there was a washer in one side and a spinner in the other. I’m not that old, but I believe from talking with my mum that it wasn’t plumbed, so it had to be filled from a bucket of cold water and emptied in the back yard. In case you are worried, it was electric in the 1960s!

    My current machine does the wash and the spin in one cycle, normally about 75 minutes at 30 Celsius for the wash-load mentioned above (I could do warmer but because I’m a keen runner I usually have sports kit that is better done cooler with an anti-bac detergent as well as the normal washing powder).

    There is an option to go into a drying cycle immediately, or to take out certain kit (and the plastic container for the anti-bac) then manually start drying. That can be time-based or via sensor.

    I normally use the washing line and/or the airer for cost, environmental and personal preference, but if I use the dryer it takes about 2 hours and deals with a full wash-load. If I dry outside on the line then it is almost always completely dry that day, unless I put it out after lunch or it rains (what rain! In the UK! Never! (I try and plan and am in the East, so rarely have this issue))

    I’d be intrigued by a USian response about how your wash-load sizes, drying times and a comparison between line-drying, using an indoor airer (and do you know the names clothes-horse and/or maiden as synonyms?) and your electric dryer.

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      “Front-loading is important because in the UK top-loading machines “

      I read once that all European (may excluding the UK because… y’know….) machines are front-loading, even top-loading ones. That is they use a horizontal axis which is more efficient than top loading vertical axis.

      I have a machine with a small footprint (for space reasons) and it loads from the top but the drup spins on the hotizontal axis.

      This isn’t mine but it’s the same type of set up, you put the clothes in then latch the drum closed and start.

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      1. Peter Avatar
        Peter

        Thanks Cliff. I’ve not seen that design, but as I say, in the UK most designs load directly from the front.

        Thinking further about this it maybe because most people have washing machines either in their kitchen or a utility room, with a work surface above.

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        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          “have washing machines either in their kitchen or a utility room”

          I’ve had one in the kitchen too, but with the space I have this design makes more sense. It’s not rare in the region.

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          1. Clarissa Avatar
            Clarissa

            When we were buying our house, I thought that the laundry room was an additional guest room.

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    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      @Peter what is an airer?

      Thanks,

      Amanda in the US

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      1. Peter Avatar
        Peter

        Sorry Amanda, in my first draft I thought about comparing the nomenclature of an airer / clothes horse / maiden / dolly etc, then went with what I thought was the most well-known.

        https://www.dunelm.com/search?q=airer

        It is a piece of furniture to dry clothes indoors. Most nowadays are free-standing and some are eletrically heated. My great-aunt had one that hung above the sofa in the living room.

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    3. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Thank you for the detailed response, Peter! I have a separate washer / dryer at home, and the dryer itself also takes at least two hours to get anything dry. That’s in addition to whatever the wash cycle lasts. I usually do delicate at 45 minutes.

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