Laboratory testing of clothes washers. Final report
- Little (Arthur D.), Inc., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Horizontal axis (H-axis) clothes washers use less water and energy than conventional top-loading vertical axis (V-axis) clothes washers, yet sales in the US are insignificant. In the High Efficiency Laundry Metering and Market Analysis (THELMA) project, EPRI and a group of utilities have pooled their resources to develop the basis for successful DSM programs to accelerate the acceptance of this technology in the US market. This report covers the laboratory test phase of the THELMA project. The objective of this effort was to measure the performance of a representative sample of currently manufactured H-axis washers and to compare this performance to that of a typical V-axis washer. Several aspects of performance were measured, with the emphasis on measures of energy consumption and water consumption: DOE washer capacity; Hot and cold water consumption; Energy consumption by the washer mechanical drive; DOE energy factor; Water extraction effectiveness; Effect of water extraction effectiveness on dryer energy; Soil removal effectiveness; Rinsing effectiveness and Gentleness of action. Six H-axis washers, provided by US or European manufacturers, were tested. Test results varied over a range for these six machines, but on average, the H-axis washers used 40% less energy (normalized to basket volume) and 25% less water (normalized to basket volume) when measured according to the DOE test procedure.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst. (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Little (Arthur D.), Inc., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 198685
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR-105098
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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