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As we were driving back from JB Hifi where I picked up seasons 3 and 4 of NYPD Blue, I saw a bunch of cows standing on the top of a hill, very near to a cliff and the ocean. I said to The Other Half –
“What happens if a cow falls off the cliff into the sea?”
“It makes a big splash.”
Well, I was more wondering if cows could swim, but technically I guess he’s right.. ;)
There’s this company which visits regional towns in Australia with a truck load of plants and sells them off over the course of a weekend. Usually Thursday to Sunday. They send out flyers before they turn up and by the time Sunday is done they usually have an empty truck. If you can wait till Sunday they often sell the plants a little cheaper. My Mother bought a lot of plants from them in Tamworth and not long after we moved here a familiar flyer arrived in the letterbox, so we went to get some plants. The majority of these plants are still alive and kicking almost two years later.
One of the plants we bought is known as a “Geisha Girl“. Little did I know when I bought it that it would become one of my favourite plants. The flowers are stunning. I can see it from my computer room window and on windy days like today I don’t get a lot done because it keeps distracting me. The flowers bob and sway in the breeze.
So I guess this is a roundabout way of saying I haven’t got a lot done today. ;) You know how people say they are away with the Fairies? I’m away with the Geishas.
Today we went for a lovely drive. We visited Surf Beach which is near Batemans Bay.
Then we stopped at Kioloa on the way home. I’d heard it was beautiful and it was stunning. Then again we’re a bit spoilt for stunning beaches around here.
On the way home we stopped on my favourite road at one of the most fun bits to take a photo. You can click on the picture for a larger image.
On Tuesday we fixed the balcony. We used the high pressure spray to clean it and then put our plants in groups to create little ecosystems – as suggested by River – also because there are drains in the balcony where the run off water goes so it was better to group them near the drains.
We installed the water feature as well. The palms around it got a little too much sun where they were, I’m hoping the new spot will be better for them. In front of the water feature you can see my herb garden in a much more convenient spot to pick the herbs. In the below picture you can see my office window – I can open the window and hear the water which is lovely.
I was reading on A Spot With Pots the other day about ladybirds. I’d noticed since we planted the herb and tomato plants we seemed to have a lot of ladybirds appear seemingly out of nowhere. I thought it was cute. Now I know they are eating my plants!
The Hibiscus have begun to flower again. These are some of my favourite plants. I’d like to have about 20 more of them because they are available in so many colours and variations.
The fuschia is so beautiful right now – this is another plant I would love to have more of.
The jasmine is flowering and it smells gorgeous!
So there you have a little garden update. I hope you enjoyed it!
This might be the most important blog post I will ever write here on the blog. I ask everyone to link to it, stumble it, digg it, do anything you can to get this post in front of people – the more people who read it, the more likely they will throw out their old – and NEW – top load washing machines which are wasting an incredible amount of water – and hopefully some of those people will begin to pester their political candidates about outlawing these machines entirely.
I’m sure people who own top load washing machines will be upset when they read this. Don’t blame yourself – you were not educated properly – you did not know most of what I am about to tell you. I’m sorry that you bought a top load machine. I’m sorry that it is *legal* for you to buy a top load machine. It should not be, and I’m about to tell you why.
I’ve mentioned before that I worked in sales for a long time. Over the years I would have sold over a hundred thousand washing machines at least. As the years went by the percentage of machines which were front load became higher and higher – yet there were still people who wanted to buy top load washing machines. A lot of salespeople would simply ask “what kind of machine do you want” and if top load was the answer they never mentioned anything about front loaders.
I never took the easy road on this topic because it did not sit well with my conscience – I always pointed out the following –
And yet after all that some people still wanted to purchase a brand new top load washing machine which would sit in their home wasting water for the next 2-20 years. Is it any wonder we have a water problem here in this country?
If you have a family member who is allergic to “detergent” and you’re washing with a top load? Chances are they’re not allergic to detergent at all. They’re probably allergic to the dust, dirt, pollen and various other particles which are trapped within the fibres of your clothes. They’re getting a rash because their clothes are not clean – even though they *look* clean to the human eye.
Your top load machine takes your clothes and “agitates” them around, trying to get the dirt out of the clothes. Once it has done this, it drains the water – complete with dirt and detergent – back through your clothes, essentially using your clothes as a filter. All the dirt and detergent ends up back in your clothes. It then fills up for another rinse – and then does the exact same thing. All that machine does is move dirt and detergent around, breaking the dirt up to make it smaller so you can’t see it. You are essentially wearing filth. How do you like them apples?
Some top load machines now offer an “eco” option. The eco option usually means that once the wash water is spun out, it keeps the bowl spinning holding the clothes against the side of the bowl while spraying water onto the clothes from the inside. The theory of this is the water then gets pushed through the clothes due to the spinning action and rinsing out the dirt and detergent.
Of course this theory may fail if you have items of clothing that don’t allow the water to flow through – clothes stuck behind those articles would not be rinsed at all. This option uses 1/3 of the water normally used to rinse the clothes. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this option is something you would want to use – it is not very realistic to expect consumers to use it if their clothes don’t come out clean.
Some of the excuses people give for not buying a front load are simply laughable. People say things like –
Actually, it is LESS bending if you purchase a stand for the machine to sit on. If you place the machine on a cupboard (usually around $199-350 from most electrical retailers) you can stand straight, put your clothes basket below the opening and simply pull the clothes out, letting them fall into the basket.
Alternatively, you can do what I did almost for free, put a fluffy rug on the floor and get down on your knees to pull the washing out. Your back will be perfectly straight. The only thing bending in both the examples I just gave will be your arm as you pull the clothes out.
To get things out of your top load you have to reach down into it, which is a different kind of bending all together. You then have to lift wet, heavy items up, out, and into the washing basket. Ask your chiropractor how good that is for your back!
Battered wives are used to abuse. Does that mean they should continue to take it? You have a responsibility as a resident of this country – and a resident of this earth – to do everything you can to reduce your water use. To waste water because you are “used” to a top load is a poor excuse, no?
Will you be used to water restrictions? Will you be used to not being able to water your lawn and having to rip it up and replace it with paving? Will you be used to dead plants on your patio? Will you be used to brown golf courses, football ovals and parklands because nobody can afford to water them? Will you be used to empty dams? Will you be used to paying higher prices for water – and everything that needs water like crops, meat, fish, wood and the list goes on – in years to come? All of those are direct results of your reluctance to change.
I’ve heard bad things about the drought. I’ve heard of the heartache it is causing farmers to have to go out and shoot their livestock. I’ve heard about crops lost due to not being able to water them. I’ve heard about increased salinity in our vital rivers. I’ve heard farmers want to increase the price of milk because it is more expensive to feed their livestock due to drought affected crops. I’ve seen the Murray River with my own eyes. I’ve seen dams at half their capacity.
Yes, when front loaders first arrived in this country over 20 years ago we got Europe’s off casts. They were not the best of machines – yet many of them still lasted 20 years or more. The machines today are a huge improvement. Don’t let an offhand comment at a dinner party years ago influence your decision *today*.
That’s why manufacturers invented instruction books. Did you know my other half can tell me exactly how many rinses there are in each cycle of our machine? He read the book. He always reads the book. Everything you may ever want to know about your machine is inside the book. If you can’t read, ask someone to read it to you.
Front load washing machines do not need much detergent. Of course precisely because nobody reads the book, people just throw exactly how much powder they are used to into the machine. Strangely, this causes a SHEDLOAD of suds to appear! It is easily fixed – use less detergent in a front load machine. I use about a teaspoon of detergent, that’s all that is needed. But detergent manufacturers will tell you otherwise.. hmm, could it be they want you to buy more detergent?
If you’ve bought yourself a Miele front loader, don’t bother with detergent at all. Where you would put detergent, you can squeeze in half a lemon, or use a teaspoon of vanilla essence just to give it a nice fragrance. Your Miele washes so well it doesn’t need any help.
No problem. Give the manufacturer of the machine you are thinking of buying a call and ask if you can drop by and do a load of washing at their office. Many manufacturers welcome people with open arms and have machines set up there specifically for this purpose – Miele is a good example. If you ask really nicely they might do a special trick for you – they will let you see what is being washed OUT of your clothes. I have seen it with my own eyes – filthy, soapy, terribly dirty water. That is what made me change to a front loader.
If the manufacturer is too far away, contact your local retailer and ask if any of the manufacturers are running a “Money Back Guarantee” where you can try it for a certain amount of days and return it if you don’t like it. I’m certain you will, but if it gives you peace of mind to know you can return it, I’m all for that.
Some people use the excuse that they can’t open the door once the machine starts washing to throw in a sock they missed as an excuse not to buy a front loader. I’m not joking. I wish I were. So in essence, their lack of organization is lowering the levels in our dams. I have two things to say about this –
1. Many machines now allow you to open the door once the wash has started.
2. Put the sock aside for the next load. If you can’t live without one sock you don’t have enough socks. Buy a few more pairs. Rivers have socks for about $2 a pair and they’re excellent socks, they last ages.
These days most front load machines have a quick wash option – mine does a 15 minute express 2kg wash, the Miele does a 40 minute full load wash. All top loaders are now taking longer to wash than they used to – some are up to 45-50 minutes – due to trying to lessen the amount of water used.
You can now get front loaders which will do anything from a 5kg load to a 10kg load.
These days most front loaders start around the $650 mark – a lot cheaper than ever before. There are top loaders which are more expensive than that.
The explanation is a little more complicated. I found a great site which explains it better than I can – How Do Front Loaders Wash – your clothes will be a lot cleaner and also not “agitated” which means they last longer. Front loaders can spin at higher speeds, meaning your drying time is lower. They also use a lot less electricity – even though they heat the water to the exact temperature they want to use. They are water efficient, energy efficient and tend to be more reliable – less breakdowns because of the way they work.
Front Loaders Use –
Can any of those excuses above truly justify wasting water, electricity and putting more detergent into our environment?
Let me blow your mind with some staggering figures. If you took a street of 50 houses with washing machines, what would the water usage be for top loaders VS front loaders? Let’s say our street all does one load of washing today.
Top load – average 160 litres water per 7.5kg wash. (the older machines use more than this)
160 x 50 houses = 8,000 litres – in one day.
Front load – average 60 litres water per 7.5kg wash.
60 x 50 = 3,000 litres – in one day.
Now let’s say our street does one load of washing a day, every day for a year.
Top Load – 8,000 litres a day.
8,000 x 365 = 2,920,000 litres of water
Front load – 3,000 litres a day.
3,500 x 365 = 1,095,000 litres of water.
2,920,000 – 1,095,000 = 1,825,000 WASTED litres of water.
At the last census in Australia, there were 8,426,559 homes. Queensland is currently on level 5 water restrictions. They have 1,660,750 homes. Imagine the water wastage if even half of those homes are using top load washing machines. The figures we spoke about were for 50 homes.
America is the country with the most top loaders in the world. Front Loaders have not been presented as an option to most consumers – it is time for consumers to step up and ask for the product. There is now a drought in Atlanta – they could probably stretch that three months of water left to six or more if everyone had a front loader.
Can you take a moment to do anything you can to get this post in front of people. Mention it in forums you belong to. Stumble it. Post about it on your own blog.
People might not like what they read, but it might be the start of change for the better. If just one house that washes daily goes from a machine that uses 200 litres a wash to a machine that uses 60 it will save 51,100 litres of water. That alone is worth me writing this article. I am hopeful it will be a lot more houses than that, so help me get the message out there.
Before our dams run dry and our lives change forever. I’m not kidding. If you want to see what life would be like without water, try it for just one day. Don’t use a single tap. Don’t flush your toilet. Don’t wash clothes. Don’t water your plants. Now imagine that every day, and think about whether the cost of buying a front loader right now today is worth it compared to the option of running out of water. Some places in the country are close to empty dams. Lakes have dried up. Stock has been killed because farmers can’t afford to feed and water them.
Stop and think about it for a moment. All the food you eat needs water in order to survive – even grain and vegetables. Our bodies need water. Our cars need water, though you can use coolant but how environmentally unfriendly is that? We need water for wood to grow, for industries to function, for wild birds and animals, for tourism, for ecosystems. Our earth needs water, and we need to be more careful how we use it. Wasting large amounts of it on washing.. seems crazy to me.
What do you think about all this? Is this article eye opening to you? Were you aware of these facts? Will it change what you do? Will it change what you buy the next time you want to purchase a washing machine?
The comments section is open. I welcome all discussion – I do not welcome personal attacks and will delete any comments which cross that line, you have been warned. Discuss the issues, don’t attack people. ;)
I went to test out the new lens and have a few pics for you.
My new lavender plant, which I have had for maybe three weeks and it has taken off like a rocket. Does anyone know, if you want to cut off the older lavender heads is there a certain place you should snip them?
My wisteria – it is a pink version called “summer wisteria”. I’ve had it for almost a year now. I love it!
My new herb garden which seems to be quickly outgrowing the pot it was put into – I did not expect it to take off quite so much. There is basil, italian flat parsley, chives and a capsicum tree. It smells incredible and I have used the herbs in my cooking twice now. Right behind it you can see one of my two tomato plants which I surrounded with chives because I got an 8 pack seedling tray. Both the chives and the tomato plant have doubled in size in just over a week!
The second tomato plant. Both tomato plants are already flowering, I think this is a good sign? I have been inspired by some fellow bloggers who have been growing their own foods. I decided to plant herbs and tomatoes but now I have a stack of pots without anything in them, so I may expand my new hobby. ;)
My dwarf fuchsia which has been repotted and is very happy by the look of things.
We have re-potted maybe 75% of our plants and we have gone through 6 bags of potting mix! We still need to get a few more pots and potting mix to finish the job. I go out every night and water the plants just before I cook dinner. It is such a peaceful time for me. It is just starting to get dark, I can smell the sea breeze drifting my way and the stars start appearing – and you can see them so clearly here without all the big city lights.
Tonight I am going to give them a good dose of fertilizer when I water them. They always enjoy that. The plants seem as happy by the change in location as we are. All the plants have new growth and the ones that can flower have buds all over the place. They get the morning and mid-day sun and miss out on that painful afternoon sun, which makes them happy I think.
Just so I know, do you prefer thumbnail pics so the page can load faster and then you can click on the ones you would like to view closer? Let me know in the comments..
So we’ve been in the new house for just over a month now. Before we moved we talked about having a house warming – we agreed that we would like to have one.
Party planning can be a real headache. I’ve planned a lot of parties in my lifetime without checklists, without any kind of organisation, without much thought. Something always goes wrong. Now if it were just me, I’d be fine with it – but when it is a party I’ve invited people along so when things go wrong I tend to panic. Seriously.
In fact during our last dinner party – the first time we had my parents to the new house to eat, The Other Half said “We’re never doing this again” because he saw me freaking out. I was trying to do about 6 things at once. I think if I had a plan I would have a better chance of getting through it without those moments of panic.
So what kind of party am I going to have? I like something fairly informal, something that involves the barbecue, and we now have this fantastic balcony – check it out!
I think we’ll move all the plants to the further end away from the BBQ just for the night to create more room. The balcony is private and not overlooked at all. We’ve been repotting a lot of the plants over the last couple of weeks so it is a little messy. We still have some work to do out there. Even so the balcony has quickly become one of my favourite spaces and my office window looks out onto it. I can’t wait to have a party out there on a nice warm night. ;)
There’s two weekends we can have the party on before the end of the year but one of them is only 2 weeks away so it might end up being in early December, but then everyone is doing holiday season things. We might leave it till January. I’ll talk it over with the other half.
Time goes by – so quickly. Many of us are disorganised people who get distracted by shiny things and lose a couple of hours seemingly in the blink of an eye. Combine that with the ability to access the internet and you can lose half a day just surfing around, reading blogs and looking at photographs. Recently I decided it was time to take my time into my own hands. I asked myself how can I combat this? I did all the hard work, and now I’m going to tell you what has worked for me.
The Daily Planner –
I spoke about the daily planner before, but this is the number one thing which has changed my life. I treat it like the old Microsoft slogan – Where do you want to go today? I write down all the things I would like to get done during my day onto the daily planner. I give them a priority – A, B or C. When I have finished that task, I put big ticks on either side of it. There is something so satisfying to me about finishing a task and ticking it off my list.
Oops, I Ran Out Of Time –
Sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day. I was putting these long to do lists in front of myself and not getting everything done by the end of the day. Sometimes a task takes a LOT longer than you expected. For example, installing wordpress plugins – I thought it would take 1 hour. It took 5 hours.
Permission Granted –
One of the most discouraging things about setting yourself goals and tasks is not achieving them. It is one reason people simply give up and quit. There were a few days when I beat myself up about not finishing everything on the list. I almost wanted to quit because of it. In the end, I had to give myself permission to draw an arrow through any of the items on my to-do list and then add it to tomorrow’s to do list. As long as I have done my best each day I’m happy.
The Number One Rule –
You will want to write this one down. “Do It Now”.
It sounds simple but it is not so simple to achieve this in reality. You have to treat it like a religion. You have to chant it like a mantra. You have to change your thinking from “I can do that later” to “I’ll do it now”.
Everything Has A Home –
As I wrote in my Snoskred Is Getting Organised article, I don’t put things back where they belong. One of the reasons I had trouble with this was – things did not have a specific home. My new office is a lot more organised. I have a set of drawers with labels on them so that I know where things live. I also have a lot more bookshelf space for my aromatherapy oils, for my incense, for my cosmetics and lip balms.
Keep It Bare –
On my desk, there are only essential work related things now. I used to have a lot of personal items on my desk. I’m finding new homes for them because I recognise I could often zone out while looking at them. That is because I am attracted to shiny, sparkly things. If I see something shiny and sparkly it can make all rational thought vanish from my mind. That’s a good thing – and ok in the right place. The right place for that is NOT my work desk. ;)
Handle It Once –
When you have something in your hand and you are considering putting it down, make sure you put it into the place it is going to live for good. I was one of those people who would put things down and not be able to find them again. Having a home for everything, and being disciplined about putting things back can fix this.
Devotion –
You might choose to devote 5-10 minutes at the end of the day making sure everything is where it lives, or you can choose to “do it now”. I prefer to do it now and devote that 5 minutes at the end of the day to a quick clean of my desk.
Recognise Daily Tasks –
There are some things I need to do every day. I like to tick them off a daily check list. At the old house there was a week where I was on a roll and got those things done every single day. Since moving here I have got out of the habit a little bit. It annoys me – especially getting out of the habit of replying to the comments daily. So I am putting this back on my to do list and I will be re-creating the list as I have more daily tasks now.
Plan –
Sephy wrote about Google Calendar for his Tuesday Think Tank. Right now I’m a little annoyed at Google but this calendar may be the best thing since sliced bread for me. Perhaps I might look for a version which has nothing to do with Google at all, just because I do not want to become too reliant on them. In the meantime, I am planning my blog with Google Calendar. Planning is a choice you can make, if you want to.
What do you mean, plan?
Here was the plan for last week.
Sun Sep 30 – Weekly Wrap Up
Mon Oct 1 – Emily’s Questions
Tue Oct 2 – Think Tank – HTML
Wed Oct 3 – Hump Day Hmmm
Thu Oct 4 – CD Review – Madonna Confessions
Fri Oct 5 – Out Of Your Niche – Thomas
Sat Oct 6 – Australians Let Us All Waste Water
Sun Oct 7 – Weekly Wrap UP
6 out of 7 ended up exactly as I planned them. I wrote all the articles, this means I have an extra article left over which I can re-schedule.
Why Plan?
Why Pre-Write?
The simple fact is, there are times when you are in the mood for writing and the words come out fast and lovely. There are times when you are NOT in the mood for writing at all. The Search Engines are more “loyal” (they come back more often) to sites that post new content frequently. That is one reason I have the “Thought For Today” post. It’s not just because I take good photos and like looking for relevant quotes. There is method to my madness.
WordPress Will Change My Life –
The major reason I have switched to WordPress is the “publish in advance” feature. I can go in and write a months worth of “thought for today” posts in one sitting (this will take me an hour or so) and set them to automatically publish at the same time each day – and then forget it. That is an excellent use of my time. ;)
Try It Out With NaBloPoMo –
November is National Blog Posting Month. You can sign up for NaBloPoMo which is a month of posting every day – but rather than going into it without a plan, sit down and think how you are going to post every day for 30 days. Use a paper calendar or Google Calendar and plan your month of November well in advance. Try planning your blog and see if it works for you.
Spontaneous People –
Some people prefer not to plan. That is also a valid choice. When it comes to blogging it may be the wrong choice. Your readers are looking for –
The best way you can give that to them is to have a plan. If your plan is positive where will you fit in a negative, spur of the moment post that loses you readers? You can’t. We have ALL done that. We have ALL posted something and regretted it later. You can choose to stop doing it. ;)
Further Reading –
Thoughts On Making Positive Changes – Can You Do It?
Snoskred is Getting Organised – Are You?
Email Zen: Clear Out Your Inbox
Previously in the Tuesday Think Tank
21st August: RSS
14 Reasons Readers Unsubscribe From Your Blog
Tuesday Think Tank: All About RSS
28th August: Blog Templates
Blog Design – Open Your Eyes.
Demystifying Blogger Template Editing
4th September: Nofollow
Spam, Spiders And Do Follow, Oh My!
Say No! to Nofollow
11th September: Site Meters
Do NOT Rely On Your Site Meter.
Track Your Visitors with Google Analytics
18th September: Technorati
Technorati – Sending Out An SOS
The Ups (and Downs) of Technorati
25th September: Google Reader
Google Reader Can Make Your Life Easier – Here’s How.
Improving your Google Reader Experience
2nd October: HTML
Basic HTML for Bloggers.
Some HTML Tips & Tricks
Over To You –
What are your thoughts on time management?
If you liked this article, don’t forget to give it a stumble. ;)
The other day I realized something scary. We now live in a location that can be cut off completely if there is a bushfire. The only way to get in or out of here would be by boat. We don’t happen to have a boat of our own, and the only friend we know who has one just sold it. The other half leaves in the morning for work and it is possible that he may not be able to get back here at the end of his work day. So I have been thinking that we need a plan to deal with a bushfire emergency – and I need a plan in case I am here all alone.
It’s not impossible, either. My sister almost lost her home in the bushfires over Christmas in 2005. They were visiting here when the bushfires happened – and at home by itself being fed by her partners family daily was their cat. They had to come up with a plan to retrieve the cat on the spur of the moment, and they had to enlist the help of the firefighters, who had better things to do than attempt to collect a cat from its home without even a pet carrier.
They did manage to collect the cat which was a big relief for my sister, and when they got home they saw just how lucky they had been. Within a metre of the back door, there was fire damage. The house that used to be behind them was entirely gone. Their back fence was entirely gone. She also lived somewhere that they had to evacuate people by boat. It is lucky for all involved that she was not there because she is a major drama queen at the best of times – if you put her in a life and death situation she’d fall apart completely because she does not have any resources to deal with it.
Ever since that happened, the pet carriers have never been somewhere I can’t get to them in moments, and if we have to go away the cats go to a boarding place – not just any boarding place but one which has a clear plan for dealing with any kind of emergency. It is a plan they give a copy of to people who board their cats there with emergency contact numbers, how they make decisions on whether to stay or go, the procedures they use for keeping enough food on hand to feed 20 cats for 3 months, right down to three different locations they can take all the pets to if the boarding place is at risk from fire.
After just moving house, I don’t have a lot of food in storage here. I could probably live for 2 weeks on the food in the fridge and freezer, but what if there is no power? Again the location where we live now could easily lose power for an extended amount of time if there was a bushfire.
Do you know the phone number for your insurance company and the number of your policy off the top of your head? Me either. It’s not the kind of thing I have memorized – but I have memorized the phone number of the local Chinese restaurant, and the song lyrics to many songs.. that’s not going to help me! ;) If you were away from home and something happened to your home, it is handy to have that kind of information stored somewhere.
Another thing I like about the site is that you can choose to share your plan online with other family members. Not only is this useful but it may get them thinking about creating their own emergency plan.
Consider all the people in New York after 9/11 who could not get back to their apartments – and thus their pets – for weeks. I’ve seen so many people say “I leave the toilet lid up now in case I can’t get home, so the pets can get water” but if that is your only plan for an emergency I think you’re going to find it difficult to cope in the event of an actual disaster and so will your pets. I’m going to buy one of those pet feeders where you can put a longer supply of dry cat food ASAP because pets need food as well as water!
I think it is worth considering what you’d do in the event of an emergency, and it is worth creating a plan. It is also worth regularly backing up your computer data and storing it somewhere other than your home. It is worth putting all your digital photos onto CD or DVD and sending a copy to a couple of family members. It is worth making an inventory of your books, dvd’s, and treasured items in case you ever need to replace them. You can do that photographically and I’ll write a how to on that sometime over the next few weeks.
We never like to think of what could happen but there are times that we should think about it. For those of us in Australia, now is the time to begin thinking about summer and the upcoming bushfire season. Make a plan, just in case. ;) If you never have to use it, that is fantastic – but if you do have to use it you’ll be prepared as a family.
Does your family have an emergency plan? If yes let me know in the comments.. ;)
Thanks everyone for all the emails asking where is the Miele post! The truth is, I was too busy using the new appliances to write about them. So what is a Condenser Dryer, how does it work, and what good is it? Pay close attention because I am about to tell you all the secrets and why it is worth buying one. Most of the images in this post can be clicked on to see a larger image.
It works by taking the moist, warm air from inside the dryer to this little unit you see below – it looks a bit like the radiator from the front of your car.
Air from the room the dryer is located in is on the other side of the fins and the difference in temperature magically makes the moisture turn into water droplets.
– It means the drying is done at much cooler temperatures
– Fabrics you would not normally tumble dry can be safely tumble dried
– It is less harsh on your clothes, which means they last longer
– There is no need to vent the dryer at all – in fact our dryer not have a venting kit available to purchase. I have one word of caution re this point – you may find the dryer does heat up the room it is in, especially if that room does not have a window you can open. It will not heat up to the extent it would with a regular dryer.
– There is very little lint produced
– You get some water back which you can use to water your plants.
– You do not have moisture and lint covering your walls – you can sometimes get that with a normal dryer if you don’t have it vented.
You have a few choices with the Miele – you can choose to drain the water down the sink – you can choose to have it drain into a bucket – you can choose to have it collect in the water reservoir shown below.
The water reservoir is actually quite large. Here’s a couple of pics of it pulled out and on my kitchen counter.
Each load in the machine produces between 2-3 litres of water. If the reservoir fills up before the load is done, the machine beeps until you arrive to empty it.
If you have a front load washing machine, Miele’s stacking kit will generally fit on top of most other washers. The stacking kit includes a pop out tray, to make it easier to load the dryer.
Oh look, a kitty snuck into that pic! The pop out tray includes a waterproof space for your washer and dryer instruction manuals. How sweet is that?
Here you can see a load of washing waiting to go into the dryer.
I think I mentioned this once before but in Australia we have some nasty creatures called spiders, who tend to like clotheslines a lot. When I first moved in with The Other Half, we had washed our quilt cover and hung it on the line.For the next two weeks both of us would wake up with what looked like mosquito bites but we could never find any mosquitos. It was odd, because it looked like a trail of bites. I’m itching just typing about it.
A small spider, a very close cousin of the White Tail Spider, had crawled inside our quilt cover without our knowing it. One morning I saw it crawl out of the quilt cover and it just sat there looking at me, seeming quite pleased with itself.I was looking for something to dead it with and thanking all the deities it was not a white tail because those can give some very nasty bites where your skin peels away.. Once it was squashed I swore we would never hang anything out on the clothesline again. And we never have.
We use Origin Energy’s 100% wind power product. That means I pay a little bit more per kilowatt of electricity. Origin then purchases the amount of kilowatt hours I use from wind power.
I’ve personally seen the wind farms in action and I liked what I saw. I believe in all forms of green energy and I also like solar quite a bit. You can choose solar as an option also.
Depending on where you are green electricity may cost you as little as $1 extra per week – I recommend you give Origin a call, or talk to your current electricity company if you are interested in going green. The more of us who switch to green, the better.
I don’t feel as guilty about how much power we use. Of course I do try to cut back usage everywhere we can by using power saving globes and turning things off when we’re not using them.
The best energy rating for a dryer that I have seen is a 3.5 star. Most people are completely baffled by the energy ratings and it is no wonder, because the way they measure them is very complicated. Dryers all use electricity. There is no getting around that. If you want to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions and use a dryer, your best choice is to choose green electricity.Your second best choice is to choose an “auto sensing” dryer rather than a timer model, because these will stop drying once the clothes are dry.
Are you sitting down? You might need to be. These are not cheap to buy. However, they will last 3-4 lifetimes of a normal dryer, they give us water deprived Aussies the chance to get some of the water back from our washing, and they do increase the lifespan of your clothes. Condenser dryers are generally $1500AUD or more to purchase. The Miele is available at $1799, unless you purchase it with a front load washer, in which case it is $1499.
I’ve done my research thoroughly before I buy anything, and because I worked in this industry I know this product is worth the money. These machines are some of the last 20 year lifespan products available on the market.
The Other Half built our front loader himself on a visit to the Bosch factory in Thailand just over a year ago. It was then packed up and shipped to us here. He did quite a good job because it is still working. ;) Otherwise we would have purchased ourselves a Miele.
The comments section is closed because this post was written in 2007. You can always use the Contact Form to reach me if there is anything I didn’t explain clearly, or anything you want to know more about? Click here for the contact form.
It is just over 7 years since we first got our Miele condensing dryer. The dryer is still going strong and we are still just as happy with it as when we first purchased it.
The biggest benefit for us has been the extension in the life of our clothes, especially clothes that you can’t normally dry in a dryer. I have a lot of outfits with sequins, beading, and glitter. I always wash these clothes inside out to prevent any of the sequins or beads getting caught on another piece of clothing.
I dry them on the low temperature setting. They come out of the dryer just as gorgeous as when I first bought them, and I know these clothes could not be dried in a regular dryer at all.
A reader of this post sent me an email with some questions, in particular about sharing an office with one of these units. I thought I would put my answers here, in case anyone else is having the same questions.
Your post seems to indicate that these dryer CAN be vented. Is that the case?
I’ve checked with my other half who used to sell them – our dryer does not have a venting kit available and it cannot be vented.. I’m going to have to go back and re-read my post to see what I’ve said and fix that if I’ve said the wrong thing. Each brand and model are different – you might find one that does have a venting kit but the Mieles do not, though some of the models if you got creative you might be able to “create” one.
I noticed you said they give off heat into the room. Can you give me an idea as to how hot the room might get?
Our laundry at present is quite a cold room and the dryer does give off enough heat that it warms up quite nicely. If you were working in the same room you would want some air flow I think. A fan might do the job. In winter time if it gets very cold where you are, you might find this unit does a decent heating job.
More annoying than any heat would be the noise. If I had to work in the same room with it, I’d want noise cancelling headphones. It is like a constant whirring sound, and regularly, it stops and reverses. To me the stopping and reversing is the most annoying par
Does the dryer give off moisture? I know you say it isn’t like a normal dryer unvented (where you would have moisture and lint all over), but is the air coming off the dryer moist or actually dry?
The dryer does not give off any moisture at all. All the moisture is condensed internally. The only lint in our laundry room is what we remove from the machine when it is finished drying.
Lastly, I’m not sure how the weather is by you, but I am wondering what might happen if you need to run the dryer in the summer if the air in the room might be hot and might have some humidity. Would the dryer not work well?
I live in Australia. Our hottest summer days are 40 degrees C which is 104F, and we can have those hot days every single day for 2-3 weeks or a month at a time, plus, being coastal, humidity can get quite high here. The dryer works just as well in the summer as it does in the winter and I want to make it clear that we never dry our clothes in any other way because clotheslines = spiders here, so we use the dryer all year round.
The air in the room does not really seem to get much hotter in summer, but I am thinking this is because that room is in the middle of the house on the shadow side, so it gets no warmth from any location other than the temperature of the air.
These dryers were originally invented for the European markets where all the appliances live in the kitchen, plus there you generally don’t mind a little heat added to the room, especially in winter, but even in summer it does not get hot there like it gets here.
All condenser dryers work on the same concept, not all condenser dryers have the same quality, and not all the dryers can have the condensed water drained out by a hose like our Miele can.
If you have to share an office with a dryer, the humidity from a regular dryer would be terrible, so a condenser is probably the only way to go.