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HINTS AND TIPS
Washing hints
You are advised not to leave your laundry too long,
especially when damp. Damp laundry produces moult
and unpleasant smells.
Moult stains cannot be removed.
Sort your laundry.
Study carefully the chart in this booklet explaining the
symbols used on clothes labels (see page 14).
The following points are particularly important :
- a line under the bowl means that the garment cannot
be washed using programmes for resistant fabrics
such as cotton and linen;
- do not mix coloured garments with whites;
- anticrease materials like polyester/cotton should be
treated as synthetics;
- non-resistant fabrics like acrylic and most curtain
materials should be treated as delicate fabrics;
- the wool programme is designed specifically for pure
new wool. Other types of wool and wool mixtures may
shrink or felt if machine-washed.
Woollen garments should be spun briefly immediately
after washing.
Prewash
Prewash is not normally necessary. Your new washing
machine combined with modern detergents will give
perfect washing results without prewash, thus saving
energy, time, water and detergent.
However, when the laundry is particularly dirty (for
example if you have to wash mechanics' overalls or
butchers' aprons), you are advised to use prewash
with a biological detergent.
Temperatures
We suggest that white cotton and linen, if it is not
excessively soiled, can be washed at 60° instead of
90°C. There should be no reduction in performance,
but there will be an energy saving of approximately
30%.
The same applies to a lesser extent to fast coloured
garments.
They usually require a temperature of 60°C but if they
are not excessively dirty, you will have satisfactory
results at 40°C.
Garments with non-fast colours should not be washed
at temperatures above 40°C. If fast and non-fast
colours are washed together, they should be treated
as non-fast colours and therefore the temperature
should not exceed 40°C.
Resistant white and coloured synthetics can normally
be washed at 60°C but also in this case 40°C is
sufficient if the laundry is not excessively dirty.
Delicate synthetics, synthetics with non-fast colours
and woollen garments must never be washed above
40°C.
As you already know, your washing machine can also
wash with cold water. However, it must be remembered
that the detergents currently on the market have not
been designed for cold washes and that in winter,
when the water is very cold, they may not dissolve
adequately.
We suggest the use of liquid detergents.
How much laundry can be washed in
one load?
Strictly speaking you should always weigh your laundry.
The drum will take a maximum of 5 kg of cotton and
linen. For synthetics and delicate fabrics, the maxi-
mum load is 2,5 kg and for wool, 1 kg.
As weighing can be complicated, we suggest you
estimate the weight according to how full the drum is:
cotton and linen : drum full not too tighty packed
resistant synthetics : no more than 2/3 of the drum
delicate fabrics and wool : no more than 1/2 of the
drum.
Before placing the laundry in the ma-
chine:
- mend all tears, holes and ladders;
- secure loose buttons and close poppers and zips;
- do not wash frayed garments - mend hems before
washing;
- remove all small objects from pockets. Nails, pins,
clips and similar objects can seriously damage your
washing machine and laundry;
- remove curtain hooks;
- wash coloured garments and in particular those with
non-fast colours separately when washing for the first
time. They are likely to lose colour the first time they are
washed.
- treat obstinate stains such as grass, rust, tar, paint,
ink etc. with a stain remover before washing.
