The parts of a clothes washer

The basic idea of a clothes washer is simple: it sloshes your clothes about in soap suds for a while and then spins fast to remove the water afterward. But there's a bit more to it than that. Think of a clothes washer and you probably think of a big drum that fills with water—but there are actually two drums, one inside the other. The inner drum is the one you can see when you open the door or the lid. In a front-loading clothes washer the drum stands upright. You push your clothes inside the door from the front and the whole drum rotates about a horizontal axis (like a car wheel). The drum has lots of small holes to let water in and out that paddles around the edge to slosh the clothes around. In a toploader you open a lid on top and drop your clothes into the drum from above. The drum is mounted about a vertical axis but doesn't actually move. Instead, there's a paddle in the middle of it called an agitator that turns the clothes around in the water. There's a second, bigger drum outside the inner drum that you cannot see. Its job is to hold the water while the inner drum (in a front-loader) or the agitator (in a toploader) rotates. Unlike the inner drum, the outer drum has to be completely water-tight—or you'd have water all over the floor!

 

 

 

The two drums are the most important parts of a clothes washer, but there are lots of other interesting bits too. There's a thermostat (thermometer mechanism) to test the temperature of the incoming water and a heating element that warms it up to the required temperature. There's also an electrically operated pump that removes water from the drum when the wash is over. There's a mechanical or electronic control mechanism called a programmer, which makes the various parts of the clothes washer go through a series of steps to wash, rinse, and spin your clothes. There are two pipes that let clean hot and cold water into the machine and a third pipe that lets the dirty water out again. All these pipes have valves on them (like little doors across them that open and shut when necessary).

 

Vocabulary

Detergent – моющее средство

rinse – полоскать

soap suds – мыльная пена

slosh – заливать, полоскать, шлепать

paddle – плескаться, лопасть,

lid – крышка, люк, заслонка

agitator – смеситель, мешалка

 

Exercise 1

Find Russian equivalents to the following words in the text. Learn them by heart.

Стиральная машина (2), разделять, моющее средство, вращаться, барабан, вертикально, ось, впускать, выпускать, нажимать/толкать, внутренний, внешний, крышка/люк, лопасть, герметичный, деталь/кусок, закончится,

 

Exercise 2

Which of the following is the odd-one-out?

1) waterproof, leaking, water-resistant, water-tight

2) revolve, rotate, turn round, twist, spin, go straight

3) be over, finish, end, continue

4) outside, external, superstitious, outer, exterior, superficial

 

Exercise 3

Match the words to their definitions.

1) outer 2) detergent 3) water-tight 4) inner 5) upright 6) spin

a) closely sealed, fastened, or fitted so that no water enters or passes through b) turn or whirl round quickly c) on the outside of something d) placed in a vertical position e) situated inside or further in; internal f) a liquid or powder that helps remove dirt, for example from clothes or dishes

 

Exercise 4

Replace the underlined words with the words from Exercise 1.

1) The dish lay in pieces on the floor.

2) The cliffs rose up vertically out of the water.

3) This laundry powder leaves your clothes clean and soft without the use of harsh (агрессивный) chemicals or fillers.

4) Old-age pensioners are admitted free to the museum.

5) My head is going around and I can't balance.

 

Exercise 5

Answer the questions

1) What is the main difference between inner and outer drums?

2) What parts does a washing machine consist of?

3) What is the basic idea of a clothes washer?

4) How many pipes does a clothes washer have?

5) What is a washing machine? Give a definition to a clothes washer with your own words.

 

 

Lesson 6

Clothes washing machines

Part 2

 

The washing machine program

All the important parts of the clothes washer are electrically controlled, including the inner drum, the valves, the pump, and the heating element. The programmer is like the conductor of an orchestra, switching these things on and off in a sensible sequence that goes something like this:

You put your clothes in the machine and detergent either in the machine itself or in a tray up above.

You set the program you want and switch on the power.

The programmer opens the water valves so hot and cold water enter the machine and fill up the outer and inner drums. The water usually enters at the top and trickles down through the detergent tray, washing any soap there into the machine.

The programmer switches off the water valves.

The thermostat measures the temperature of the incoming water. If it's too cold, the programmer switches on the heating element. This works just like an electric kettle or water boiler.

When the water is hot enough, the programmer makes the inner drum rotate back and forth, sloshing the clothes through the soapy water. The detergent pulls the dirt from your clothes and traps it in the water. The programmer opens a valve so the water drains from both drums. Then it switches on the pump to help empty the water away.

 

The programmer opens the water valves again so clean water enters the drums.

The programmer makes the inner drum rotate back and forth so the clean water rinses the clothes. It empties both drums and repeats this process several times to get rid of all the soap.

When the clothes are rinsed, the programmer makes the inner drum rotate at really high speed—around 80 mph (130 km/h). The clothes are flung against the outside edge of the inner drum, but the water they contain is small enough to pass through the drum's tiny holes into the outer drum.

 

Spinning gets your clothes dry using the same idea as a centrifuge. The pump removes any remaining water from the outer drum and the wash cycle comes to an end.

You take your clothes out and marvel at how clean they are!

 

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