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LAUNDRY

each reuse. About a gallon of fresh water is added to the next load of laundry to compensate for what was left in the sink. The more the wash water is reused, the cooler and the less effective it becomes; it is up to the user to decide when to stop recycling. Fresh detergent in each reuse, plus fresh-water rinses, keep cleaning performance up.
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

Here are some aspects of performance other than capacity and efficiency. Unbalanced loads. Ski jackets, mattress pads, blankets, and other bulky items strain a machine's suspension by making the tub oscillate as it spins. Consumers Union's testers gave each machine an increasingly unbalanced load and watched to see if the machine banged or "walked" across the floor. A few machines did quite well. Others banged loudly even with a moderately unbalanced load. Some machines have a switch that shuts the machine off if the load goes out of balance. But such a switch can work all too well, sometimes shutting off the machines with even a slightly unbalanced load. To minimize rocking and vibration, the legs on a washer must be set so that the machine is level yet kept as close to the floor as possible. Many machines have self-leveling rear legs linked together, a design that makes the machine easier to level. Sand disposal Most machines do quite well in removing fairly large amounts of sand in the first wash. Even the worst should remove all the sand after two washes. Linting. Laundering inevitably produces lint, but a well-designed washing machine should filter it out. Most even have a self-cleaning lint filter that flushes lint away when spinning. Noise. Noise becomes an important consideration if you live in an apartment or a house where the washer is near the main living