Haier WasH2O, the Detergent-Free Washing Machine
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08. 1.07
TreeHugger is always on the lookout for ways to cut back on the resources and stuff we need to get by on a day-to-day basis, and it doesn't get much more routine than laundry. We've seen some good green options in the past -- LG's steam machine and Bosch's Nexxt Washer are a few water-sippers out there, and Sanyo's Aqua washer uses ozone to wash -- but the Haier WasH20 cuts out the detergent and washes with a common chemical substance called dihydrogen monoxide. It breaks down the substance (if you're concerned about the potential dangers, read more about it here) into OH- and H+ ions; OH- acts as the cleaning agent by attracting and retaining stains while the H+ ions sterilizes the clothes. It's currently available in France for a shade less than a grand; could we see a jump stateside soon? ::WasH2O (site in French) via ::Freshome
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In order to electrolyze water you start with a NaCl solution and hook up a cathode and an annode separated by an ion exchange membrane. THIS IS THE SAME METHOD USED TO PRODUCE CHLORINE GAS.
To say you only use water is false as you end up with the same alkaline hypochlorite solution as you have if you were to throw in bleach.
Electrolysis of water is impossible without adding an electrolyte to the solution. Pseudoscience anyone?
Collin, I hope you are being sarcastic in your post, and that your clear lack of chemical knowledge is tongue in cheek. Good old water, all by its lonesome has some fraction broken down into hydroxyl (OH-) ions and hydrogen (H+) ions. That is the origin of pH. The OH- attracting the stains and the H+ sterilizing the clothes is just cartoon science at its worst. I could also mention that in solution neutrality must be maintained so unless you add another ion to the mix, the OH- must equal the H+.
I don't understand why a great site like Treehugger just repeats the news of this "detergentless" washer with suspect crackpot science behind it instead of really investigating whether or not the thing could work according to the most basic science principles.
Hot water does clean clothes pretty well, so I expect many folks will think they got a good product when they buy this thing. Yet the science is extremely lacking. People have used soap to clean clothes for thousands of years because they needed to. For some reason water just didn't get the job done.
What about the 14+ gallons of water per load this machine consumes, plus the enormous amount of electricity. All this for a machine of dubious functioning?
"What about the 14+ gallons of water per load this machine consumes"
14 US gallons = 52 litres of water. This is in fact about average for most front-loading washing machines (the precise water consumption tends to vary from one model to another - the range is usually 45 - 60 litres per wash)
Front-loading washing machines are still much more efficient compared to top-loading washing machines when it comes to water consumption.
A top loader can use up to 40 gallons of water (Wikipedia says up to 80 gallons!) Over 90% of US households have a top loading washing machine.
So... hard... to... resist... the obvious shot at the French.... they probably don't notice that their clothes still stink after they run them through this machine...