Hi all
I’ve recently moved to Budapest from the U.S. and my husband acquired a used washing machine locally. It has symbols on the controls that I have never seen before and just cannot figure out. There are symbols on the left of the machine that looks like a sort of menu, and on the right side there is a dial which uses some of the menu symbols plus a bunch of others. Is there a web site or something I can use to determine what these symbols mean?
I don’t even know how to describe them, really. For example, one looks like a flower with four petals, one looks like a t-shirt in a hurry (with dots and without), one is a spiral (which I assume means “spin”), one looks like a t-shirt next to a water faucet. There are B40, B60 and B90; F40, F60 and F90. There’s a sort of on/off type button that has a thermometer crossed out on it. And I am absolutely baffled.
Can you supply a photo? Even a crappy cellphone pic is better than nothing. Upload it to a photo-sharing service, such as the free ImageShack and post a link to it.
Alternatively, locate the make and model and post it; we might be able to locate a manual online. Just typing that info into Google might get it for you, in fact.
I think the flower stands for wool. 40, 60 and 90 are temperatures (in centigrade, obviously), B and F I don’t know, but FWIW my laundry machine has settings for running the programme with and without pre-rinsing (or whatever you call it, laundry vocab is not my forté… )
It’s probably not a Beko, because the dial and menu are on opposite sides than you describe. But the instructions for running a Beko may provide some insight and give you something to do this morning besides twiddle your thumbs. And yes, according to this, 40, 60, and 90 are all water temperatures. You select “Cotton” or “Synthetics” on the dial, along with its desired water temp. So “B” and “F” are possibly a foreign language for “cotton” and “synthetic” or “polyester”. It’s not Hungarian, BTW, I already looked. But it is possibly German: “baumwolle” is “cotton”. But not French–“coton”.
FWIW, the symbols you describe–the t-shirt with dots and the flower petal–are not in either one of these lists of universalfabric care symbols as such. However, it’s worth noting that “dots” means “hot water”, of various temperatures. How many t-shirts with dots are there, and how many dots are following it (them)?
The photos show up just fine. I’m mulling them over now. some of them are self-evident to me, such as the temperatures indicated above. The symbols on the first picture at the top left of each group indicate textile types: cotton, synthetics…I’m not sure what the last one is. What kind of fabric comes from trees? Well, it LOOKS like a leaf, not sure what else it could be. No doubt others will come by with additional information, too.
I was thinking of this symbol. I guess by some crazy loophole in the brain you might somehow think of it as a flower … but maybe that’s just my European background talking …
I have a washing machine with similarly obscure hieroglyphics.
I can’t say for certain what yours mean, but one thing I can decipher is that the three “scales” in the key are in sequence from the top - corresponding to rotation of the dial. Each major scale is a different type of wash cycle - presumably Cotton, Synthetics[?], and Delicates (ETA: yeah, that’s a feather), and you can step into them at different parts of the entire cycle. I don’t bother with anything other than the cotton setting on mine, and my clothes are all fine.
Looking at the temperatures and graphics in the cotton scale, I believe these are the following definitions:
So, e.g. if you had a colorfast cotton wash load, you’d select B60 on the dial - and the machine would then step through B60, B40, B*, and Spin. Similarly, selecting A90 would step thru A90, B90, B60, B40, B* and Spin.
The dial just indicates how to select that part of the cycle, so don’t spend too much time wondering about it - use the key to select the right number and set it running, and theoretically it should do the rest and then stop at the right time.
Ah, we use variations on that symbol for wool here, too. I’ve never thought of it as a flower, though. Then again, it looks more like a flower than it does a sheep.
Thanks, everyone. Thanks especially to JJimm. I used the B40 yesterday to give it a try and the clothes seem okay. That’s one llloooonnnnnggggg washer cycle, though.
I know the wool symbol. The flower I was talking about is on the washer’s dial. I didn’t know how else to describe it. I guess if the machine is going to cycle through all those things I really don’t need to know what it’s doing exactly, as long as the outcome is okay.
On the dial, I think the “bucket of water” is the rinse symbol. And the letters C, K and H are the spin cycles, as indicated in the key.
And here’s the breakthrough. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly convinced the funny four-leafed flower shown on the dial is in fact the “fabric conditioner” symbol - that’s the conditioning cycle shown there.
The washer cycles will be MUCH MUCH longer than in the US. In the US ours takes 20 minutes or so, but here in Europe (LG front loader) it takes at least an hour and sometimes 90 minutes.
The first graphic looks very much like a cotton plant to me. Do a quick Google image search of cotton plant illustration or just cotton plant and you’ll see. The second graphic suggests that you use those settings when you need to get hookah-smoke out of your clothes. The third setting is much more a feather (i.e., lightweight fabrics) than a leaf to me (unless you have one of those Eden-O-Matics, where leaves need to be washed between wearings).
The spirals are for washing the clothes you removed from people using your hypno-coin. Notice that they curve counterclockwise. If you move again, do not use the unit in the southern hemisphere (your clothes will get dirtier).
)
And yes, according to this, 40, 60, and 90 are all water temperatures. You select “Cotton” or “Synthetics” on the dial, along with its desired water temp. So “B” and “F” are possibly a foreign language for “cotton” and “synthetic” or “polyester”. It’s not Hungarian, BTW, I already looked. But it is possibly German: “baumwolle” is “cotton”. But not French–“coton”.
