Landlord charges €1 per 15 mins on Washer & Dryer

steddyeddy

astrofool wrote: »

The new ntlhell, who was a single, married, widow/er with special needs children living in an aparthouse in the middle of nowhere in a city centre (and that was just this forum )

ntlhell?

awec

Mekhi Cuddly Minus wrote: »

I was everything at 30, pile everything in togeather, towels bed clothes, shirts, underwear the lot. It's how washing was always done at home by my parents, never did I see a wash above 40 degrees going on (and that was because older machines we had didn't have a 30 degree wash).

All my clothes including shirts, t-shirts, trousers etc instruct that you wash them at 30 degrees so you are most likely destroying your clothes washing them hotter and it's totally pointless stuff comes out absolutely perfect on a 30 degree wash so I can clearly see hotter washes aren't necessary.

30 degrees is not hot enough to kill the bacteria on bed sheets for example.

Just because it looks clean doesn’t mean it is. Germs are small nox, you aren’t going to see them.

Again, this is all fairly basic stuff. There is a reason washing machines have longer and hotter cycles.

The_Conductor

Mekhi Cuddly Minus wrote: »

I was everything at 30, pile everything in togeather, towels bed clothes, shirts, underwear the lot. It's how washing was always done at home by my parents, never did I see a wash above 40 degrees going on (and that was because older machines we had didn't have a 30 degree wash).

All my clothes including shirts, t-shirts, trousers etc instruct that you wash them at 30 degrees so you are most likely destroying your clothes washing them hotter and it's totally pointless stuff comes out absolutely perfect on a 30 degree wash.

I disagree vehemently with this- however, discussing the correct temperature to wash clothes at- is so far from the remit of this forum, that its not worth going into..........

Different clothes- get washed on different cycles- for different reasons. There is no one size fits all. I've my last load of the evening- a fully synthetic load- going on at 30 degrees in a few mins- the previous load was bed linen @ 50- and before that- a general load at 40. Also use different type cycles depending on what I'm washing- a bubble cycle makes towels and linen a lot softer- a general cycle- is fine for jumpers/trousers etc.

Its not terribly unusual to use a 4 hour cycle- its also not terrible unusual for the same person to also use a 30-40 minute cycle for other laundry. It depends.

The_Conductor

steddyeddy wrote: »

ntlhell?

Anytime anyone uses that term- I habitually move their post over to the Virgin Media Contral Renewal thread- over in the Bargain Alerts forum. Must....... resist..........urge.............

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Technocentral wrote: »

Only Irish Landlords.

Not true.

James 007

Claw Hammer wrote: »

I had a housemate bitching about the wattage of a lightbulb in the livingroom.

Claw Hammer if you dont know the wattage to light bulbs and dont turn off the lights when not in use, go back to using oil lamps or candles, shes right you should know wattage to everything in the house in order to spend 1 hour daily to do the usage calculation.:rolleyes:

Claw Hammer

James 007 wrote: »

Claw Hammer if you dont know the wattage to light bulbs and dont turn off the lights when not in use, go back to using oil lamps or candles, shes right you should know wattage to everything in the house in order to spend 1 hour daily to do the usage calculation.:rolleyes:

This housemate wanted to buy the lowest possible watt lightbulb. An extra 40W would cost sooo... much.

hullaballoo

What kind of coin receptor is on the machine?

When I was in college, we had a laundrette that charged extortionate amounts but it was not attended so we'd tie a string around a euro coin and put it in the coin receptor and pull it out again. Do that a few times and you've enough credit to wash and dry your clothes.

You'd lose the odd euro coin if it went in too far or the string came off it but it was better than paying full price.

_Dara_

Mekhi Cuddly Minus wrote: »

I was everything at 30, pile everything in togeather, towels bed clothes, shirts, underwear the lot. It's how washing was always done at home by my parents, never did I see a wash above 40 degrees going on (and that was because older machines we had didn't have a 30 degree wash).

All my clothes including shirts, t-shirts, trousers etc instruct that you wash them at 30 degrees so you are most likely destroying your clothes washing them hotter and it's totally pointless stuff comes out absolutely perfect on a 30 degree wash so I can clearly see hotter washes aren't necessary. The 15 minute fast wash followed by a rinse and spin is such an efficient way to wash clothes from both an energy usage and use of your time perspective.

You will never see less than 40 degrees on jeans washing instructions. So that’s bullsh1t. Unless you don’t own any jeans. If you have jeans, they won’t say wash at 30 degrees. How stupid do you think we are?

The_Conductor

Lilith Harsh Scandal wrote: »

Not true.

I could show you pictures of units in 4 EU countries that I or a sibling have rented and I could show you a picture of the coin operated unit my eldest sister tore out of her house in Joburg when she bought it. Its cheap penny pinching and brings an entirely new meaning to the word 'meanness'- however, its far from just being an Irish phenomenon.

padser

hullaballoo wrote: »

What kind of coin receptor is on the machine?

When I was in college, we had a laundrette that charged extortionate amounts but it was not attended so we'd tie a string around a euro coin and put it in the coin receptor and pull it out again. Do that a few times and you've enough credit to wash and dry your clothes.

You'd lose the odd euro coin if it went in too far or the string came off it but it was better than paying full price.

I'm shocked. I don't like the price someone is charging for something so rather than exercise my right not to buy it.....I'll exercise my right to steal it!

;-)

LuckyLloyd

OP, I’d take the opportunity to look the owners responsible for this in the eye to inform them what a rip off it is and that it is wrong. Probably won’t change the situation, but worth doing nonetheless.

UsBus

I actually wouldn't mind my landlord doing something like this. There is a tenant in our house who washes 2-3 washes a week and proceeds to run the drier for 4 hours a time until clothes are nearly burning.... Christ knows what the esb bill will look like...

L1011

I'd be convinced this is a way to try get around the 14k rent a room tax limit. It doesn't - all bills count. LL could be looking at a very huge tax liability now

El Tarangu

Op - if the drying is the most expensive part, buy a clothes-horse for €10(?)

Better for the environment, too

Pawwed Rig

L1011 wrote: »

I'd be convinced this is a way to try get around the 14k rent a room tax limit. It doesn't - all bills count.

I would argue that point. The legislation on it is ambiguous at best.

CruelCoin

_Dara_ wrote: »

You will never see less than 40 degrees on jeans washing instructions. So that’s bullsh1t. Unless you don’t own any jeans. If you have jeans, they won’t say wash at 30 degrees. How stupid do you think we are?

Lads you're arguing about temperatures on washing clothes....

Firstly - Who actually reads those labels?
Second - 40c is clearly where its at. "Sniff".

CruelCoin

RogerRabid wrote: »

Am I missing something or is this plain extortion.

What is the actual background to this?

Did he/she install pre/post you moving in? If after, anything you might have done to set him off?

CruelCoin

L1011 wrote: »

I'd be convinced this is a way to try get around the 14k rent a room tax limit. It doesn't - all bills count. LL could be looking at a very huge tax liability now

It's not a bill though, its a service.

Do optional services count towards this limit?
What if the landlord made sandwiches and charged for those. Would they count?

Claw Hammer

CruelCoin wrote: »

It's not a bill though, its a service.

Do optional services count towards this limit?
What if the landlord made sandwiches and charged for those. Would they count?

It is based on turnover, not profit. All monies collected count.

lawred2

RogerRabid wrote: »

How unusual is this?

My landlord installed coin operated machines on the washing machine and dryer.
It takes two hours to wash clothes and two hours to dry them.

It adds up to 16 euro to wash and dry my clothes.

Seems a little beyond the pale when the laundrette down the road would prob do one large cycle for a tenner, right?

This website claims a washing machine costs a mere 13c an hour to run: https://purchase.ie/electric-appliances-cost-run

Am I missing something or is this plain extortion.

that's outrageous

L1011

CruelCoin wrote: »

It's not a bill though, its a service.

Do optional services count towards this limit?
What if the landlord made sandwiches and charged for those. Would they count?

Yes.

There aren't 'clever' ways around the rules by splitting off various bits as 'optional services'. Total take 14001 and you pay tax on the lot, no matter how you divide it as rent/bills.

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

Yes.

There aren't 'clever' ways around the rules by splitting off various bits as 'optional services'. Total take 14001 and you pay tax on the lot, no matter how you divide it as rent/bills.

It would be the next best thing to impossible to prove though as there will be no paper trail, all cash for rent and bills etc. Especially with the coin system it wouldn't even be tied to a bill.

I personally don't think everything should be included towards the tax bill. For instance what if a room renter asks for something the owner does not want (say a sports pack on sky and they cover the full amount themselves), why should this count toward a LLs tax threashold.

cruizer101

From: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-07/07-01-32.pdf

Revenues document on Rent a Room Relief

Example 2
Mary purchased a new house in April 2015 for occupation as her sole residence. As
her mortgage repayments were very high she decided to let a room in the house.
She received rent of €11,000 in 2015. She also received €1,500 for providing meals
to her tenant. Mary’s gross income from letting the room and providing ancillary
services was €12,500. As this amount exceeds the limit for 2015 (€12,000), she is
not entitled to rent-a-room relief for that year. She is taxable on the total income of
€12,500, less any allowable expenses.

The 1500 from providing a service is part of the overall income, I would think this is the same.

_Dara_

CruelCoin wrote: »

Lads you're arguing about temperatures on washing clothes....

Firstly - Who actually reads those labels?
Second - 40c is clearly where its at. "Sniff".

Yes, you have a point, I’ll move on after this post. In answer to your question, I look at washing instructions on clothes regularly. And there is not one person posting here who has a wardrobe with nothing but ‘wash at 30 degrees’ clothes, not one. The most common instructions would be 40 degrees.

Tigger

L1011 wrote: »

I'd be convinced this is a way to try get around the 14k rent a room tax limit. It doesn't - all bills count. LL could be looking at a very huge tax liability now

yeah how much is rent op
simply put the tax on 13999.99 from rent a room is 0 but on 14,001 is the full amount
could be 48% or so

flaneur

You can't actually wash (and clean) more than very small loads, of very lightly soiled clothes in the fast wash cycle on most machines. Your clothes just will just not be washed or rinsed properly at all.

Commercial machines and some very expensive domestic ones like Miele can do full loads in a very short cycle by using extremely powerful motors and a lot more water and faster heaters.

Even then, it still takes whatever detergent you're using time to break down stains and odors. They're using enzymes to break down proteins, fats, starches, mild amounts of peroxide bleach and various surfactants and various ingredients to suspend dirt in the water. All of those processes take time.

Most machines are also designed to cut water and energy use and increase theb load size in a fairly standard looking drum. They do this by extending thecycle time and using scooping lifters or recirculation pumps (or both) to basically force water through the clothes.

If you shortcut the cycle time, they just can't clean a large load.

On top of that short washes often only do one rinse. That can mean serious problems for someone with allergies or sensitive skin.

If you wash at 30C on the fast wash cycle all the time your machine will be a full of mould and slime after a few months.

Basically just running a short cycle will give you barely cleaned clothes that smell strongly of whatever you washed them in. You might as well just spray them with Fabreeze as wash them.

Add to that if it's a shared machine, is going to be spreading bugs from one load to the next and the cycles are so short that it might even include bodily fluids ... There's no way that the process could have removed them in that time. It's one thing if it's only you using the machine or you and your partner. But in a shared facility....?!? Yuck.

_Dara_

_Dara_ wrote: »

Yes, you have a point, I’ll move on after this post. In answer to your question, I look at washing instructions on clothes regularly. And there is not one person posting here who has a wardrobe with nothing but ‘wash at 30 degrees’ clothes, not one. The most common instructions would be 40 degrees.

I wasn't referring to jeans, when I said trousers I meant chinos (jeans aren't trousers they are jeans). I generally wash jeans very rarely as its not required (and bad for them) hence why I didn't highlight them. Also they wash perfectly fine at 30 degrees when I do wash them.

Aside from that the vast majority of my polo shirts and shirts say to wash at 30 degrees and these are the things washed most often. Socks, underwear, (jeans if I'm washing them), towels etc etc will all be in the same wash with the 30 degree limit clothes so regardless of what temp you could wash the others at they get washed at the temp suitable for the lowest rated garment (I always fill the machine to the max, to get away with doing one wash a week normally). Of course the fact low temp quick washes are a very fast and energy efficient way to wash clothes also has a major influence on the decision along with the way that's how washing was and is done at home (which is where you learn to do these things). Also I did say I do a rinse and spin after to make sure the clothes are rinsed properly.

flaneur

30° vs 40° degrees makes very little difference.
The issue is all about time and water flow. If you don't allow enough time, particularly if the machine is heavily loaded, it just can't clean.

There's science behind this.

Read your machine instructions and you'll notice they'll limit the fast wash cycle to 1 or 2kg

Only the long cotton cycle will give you the full rated load capacity.

Also if you don't run the machine hot (over 60°C) with normal powder (contains small amounts of peroxide) now and again. Eg to wash towels. It will invariably grow mould inside and start to stink.

flaneur

flaneur wrote: »

30° vs 40° degrees makes very little difference.
The issue is all about time and water flow. If you don't allow enough time, particularly if the machine is heavily loaded, it just can't clean.

There's science behind this.

Read your machine instructions and you'll notice they'll limit the fast wash cycle to 1 or 2kg

Only the long cotton cycle will give you the full rated load capacity.

I find my clothes absolutely perfectly clean after a 15 min 30 degree wash followed by an additional rinse. Hence why I have no heed at all in people claiming I need to do hotter washes. I don't think the washing machine at home as ever been used above 40 degrees in the years since we have the current one and 99% of the washes it does are the 30 degree 15 min cycle followed by a rinse.

Also its quite a normal way to wash from other households I have experience of, fast low temp washes are what most people do in my experience (bar an odd annoying housemate in the past).

I wouldn't dream of running a washing machine at 60 degrees and have never seen mould in the washing machine.