Laundry in Switzerland

Believe it or not, but laundry can be a source of stress in apartment living in Switzerland.

When we owned our own home, we had our own washer and dryer and we could do laundry whenever we wanted (at least until that last month when the washer broke down).  Before that we lived in an apartment building.  There were four washers/dryers for 41 apartments and it was first come first served.  We usually woke up early on the weekends and did our laundry then.

However, in Switzerland, or at least Zürich, things can be drastically different.  First of all, theoretically Sunday is a day of rest, so no laundry should be done.  In many buildings there are laundry schedules.  Some of the apartments that ZDG looked at had designated wash days of only two days a month.  One apartment that we really liked was in a building with four other units.  So you would get two days in a row for wash, and then you would have to wait nine days until the next time you could do laundry again (remember, no wash on Sunday).  And the laundry at that place consisted of two washers and no dryer, just a large drying room with a blower.  Some buildings had what was called an "open wash plan".  Basically the day was broken up into three chunks of five hours, for example, 7 am - 12 noon, 12 noon - 5 pm, and 5 pm - 10 pm and it was first come first served to sign up for a chunk of time.  When we were looking for an apartment we were hoping to find a place with an open wash plan or its own washer and dryer.

While we were apartment hunting, we were fortunate to be staying in a place with its own washer and dryer in its own laundry room a floor below.  These were pretty new appliances, so we were surprised at how ineffective they seemed.  First off, the capacity seemed to be 2/3 of what we were used to in the US.  There were many wash programs to choose from, but essentially I had to choose between a 120 minute cycle that would spin at max speed, or an 80 minute cycle that spun at less than max speed.  Okay, we'll do the 80 minute cycle.  Now let's throw these things in the dryer.  In the dryer, you can choose degree of dryness, based on if you plan to iron right out of the dryer, you plan to fold and put away the laundry, if you want them bone dry, etc.  We chose storage dry, but using the "delicate" option, so they would be dried using low rather than medium heat.  After 80 minutes, clothes would still come out damp.  Why do you suppose that is?  Because the darn dryers don't vent the moisture anywhere--so how are the clothes supposed to dry if there isn't anywhere for the moisture to go?!  There was a condensation tank that you were supposed to empty, but it never had anything in it.  Luckily the washer and dryer was in its own room with drying lines and racks, so after a 80 minute wash, and 80+ minute dry, there was a place to hang all the clothes to finish drying.  Also, in addition to cleaning out the lint in the usual places, you have to occasionally clean out the heat exchanger, which is hidden behind a panel that looks like only repair people open.  Thank you Global Librarian for that tip.

Now we're in our own apartment and we are lucky to have our washer and dryer and also to be in a building relaxed enough that people do laundry on Sundays.  Our washer works reasonably well and so does the dryer.  In fact, it dries clothes completely and water actually collects in the condensate tank.  However there is only one dryer heat setting and it definitely is not low, so for our "cold" clothes I prefer to hang them to dry.  There's a big room with eight drying lines.  Hmmmm, there are eight apartments in our building so that should work out pretty well.  One of our loads will usually fill two drying lines.  As long as people are good about removing their dried clothing there should be enough drying lines for everyone.  NOT!  I think at least one neighbor permanently claims two lines by leaving clothes on them at all times.  For the last couple of days there haven't been any drying lines available.  Maybe someone went on vacation and accumulated a lot of laundry and have been busy with work and hasn't had time to take the laundry down.  We do have a drying rack that we use in the apartment, but I prefer to use a drying line if possible.  Today there was space and I claimed a line.  So now I have to decide if I should permanently claim it by always leaving clothes up, or be a good citizen and take it down.