So, I've been living in Sweden a few months now and each day figure out how something works differently. But I'm stuck on the mangel in my laundry room. From what I understand it squeezes out the excess water from sheets and rolls them in such a way that they don't need to be ironed, is that right? And are you meant to dry them (the sheets) a little first? Can anyone explain step by step? Maybe there's an instructional video? To be clear I know exactly what a mangle is generally speaking. But the Swedish version looks complicated to use - there's an image on this webpage http://www.dillen2.se/images/18.58b55df710900f8463c800010928/mangel.JPG
Cleaning & Laundry - 2 Answers
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1 :
A mangle is a large, flat iron. Since it doesn't make steam, the clothes have to be a bit damp to get the wrinkles out. If they're dry, you can use a spray bottle of water to dampen them.
2 :
Hehe, I've been fighting with ours in my laundry room, and gave up after it trashed a kitchen towel! (The machine is old and knackered.) Seriously, I haven't been able to find any instruction video or even a very good instruction manual. The one I did find is in Swedish. I'll supply the link anyway. Look at it while reading the instructions. Speaking of excess water, you may have an external high-speed spinner in your laundry room. They're very handy if you're in a hurry but still don't squeeze enough water out to use the mangle, you still need to hang your laundry up until suitably damp for ironing. Think of the mangle as a huge ironing machine. Sheets and towels should be damp as for ironing, definitely not wet! If they're completely dry, you can spray them with a little water to make them damp. There must not be any buttons or zips or other things on any item you wish to mangle. Usually there is a mains switch somewhere that you have to set to on first, marked 1 on the image. Then pull the fingerguard (fingerskydd) (2) up towards you (reverse mode/back). Pull out the built-in mangle sheet until there's only one layer left on the roller. Put small items on the sheet, well flattened, streched and unfolded. Move the fingerguard down (forward mode/fram). The mangle sheet with your laundry gets rolled around the rollers, your laundry inside the sheet. Let it spin for a few revolutions, then reverse to get them out again. With any luck, they won't get creased! Sheets and duvet covers: as above, but only pull out 30-odd cm (1 ft) of the mangle sheet, the rest of it should be left rolled around the roller. If your sheet is too wide, just fold it once, lengthwise. Put the top end of your sheet on top of the mangle sheet. Put it in forward mode. Most of your sheet will then be rolled onto the roller outside the mangle sheet. Let it roll for a few revolutions, then stop and reverse to roll it out. Very thick items can be squeezed between the rollers just once, with the mangle sheet completely rolled around the roller first. If in doubt, try to get some friendly neighbour to show you how to work it! In any case, try first with some small item that you don't care too much about. I made the mistake of trying to mangle a kitchen towel folded three times. It got stuck in the machine and both my towel and the mangle sheet got ripped in the process. I got it out, but had to get the super in to fix the mangle. Oh, and beware of the 'laundry room police' (tvättstugepolisen) - there will always be one neighbour assuming that role, out of self-righteousness, who watches over the laundry room and leaves angry notes if they feel you haven't cleaned up after yourself properly or exceeded your laundry schedule. They're a curse, but almost every Swedish apartment block will have one! ;-)
