This has me shaking my head. Less water = poor results/cleaning + more electricity used due to multiple cycles. Is this best for the environment?
For months, Donna King experimented with the various settings of her washing machine, trying to get her clothes to stop coming out covered in detergent residue. In the era of tightening water and energy standards, King thinks the machine just doesn’t use enough water, with clothes emerging nearly dry to the touch.
She regularly runs her T-shirts through the machine a second time. The hairstylist in Oak Ridge, Tenn., sometimes brings laundry loads into work to use the heavy duty setup there.
“I’m all for saving the environment but this ain’t the way to do it, if you got to do something two or three times,” the 59-year-old said. “The standard is great on paper, but when it comes to practical and real life situations, it’s a bunch of s—.”
King hacked her machine with a water pitcher—she now adds seven or more pitchers filled with water to the machine, both at the start and midway through the cycle. That extra water tricks the machine into thinking there is a bigger load, so the washer adds even more water.
How bizarre. I have a new (well, about a year old) Bosch dishwasher that’s been run about 3 times in the bast 24 hours. The cycle does take a bit more than 2 hours but the dishes, and stainless steel pots, and huge ceramic slow cooker insert, and everything came out sparkling clean. My old Whirlpool required that I practically had to hand wash everything before running a cycle.
My experience certainly doesn’t align with this story at all.
I have a Bosch dishwasher too. I agree it cleans great but the cycle is 255 minutes, a half load is 231 min. My last Bosch cleaned great too but it took only 120 minutes.
My washer has a max fill option, which is why I bought it, however the auto option puts about 4-6 inches of water in the tub, similar to the article. If that was my only choice my clothes would be full of soap every time. And arguably not clean.
Water is what cleans, the detergent just helps loosen the dirt. Why is more water with a much shorter cycle worse than less water with a ridiculously long cycle? One conserves water (unless it’s run multiple times or more water is added and water is recycled back to the treatment facility so is it actually wasted) and one conserves electricity?
I don’t want appliances with even less water and even longer run times.
We had a very early version of a high efficiency to loader washer by Kenmore. That thing never cleaned well, and I celebrated the day it died irreparably. Later I found out that the model was a complete dud. So it is likely that there are some modern day duds with bad design.
Our front loader Miele works like a charm. I always use way less detergent than the detergent makers recommend. The dishwasher is also by Miele and takes care of the dishes nicely. Only 2 hours for a regular load, but there is a 30 minute option.
We have a Bosch dw that has a short cycle and it cleans great…even without rinsing the diahes first.
Our LG front load (low water use) washing machine has a short cycle…15 minutes. I use that for most loads. The gas dryer short cycle is 25 minutes, but I usually have to add 5 minutes to that.
I always had the same complaint with the low flush toilet. You don’t save water (which is what it is supposed to do), if you have to flush twice every single time.
Bosch and Miele dishwashers sense the temperature of incoming hot water and calculate run times depending on how long it will take to heat the water to the washing temperature. My dishwasher may take 2:15 or 1:50 for a regular cycle depending on that.
The toilet makers struggled with low flow designs at first, but nowadays many came up with some pretty efficient and effective flush mechanisms. Because we don’t replace toilets as often as we replace dishwashers on average, many of those horrible flushers are still around.
I’d agree that newer low water toilets seem more effective. And some have a dual button, so you can specific double flush or single flush (basically a “#1 or #2” choice, so as not to waste water or a simple / all liquids flush)
When we moved into our house, it came with fairly new LG washer and dryer. Thank goodness the washer is a top-loader because the gaskets on front-loaders gross me out. We previously had “stupid” washing machines which worked great. For the LG, we had problems with detergent residue, feeling like clothes weren’t clean, etc. We have solved that by running every single load on the “bulky / bedding” setting. Which quite defeats the efficiency but at least our clothes get clean
When we replace our laundry machines, we will buy the bullet-proof refurbished industrial not-smart machines that we have admired at a local appliance repair shop.
We’ve also replaced the 4 toilets in our house with Toto brand toilets. Clogs are rare since then.
My Bosch dishwasher takes a long time, but it’s very quiet and we mostly run it on delay at night. That said a couple of month ago it decided to etch all our glasses. The filter was not that dirty, but DH never fills the rinse aid section. So that may have been the issue.
For those that find detergent on the clothes use a lot less soap. You only need a very very small amount and obviously only HE detergent. I’ve had several high efficiency washers - all relatively inexpensive ones - and they get my clothes very clean. Cleaner than old top loaders for sure. I wash only in cold water aside from underwear, sheets and towels.
Over the past 10 years every now and then a discussion comes up about appliances and how the new ones are no good because of their water-saving features. Here and elsewhere. I don’t doubt other people’s experiences, but mine is that we have a Whirlpool washer and a Kitchen-Aid dishwasher and have had no problems. I use no more than 2 TBS of detergent in the washer and about half what the dishwasher lines indicate. I often do use an additional rinse in the washer because my husband has sensitive skin. The regular wash cycle takes 59 minutes. The dishwasher’s regular cycle runs around 2 hrs but the 1 hour setting works fine also. I have to believe that some of the complaints are user error but I am sure not all. Oh, and I have never had a problem with smell in my front-loading washer. I leave the door open slightly after a wash and sometimes I remember to wipe the gasket. Your experience may be different.
Another thought about Bosch dishwashers and rinse aid: the regular cycle on ours runs 2 hrs 9 minutes. Being out of rinse aid adds about 20-25 minutes to the cycle. I am also impressed with what a good job the half hour express cycle does.
