<p>I have a couple of questions about the washers and dryers in RSNT. How long does it usually take to run a load of wash? I remember seeing buttons for lights, darks and perm. press. I wasn’t sure if the type of wash determined how long the whole thing took. The same with the dryers. How long does it usually run and how do you contro lthe heat? </p>
<p>My son called with these questions and I really don’t know the answers… We checked out the laundry room last week when he moved in but the washers and dryers are different from what we have at home. He has soom athletic type clothing that is made from those high performacmnce polyesters and I don’t want them cooked. </p>
<p>Any help on the temps and timing would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I know Ridgecrest West has new machines, but all of the machines should still be similar, to the previous and “new” machines. The washers take 36-39 minutes depending on how many other washers are being used. The dryers go for 60 minutes ($0.25 for each additional 12 minutes).</p>
<p>You can’t select the temperature, but can chose between wash cycles for whites, colors, bright colors, dedicates, permanent press, and possibly wool. The dryers have settings for whites/colors (same setting), dedicates, and permanent press.</p>
<p>I do know that the dryers can run hot as I’ve had to bring certain clothes home to wash. Most items will be dry after 45 minutes, especially those made of polyester or a 50/50 cotton/poly blend.</p>
<p>Oh this is right up my alley as I did a lot of laundry today! 36 minute wash cycles, regardless of setting. 60 minute dryers BUT you can stop them at any time and change the setting. They do run hot. I was able to dry a load of towels in 30 min, then a load of tshirts in 20 with 10 left to tumble press some dress shirts on delicate. You definitely don’t want him to leave a tshirt load in the full time, way too hot for that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. I’ll pass it on to my son. I figured the washer would be no problem, it was the dryer I was worried about. I’m afraid those dryers may melt this stuff if it stays in there too long. I think I’ll tell him to hang around and check it after 10 minutes and pull it out if it is dry.</p>
<p>I think he may have been overwhelmed when we dropped him off before band camp and did not digest what I was saying. Now I get the phone call ‘how do I wash all these clothes?’ He normally doesn’t wear these types of clothes but with band camp they are keeping him alittle cooler.</p>
<p>OK, this was yet another thing we didn’t have time / energy to look into. Are the washers and dryers actually free? Or should we send DS a roll of quarters in his next care package? Thanks in advance!!</p>
<p>LD … the laundry works off the Action Card, so this is one of the better uses for having a little bit of Bama Cash loaded on the Action Card. Laundry! I put $20 on my D’s card a couple days ago and she’s already done laundry since we moved her in on the 12th.</p>
<p>Thanks much!! We had not put cash on the Action Card, because DS is using his Wells Fargo / Wachovia debit card instead, but we will do so right away. Thanks again!!</p>
<p>What would I do without this forum??? Seriously!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help. I talked with my son and he indeed figured it all out. The next question he had for me was ‘How come my white clothes are still dirty after I took them out of the wash’? What the heck? I don’t know.</p>
<p>Apparently you get really, really dirty at band camp:)</p>
<p>Use the bright color setting for cold water. Use the whites for drying.</p>
<p>Son took a full day, about six hours, to do his first laundry last year, as he was unfamiliar with the settings. He would call me to talk him through it the first couple of times, but then finally got the appropriate settings for his clothes down pat.</p>
<p>When we went up a couple of weeks later to bring computer stuff, I went in the laundry room and helped him, and many other young men, figure out what setting to use and what you should and should not put together. </p>
<p>While we teach them how to do laundry at home before they head off to college, there are different settings for different machines, and it is sometimes not so obvious what settings are analagous to our machines at home.</p>
<p>The dryer was the culprit for my son’s long laundry day. He was drying things on a lower setting than he should have, and it took him a few cycles for things to get dry. A helpful coed on the floor said she dried everything on whites to get the adequate amount of time, so that’s the setting son uses now.</p>
<p>I was very proud of my son as to how well he took care of his clothes last year. While we didn’t send him with anything expensive, the new wardrobe was a big expense for us, since he had worn uniforms all his life, and the rest of his wardrobe consisted of swimwear.</p>
<p>D did laundry last week and tried using the darks setting and got warm water. Very true about figuring out which settings are similar to what they are used to using at home. Since she has learned to separate darks from lights she assumed darks would be cold I told her to try brights next time, but now I can tell her I know for sure!</p>
<p>I helped these young men with separating type of fabric, too. As many had some nice shirts, nothing fancy, but better fabric than just tshirts, they wanted to make sure they washed those properly.</p>
I’m seriously tempted to get a roll of quarters.</p>
I told her to try brights next time, but now I can tell her I know for sure!</p>