Washing machines.

I agree that my washing machine has too many complucTed programmes and I usually use the same 3 -60 degree short wash for towels, 40 degrees short wash for most things and 30 min wash for swimming things and DHs muddy golf clothes .
We recenly got a new tumble dryer as ours was recalled. I chose the simplest but it is ridiculously complicated and I only use the same setting with time button. On my old one it was on or off and I just chose the time.

I was told by a repair man years ago that simple is best.
The more features, the more to go wrong.
He kept my beko (129 pounds) machine going for almost 28 years.

When we downsized to a small apartment 8 years ago Chewbacca we hadn’t room for a separate washer & drier. We bought our wash/dry machine from John Lewis & it’s been brilliant. Drying is superb. Darn it, I’ve probably hexed the thing now ..... !

I have a Bosch, I use 2 programmes plus a quick 19 minute cycle for lightly soiled clothes.
Could the long length of the cycle have something to do with that all washers are now cold fill?

They have to justify the huge price so add all these bells and whistles that nobody uses. Same with cars. it's just more stuff to go wrong.

Got new washer a few months ago use 30!wash for most washes but don't overfill it.

My tumble drier plays Schubert's Trout Quintet when my washing is dry! Just saying.....

Hello Saggi - I've just found the box under the sink - it's called 'HG service engineer' and it comes in a white box. Inside that there's a plastic bottle with a ghastly child-proof lid as it's corrosive. You're meant to wear rubber gloves when you put it in the place where the wash powder goes and put the machine on a hot wash. I use it infrequently - only if a problem occurs. I think I got it from either Lakeland or John Lewis. It worked a treat.

Why do they have that long delay after it's finished before you can open the door? Very frustrating!

My best washing machine ever was a Hotpoint upright where you could lift the lid while it was working and pop in those things that you'ld find had dropped off the pile halfway down the stairs. It had an amazingly good spin speed as well.

I usually only use the one programme (ECO) for everything except now and again I'll run it on the hottest cycle, empty, to clean it thoroughly.

My new one takes longer because they are all made to take a cold fill. My previous one took hot and cold to fill so that it heated up much quicker. I've also got umpteen programmes but only use 3

The washing machine in the property I currently rent is a Hotpoint jetwash (I think) about 7 YEARS old when I moved here 6 years ago. Still going strong and I only use 2 of the 10 washing options. 30 for normal clothes or 40 for towels. All my bedding (bar pillowcases) goes to a valeting service and duvets get washed there yearly when I swap from winter tog to summer lightweight tog.
I use a colour catcher and have put white pants in with dark blue denim Primark jeans with no bleeding or bluish tinge on white items at all...and I'm űber fussy.
I don't think we need to separate clothes as much as we once did.
I use my machine just once a week or sometimes three times a fortnight.

I use 3- 60,30 and delicates but I also use the spin cycle after some of my 30 washes as that spin cycle is only 1000.

Don't wash your favourite cashmere cardigan on a 40C mixed fabrics wash btw.

(it got mixed up with the other washing)

When our last machine went on the blink we got a new one with maximum energy saving. The long programmes use less water and less electricity, but I refuse to use the "Eco" button because I read that it didn't heat the water to the temperature it said (60° wash only heats the water to 27°!!!!).

I use most of the programmes provided in my new machine - over time I have discovered the advantages of all of them!

I wish we had the option to buy top loaders in the uk. I use my daughters when I visit her in Australia and it is brilliant. You can tailor the programmes to suit yourself, temperature, wash time and spin speeds. If you forget to put something in you just lift the lid and pop it in during the cycle. So much quicker and effective than the traditional front loaders and easier to clean and get washing in and out of too. I've only ever seen a few advertised here but they are of a smaller lidded drum design and nothing like the ones in Australia and US. I would so love to have the choice here.

I do agree NanaEm - when i was i australia and NZ I found that the machines I came across were top loaders and much simpler. You just set time and temp yourself and pressed start and that was that. No problems at all. Why are ours so complicated?

As my washing machine is about 14 years old, I have been just looking at what is available if it does decide to pack up. I rarely use anything other than the same programme on this, 'Every Day' which takes an hour, I can put in the temp I wish and usually do washing at either 30 or 40.
However this machine has spin drying up to 1600 rpm, and I find that is not on most machines currently being sold.
In the summer I hang washing outside, I do have a tumble dryer which I use rarely. During the winter my washing is hung on an airer in a south facing spare room and dries very quickly.
If/when I need to replace this I have no intention of going up market or up pricings, so will probably have to settle on one with spinning up to 1400 rpm max.
Seeing the posts about uprights reminds me of back in the 1960/70s when we were looking for a front loading washing machine (just coming on the market then), and all of them then only had spins of about 800rpm whilst the uprights would have spins over 1000. When I asked why this was, a very serious faced (and totally ignorant) salesman told me that if the tank was placed on its side (for front loading), a faster spin of even a 1000 rpm, would cause it to spin off its axle!!!!

I'm reviving this thread because I have a problem with our new Whirlpool washer - it doesn't get whites really white.
We had a cheap little one in France and whites always came out sparkling.
Both at 40 degrees.
Both using Persil non bio.
French programme 90 mins, english 60 mins.
Could the change of water have anything to do with it?

Yes Fennel, I think water type makes a huge difference to all sorts of things - tea quality, shampoo lathering, skin comfort after bathing/showering and also household cleaning.

Help! I have just had a new integrated Bosch installed after 16 years of my Neff. The chap who installed it did a lovely job and it looks great. But, he ran through the programme instructions so quickly and made it look so simple. DH stood in the background nodding sagely and saying how simple it looked hmmm 'him who has only ever used a twin tub washing m/c for one week when DD was born 46 years ago'. Now I have my nose in the instructions and am panicking - I have decided to get up early a.m. and tackle my first wash without any assistance - wish me luck.

If in doubt...try YouTube. The answer to many problems apparently lies there!

I too have taken recently taken delivery of a Bosch. I previously had a Siemens with a Bosch motor and it has served me well.
I too am baffled by all the programmes. Today I kept hearing a beeping sound, then it would stop and start again. I was totally baffled until I realised that each time I leant against it to help DGD roll out her "pastry", I was pausing it. I didn't even know it had a "pause" function.
What I have noticed is that is definitely using less energy and it is oh, so quiet. .

Just recently bought a Beko machine and in the information leaflet it says not to use powder...why??..have got lots of powder that needs using up!!

Years ago, my boiler stopped working. It turned out the powder from my washing machine had backed in the waste pipe all the way to the boiler. I had never heard of anything so bizarre!
I threw the remaining powder out.

My Samsung has its dial pointing at 'Daily wash' almost permanently. Occasionally moved to rinse and spin, but that is about it.