New Bosch washing machine | 3 hours and 50 minutes cotton cycle | WTF?

Open door, put stuff in, put powder in drawer or capsule in machine. Turn on to 45minute wash at 40d. 1400 spin.

That does me for everything, no exceptions. No kids or mucky workers here though. I haven't caught any diseases from unkilled germs yet!

I think most people will find one or at most two programs that suit them and stick to them despite there being a hundred more on the dial/digi display.

I have a basic Indesit, no digi stuff, no bells and whistles, hand controlled dials. Best bloody thing ever.

My Miele does this in 1 hour and 39 minutes

Please remember the police won’t come banging on your door if you do a cottons wash on a synthetics setting.

What Bosch do you have? Mine has loads of different washes, there is an everyday mixed wash that's only 58 minutes, a sports wash that's around the hour mark. The max weight halves when using the speed perfect button because there is less agitation and soaking time so the clothes need more room to move around quicker. You can put more in but they will move around in one large mass and not get as clean.

I’ve done a 30 degree 30 minute cycle on almost everything for decades with no ill effects.

Anything really stained gets soaked in boiling water/some sort of stain remover then washed in the 30/30 cycle.

I don’t use softener and why on earth do everyday clothes need anti bacterial cleaning?

Fabric softener, crap to make your clothes smell like an alpine forest or whatever and anti bacterial cleaning are just a load of bollocks aimed at getting folk to “Hinch it” and spend more money.

Eco washes spend a considerable amount of time allowing the items to soak, reducing power consumption and wear and tear on the machine. Hence it takes longer.

Most modern washing machines weigh and add a measured amount of water according to the size of the load. The less diluted the detergent is the more effective it is.

Surely it’s not difficult for someone to choose a programme time and temperature to suit them? For day to day washing l prefer to use the delicates programme because its kinder to the clothes.

@ThisOldThang have you ever weighed your washing? The weight limit is for dry clothing and I have never come anywhere close to 9kg of washing that would actually fit the drum so I just fill it and leave a gap for movement but I doubt it’s ever weighed more than 5 or 6 kg at most

Well no of course not. I would guess what they mean when they say a cycle is suitable for 9kg vs 5kg worth of clothing is that if you try to put 9kg through the speedier cycle, it won't get as clean. As long as you're not cramming the drum so full nothing can move though, it will probably be fine.

How does this capacity reduction work in practice? Does a hand appear out of the drum holding a sign reading, "Kein Waschen mehr, Dummkopf!"

When I wash stuff like that I tend to add a prewash but do a normal cycle at 60C.

The prewash gets rid of any actual remnants of the soil and then the 60C cycle kills bacteria.

But I have just used your image to find the approx model and the manual does say if you use the speed perfect button to reduce the cycle time, it also reduces capacity to 5kg (from a 9kg machine) which is a bit shit TBH. Still, may be worth a try.

If you are not happy with it, are you in a position to return it?

My Bosch machine is weird. I mostly use 40c easy car for 55 mins. But had something yesterday that I wasn’t sure of( a rubberised Mac) so went to select easy care 30c and it flashed up 2hrs 50!! So I just stuck with 40 and it was fine . Just do t see why it’s so much longer on some programs .

I just chuck most things into a proper grammar on my machine called ‘jeans’ 1 hour, 40c and 1700 spin. Towels, u see wear and bedding all go on a longer cycle.

my favourite setting is the timer. I set it so that it starts when we wake up but means I don’t have to run downstairs to press the button.

And what does the super quick wash like? Most of my washing can get clean in a short wash like that. Most of our clothes dont get really muddy etc

I often use the eco cycle when working from home. Put it on before starting work then its ready by lunchtime.

I feel your pain. We’ve got new Bosch a year ago (ours is max 9kg) - all programmes are much longer even with speed perfect button. It was carefully chosen but to be honest the online info was quite limited.
Our previous one was Hotpoint with a big load as well. It had quick light silk cycle which was absolutely perfect for some of my and DD’s items, an option to add extra rinse, much better options for 60 degrees wash and a handwash programme as well.

I mostly use mixed and quick wash on everyday basis and cottons on a timer. I haven’t dared yet to use ECO circle 🙂

I just bung everything on the "mixed" cycle, which is 1 hour 20 minutes. Like yours, my cotton cycle is something bonkers. I think it's over 3 hours!

I also tend to give everything an extra 12 minute spin cycle at the end, which gives a good head-start on drying.

dc was really unwell this week and came home as I’d prefer to keep an eye out.

When they left I washed all bedding, towels and clothes.

If I’d have to wait for the usual 2 & half hours and then dry everything it would have been like a laundry! Luckily I have a speed perfect button. Otherwise no thanks.

The manufacturers need to listen to their customers.

Absolutely. If the cycles are not practical for family living then they are not going to be used. Waste of fucking time developing them.