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

Oh FGS!!!
All this nonsense trying to make consumers read women feel guilty about doing their bloody washing!

Several loads of washing a day - and that is part of the issue, isn't it? This idea that if your child changes out of school uniform into a t-shirt at 4pm and changes again into pyjamas at 7.30pm, that the t-shirt they have worn for 3 and half hours is "dirty" and needs to be washed. Or washing towels after each use, new pair of pyjamas daily, bedding washed twice a week etc etc etc.

And don't get me started on all the shite marketed at people like scent boosters, fabric conditioner, laundry sanitiser.

Would love to know what people think the benefit is of Beko, Bosch and the rest of them lying about how much energy their machines use.

Okay, cool. So we gave you the quick wash setting for that. And presumably you use it, so what have we missed?

There is a setting that people who don’t care about climate change or cost can use every time - quick wash.

What’s your point?

I mean, we obviously literally have and do do this.

Do you genuinely think we’re idiots who don’t realise that working mothers are the main users?
This is literally our full time jobs to think about these things!

The whole reason a ‘quick wash’ cycle exists is to cater for people in these circumstances who need to get a load done in a shorter time.

I’m simply pointing out that when you choose to use that cycle it uses 30-60% more energy depending on model, which means it costs you 30-60% more, it doesn’t break down stains, oils or sweat as well, it removes less bacteria and allergens and it increases wear and tear of your clothes.

By all means - use quick wash every time, no-one is stopping you but we can’t change the way the material world works so a quick wash cycle is always going to have these issues and an eco-wash cycle is always going to take time.

Well you all need to get out more and start listening to your customers instead of lecturing them that you know better.

I’m not interested in running cost savings, it doesn’t cost much to run a washing machine annually. I’m interested in time and energy savings - mine - not electricity.

Absolutely do not run household appliances overnight.
House fires are often caused by dishwashers, tumble dryers and washing machines running overnight.
The best way to reduce use of resources is to stop washing so much.
It's an obsession on here to wash , wash, wash everyday.
Fuelled by , guess who, makers of washing products!

Because I bloody well work in this area and FYI most of us aren’t “blokes” thanks.

Most of the people I work with are women who are also, shock horror, mothers and therefore, guess what, not only run hundreds and thousands of carefully studied tests but actually use washing machines on a regular basis at home too.

I have a beko of a similar age, but I’m finding lately that the rinse and spin isn’t really taking any water out, the clothes are still sopping wet when it’s finished?

usually do one of the wash cycles then rinse and spin before hanging it up, but it’s not working recently? Cleaned the filter and checked the hose and all that - it doesn’t feel bad enough to call someone in but it’s really annoying. When I look up videos, it’s not as bad as those look - there’s no water standing in the drum, but the clothes haven’t been spun imo!

FYI Eco washes use 30-60% less energy than quick washes, which also means 30-60% cost saving and that doesn’t even account for the wear and tear on your clothes that quick washes have.

Why would you think some bloke working for a washing machine company knows better than all the people washing their clothes on a regular basis.

Best for whom? Not for me, a working mother who wants to get through several loads of washing in a day, not overnight.

What they haven’t spent time analysing is what would be best for the working mothers buying their machines…

I know it’s just a washing machine thread but bloody hell, the level of delusion and thinking “I know better” based on literally nothing is really indicative of what’s going wrong in our society right now.

This is bonkers. That “stops occasionally” is it’s soaking period, when it’s using almost no energy whatsoever.

They will have run literally hundreds or thousands of tests to determine that it saves energy and water. That you think you can glance at your washing machine a few times during its 3 hour cycle and think this means you know more is delusional, surely you can see that?

The shorter cycles I use are delicates and wool, so no that’s not true.

One additional point I forgot, for the reasons noted above quick washes also don’t get environmental allergens out as well and so again - anyone with sensitive skin may find it gets irritated.

My Bosch washing machine has long cycles too, but there are some additional buttons that allow the standard cycles to be sped up - doesn’t your model have those?

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I have seen how the 3-hour cycle works on my washing machine. There is nothing slow about it. It just pauses occasionally and nobody will ever convince me that it is more efficient than another cycle I have that runs for just 57 minutes.

Use whatever cycle you like but just FYI if you rely on using ‘quick wash’ cycles:

It won’t get your clothes as clean, as the detergent doesn’t have the time it needs to fully break down oils, sweat and dirt. So it’s fine for lightly worn clothes but anything more than that won’t be properly clean, you might not see anything immediately but it will accumulate over time.

It defaults to lower temperatures as there’s less time to heat the water and so this is less effective on bacteria which can cause lingering odours.

It has less rinsing time so is more likely to leave detergent in the fabric which can leave them feeling stiff and/or irritate sensitive skin.

Because it relies on constant churning of the clothes with little soaking periods it’s much harder on your clothes and you’ll get less use out of them and see more bobbling, wear and tear.

It uses less time, but is using more electricity and water and so costs you more.

I have loads of different programmes on my washer, I use the daily quick which takes 28 mins and then stick back on another spin which takes 12

They are all cold fed now too which adds to the times

I have a Bosh with speedperfect. I think the cotton wash is supposed to be 2 hours long but I've never used that. Pressing the speedperfect button cuts it down to an hour. That's the longest cycle I use.

I feel like I’m becoming a broken record on here but there are a lot of not very logical conclusions in this thread.

Scientists across many different companies, who have spent their entire careers studying the best combination of water usage, power usage and impact on the cleanliness of your clothes have determined that the Eco wash cycle is the best option.

They will have run hundreds, if not thousands, of tests in all sorts of circumstances on different materials, stains, etc.

And yet…so many people think they know better from…what exactly?

If the Eco wash cycle doesn’t fit your life circumstances by all means use another cycle - but don’t then talk about climate change or whatever.

It’s literally one of the smallest ways to make a change - just run it overnight. You can still do 3 washes a day, surely no-one is doing more washing than that if you have an average sized family?

I use the eco wash all the time. It's not often it takes the advertised 3h 50 as it works on the weight. I put one on this morning and it cut it down to 2 hours. I generally put it on on a timer to finish at 6.30 in the morning. It uses a lot less water and energy using the eco setting.

It doesn’t get churned around for hours. The reason it takes longer is that it uses soaking much more - so you’ll hear it churning around for a short time and then it will be silent for a soaking period. Then another short churn, followed by another soak.

Its more gentle on clothes than the shorter cycles people are picking for this very reason.

But you are misunderstanding.

It takes less energy to agitate slowly and let clothes steep in the water than it does to do it quickly.

Yes my Bosch, at least five years old, has really long cycles but I use the mixed load at 60 minutes for everything except towels and bedding. Then I either use the eco wash if I'm not in a rush or Speed Perfect. I'd be surprised (and annoyed) if I bought a new machine and it only had a limited range of long cycles.