A couple of questions about large kitchen appliances. Very exciting stuff.

[JockTamsonsBairns]

I have two questions about my kitchen white goods that I'd like to throw out to any wise MNers who are having a similarly exciting Saturday as me.

1. Re my washing machine.

I've always just done my darks on a 40° wash, with non-bio, on my machine's standard 'daily wash' which is 59 minutes. Whites, towels and sheets get done on a 60° wash, with bio, on a cotton wash which takes 2hrs 20 minutes.

Obviously now looking at how I can be a bit more economical with my leccy bill, so could I change this around in some way?
My machine has a 'rapid' wash, where I can choose between either minutes or 30 minutes. What are those cycles for?
There are four of us - me, DH, and DCs (15 and 13). Nothing gets hugely soiled really.
So would a rapid cycle be sufficient for our clothes?

1. Just been musing on this one.

I need to buy a new dishwasher as mine has decided it's not willing to do much dish washing these days. I've been looking online, and I see that many dishwashers now have WiFi connectivity. I can't figure out the benefits of having this. I've read the blurb - it seems like you can download an App which tells you how long the cycle has left to run. Why would you want this information? Also, it says you can start a cycle remotely with the App. But you'd need to be there to put the tablet in, so I can't see the benefit of that either.

Grateful to anyone who can offer their thoughts.

My 'rapid' wash is either 14 minutes or 30 minutes, that should say

My washing machine came with a user manual that showed the energy and water usage for most of the programs. The standard cottons and easy care programs can be shortened, but the more you shorten them the more electricity and water they use. The most economical program is the longest: 5h.

I doubt your fast program is going to save you anything other than time.

I wash virtually everything, including towels and bedding, at 40C. The detergent will deal with most nasties. You don't need the increased temperature. Some people wash everything at 30C. (I would do that if I could find a bio powder that I'm not allergic to.)

I also have no idea what benefit there is to having a dishwasher with wifi.

I wouldn't bother with a wifi dishwasher.
Wifi washer yes so you can spin it after the wash cycles been on

I use the eco programme on everything. They take much longer but use less water and leccy weirdly

I don't want a WiFi adapted dishwasher. The Fire Service are always telling people not to run them unattended or at night when you're asleep so why would you need it?

I have a wifi washing machine. I hoped I could used it to make the fucker shut up from the sofa, but instead both it and my phone bleep. I disabled the wifi setting!

For cost saving, you need the eco setting on both. It uses less water and electric because it lets everything soak so needs less agitation and water.

Speed programmes on my Bosch washing machine are costlier to run than standard or eco programmes.
The super quick 15 and 30 min options usually have low weight capacity.
With modern dyes, you can put whites and colours in the same wash, I do all the time. I'm just careful with new clothing, particularly reds, browns, blues and blacks and try to do a 'darks only' wash the first time.
Try planning eco washes so that the time they finish is convenient to you and you aren't waiting for them to finish (very frustrating). EG put the machine on delay so it washes very early the next morning so it's ready to peg out when you get up.

I always do one 60C wash per week (towels or bedding) for the sake of the washing machine (there's a warning light on mine for if a hot wash hasn't been done in a while). Obviously, the manufacturers think a high temp wash is necessary.
The delay start button is very handy to stop the wet washing sitting in the machine too long.
I can't see the benefit of wifi on the dishwasher either but we do use the delay function so the dishes are still hot when we are ready to empty it - we always shake the racks to remove residual water so dishes being hot helps.

Glad I'm not alone in wondering about the WiFi dishwasher. It seems to appear on lots of them so I was thinking I might be missing something obvious.

@WashAsDelicates @gingercat02 that's interesting, thank you. I didn't think about using the long Eco wash. It's crazy to think that a 4hr 40min wash is more economical than a 14min wash - I can't get my head round that.

I've just put a white/light wash on a daily wash with bio liquid, so 40°. That feels all sorts of wrong! My mother would be appalled 😂

We do 3 loads types: darks, lights and whites.

Darks and lights go on a 1 hour, 40C wash.
Whites (as in kids school shirts) go on a 60C cottons wash if DH does it. 40C cottons wash if I do it. The cottons cycle is about 2 hours.

I can't figure out why you'd want these things wfi enabled either.

@Jellybean23 I feel like I could never mix darks and lights, but maybe that's just my conditioning talking.

You can all scoff if you like, but I bloody love doing laundry 😂. I do my darks with non-bio as I can't bear them fading to grey. And I do whites with bio so they don't also turn grey!

I've been running regular 60° washes (around twice a week), but I occasionally run an empty boil wash with some white vinegar to clean the drum. I'm in a high limescale area.

I'm pretty sure you're using biological washing powder at too high a temperature if you're doing it on a 60 degree wash. The enzymes in bio washing products work better at lower temperatures - they usually recommend 30 or 40 degrees on the labels.

According to which;

"turning down the temperature from 40°C (to 20) dramatically reduced running costs – by an average of 62%"

"Washing at 30°C uses 38% less energy than washing at 40°C"

"The 60°C program generally delivers slightly better cleaning than the 40°C program, especially when it comes to greasy stains, and is ideal for bedding and towels. But it will cost you – running costs increase by more than half if you wash at 60°C as opposed to 40°C.

You might be washing at 60°C because you've heard it kills bacteria, but the temperature on its own doesn't. Some bacterial spores and viruses are resistant to washing at 60°C.

You need to combine your 60°C wash with a good detergent to blast that bacteria. So you might be better off simply choosing a good detergent, treating stains and washing at 40°C to get a great clean that doesn't cost a lot to run."

This is the link: www.which.co.uk/reviews/washing-machines/article/washing-machine-temperature-guide-aLiyf2p96y4d

I'd invest in a good quality washing liquid (they actually clean better than the pods) and run at 40 for bedding and towels.
Then for your lightly soiled clothes etc, 30 or even 20 degrees would be fine.

I rarely wash anything higher than 40. I just do a cleaning cycle as needed.

I've spent the past month reviewing, comparing appliances etc as needed to buy ALL appliances for a derelict property we have renovated.

Compare the water usage and electric for various cycles. You may spend more on a more energy efficient machine- but it will pay back in terms of lower electric usage over time. Do check the small print- because some sites show the kWh for the eco wash and not others. Look at the warranty length too.

Once you have any idea of the machine model/s you want, check on comparison sites for prices. Do you know anyone with a bluelight card? They give 20% off Miele, 10% off Marks Electricals, ASDA and Doherty Bros and I think £10 off for things over £100. If no discount card/code, use a cashback. I'm with top cashback but there are others. Jus t by logging in, searching for the appliance site and clicking on it before you purchase, you can earn cashback.

I too was surprised that the ECO washes which take 3+ hrs apparently use less electrics/water! I also had no idea why I'd want/need the WIFI settings. These are the only reasons I could think of:

• You set the machine up before work, and turn it on to be finished as you get home
• You pre programme to start in the early hours if you have cheaper electric at that time on economy 7
• You pre programme for Kosher mode to come on automatically so you aren't touching the machine during Sabbath

I WFH so really not sure I'll need it, but maybe there is something else I'm missing?

In terms of mixing whites with colours, for years I've used colour catches. Brilliant! I'd always wash the darks separately a few times but after that had no issue with mixing. I used to have a white blouse uniform and never enough of a load to do separate light/dark wash.

Do you have any brands in mind OP?

Not much help on either of your questions but wanted to dig in and say when you decide what model you want to buy, take a look at bootsappliances.com no one ever seems to know that Boots sell white goods, but they do, they use AO.com so prices are generally reasonable and you get advantage points so you end up with a whole load of points to spend which is like an extra discount.

My new dishwasher has the WiFi option, I do not need it so I have not connected it to my phone.

Thank you so much. This is exactly the information I was hoping for.

I've always thought that I needed to wash at 60 to exterminate everything, but I'm learning that this might not be the case.

So, based on your information, I should be using bio at 40°?
That feels so wrong to me - however, I'm here to learn.
Tonight, I've put a load in the machine - 40°, all whites. So, I'm taking everything on board.

Can anyone recommend a good washing liquid? Whenever I’ve used liquids my machine gets all that grey gunk all over the rubber seals.

@JaniceBattersby I use powder both for bio and non bio. I have a friend who works for the R&D dept at Procter and Gamble (Ariel etc) and she recommends powder.
Also more eco friendly as it comes in cardboard boxes.