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

[ThisOldThang]

Our old Bosch washing machine gave up the ghost. The cotton cycle took around 90 minutes with extra rinse selected.

The new one has a 3 hour and 50 minute cycle.

How is that acceptable to anybody?

From what I've read it's all due to water efficiency. I live in Britain. We've got shit loads of water falling from the sky. This isn't an arid Greek island.

Am I unreasonable to think this is total bullshit and not what any family needs? Which morons allowed this to happen?

This annoys me so much. I had to buy a new washing machine around 6 months ago, I looked for one with a quick wash, large wash size and fast spin. I want to be able to do all of these things together! The fastest spin is only on the cotton wash that takes 3+ hours, not even the spin only goes that fast. Some of the special washes can only take a half load and the 15 minute wash only has a 400 spin speed.

I can select the spin speed separately on my washer. Are you sure you aren't able to do this?

I agree OP. I think this is a relatively new thing, maybe started 4 or so years ago?
I've had 2 Bosch washing machines in my adult life, first one was inherited no idea how old it was. They lasted years. Years I'm telling you. Perfect everything.
A year ago I needed a replacement and only wanted Bosch based on my experience for reliability, ease of use and everything else.
It's absolutely pants! The quality is shit, most cycles take ages. But I do use a button which can shorten some cycles. The thing is it is constantly adjusting the finish time. There is no option to turn off the beep at the end which really annoys me. And the door is really stupid, or there is some sensor somewhere which means 50% of the time it doesn't start without me having to open the door, move the stuff around inside the machine the close the door properly again. I've had no luck in solving this mystery but it's beyond irritating.
Basically the whole washing experience starts with a whole load of irritation. Then a let down on finishing time estimates. £900 for a load of nonsense.
I don't like washing, why make it so annoying. Previous machines were perfect. My installer said the manufacturing standards have really gone down with Bosch and the machines are manufactured everywhere else but in Germany.
I love German stuff, I have so much German stuff because it works properly , reliable and are cleverly designed, well manufactured and superb neat details and everything works perfectly. They weren't cheap plus importing quite a lot of things. From the taps on all our sinks to some cleverly designed furniture to cars. In my imagination Germans must live in a very efficient world where nothing is annoying, everything works and nothing breaks down.
But Standards have definitely slipped with Bosch.

As a side note, I've always understood it is not safe to leave washing machines working overnight or when out of the house. Fire hazard without anyone on hand to notice as early as possible if things go wrong.

That's the same as my Hisense washing machine cotton cycle! 3hr 50mins! By the time you tumble dry the towels it's taken up the best part of a day!

I'll take that risk!

Check your insurance, as it could prove expensive if there is a fire and you aren’t home.

Maybe there is an insurance expert, who can tell us if it’s true, insurance won’t pay out, if an appliance catches fire and you aren’t home.

I notice the difference fast wash to slow wash (mine is 4hrs). On a fast wash the clothes just aren't clean.

Maybe people are washing their clothes after every wear? So they werent that dirty to begin with. Its really not necessary to do that especially Jeans etc and wears out your clothes.

I just do long wash overnight (using delay timer to get it to finish an hour or so before Im up.

I have the same..I just use mixed load (unless I'm doing 9kgs of washing)
My heat pump tumble dryer cunts me off. About 6 hours to dry said 9kg load

Yes I'm interested to know if this is true it seems bonkers, especially with washing machine cycles being longer.

If we can't run it at night, and can't put it on and go to work, that doesn't leave a lot of time we can use it.

I always use a shorter wash and add extra rinses now. Most programmed washes don't add enough water to actually clean clothes properly and get rid of smells. I think the eco wash is about using less water so it saves electric heating it, designed by manufacturers to get their energy rating rather than clean clothes well.

New machines are rubbish , plus mine if accidentally knocked and switched off loses all the memory of the programme. I didn’t realise how often it was possible to reach to a top cupboard and lightly brush the on off part of it . Another bugbear is it doesn’t have a spin only or rinse and spin button none of which I noticed when I bought it , which is my fault .

Yeah, a 15 minute wash doesn’t cut the chase with my husband’s clothes, either.

60° is the only thing that works for his work clothes, which is a 2 hr wash, and i can live with that.

I have a Samsung series 9 washing machine and dryer.
The vast amount of stupid programmes, the problems (and AI engineer and repair man called three times in 2 years). Dryer is on the way out already, me thinks.
My husband (75) wanted to buy the best.
Unfortunately, stuff like this is just fancy shit now.

Just bought one too and was shocked at the cycle lengths given it’s supposed to be a highly rated machine from an eco/energy efficiency perspective - however it has a mixed 40 degree wash that is only 60mins, so I just use that.

Have these same issues - am now used to using the Cotton cycle less, and the Outdoor or Sportswear settings much more (1hr 40 and 1hr 15). Have not gone near Eco and once tried NonStop60 which to my surprise attempted to both wash AND dry in 60!

Yeah no softener or that awful antibacterial stuff here either

I also dont wash on 30
It's doesnt dissolve the liquid and clogs up your machine

Before the thread lights up I am not one of those wear once people.
Instead of washing ineffectively with cold washes we should just cut down how much we wash

Yes, I can change the spin speed, but only to make it slower

I have a Beko (bought around 2016) which has a daily wash cycle of 50mins at 40°. 30° is 40mins and a 30° speed cycle of 20mins. I dread the day it dies on me so I am forever cleaning/descaling it!

Can’t you just put it on first thing / overnight and let it run while doing other stuff / sleeping? Or just don’t use the long eco cotton wash. Surely you have a synthetic wash that’s faster for most loads?

Our Bosch has a cottons eco cycle which is 4 hours and a standard cotton cycle which is 2 hours and 40 mins. Our heat pump tumble takes about the same amount of time too so they are in sync. Yes it’s a long time but I think it’s better for the clothes to be properly washed than just put on quick cycles.

What’s annoying about the short wash cycle is that it’s too short. 3 hrs vs 15 mins? Neither suits me. My old Miele had a “quick wash” cycle of 30 mins - much better. It also had a “short wash” button which cut the length of any of the cycles.

Mine has an “ecocare” cycle which is the shortest at around 1 hr 45. I mainly use that and the “delicates” and “wool” cycle which are 40 mins ish.

I leave stuff to wash overnight, but I also often want to do multiple loads in a day - eg sheets abd towels are changed once a week, with 3 kids that’s severak loads load to turn around.

You can tell these machines are designed by men who are not used to washing multiple family loads of stuff can’t you.

Ours does daft cycle lengths too. Cotton cycle is the worst.

Is there a ‘mixed fabric’ cycle on there? I’ve found this is much better time length.

Ours also has a 39 minute cycle but I tend to do this if clothes aren’t physically dirty (no mud for example)

I got a new Bosch wm 18 months ago. Whilst some of the cycles are ridiculously long, my machine has a ‘Speed Perfect’ button which works with most cycles to cut the programme length considerably. Do you have that function? I believe most new Bosch machines have it.

Also, the very knowledgeable guy who installed my machine suggested using the Mixed Load cycle as the default cycle, as it’s only 60 minutes and is suitable for most types of load. So that’s what I generally do, unless I’m doing towels or sheets which I’ll put on a longer, hotter wash, but always using the Speed Perfect button.

I disagree I think longer washes wears the clothes more and drains the colours. You can see when clothes have been washed a lot.

You only really need a longer wash when clothes need soaking. My old Miele had a soak function so you could soak for several hours in the machine which my Bosch doesn’t, I have to soak stuff in bowls.