Quick wash setting?

[Dillybear]

Hello everyone! I am hoping for some opinions on the quick or speedy wash setting on the washing machine.

My DM always taught me to put my washing on a quick wash, which is what I’ve always done. Now, my DH prefers a longer wash which I have always thought was just wasteful. But yesterday I did a load of my DD’s clothes (covered in food and just generally stained - she’s a baby) and forgot to press the quick wash button. But I noticed the clothes all came out clean, no need to put the odd item back through the wash, whereas previously there would have been a muslin that was still banana-y and a vest with a stain that just wouldn’t budge. So now I’m wondering.... have I been doing the washing wrong all my life?!

As a side note, my DM is the most meticulously houseproud woman I know. You could eat your dinner off the floors in her house. Granted, you may not want to, but you absolutely could. She even insists that tea towels need ironing! But she doesn’t separate her whites when she does a wash, so maybe she doesn’t know everything when it comes to washing.

Just really curious to know!! I have put a load of towels in on a normal cycle this morning to see if I notice any difference with them...

I never use the quick wash, my mixed load cycle is 1hr 9mins and that's quick enough for me.

I'd say it's fine for a freshen up and probably fine for your DM but when you have young kids that get filthy, a longer wash will probably work better!

My washing machine manual states that the quick setting is for 2kg of "lightly soiled" laundry.

Whereas for the normal length wash you can put 8kg in.

I never put just 2 kg in, I always fill the machine, so I just put up with the longer wash time.

Quick wash (15 mins on my machine), I use for my own clothes that I've worn for a short time that just need a freshen up. Or maybe for a few t-shirts that I wore to work or similar unsweaty activity. Toddler and teen clothes need an hour sloshing about I think. But I hardly ever use the really long 2 hr wash.

I would only use a quick wash for very un-dirty things.. like my office clothes.
Would never use it for socks/pants/any of DH clothes.

Quick wash uses less water and is designed for very small loads. I rarely use it

I love mumsnet, thanks so much for the replies. Clearly I’ve been filthy all these years!! In my defence, the quick wash setting on my machine is just under an hour. There is a 15 minute one but I’ve never used that. But I will be switching to the longer wash for most washes I think!

My quick wash is 22 minutes. I use it for lunch bags and when I have an oh fuck moment and realise a PE shirt or gym stuff has been forgotten about and needed that morning.

Normal wash as at 30 or 40 is 1 hr 20 and I use that for pretty much everything.

Towels and bedding go to the launderette, as we struggle for drying space. I think they get pretty much boiled for a while.

No a quick wash is exactly that - a quick wash of items, it's meant for a few and lightly soiled items.

Machines now use so little water, are more gentle in agitation etc, they just can't deliver a full clean in such a short time - something has to give, whether it be cleaning, rinsing or spinning. As an aside it will be wrecking your machine.

Your DM has probably retained her habit from machines of old, during the 80s-90s and early 2000s, washers were much faster, this is because they used much more water , we washed at higher temps (boil washes were the norm) and had stronger agitation, owing to more clothing being cotton vs the types we wear now (athletic wear and the like).

I only use the quick wash for emergencies when ds announces at 8.00 he needs something washing for the next morning. My machine has a button for shortening the normal wash, a 90 degree boil wash goes down from 2 hours 30 to 1 hour 30.

I lived in rented flats for years and didn’t have a washing machine. The laundrette wash cycle was about 40 minutes. The first thing I noticed when I got my own washing machine was that stains I had thought were permanent, washed out. The washing machine cycle was about two hours. I wouldn’t use a fast cycle normally.

I always use quickwash but I don't get food all over my clothes.
But use longer one for sheets and towels.

Barrettes

It depends on what machine you have, and the temperature at which you wash. My machine has a "daily wash" which is about an hour and designed for a half load, and also a "15 min quick wash" which I only use for the swimming kit!

I use the quick button on my washing machine but that just knocks 10-20 mins off the time and takes it from 2.5 hours to just over 2 hrs.

I've got a "30@30" cycle which is a 30 min wash at 30 degrees and it's bloody useless. Doesn't even give time for the powder or liquid to dissolve properly.

It's false economy if you have to rewash a heap of stuff or stains set in and don't come out.

I use my 30 minute quick wash for everything except towels/bedding. Our clothes aren't dirty dirty. Always have done this and the clothes come out just fine

the 20min quick wash is reserved for the school lunchbags after a yoghurt explosion!

they are incredibly wasteful in electricity and water use. (check the manual)
also, my machine's manual says to
only fill the drum a quarter for the short loads and to never use pods or tabs as they don't dissolve or rinse out properly in such a short time.

Quick wash uses less water, tends to be a lower temperature and is meant for small loads.
Great for a pair of jeans or a couple of t-shirts.

My current machine has a mixed 59 minute wash and I mostly tend to use that. Altering the temperature depending on what I am washing.

Following with interest!!!! I have a BOSCH machine and wash everything on the cotton setting but do use the faster wash button which takes it from 2hrs to 1hr.

Should I be leaving it the full cycle?! I'm going to experiment!

look at your manual.
for my machine the 'quick' button removes a rinse cycle.
as we all have funny skin, rinsing out as much detergent as possible is pretty important to us.

I only do the ultra quick was 30 mins for jumpers. Everything else is 60 degrees and over 2 hours. Knickers definitely need a pretty hot wash.