How to keep up with laundry? Eco washing programme times.

[MrPanks]

I need a new washing machine. I want something that lasts longer than the 4 year old Bosch that's just died. I've looked at a Miele and a Sumsung Eco bubble (only really looked at this as comes with a 5 year warranty). On both washing machines the programmes seem quite long. If you've switched to a more environmentally friendly washing machine have you got a regime for washing? Currently, I do almost all the washing on my day off, and the programmes take about an hour each. However, there's no way I could manage to get through it all on one day with much longer programmes. I am considering doing a wash per day e.g Monday towels, Tuesday darks, Wednesday colours etc. If you do it that way, how does it work out for you?

Samsung ecobubble has a daily wash thats shorter than the cottons wash. The Eco wash takes ages

We have an elderly Miele that has been fantastic. When I worked full time, I would do all laundry over the weekend because I like to wash, dry, iron and put away on same day. In hols, a load every day if needed.

Now I work from home, it's mostly weekend washing, but I do put a load in mid week if needed. It's dry and some is put away, but I leave the ironing until the weekend.

I generally set the machine to run overnight, whenever there's enough for a load. First thing in the morning, washing goes on the line or airer depending on weather.

Washing comes off the line that evening or off the airer next morning when it's replaced by another load. It may or may not need finishing off in the drier.

@dementedpixie - ah, thanks but the newer models of the Ecobubble dont have this feature sadly! That may have swung it for me.

My only worry with the Miele is that they only come with a 2 year warranty now, and I wondered if this is because they are increasingly computerised which gives them more scope for going wrong? I'm loathe to pay top dollar if I dont have that assurance! The computer bit is what has packed up on my Bosch.

Thanks for your responses. It seems increasingly hard to find a washing machine that cleans in a reasonable amount of time, is kind to the environment and build to last!

Would you be comfortable putting it on overnight? We start ours Friday after work so can get one in Fri evening, one overnight Fri, and the remainder in on Sat/ Sat night. In practice I space them out a bit more depending on drying space.

I put one wash on before bed, then empty when I get up and put another wash on to run while I’m in work. I do this almost every day rather than saving it all up for the weekend.

I’ve got a combined washer dryer with very long cycles, but doing 2 washes a day like this seems to work ok.

The fire brigades all tell you not to leave washing machines on overnight or while you're out the house. They're the biggest cause of household fires with tumble-dryers coming a close second. If you're keen on ecowashes then it can work out best to get a machine that takes a bigger load. I think the eccobubbles range from one that takes a 7kg load to one that takes a 10kg load. At least with a bigger load,you wouldn't need to run it as often.

@ItsDinah

The fire brigades all tell you not to leave washing machines on overnight or while you're out the house. They're the biggest cause of household fires with tumble-dryers coming a close second. If you're keen on ecowashes then it can work out best to get a machine that takes a bigger load. I think the eccobubbles range from one that takes a 7kg load to one that takes a 10kg load. At least with a bigger load,you wouldn't need to run it as often.

This is reported on here all the time. I am not sure I am convinced, I mean how many millions of loads of washing are put on each day? What percentage of those cause fires? Anyway, I would recommend a john lewis washing machine like this mine is few years old and still going strong. The previous one lasted about 8 years.

Probably not so helpful as I have a 2 year old EcoBubble with a daily wash feature and love the machine. I've had Miele in the past and prefer the EcoBubble.

We have an Samsung. It's good but only my partner uses the eco wash as it takes 4 1/2 hours! I use the intense cold which is 2 or the 1 cycle. It does have a function where you can time delay it so it will finish at a particular time. If i was more organized I would put it on at night so it was ready in the morning.
We.have an 11 kilo and can wash a king size duvet in it.

I’ve just been googling the fire risk. I’ve found fire brigade guidance on not using faulty appliances, overloading circuits etc but nothing telling you not to use them overnight? We run ours overnight on an eco programme. For me it’s such as easy positive environmental contribution. I’m also hoping to find an energy tariff that rewards using energy off-peak so it will save money as well.

You'd probably need an economy 7 tariff to benefit from off peak and they are usually for houses that run on all electric and have storage heaters

We have a Hoover Link 9kg machine and the eco cycle is only 1hr 36mins. It has a Daily cycle which is 59mins. We've had it for four years now and have no complaints.

Mine often goes on when I get back from a run after work (maybe 7.30 ish), and then hang it out overnight. Or I put it on overnight. Or put it on before work on a time to be finished when we get back from work. There are plenty of ways to use the longer programs!

Get large capacity one a lot of them adjust to load size if it's not full.
and use delay start we set our and first loads finishes just as we get up .

There’s a new generation of time of use tariffs coming in - they’re good if you have an electric car as they incentivise you to charge off peak and balance demand. I don’t think you can choose to move to Economy 7 anymore?

I won't run mine overnight and will only run the washer when out not the dryer. My washer dryer was almost on fire earlier this year, I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't been in the house and able to turn it off from the wall pretty quickly.

We tend to do a wash in the evening around 7ish in the winter and then put it out the following day either line or airer as less line drying time due to daylight. All of our eco-cycles are longer than other cycles but say they use less electricity/water.

I have a candy. 10 year warranty, 10kg capacity and the quickest wash is 14 minutes at 20 degrees. Thats fine for anything that’s not heavily stained. Only use a longer wash for bedding etc and even that is less than an hour. Usually give everything an extra spin so it dries quicker. I tend to do one load every two days, sometimes more but it never takes more than an hour altogether. Life’s too short to spend it waiting on the washing machine finishing (it always lies about how much time is left anyway!)

Not the point of the thread but we had an eco bubble and it was the worst washing machine we’ve ever, ever had. Constantly broke down and needed the engineer out so many times in the end I complained to the ceo of AO who agreed to swap it for a completely different model - we went for an Indesit push and go innex 10kg and it’s been amazing. It has a 45 min 30 degree daily wash and everything in between. We don’t tend to use the eco wash function because as you’ve said it does take ages…. But I think that’s common with most machines unfortunately.

My new (less than 6 months old) Samsung eco bubble has a 39 minute super speed wash. You'll find the quicker the wash the more energy it uses. The Samsung app has a chart stating which cycle is most energy efficient and all the quick ones use loads more energy than the long ones. The best thing about Samsung is you have so much control over each setting. The temp, spin speed, amount of rinses can be altered for each different cycle if you don't want what it's preprogrammed with.

The eco cycle overnight is fine, ensure spin happens once everyone is awake just incase the balance is off and it makes a noise. Or use a shorter cycle and lower the temperature which really reduces energy consumption. Samsung washers are great, especially if you have one with an add wash window!

We have an eco bubble. It’s great and takes a huge load of washing. Our electricity tariff with Octopus has cheap rate 00.30 - 4.30am so I use the delay timer so it washes in that time. I then hang out when I get up.

We wash overnight. I struggle to understand it being any greater risk tbh.

During the day I'd be up in the office, working. During the night I'd be in bed, sleeping. In both situations the first thing to alert me to a fire is going to be the smoke detector

I have a 9kg machine, and wash nightly (5 of us, 3 very messy kids!). Load the machine just before bed, set it to start around 6am. Then before bed put that wet load in the dryer, new dirty load in the washer, and put yesterdays clean dry load in the basket ready to be put away the next day. Its the only way I can keep on top of things.

We have an Electrolux and only use the eco setting - both our water and gas/electric bills are low.

I set it to come on for 5am so it’s done for 7.30am when I’m downstairs getting ready for work and can hang it out.