Do you use the quickwash program on your washing machine?

[Bodenbabe]

I am researching a new washing machine and my mum says I must get one with a quick wash programme and I agreed as mine takes over 2 hours to do one load. However, it appears that these quick programs (15-30 mins) are only for a small load of clothes which merely need freshening up and aren't actually dirty. Well maybe 70% of my wash loads are like that but there are always quite a few items which are really stained (I have 2 young kids!) so that program presumably wouldn't clean those very well. And as I wouldn't want to run a quick program for half the laundry load and then a normal program for the rest, it seems like I might not use the quick wash after all?
Or do you find that the quickwash does get dirty clothes clean?

super quick wash on my Bosch is 15 minutes. Use it all the time, and only a longer wash for sheets and nappies.

Bosch washing machines are brilliant.

I use the quick wash on mine all the time. DP is a builder and gets filthy, it even gets his clothes clean. The only time I use a hot wash is for towels when they need a freshen up.

Mine takes 40 mins.

Wow, that's brilliant - thanks for the response, ladies!

Bosch machines have been mentioned and they are the ones I am researching, because they get the best reliability vote from Which. But they are around £150-£200 dearer - are they worth it, Bosch fans? The standard programs are so long on them though - over 2 hours (2 hours 40 on one of them!) Other brands have shorter standard wash times but their reliability isn't so good - which do think is more important?

It's good to know that most of you find the quickwash programs adequate. I was envisaging doing a quick wash for most of the laundry but then having to do a longer wash for the handful of items with difficult stains like tomato - in which case I might just as well have done one long wash in the first place.

I have a Beko:
8kg load capacity
quickwash, intensive washes, regular washes, woolens, delicates, handwash, A rated 40deg wash, rince (18 mins, would use this for things that just need to be freshened tbh) and spin.
1600 spin
cute orange screen and dial function to choose options which is very simple to get along with, even dp can use it and he claims 'not to understand washing machines'

cost me 300 euros in argos last year (well technically it cost the landlady that but she's a sweetie and let me go shopping with the rent money for a new machine so i got to pick )

Tulips, which Beko model do you have?

WM8127S... it doesn't seem to be available in argos anymore so possibly that's why it was cheap. It does us brilliantly though, we do staggering amounts of laundry (aforementioned 3 young children) and it's lasted a year without any complainsts so far ... which might not sound great but we've only lived here less than 3 years and this is our third washing machine! the first two were whirlpool and were absolutely awful, contantly got clogged, broke down regularily and the motor died on both of them meaning the machine was written off.

I have this Hoover washer and it is great.
It has regular 29min and 44min quick washes and then also has A+ efficiency 40min and 59min quick washes, as well as all the standard 30, 40, 60 etc washes.

I use the quick washes for most things except nappies, towels and bedding and they come out nice and clean.

I would buy a Miele, personally. They come with a 10 year guarantee. MIL has a Bosch and she likes it, but it's much noisier than our Miele and the clothes come out wetter which leads me to suppose the spin on ours is better. They can't put their washer on when they go to bed, but I can as you can't hear it at all unless you're in the same room.

I have a John Lewis one (the cheapest one!) and always use the quick wash, works fine. The only thing I use a longer wash for is nappies (do those on eco 60)

Wow, Miele's come with 10 year guarantees?! That may be worth the extra cost then! Sigh, that's another load of machines to review then I'm finding it so frustrating - there are loads of features I like (eg. the Bosch reload facility, where you can open the machine to put in something you forgot - I'm always leaving something out by mistake!) but no one machine has all the things I want...

mosschops
What's your machine with a handwash cycle??

I use my quick wash most of the time
Anything too manky I soak before hand

I have a Bosch with a 15min quick wash but haven't used it as I just don't believe it would work - can you really do a full wash in just 15mins.
Actually I have used it to give the lunchboxes a good freshen up as recommended on another thread and it does work for that

I use a quick wash a lot of the time, especially for towels which just need freshened up and for things like cardigans, jumpers, etc. Bedding needs a 'good' wash and some of ds's clothes and dh's gardening stuff, but otherwise I haven't the patience.

I use the 30 minutes quick wash on my Miele and it's fine, but every few loads I put through on a 'proper' wash. DH does training sessions that end at 9 and I like to be able to stick his stinky kit in the wash and get it hung on the overhead airer before I go to bed.

Which parts of the cycle are reduced on a "quick wash"? Does it rinse less, or is it the washing or spins that are shorter? Do you use less powder/liquid than with a standard cycle?

Yes, good question about why is it quicker?
or more wtf are they doing on the 2 hour cycles when my washing is v clean thank yu v much after 32 minutes?!

My Miele does a 'handwash' cycle and I have put dry-clean stuff on it to no ill effect. I did ruin a silk dress once tho that was strictly dry-clean, but you can't win 'em all.

From what I can make out it's the soapy jiggling about bit that's shortened. The spin seems just as effective (the stuff comes out nearly dry, the spin's brilliant) and I don't use less powder or softener. It's the churning soupy soaping bit that is cut I think.

Thank you, that's helpful! I'll give the shorter cycle a try.

I've just bought a new Bosch and absolutely love it! With my old machine nothing really got properly clean unless you used the standard 2 hr cycle.

I think I've only used the long cycle once on my Bosch. There are various different cycles all no more than an hour long depending on the fabric you are washing(plus a 15 minute one for emergency washes!).

I have messy boys (who wear white polo tops for school ) and it copes fine...

Decorhate, could you tell me the model number of yours please? I saw all the Bosch ones had a 15 mins one (does it really work that quick?) but I wanted one that also does a thorough short wash and it sounds like yours do. Most of the quick was programmes can only take 2kg or so but one Bosch machine I saw takes a full load in under an hour - I'd thought this was a one-off but maybe all Bosch's are like that then.

I think the 15 minute programmes are for a 30 degree wash - if you need 40 degrees it takes about 20 minutes so still good...

The one I got is

this

And I really wish you hadn't asked because it was £525 when I got it two weeks ago and is now £75 cheaper!

I did see it cheaper elsewhere at the time but needed a quick delivery so went with Comet... so you might want to shop around if you are not in a hurry.

I did what i think is probably one of the longest programmes today - Cotton stains- and think it only too an hour and a half.

I pretty much only ever use the quick wash cycle on my washing machine, it takes 39 mins and washes everything perfectly.

Ooh, that's almost the same one I got, decorhate! (finally made the decision last night). I went with the Exxcel version of this model - it's the same model number but with WAE not WAS. So good to know it's good!

I have a Miele with a quickwash (31 minutes at 40) and it seems fine - never overload it though. I use it a lot, esp as half the time there are only two of us.