Eli5: Why is the eco program on my washing machine longer than the regular program?

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My washing machine has an ‘eco’ setting, which makes the machine program take about an hour longer than without the setting. Why is this the case, and how much difference does it make? I would think that longer operation would amount to both more water and power usage but the machine itself claims otherwise.
Also, does it matter more or less for higher machine temperatures?

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The most energy intensive component of a load of laundry is heating up the water. Water takes a lot of energy to heat up. Heating up the water uses ~90% of the total energy of a load of laundry. Eco settings use less water than normal, and at a lower temperature. To compensate for that, and to make sure your clothes are still clean, it runs longer. It seems counter intuitive, but the actual washing machine itself uses relatively little energy.

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