Inspired by another washing machine post.
I’ve often wondered what the difference is between the washing programs like delicate, lightly dirty, sports clothes, shirts and what not.
I mean, no matter how smart a washing machine is, the only movement i’ve seen one do is spin. Is spinning so important or am i missing something?
What does it do differently?
In: 2
AFAIK – the cotton program is special because it’s always longer and sometimes it consists of 2 stages of washing. It’s because cotton is a little harder to wash (the dirt sticks better to it than to synthetics) and it’s a little tougher, so you can use greater temperature and more agitation. In my washing machine synthetic program limits the temperature to 60, that can be too high for some fabrics anyway. My rule of thumb is use 40, max 50 if it’s not very dirty. Using 60 is risky with fabrics other than cotton.
So – basically you have main programs for cotton (hardest, longest, hottest), synthetics (moderate), and delicate (you know, for really delicate stuff). IMPORTANT: delicate program often does not have the final fast spinning part. So after washing the things will be soaked.
Then those programs can be divided into more and less intense, as “very dirty” and “not very dirty”. The difference is mainly in time of the program. If you set “very dirty” it will wash longer. If it’s not very dirty, use the lighter program – it will end quicker.
For cotton – use cotton program or it can be not washed well enough. Especially white things. For the synthetics and sportswear – never use the cotton program or you damage your clothes. The t-shirts will deform. The prints on sportswear will be destroyed. Tiny plastic thinigies damaged.
For mixed things – use synthetic program. Some cotton clothes will probably be washed well enough and you don’t risk damaging other clothes.
Oh, and there’s wool program in some washing machines. Some kinds of wool are very delicate and after washing on sub-optimal settings it becomes rougher and looks worse. I figured out wool program is just really slow and delicate. There’s a catch though. When a sweater is really dirty – the wool program won’t do its job. So it’s your choice – either make the thing a little rougher and uglier, but clean, or… just send it for chemical cleaning.
Most of the time I use the synthetic program for everything, including cotton, for mixed laundry. Every once in a while I wash white cotton things on cotton setting. Once every year I wash “special things” (mostly wool, winter wear) on either wool or synthetic setting. I’d use the wool setting only for new and very fancy things, it’s a waste of time to wash old sweaters or caps like this.
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