A Trick to Add More Water to Front Loaders???

[georgect]

I read in another forum that a guy has faked out his washer by using a hose to saturate the clothes in the washer before the washer is started.

The washer will sense the load is heavy and supposedly add more water.

Has anyone every tried putting saturated wet clothes in the washer before it's started to see if it does in fact make the washer fill with more water?

It would be cool to see the results here with different washers and if it works with all washers.

 

[johnmk]

I believe the approach works.

 

[mark_wpduet]

It would be interesting to see if it worked but what a pain in the A that would be every time you do a load of laundry.

 

[super32]

that wont work with my washer. It will simply think it doesnt need as much water.

 

[yogitunes]

I have a Cabrio.....it can be done....and may OR may not add more water....it's hit or mis.....

and then theres the variables that can trigger....too much water that gets under the tub can sense to activate the pump.....when it spins to sense, if not balanced yet, can throw it out of whack......or throw the machine into an overload condition....

been there, done it all.....

best bet, wait until the fill stops, and pour in a bucket of water.....and then again, too little or too much, will throw the wash pattern off.....TL HE machines work on the basis of reverse rollover....just the right amount makes it work perfect.....

finally, I find if I leave it alone, and let it do it's thing....it really does a nice job, as hard as that is to believe, from what you view......our issue is we look for dramatic movement, and this is on a slower scale.....time lapse will show more...

 

[logixx]

Totally doesn't work for me.

My washer adjusts the cycle time, fill levels and duration of each part of the cycle based on the initial amount of water it takes to saturate the load for the main wash (or pre-wash, if selected). If I'd add wet clothes to the washer, the flow-meter would register that it only need a little bit of extra water to achieve the fill level, thus a small load is sensed. Rinse cycles are not only shortened but the water level would be way too low. I tried this once and the clothes weren't even fully wet for the rinse because the calculated amount of rinse water was too little. Spin cycles are also shortened.

This might work on washers such as LG or Samsung - those that spin the load to sense the weight -> a heavy wet load will result in making the washer think it's washing a big load. I read people with HE top loaders doing this as well.

When I want a lot of water, I choose Bulky Items. This considerably increases the water level for the rinse if it sensed an absorbent load. This is the Delicate cycle with two blankets and upped water level during the rinse due to the loads absorbency.

Water Level Too Low... Not for me!

I've read a lot of posts about the newer style top load washers. Most complaints are all the same. a) Water not hot enough in NORMAL Cycle b) Water level too low Welcome to my bypass method to beat the federal regulations. In your laundry tub, attach a garden hose splitter to the faucet. To...

ths.gardenweb.com

 

[DADoES]

 
The procedure may (or may not, as Yogi says) work on HE impeller toploaders.  It's unlikely to work with frontloaders.

The Duet I've been using measures the amount of water (via a flow meter) during the initial fill needed to saturate the load and reach a specific level that triggers the pressure switch.  Then the control board may add more water based on what the flow meter measured for the initial fill to a level that is a given percentage (50%, 150%, etc.) more volume than what triggered the pressure switch.  If the load is already saturated at the start, accordingly less water is needed to reach the pressure switch level, and the calculated additional fill will be less as well.  Cycles that are programmed for a higher "flow-meter" fill would end up with less water, not more.

 

[haxisfan]

It would make it worse for me!

As other folks have stated here... my washer also wouldn't be able to detect how much water the load needs as it does this by measuring the amount of water which has been absorbed during the first few minutes of the start of the cycle. In my older Hoover FL, if I did that, the washer would treat the load as being very small especially if I'm using a standard cycle... yet, if I use one of the special programs (non-fuzzy logic pre-set cycles), it will disregard such condition and use some kind of fail safe parameters.

On my newer Hoover (front loader with water jets), by doing that, it will behave abnormally... I'm not sure whether it'd to treat the load as small (I didn't try long enough to find out), but it will not do an initial spin as it's supposed to and it'd just distribute the load with the jets on for a little while.

I know some FL washers don't rely on absorbency but merely on the weight of the dry laundry... but couldn't this be very inaccurate? Imagine some very absorbent fabrics which are not necessarily heavy...

 

[johnmk]

Actually, I'm not sure if this would work with my clothes washer, the LG WM3470, since it does seem to add water sometimes after the wash cycle has started, but close to the beginning still. In these circumstances, it probably is detecting that the water level has fallen, presumably due to absorption of water by the laundry.

 

[dj-gabriele]

How a front loader senses the load/water in it

Most of the electronic front loaders around have quite a simple method of sensing the load in them!

They fill to a known low level and measure the time needed to reach it (say it takes 20 seconds to fill in 5 litres of water) they know that the flow rate is 15 l/min.

After a couple of tumbles they start loading more water to the set water level for the programme selected (say 10 litres for cottons and 20 for delicates). In the first instance they would keep the valve open for 20 seconds more, on the second it would be activated for a whole minute. Regardless of the true water level!

Wetting clothes before starting would trik the machine in having the highest water pressure available and reduce filling times, loading even less water in the wash!
And you'll need for the level gauge to reach the minimum level before allowing the machine to refill again to the same lowest water level available.

 

[davetranter]

Too much technology???

'Senses'..... 'Detects'..... 'Flow meter'...????????
I am SO glad I use an old washer.... If I want a bit of extra water, I just pour it in through the detergent drawer.....

I totally fail to understand why modern washing machines seem to require more 'computer power' than the device I'm typing this on.....

IMHO it's just more to 'go wrong'...

All best

Dave T

 

[logixx]

 

[pierreandreply4]

if you went more water just use a good old fashion 1990 or earlyer top load washer

 

[frontloaderfan]

Frigidaires don't roll like dat...

I tried it today with my baker's whites. The machine first pumped out the excess water and then simply didn't add any to replace it. I ended up having to flush the soap in the dispenser drawer into the tub with a couple of KitchenAid mixer bowls full of hot water...
Not sure how the new Frigidaire FL'ers tick, but according to the schematics, the pressure switch is mounted to the drain boot and has a little air tube thingy going up from it with yet another air tank at the end of that (# 43 and 44 in the diagram)....go figure...

 

[yogitunes]

Somedays you just need a little inspiration from Wile E. Coy

Ryan......sometime you need to think a little out of the box.....and improvise...and fully trick your machine into doing what you want it to do....

I hold no resposibility, except that it works for mine....

this link is the method behind my madness

Paging Ralph........

Don't you wish your boyfriend was HOT like.....opps!, wrong site Don't you wish your Affinity added this much water to every fill, AUTOMATICALLY?

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[frontloaderfan]

Omm...

Martin,
now we're getting somewhere! Okay, so it's an air mass system. If one were to increase the volume of air in the system, the water level would be increased, theoretically.

Could one perhaps put something like a fuel filter in place of the water bottle/balloon system in order to achieve similar results? What size is the original air hose?

 

[yogitunes]

Ryan

the hoses that fit the best are air tubing for an aquarium, or hose for an suto windeshield washer....

I have tried fuel filters, 2-2liter bottles, even a vapor caniter from a AMC Pacer, a spool of tubing, anything I could think that would displace some air...

this balloon so far has done the trick, but still thinking of ideas as I go along....every machine is gonna react differently....

one other thing, this had to be installed at the top, underneath the tub there is plenty of room, but not the same effect for raising the level....

my sister has this same machine, one model down without the electronics, and hers had the simple turnscrew to adjust the level.....this one was a little different, and parts would not interchange...had I know from the beginning, I would have gone for the lower model....

looking forward to more of your ideas.....