Cold Wash Warm Rinse Cycle

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This is my biggest grip with DD washers. Most do not spray rinse after the first spin, only the Ultra rinse models do this. A simple 1 minute spray rinse AFTER the tub is up to full speed negates a 2nd deep rinse that was required to get detergent out and uses less water achieving those results. Also, no need for a spray rinse after the final spin which rinses fabric softener out of the load.

My 1.5 minute spray rinse is heaven, especially with warm water.
 
Dan, you get it! :)

 

 

And I bet you let the machine spin for about 4 minutes after the initial 1 minute spray and then did another 1 minute spray followed by a 6 minute spin you could skip a deep rinse altogether.

 

Speaking about 6 minutes there are so many washers that only spin the load for about 4 minutes once the basket comes up to speed. A 6 minute spin after the tub is cruising helps with towels and saves energy in the dryer.  

 

 

4 minute spin, 1 minute spray, 4 minutes spin, 1 minute spray, 6 minutes spin,  =  16 minutes

 

4 minute fill, 10 minute wash, 16 minute rinse and spin = 30 minutes flat.

 

Faster than a total deep rinse sequence. Ultra clean clothes in a standard quick wash time. 
 
Cold Fill Time For Deep Rinse

Just measured mine at 5 minutes 50 seconds (5:50) on max water level with a full load of clothes.

 

350 seconds divided by three = 116.6667 seconds

 

120-116 = 3 seconds

 

So 120 seconds of spray rinsing is ideal for cold sprays.

 

Roughly-

 

120 seconds of cold = 1/3 of a tub of water total

 

120 seconds of warm = 1/2 a tub of water total

 

Given that warm spray rinsing would be found on heavier cycles with heavier garments like jeans and towels, it works out perfectly.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
"And I bet you let the machine spin for about 4 minutes after the initial 1 minute spray and then did another 1 minute spray followed by a 6 minute spin you could skip a deep rinse altogether."

Probably.

As I mentioned in the past, I wash all 3 of my pillows in the bathtub filling with 160F water and a bunch of Tide with bleach plus more oxygen bleach. Manual hand wash everything 6-10 minutes at a time (pretty annoying at first with the blazing hot water) and let it soak. Alternate this on and off for 3 hours while letting the oxy bleach work its magic.

Take all 3 pillows ou and evenly distribute them in the 806. Before I installed a 90 second timer motor, I would run the spin cycle and let the machine spray rinse its full minute 3 times back to back using warm 120F water. The first time I did this, I let machine advance to a deep rinse with a full tub of 120F warm water and aggressively hand rinsed all 3 pillows in the 806 tub. The water was crystal clear! It takes about 3 minutes for the entire tub to fill with warm water and I got those pillows 100% rinsed in 3 minutes of warm spray rinses straight from the tub dripping with soapy water. Now, I just run the spin/spray rinse twice with a 1.5 minute spin/spray rinse then toss them in the dryer.
 
Dan, great observations! You've got me thinking again lol. Do more spray rinse increments with long spins in between them have any benefit over fewer spray rinses that are longer in duration with fewer spin time in between each? Does one long spray do the same work as many smaller sprays of equal total duration? 

 

For example-

 

Start spin ; Spray 30 seconds ; spin 2 min ; spray 30 seconds ; spin 2 min ; spray 30 seconds ; spin 2 min ; spray 30 seconds ; spin to off

 

 

VS

 

 

Start spin ; spray 120 seconds ; spin to off

 

 

I use to think the prior method of letting clothes reach terminal saturation, then spinning them dry, then re-saturating them again (over and over) produced better results than one or two continuous running sprays however I am now question that assumption. I am now postulating that water going through the clothes is what does the bulk of detergent carry away rather than garments absorbing water then releasing it over and over again. This would also suggest that far more water passes through the fabric rather than bouncing off of it once critical water retention is reached during the spin spray. 

 

Hhmmm... That is something to ponder on. 

 

The latter offers a huge advantage in that complex sub interval increments are not needed on incremental advance timer. Of further advantage the total spin time can be shorter - 12 minutes instead of say 24 minutes.    

 

 

Dan I am thrilled you are also getting the same observations with water proportions. It appears that in the very least with Speed Queen, Whirlpool and Maytag top loaders 1/2 a tub of spray rinse water = 1 tub of deep rinse water.  1 full spray tub = 2 deep rinses.

 

 

Good starting point for further experimentation. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Yes Blackstone did offer a specific Cold Wash/Warm Rinse on it's 1960 models as a 6 option water temp rotary selector. The 1959 models (on the bottom of the image) had push buttons which allowed that temp selection as well. I suspect Blackstone continued this for a while in the 60s on later models.

unimatic1140-2025033009242205237_1.jpg
 
Reply #67

It’ll do a cold wash warm rinse. One day, I decided to press the warm rinse button for giggles when doing a cold water wash, sure enough, it began to fill with warm water. Quickly set it back to cold after that. Also decided to press the warm rinse button when it was doing a cold spray rinse, sure enough it did a warm spray rinse before I switched it back to cold.

At seems as though Maytag gave you very single options and combination you could think of, Whirlpool seemed to be stingy in the options department for some reason. Don’t even know the cold wash warm rinse is even an option on the later TOL Mark 18’s.
 
 
<blockquote>Don’t even know the cold wash warm rinse is even an option on the later TOL Mark 18’s [sic]</blockquote> You're presumably referring to the electronic WP (and KM) models, which have a separate option for Warm Rinse so cold wash with warm rinse should be possible unless the firmware prohibits it.  The mechanical models have a five-button array of specific selection which doesn't include cold/warm, although of course it could be had by changing the selection after a cold wash fill is complete to one with a warm rinse ... any mechanical-control model with a selection of cold wash and other selections with warm rinse can do it that way.
 
"Does one long spray do the same work as many smaller sprays of equal total duration?"

I think it does, at least in a Maytag. Probably any perforated tub that can handle a long spray rinse without getting water logged/suds locked should have the same results with a long spray rinse vs pulsed spray rinses as long as the water can easily be pumped out and away from the load and the tub is not stalling in speed.


"I use to think the prior method of letting clothes reach terminal saturation, then spinning them dry, then re-saturating them again (over and over) produced better results than one or two continuous running sprays however I am now question that assumption."

In a perforated tub, the spray rise during the spin cycle forces the detergent out of the clothes and down the drain. This is more effective than wallowing in its own detergent via a deep rinse. This is why a solid tub wringer requires 2 deep rinses to properly rinse detergent out of the load. I still want a deep rinse to remove all residual traces of detergent plus add some plant based softener to the load.

"Is cold/warm possible on a Maytag A806 with separate buttons for wash and rinse temp choices, or does the circuitry override cold wash to always have a cold rinse?"

The separate "Warm" button is engaged during both the spin/spray rinse and following deep rinse cycles. Being able to have a warm spray rinse is very convenient for dirty/soapy loads. Having the tempering valve further helps to make sure the temps are up plus more volume of water comes out of the fill flume having both hot and cold water fed to the tempering valve plus the hot valve on the washer opened at the same time. It's basically cold+hot+hot for warm spray and deep rinses. The colder the water coming from the tap, the more hot water is added via the tempering valve to bring the temps up to the setting. Basically, the warm spray rinses have more volume of water during the winter months and will also fill the tub quicker during the deep rinse.
 
Don't forget about less during the summer.

Yeah, it's less during the summer months but still a higher volume of water than not having the tempering valve in place.
 
Dan, I'd say you're correct. The only thing throwing me for a second guess is Whirlpool's Resource Saving spray rinse system that has 1.5 minutes of spinning in between each ~30 second fill and recirculate spray rinse. Other than that, I feel the most comfortable with two 60 second sprays. A sequence like 4 minute spin ; 1 minute spray ; 2 minutes spin ; 1 minute spray ; 6 minutes spin I feel the most comfortable with. 

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I like your idea of a tempering valve, however, it adds more complexity to the system. I personally like the idea of just opening both hot and cold and getting a comfortable temperature. It may deviate during the year yes, but it does the job in both extremes. 

 

 
 
Would it be alright to ask a picture of your tempering valve setup? And do you have videos of your 90 second spray washer? I'm still seeing 60 second sprays on your A606- so obviously I have the wrong washer in mind.

 

 

Also, I timed the warm fill to full (again) this time with only a few items in the tub out of curiosity's sake and got 4:08 seconds. So 2 minutes is literally half a tub, not bad at all.  

[this post was last edited: 4/1/2025-16:51]
 
"Would it be alright to ask a picture of your tempering valve setup?"

I'll have to pull the washer out for a clear view of everything, it's all tucked back in there. Give me a week or so to accomplish that.

"And do you have videos of your 90 second spray washer?"

I haven't posted a video in over 7 years. It'll take a while before I can shoot and edit one. I always have to relearn how to use my sophisticated editing software when I don't play with it for years at a time although there isn't much editing for that particular request.

"I'm still seeing 60 second sprays on your A606- so obviously I have the wrong washer in mind."

I never owned or filmed a 606 washer but may have torn one down for parts many years ago. There was an early 606 washer sitting in a recycling pile like 13-14 years ago with an 8 finned agitator that I couldn't get off of the agitator shaft regardless of the absolute hell I put it through. Not an experience I care to repeat but will, 'cuase my 1967 806 has the same damn problem and the trans is sluggish on it.
 
A 606/608 does not have separate cold and warm rinse buttons.

My entire collection of automatic Maytag washers (and dryers) are TOL models only.
 

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