Improving Top Loader Washer Performance Via Intermediate Soaks

[phillymatt53]

People I know that have the front loader washers always had problems with them.
Leaking door seals, coins winding up in the drain pump tearing up the impeller, drum bearings going bad, etc.
My neighbor's got a Bosch stackable set, swore to it as the best..... until things started going wrong with it.
I just never felt that they were as effective as top-loaders.
Even with a heavy load, my old Maytag A492 manages to provide a good rollover action.

As for extending the soak time, on occasion I simply stop the machine during the wash cycle and leave it for a while, sometimes hours.
A bit of Oxy-Clean does wonders for brightening up things.

 

[mrstickball]

I'll have spectrograph results from a Samsung Bespoke washer tomorrow for ultra set-in stains that I've done similar tests with against a huge number of modern washers. I am excited to see the results tomorrow under the analyzer. Visually, the Bubble Soak + Heavy Duty cycle looked to be the best at removing stains that I've ever seen. I am even more curious if I could get a delayed soak + stain pre-treatment setup going on the machine that is fully automated. Like many have said - soaking helps a lot... If it could be done intelligently on a front load via recirculation and concentrated detergent/wash media, you could have a pretty flawless system.

 

[Chetlaham]

Seems like Soak options embedded within cycles are becoming more of a thing.













Interesting that they settled on 10 minutes being optimal, which is reasonable I think.

 

[DADoES]

As for extending the soak time, on occasion I simply stop the machine during the wash cycle and leave it for a while, sometimes hours.
A bit of Oxy-Clean does wonders for brightening up things.

Many toploaders nowadays drain and cancel a running cycle if left paused for too long, sometimes just a few minutes. The alternative is unplug the power cord but some models drain the water and require starting a new cycle when power is restored.

 

[Chetlaham]

Many toploaders nowadays drain and cancel a running cycle if left paused for too long, sometimes just a few minutes. The alternative is unplug the power cord but some models drain the water and require starting a new cycle when power is restored.

So whats the reasoning behind that?

Kind of cruel to the user, they add extra detergent and additives, hit pause thinking they can get a nice two hour soak only to find everything has been pumped out. I had that happen to me with a newer GE washer. I was livid lol.

 

[agiflow]

I believe if you open the lid and leave it open the machine will drain after 15 minutes maybe less. You have to pause the machine to not have it drain. I know it was like that on the Amana ,Whirlpool and Maytag commercial I had. Maybe they changed it now who knows. I wouldn't be surprised with Whirlpool these days

 

[Chetlaham]

I believe if you open the lid and leave it open the machine will drain after 15 minutes maybe less. You have to pause the machine to not have it drain. I know it was like that on the Amana ,Whirlpool and Maytag commercial I had. Maybe they changed it now who knows. I wouldn't be surprised with Whirlpool these days

Give me an EM dial any day. I added two 5 min soaks to the 14 minute wash, looks better divided this way. Fill time might be to short depending on the water valve, as its allotted to 5 minutes.