LG 3400CW washer question

[volvoman]

Greetings!

On Friday, my wife and I were issued a new LG 3400CW washing machine by our leasing company, along with the matching dryer. So far, we love them - especially in comparison to the horrid little GE Spacemakers that we had prior.

We spent the entire weekend throwing whatever we could their way...jeans, sweaters, towels, sweatshirts, t-shirts. You name it, we did it. We also did a small throw blanket...which brings me to this question.

Mrs. V noticed that the LG used substantially more water while washing the throw, than it did when washing regular laundry (the other settings we used, were towels, normal, and speed wash). The speed and normal wash settings barely seemed to use any water at all. Mrs. V wondered if we could use the "bedding" setting to wash regular loads of laundry.

This brings us to the following questions:

1: What, if any, impact will this have on our clothing? She has her own cleaning business; I work from home for a major retail store's corporate office. Unless it's a day that I need to be in the office, or she has an appointment, we're both in sweatpants, t-shirts, and pajamas all week. Obviously, we don't want the machine to destroy our good stuff, but we don't care much about the "at home" wear.

2: Can this damage the machine?

As far as water usage goes (as horrible as this sounds), we don't care if we're using extra water. In fact, we'd prefer to use more than less...especially since we don't pay for water or sewer where we live, as it is factored into the rent.

Any thoughts as to what other settings we could use to maximize overall water use, without imploding either our machine or clothing?

(Someone in our circle of friends made mention of using the "Clean Washer" cycle, which we both stedfastly refused to do...)

 

[appnut]

Betting on my WM4200. It's almost too gentle for any cleaning. It's very gentle not much different than delicates period yes, it uses a lot more water, but it's limited to a maximum of medium spin Speed period in some ways I can't discern any difference between delicates and bedding cycle
.

 

[launderess]

It will vary by cycle but on average modern front loading washers use far less water than in past. Some call it "wet nap" washing, but IMHO often machine knows what it's doing.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating. If your normal loads are coming out satisfactory with that cycle, don't see need to use "bedding".

Higher water level for "bedding" likely accounts for such items being more bulky and thus requiring higher level of water. Thus parameters are set differently than say "normal" cycle.

Truth to tell you don't want regular loads floating about in large amounts of water. Higher levels of water are fine for rinsing, but for washing you want to force concentrated water/chemical solution through things.

Keep in mind as well if your washer heats water for various wash cycles you're going to pay for extra water use in higher utility bills.

On "normal" it may not look like there is much water in drum, but if you stop washer and let things pool down to bottom of tub there usually is more than enough.

Here are some pictures of loads done in my AEG Lavamat. You really don't see much water during wash at all.

 

[launderess]

Also generally you'll see more water in cycles designed for "delicates", woolens, hand wash, etc....

In such cycles are designed to allow higher ratio of water to laundry which makes for more delicate care.

H-axis washers basically clean in a way not unlike dropping and beating soapy wash against a rock or other surface. For that you don't want too much water, it dilutes chemicals and causes things to float which reduces mechanical action.

Using higher water levels for "normal" wash won't hurt washer. It may or may not reduce overall results depending upon what's being laundered.

Took peep at owners manual and now bedding cycle is clear a moi.

"Suitable for washing blankets or bulky items which have difficulty absorbing water, such as pillows, blankets, comforters, sheets or pet bedding."

• Do not use this cycle to wash a mixed load of bedding and non-bedding items.
• Do not mix large/bulky items with smaller articles of clothing.
• Do not wash excessively large items. If large/bulky items do not fit easily into the tub, there may not be enough room for them to move during washing.

/quote

With that said, no I shouldn't use "bedding" cycle for normal wash loads. Bed or table linen perhaps, but not average clothing and other things.

One mentions bed linen because oneself has certain sheets that are so crisp they really don't compact down during washing. With my older Miele can simply set washer to "delicates", let it fill, then switch over to "normal/Cottons/Linens".

OTOH with the AEG Lavamat washers it's a toss up. Delicate cycle wash action isn't really suitable for bed linen. Can make it work but would rather have another option. [this post was last edited: 1/29/2024-12:10]

 

[combo52]

Compact, LG front load, washer and dryer

Glad you’re enjoying these new machines. They are far superior to any top loading machine built in the last many many years. Top loading machines are not where it’s at anymore.

I would use the normal or heavy duty or whitest white cycle for most laundry you should go toward hot washes because of the very small amount of water used in these machines to get a sufficiently warm wash cycle.

When you do light color towels, bedding sheets, you should either use bleach in the dispenser or use the heated wash cycle to get adequate cleaning.

I would not use the bedding cycle for normal laundry, for the reasons mentioned above in the previous thread , you also cannot use the clean cycle for clothing. The machine will not go through a clean cycle with clothing in the drum, with proper usage It should never be necessary to actually run a clean cycle

Using the bedding cycle does not spin as fast so it’s going to be harder on your clothing because they’re gonna have to dry a lot longer and I assume you’re paying the electric bill for the dryer as well .

John

 

[DADoES]

 
A Bedding/Bulky cycle fills more accordingly to keep those types of items saturated.  Spin speed is usually slower.  The machine doesn't otherwise "care" what items are washed on which cycle.

A large factor of frontloader washing action is the lift-and-fall of items slapping against the drum surface.  More water cushions the fall, can cause the load to roll or float moreso than lifting/falling, which reduces the "force" of wash action.   Delicates cycle may also fill a bit more purposely for that reason.

Use of the Tub Clean cycle depends on a range of factors such as user affinity for cold water, use/overuse of fabric softener, lax detergent dosing which doesn't sequester laundry soils and possibly resulting in accumulation of soils on interior machine surfaces, mineral deposits from hard water (which is also related to insufficient detergent), and other habits (or lackthereof) such as not leaving the door ajar between uses so residual interior moisture can dissipate.

 

[appnut]

John, there is no heated wash cycle as this model doesn't have an onboard heater, hence the model designation 3400CW meaning Cold Water.

 

[combo52]

New LG front load pair

Sorry Steve, I thought you posted a picture of these and I assumed they were the 24 inch compact machines.

If they are the full size machines, not much in my remarks with change, except it’s nice to have the full size dryer especially

since there’s no onboard water heater it’s imperative that you do most washing and hot water And or use chlorine bleach on a regular basis to keep the machine free of bacteria and buildup otherwise I’m sure you’ll enjoy the performance and capacity of these machines compared to the compact spacemaker units you had.

John

 

[mark_wpduet]

One thing... The LG's seem to all use more water in the rinses than the wash...
So if you're seeing a low water wash for whatever cycle you choose...don't think the rinses are going to be just as low because (at least from what I've seen) they're not.

 

[appnut]

Based upon my washer, Hot on Normal is limited to 90 to 95F at best. Warm is between 75 and 80F. For the remaining cycyles warm is regulated at 90F and hot regulated at 112F max. Heavy Duty may be the only cycle that may allow hot at whatever your hot water heater is offering.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #6

Bob, I thought the W designation just meant the machine was a white model.

 

[appnut]

Ryne, you are correct. The "C" in the model number signifies there's not a heater, I'm simply driving home the point, CW does stand for cold water too. Or could also mean cheap washer. You know how I feel aobut any front loader not having an onboard heater./ I track temperature of a hot wash when it follows a cold prewash, right now with winter I end up with "hot" being 77 degrees F. Pathetic. And yes, I realize where Steve & his wife live, this washer was provided by management/landlord.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #11

Ah, okay, you were being a bit tongue in cheek and that went right over my head LOL. Just go on and give me the dunce cap.

 

[re563]

I just got this same modle

In October of 23. Hope you did a calibration cycle before use. It's recommended that you put 5 to 6 towels in the washer and do a rinse spin cycle. I just put it on normal. On mine, I noticed that during the wash it will keep adding water. By the end of the wash cycle, it had a good amount of water in the drum. I've been very pleased with my wm3400

 

[volvoman]

@ Reply 7

My apologies, John - for some reason, I thought I had posted a photo of what they gave us. Anyway, allow me to rectify that situation.

 

[volvoman]

@ Reply 13

Interesting that you'd mention this. I did do one...by accident. Our maintenance department flooded my kitchen when installing the washer. We used 6 bath towels (and a mop...and two rolls of paper towels) to clean the mess up. We ended up doing a full wash - start to finish - on the towel cycle.

And now that we've been enjoying it more, we are finding that the normal and heavy duty cycles are using an apropos amount of water. And we especially like the dryer.

 

[turbowash]

I owned one of the first Turbowash models for 9 years. I left it in perfect working condition in the house we sold in 2022. I’ll be honest, I hated it until I found out how to tweak the water level. It didn’t need much, just a bit more than factory settings, it made a huge difference. Once it was done I loved the washer to the last minute I owned it.
I’m finally able to by my next LG set and I’ll do the same thing to it.