LG Front Load Washer

[trappn]

Energy Saver Option........

.....appears to be turned off by default on our DLGX4201. If powerfin64 has the same model, perhaps he could chime in.

We picked up a small bottle of the Tide With-A-Touch-Of Downy, today. Will see how that goes.

So far, we have washed with one extra rinse on each load.

If incorporating one of the steam options on each of our dryer loads would help, we would not be opposed to that. Thanks.

 

[golittlesport]

dryness level

I typically will push the dryness level up one notch on a mixed load of clothes on my LG dryer. If not, it seems to shut off when the thinnest fabrics are dry leaving heavier items a bit damp. When all items are the same fabric, such a load of sheets, it dries perfectly on the default setting. Once you get used to all the options you have on your machines and which ones work best for you I'm sure you will be fine.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I agree

It takes time with a new setup to figure it out before you start hating it. I vividly remember back in 2005 when I first got my Duet pair. The first few loads I was so bummed out. I remember being horrified by the low water use (expecting laundromat front load action) and the clothes in the dryer were wrinkled too. The wrinkling was mostly the dryers fault, not the washers. I figured out eventually the load size matters, so I eventually got it right. When my Duet dryer died a few yrs ago, I replaced it with a standard whirlpool dryer. I noticed 2 things: The auto dry is more accurate than the sensor dry (for me, anyway) and sheets do not ball up like they did in the duet dryer.

My duet's max spin is 1000 rpm....so 1300 might make a huge difference in wrinkles. I'm not sure.

 

[powerfin64]

Power Saver Option

Yes I have the same model WM4200. The Energy Saver Option is used on the

Normal cycle only, can not be used with any other cycles. I have not used it

and most likely never will. I have used about 95% of all the cycles included

the downloaded cycles on the washer, about 1/4th of them I use regularly. 1/3rd

on the downloaded cycles on the dryer I use regularly. I used the highest spin

speed that is allowed for the cycle, and on the dryer use the default dryness

level with no problems so far.

 

[trappn]

Auto Dry?

Our 28-year old Whirlpool is equipped with the DRY-MISER sensor in the drum. Didn't realize the Auto Dry's were still made.

One thing to remember is the dryness level on this dryer is adjusted with the timer knob, with no detents. Theoretically, seems like you could fine-tune the dryness level a little more with the knob, rather than the 5 settings on the LG. Once we found our sweet spot with the knob, the dryer never seemed to fail us.

Newer isn't always better, but we sure do like the steam functions.

 

[mark_wpduet]

auto-dry

I went over this confusion a couple of years ago when I got my standard Whirlpool dryer. Those have had auto-dry for decades, haven't they? However, I never paid attention in the past. When I got my duet front load pair, the dryer had "sensor" dry with strips inside the drum to detect moisture. I didn't know the difference until someone here explained it to me. At any rate, I never felt like the sensor dry was nearly as accurate (believe it or not) as this auto-dry on my current whirlpool. It's not perfect, but mostly if I hit the dial between normal and more dry, the load dryness is almost perfect. You can tell they didn't keep tumbling while bone dry because I can feel a wee bit of moisture in certain spots that are thick (even those spots are dry enough to put away)

If I have a really heavy full load, it's a different story. I have to move the dial well above more dry or it will end the cycle with clothes still too damp for me. I'm not sure why this is. I can put a medium load no normal and it's perfectly dry.....but a heavy full load on normal isn't. But I've figured about where to turn the dial for it to end up being dry without over drying on those big loads.

There have been a couple of times where I went to check the load as it was drying and they were bone dry and the dial still hadn't even made it to less dry yet...At this point, I can almost use the timer instead because I know how long it will take based on the load contents or size of the load.

 

[vacerator]

I don't know about now, but

it used to be there two types of auto dry systems. The lower end type was a sensor in the exhaust flow, and sensed the dryness of the exhaust air. Higher end models included an/or/and, an additional in the drum sensor sensing dampness in the clothing.

 

[DADoES]

 
Interesting, the disconnect between "auto dry" and "sensor dry" ... they're the same concept (the machine automatically varies drying time based on the characteristics of moisture evaporation on individual loads), handled via different methods (indirectly via temperature or directly via contact with the fabric).  Moisture-sensing auto dry isn't all that new of a thing, been offered for more than 55 years.

 

[henene4]

Big load issues on AutoDry dryers

They rely heavily on everything being accessible to all the air.

If everything can heat up continuously, no cold spots or such, the triggering of the thermal setpoints will happen at a correct point of time.

AutoDry is more of an adaptive drying system then a true sensor system.
Keep in mind it's just the timer running like a timer - just with interruptions.
The time you set is basically "How long do these need to run at a certain temperature".

On the small end of the load size range, the 5kW of heating can bake moisture out of your load really quickly.
The time the timer needs to run from normal dry to cool down would equate to much more evaporation possibility then on larger loads.

On the large side of loads, even after being heated up to temp, there is still a lot of evaporation to do compared to a very small load.
But the timer is already running.

Further to this, on large loads, it can happen that at a certain point some areas get less airflow then others.
So damp patches can't drag down the temp enough to get long enough pauses of timer progression to be dried.
Same with thick items: The surface drys quickly, thus AutoDry advances quickly, but moisture can't get from the inner parts to the outer parts fast enough.

AutoDry basically does educated guessing based on how much drying you think a load needs and certain setpoints it knows to interpret.
Best example: Some very early AutoDry systems just set a cutoff point at a very high temperature. Basically assuming that once it got that hot things had to be dry (or have already burnt to dust).

Sensor drying like we used to have it over here and now only have it in 1 case was a very on point system.

The theory is that electricity travels the path of least resistance.
So no matter where a damp patch is in the laundry, if the current has to travel all the way through, it will always show a reading there is still moisture.

Very good dryers used to very dynamicly adjust target temps based on these readings dropping heat output very low towards the end of certain cycles.
Mieles Novotronic and Txxxx series dryers were amazing at it.

Cost cutting or like in the case of US dryers just plain construction criteria made a big change to sensor drying systems.
Over here they used to consist of 2 carbon brushes running along 2 bands on the outside of the drum. One was connected to the drum, one to the drum paddles. The current path was from the paddles to the drum and since dry cotton has an insane resistance, that would sense even deeper moisture pockets.
Now the path is just between these 2 strips and since the distance is very small, it can very easily happen that moisture is just missed.

Add to that that dryness targets have been moved down due to energy labelling and unsatisfactory results are common.

I don't think that either technology is inherently better if either is done right.

A good sensor system will be much more accurate even fringe situations while in most laundry tasks auto systems will do just as well if not better and usually a lot simpler and cheaper.

Some manufacturers claim to use a combination of both but yet have to see proof of that.

 

[DADoES]

 
My opinion, the two systems are both auto-dry.  More correct to differentiate them as thermostatic auto-dry and moisture-sensing auto-dry.

Thermostatic in my experience is not consistent when the dryer is installed in a non-climate-controlled space such as a garage or porch.  Cold weather causes longer run-time and over-drying trying to reach the target temperature to run the timer out to Off, while the clothes are still drying, giving up moisture during that process.  Very hot weather skews the other direction.  Moisture-sensing is more consistent via directly reading the moisture level of the fabric without dependency on hitting the temperature point to run-out the timer.

 

[trappn]

If I had to guess...........

......I'd say our old Whirlpool was one of the higher-end Auto Dry models, as Vacerator has suggested.

One thing I left out is that we dried most of our clothes on low heat, with the dryness set close to the midpoint between dry & very dry.

Towels were dried on high, with the dryness setting @ very dry.

On the LG's, the consumer is locked out of many of the combinations we were used to both on the washer & dryer. LG seems to be in love with the higher heat settings. Would like to have one downloadable cycle for washer & dryer that returns control of these expensive items back to us.

We'll figure it all out, eventually.

powerfin64.....seems like the washer manual for the 4000 series was rushed to print. Even the on-line version doesn't clearly state how to execute a straight rinse & spin on the 4000's. Owners from a few years ago would probably be suprised how many changes have been made. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[trappn]

Forgot to mention......

......None of the written instructions for the washer rinse & spin or the two dryer self-tests actually work on our units. Makes you wonder.

 

[combo52]

Auto Dry Dryer

Yes I agree Glenn Any dryer where you are not setting a timer has auto dry.

 

DOE regulations have required an auto dry cycle on dryers for at least 25 years.

 

Dryers with actual moisture sensors all have electrical sensing strips inside the drum that the clothing touch [ I have never seen a dryer with a moisture sensor in the exhaust duct etc or anywhere else except inside the drum ]

 

The other main type is a Time-Temperature system which as Glenn noted can be mislead by room temperature ex-streams and long or very short exhaust duct runs, however these systems can be very accurate and predictable.

 

John L.

 

[mark_wpduet]

there have been a few times

where I interrupted auto dry, only to find that the clothes were BONE dry, right? Yet, the dial hadn't even made it to LESS DRY. No telling how much longer it would have progressed with HEAT, had I not stopped it. I'm trying to understand how that happens if there is absolutely zero moisture being exhausted. Like I said, it's not perfect, but sometimes turning the dial above MORE DRY will cause this, other times it will be perfect.

 

[DADoES]

 
Nothing mysterious about any of it.

Thermostatic auto-dry operates solely on temperature.  The temperature thermostat in the exhaust air path controls the timer.  The timer does not run when the heat source is on and does run when the heat is off.  Moisture evaporating from the load keeps the air temperature down which keeps the heat on to reach the target temperature.  The clothes retain heat better as they progress toward dryness and the air heats faster with less moisture content to evaporate, so the heat source runs for shorter periods to maintain the target temperature and the timer runs for longer periods to move along toward Off.

Moisture sensing auto-dry uses a low-voltage electric circuit to run an analog timer per (lack of) moisture hits on the sensor bars, or as input to an electronic control board that counts the hits against its program algorithms.  Heating response curve via temperature readings from a thermistor can be incorporated into the algorithms with the moisture hit counting but direct moisture sensing is the primary factor.

Moisture-sensing systems nowadays with an electronic control board typically dry until the moisture hits drop to a trigger level then continue for a timed run-out and cool down.  Program algorithms can vary the run-out time depending on the selected cycle (type of fabric), temperature curve input, how long it took for the moisture hits to drop to the trigger point (which also can vary per the fabric/cycle), and other such factors.  Thermostatic auto-dry can't do that.

All dryers reasonably have a thermostat(s) or a thermistor as such to control the drying temperature, otherwise the heat source would never turn off, with potential to scorch the clothes or cause a fire.

 

[powerfin64]

trappn.. rinse and spin

look at your control panel, its the last button, BELOW the extra rinse button.

(far right on the bottom row.) <----this is for WM4200

Mark, DaDoES explained it perfectly for Auto- dry.

 

[powerfin64]

trappn, forgot to mention..

you can do a rinse and spin on any cycle on the dial, and times will be different

for each. Here's how to execute a rinse and spin for a cycle:

Turn on the machine, turn dial to a cycle of choice, press the rinse and spin

button, press Start. ** you can add up to 3 ADDITIONAL rinses, on rinse and spin

with most cycles, a few cycles only allow 2 additional rinses**

 

[DADoES]

 
Mark, I'm curious how long your dryer will run to shut-off with no clothes on the Regular/Normal auto dry cycle, at the designated Normal dry level and whatever is considered the regular temperature (high? medium?).

I checked mine a few mins ago.  The display says "Sensing Dampness" at the start, then "Drying Damp" and progresses from there through the dryness levels as they're reached (Damp, Damp+, Dry, Dry+, Extra Dry) to the selected target, then Cooling and shut-off.  Cool down is to 95°F or maximum of 10 mins.

Normal cycle (medium 140°F temperature) at Dry level with clothes would be Sensing Dampness, Drying Damp, Damp, Damp+, Dry --> Cooling.

The test went from Sensing Dampness directly to Cooling in 5 mins 30 seconds.  No moisture hits so it didn't need to continue through the dryness levels.  Cool down 2 mins 45 seconds, it shut off at 8 mins 15 seconds total.

 

[henene4]

No load sensig on sensor dryers

Have seen many differences.

Some machines over here used to never even start heating and just aborted the cycle after a minute or two.

Now most sense to an empty default time like 30min or so, start heating and then abort either into a short cool down or straight to end after a few minutes like you described.
Thresholds there are set quite different aswell...

 

[trappn]

powerfin64.........

....thanks for the info.

We finally stumbled upon the "enhanced" users manual by scanning the QR code. Even that one states "Do not select a cycle."

We tried it your way, and it works perfectly. Thanks.

 

[mark_wpduet]

@ DADoES

Compared to your test, I'd say mine was a total fail.

Ok, at exactly 1pm I turned dial to normal (auto dry) medium heat and started with nothing in it. At 1:08 it made it to less dry, by 1:14 it was on cool down, and at 1:27, got the buzz. I never knew how long cool down was on this dryer. After 1:14, the heat did not come back on, so it was in cooldown from 1:14 to 1:27

 

[egress]

I think our LG's cooldown is 5 minutes only, no matter the cycle. the cats love it, but laundry can be quite warm still after the dryer turns off.

 

[logixx]

Maybe we should start a thread on how long our dryers take to sense an empty drum.

 

[appnut]

Mark, Whirlpool pioneered the 10 minute cool down back in 1958 when they gave is Wash 'n' Wear cycles. When Whirlpool still offered 3 timed dry cycles (WnW/PP, Delicate, Normal) or Automatic Dry Regular and Automatic WnW/PP, the Regular and Delicate cycles only had a 5 minute cool down. When Whirlpool consolidate both their Automatic Dry cycles into 1 all-fabric cycle then all dry cycles had a 10 minute cool down. My Maytag LDE9824 has 6 minute cool down for IntelliDry Regular and 12 minute cool down for IntelliDry Permanent Press. For the 12 years I still had the Lady Shredmore after I got teh Maytag dryer, I used the Regular Dry for loads that were towels or underwear type things that were in rapid succession. Saving those 6 minutes helped get those loads processed faster. I petty much use the Perm Press dry cycle for all loads now, particularly after I moved to front loaders in 2006.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

My kenmore elite and lg cousin

takes 5 minutes to cooldown on all sensor cycles. I use normal without energy saver.

 

[mark_wpduet]

It's hard to tell if the cool down was 10 min's or 13. Because part of that 13 min's could have been the very end of the less dry...so if I had to guess, this cool down on my particular dryer is 10 minutes exactly, which I would have never guessed it was that long. So some of the loads that get dry in 40 min's, actually only literally took 30 min to dry. And the loads that take an hour really took 50 min's. (LOL)

 

[appnut]

Mark, as you move your timer dial from less dry to off, there SHOULD be a "click" or notch and that means the cool down phase has started. then that period is from that point until it turns off, which should be another click or notch.

be a "click"

 

[henene4]

On a vented dryer, cool down is still drying

While there wouldn't be much of a difference in you just taking things out and airing them manually, the cool down should still remove moisture.
Laundry is warm, airflow is still strong, so it still might pull the last percent of moisture out.

But these 20min of drying on an empty drum is exactly what I was trying to say:
Thermal AutoDry is just guestimating and saying that basically any load - even a single item - might take 20min to dry sounds reasonable to be.

 

[DADoES]

 
Mark, 14 mins to start of cool down is about what I'd expect on a mechanical timer, maybe a bit less than expected.  Normal dry historically is at center of the range, but is skewed more conservative nowadays toward the Less Dry end.  You can probably set your timer for much more "dryness" than the designated More Dry position.

Is your Wrinkle Shield feature selectable On/Off or always active on the Auto Dry cycle?  Does it tumble continuously for the duration or intermittently (I'm guessing continuously)?

As stated previously, cool down on my dryer on auto-dry is to 95°F or maximum 10 mins to avoid running for a very long time if unable to reach 95°F in a high-temp environment.  Timed drying cools for 10 mins on the 80- and 40-mins cycle selections, 5 mins on the 20-mins cycle.

Also, the Regular cycle heat temperature is 149°F, not 140°F.  Cycle options say Regular is Medium+ temperature.  High (Heavy, Denims, etc.) and Medium+ are both 149°F but there is no information on what's the difference between them.  Maybe the control board keeps the air temp tighter around 149°F for High than Medium+.  Medium (PPress) is 140°F.  Low/Delicate is 127°F.

 

[mark_wpduet]

My dryer has 3 buttons. The main knob you see in the picture above. Then 2 other buttons. One is cycle signal on/off and the other is heat selection of high/med/low

the main dial's wrinkle shield is always on and it's not a constant tumble. It's intermittent until you open the door. Once you open the door and close it, it stops. I usually turn the dial back to off myself, but a few times I've forgotten it and it moves itself back to off but nothing runs (LOL)?

With a large heavy load, I have to turn it past more dry, but not much past if I want the clothes to be dry by the end. For normal sized medium loads, I turn the dial just slightly above normal. Most of the time it gets it right if I do this.