LGWM3900 Washer Rec. Settings & Water Level

[jbrady3324]

Mark and Decoy

@mark - I made half turn adjustments at a time. After each adjustment, I ran a test cycle (towels) to see how much additional water was in the drum. This isn’t full proof as the water level will be higher with clothes in the drum but gives you a good starting point. I then left the top off and ran some cycles with clothes in it and adjustment further from there. What I did not account for was more water in the Rinse cycles so I ended up turning the screw back a bit.

@decoy - Do you think the water level slightly above the door gasket is okay? I also noticed the water temperature dropping about 3-5 degrees Celsius since making the water level adjustment. Have you noticed the same thing? I may dial it back a bit more to see if that raises the water temperature

 

[mark_wpduet]

OK, so as you did half turns only... did you see a difference with each turn? Slight as it may have been?

anyway - while waiting for your answer (since I don't own an LG) I would venture to say water above the gasket is too much. If you're watching it wash (keep in mind different load sizes might behave differently with more water...if you're seeing lifting and dropping that's good. If you're seeing rolling as it tumbles... it's too much... I don't know about the temp. I would say turning the screw adding more water than what the machine is spec'd for... maybe it's more difficult to maintain or heat? I don't know. I just guessing. Hopefully someone will answer

 

[jbrady3324]

Mark - Good question and the answer is No and Yes. I did half turns only and I ran empty test cycles set on Towels (to get an idea of max water) for a few minutes and then drained. I noticed a difference with each turn. It wasn’t a drastic difference but it was definitely noticeable. However, I would suggest running the test cycles with a few towels as that will be more accurate of what the water level will be in a real life situation. I found the water level to be higher when testing with clothes in the drum likely due to the weight sensor and displacement. So I suggest testing with clothes/towels in the drum to avoid overflow situations.

I’m still tinkering (top is still off). I dialed back the turn to about 1 full turn to get the rinse level slightly below the door gasket and to reduce the water level for smaller loads (so they don’t roll). I think 3/4-1 turn is right for me.

 

[petek]

The only way you're really going to know if your clothes are coming out cleaner or not is to do it scientifically by washing identical articles with the identical amount of the same top quality detergent and the same identiccal stains at both the factory setting and your "upgraded" water levels. Otherwise it can be discounted as wishful thinking etc.

The other thing to think about is that HE washers along with HE detergents are designed to get the best cleaning performance at the factory set levels. The detergents alone are super concentrated and should work their best at their highest concentration amounts, adding more wash water is just going to dilute them and they may not perform as well in lifting soil in the same amount of wash time. So long as they lift the soils from the fabric at the factory set wash levels the increased water in the rinse should wash all the soil away, that's probably why the rinse level is higher than the actual washing level. Anyways, just my two cents.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I feel like I mostly agree with that...Wash levels definitely are better low... rinses not so much... which I why I like LG because rinses are higher... they may be higher in other machines I just haven't noticed...with LG it's a noticeable difference.

Anyway - about the factory tests/ set water levels.. I understand what you're saying but I sometimes feel like they have to "compromise" to achieve energy standards... so a little more water might be better...even though it's not scientific... That's totally a guess on my part though.

If I had a brand new LG with turbo wash right now... I do not think I personally would mess with it...but I do love knowing that if I ever needed to I could.

I think the 50 to 75% would be the MAX I would turn it if I did it.. People have done this for years with their LG's.. I've read comments of videos to adjust water levels and many say they did it YEARS ago and never regretted it.

I wish I could remember an article I was reading about the appliance manufacturers complaining about how the energy standards for water use is too stringent and at some point they are not going to work properly..something along those lines... I wish I could find it.

It's funny... I can watch laundromat videos and I'm still seeing (in 2023) water half way up the glass door.. I guess they are exempt.

 

[logixx]

This whole adding water business is interesting. If I tried that on my Duet, the opposite would happen: the washer has a flowmeter to detect the amount of water absorbed and thus calculates how much water (a certain percentage) is added on top for the rinses. Manually adding water before the sensing is done, results in poor rinsing.

There's also a digital pressure sensor but I've never messed with it in 12 years of ownership.

 

[petek]

Even though many have done it (increased the water level) for years and manufacturers feel it's a compromise does not mean that doing so would increase the washers performance. It can also mean that they want to cater to the consumers misperception that the more water they can visually see during the wash cycle means it's going to wash better. Just like the detergent manufacturers themselves know that lotsa suds does not improve washing performance but consumers think so. This mispercention is probably from the pre detergent days when more washing soaps were used and has since carried on. Therefore they add sudsing agents to their detergents,, well at least with the powdered ones for regular top loaders. They've done it for decades

As for "many people" have increased the water level.. not likely when you consider the tens of thousands of washers sold each year.. probably not even 1 or 2 percent

 

[henene4]

The probable reason the temp drops is something many machines have been observed to do, especially on more usage restrained cycles.

The washer has a certain hot water budget.
If it needs to add more water, that water will just be cold water.

It's also interesting I haven't heard about flow meters used in US washers while being basically universally used on any midrange and up washer over here.

The reason Logixx's Duet is different there is the entirely different way of sensing load size.

LGs haven't cared about absorbency really ever since they started doing the load sensing via drum movement.
That's why you can trick the machine the opposite way in the EU to give you shorter cycles with still decent water levels by letting sensing run with an empty drum, pause the machine and add the clothing then.

I do think that - especially with the TurboWash machines - increasing the water level will just be counterproductive.

The extremely short main wash relies on high detergent concentration and intense agitation with no water cushion.
The rinses are higher level as stated before.

 

[decodriveboy]

@JBrady

Yes, I have noticed that the wash temp probably drops with the hack, as I’ve observed mostly cold water fill even when the selection below Extra Hot is chosen.

When selecting Extra Hot it tacks on like an hour to the cycle. I noticed this recently when using Normal … now when I select anything but EH for the temp, the default wash time falls back to 25-40 minutes approximately. I was confused about this initially in some of my older posts! We live in South Florida, so our tap water is always lukewarm, and wash temperatures are not as vital to me as the water level.

I think that water above the drum lip is too much - but this is subjective. We have a lot of stinky clothes and dog beds so I insist on having plenty of water to help get rid of odors. IMO, the ultra-low water levels are great for stain removal given the detergent concentration, but they are ineffective for odor removal, and I’m super picky about that.

 

[jbrady3324]

@decoy

Totally agree! The increased water level removes odors significantly better. I noticed this immediately with my first was post water level increase. I have also noticed less pilling likely due to less friction with the increased water level. I have not noticed any reduction in stain lifting.

Just to confirm, your rinse levels are below the door gasket?

 

[mark_wpduet]

If this hack causes cold water fills unless extra hot is selected, count me out..

I'm trying to understand how more water in the wash can cause the odor to go away vs the non-hack. Either way you've got soaking dripping wet laundry...the only difference is the detergent is now even more diluted. I would think if someone smells really bad a soak cycle would be in order.

Low water washes do not bother me....as long as the rinses use plenty of water...

I can see how that would be an issue with pet hair or something...but even that could be minimized with the deeper rinses.

 

[mark_wpduet]

something - not someone

 

[decodriveboy]

@Jbrady

Rinse levels are right at the drum lip (post-hack).

However, depending on cycle and load size, sometimes the rinse water will rise up the glass door. Most I’ve ever observed is probably 3” high or so.

Normal cycle rinse will pass drum lip at times and so will Speed Wash, and same for some of the specialty cycles on the app which I rarely use. I believe it was the Juice Stains cycle where I saw the highest rinse level ever.

Bedding and Towels have a very consistent water level for both washes and rinses so I use those and Normal most often.