My new LG 4000 series washer and dryer

[lakewebsterkid]

water temps

On my Kenmore 41982, Normal cycle on cold will actually engage the heater to heat the water to 74ºF. Warm was about 82ºF. Hot was around 113ºF. Extra hot would heat to 150ºF, but my machine would actually fill with tap hot once the prewash dispenser was flushed.
The loudest part of my machine is when it fills, though the new LG WashTower is silent when filling.
As others have said, very little vibration.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Sorry...

Forgot to mention, my machine does NOT engage the heater on the Normal cycle with either warm or hot water selected. Nor does it use the heater on the Whitest Whites cycle. Odd.

 

[appnut]

LWK, that would be a huge disappointment to me!!!

 

[logixx]

Somebody on YouTube ran a whites cycle in his (older) LG and the hot setting meant 109F. I find it unfortunate that the final temp depends so much on the cycle, load size, inlet temp, soil level and maybe even other factors. These large washers are sold with precise temp control all over the world - just not in North America.

 

[appnut]

I agree Alex.

 

[henene4]

"Precise Temp Control"

Can't completely agree tbh.

The EU versions of these only go to about 120F even if you select the non-eco 140F Cotton's cycle.

Though household machines of this size over here make little sense as even with our 2.x kW heaters in them, a 17kg rated load (something like 35lbs or so) just takes ages to heat up from cold.

But LGs never were the most temperature accurate machines over here either, so...

 

[nmassman44]

Th thing is if one is concerned about the water temp in the Bright Whites cycle, Steam can also be selected. The Bright Whites cycle I use for all white loads and never have an issue with stain removal. I also use German Persil Universal MegaPearls so that alone makes a difference. Tide w/Bleach powder does an amazing job used with this cycle. The other thing is the fact that if one needs to have 150F water temps, the Normal cycle does allow it to happen and will extent the cycle to 1 hour and 40 mins..and the washer gets hot or even the Allergiene cycle does the same.
Most cycles that I use are Normal for darks/colors, Bright Whites for whites and white towels, Towels cycle for Towels....that is the longest cycle I might add...it can extend the cycle time from what it says at sensing to in reality 2+ hours later. I will have to say that when I use the cycle it is the last load of the day for laundry. The wash cycle on that is not long, its the rinsing and spinning that consumes the time.
The Bedding cycle...it was called Bulky on the 3570 washer...does quite well, but, extraction is short and so is the spin speed capped at 600 rpms. One can do a Spin Only and get more water out of the load if need be.

 

[DADoES]

<blockquote>... Towels cycle for Towels....that is the longest cycle I might add...it can extend the cycle time from what it says at sensing to in reality 2+ hours later.</blockquote> I'm wondering what's the need for a designated Towels cycle to be that long?  Towels typically aren't super-filthy.

 

[nmassman44]

I agree they are not but on this cycle the washer spins in stages because of the nature of the towels and how water they absorb. Rinsing is very thorough on this cycle as well and I use the TurboWash as well to speed it along. I should have clarified when i made the comment because I have not used Heavy Duty or Allergiene so those cycles may run a tad longer...wont know until I try them.

 

[appnut]

Towels is also recommended for jeans/denim. Yes, adding steam most likely engages the heater to heat wash water too. Also an option for bedding. Heavy Duty has the same water temp options as Normal, including extra hot. If max soil is selected, or if the machine senses an unusually large load for HD cycle, it will do some tumble pauses for a couple of minutes at a time according to the user guide. I'd probably use Normal for just about everything to have access to the heater and simply adjust spin speed to suit fabric. Does Towels use additional water?

 

[nmassman44]

Methinks so. If you use Turbowash on Bedding, during those soak periods, the recirculation pump runs and throws the water into the load. When tumble begins, the pump stops and the load is power washed. It also happens during the rinse cycles as well. The Towels cycle does the same with the Turbowash option. I use it for every load.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I don't think

I would ever run a load without turbo wash engaged. LOL

 

[nmassman44]

If one is wondering how the performance is n the Bright Whites cycle….this is a pic I just took of the load that I freshly washed, dried and folded this morning. …

 

[powerfin64]

Bob have you

checked all of your "download" cycles yet?? There is many of them to choose from, including a " Denim" Specifically for Jeans! How exciting!! Heavy Duty is geared for jeans/ Denims on High heat than the towel cycle which is Medium High heat, may be used just will be a tad longer in drying time.

 

[logixx]

It'll be interesting to see whether these extra cycle a new cycles or already existing ones with simply modified presets, like it's the case in Europe (from all I've read).

 

[appnut]

Rich, no I've not gotten around to dealing with the wifi-network-download yet. I'm having to buy a new phone and will probably wait until after that acquisition.

 

[nmassman44]

I have the washer,dryer,dishwasher, stove and fridge connected with the ThinQ app. It does work well I might add.

 

[DADoES]

 
ThinQ.  I recall hearing someone pronounce it in a video as "thin-que" ... but I imagine it's supposed to be "think."

 

[trappn]

The ThinQ application has actually proven to be useful. Gives us periodic reports of the state of the washer: Which cycles are being used, whether any excessive vibration has been noted. When it's time to perform a cleaning cycle, etc.

 

[egress]

yeah, last winter it complained to us about not getting enough hot water during the clean washer cycle. turns out it was cold enough that we had to run the faucet for a period to make sure the washer got hot water.

 

[littlegreeny]

Is there an advantage to use the normal cycle with the temp set to extra hot vs. using the sanitary cycle? And does the steam option just extend the wash time on those extra hot settings?

 

[nmassman44]

Good question and I think that I can answer that since I have had some time putting the washer thru he paces here. One thing is that the Normal Cycle is one of the cycles that uses the AI feature. Now I thought that it was just a gimmick but I was wrong, it does indeed work. The Normal cycle allows the Extra Hot wash temp to be used and it changes the cycle depending on what one is washing. I use this cycle for towels and on the Extra Hot temp the washer senses the load and the display will show a 1 hour 35 min for the duration. The wash water temp does in fact get up to a toasty 154F and holds it there for the duration of the wash cycle. Then cold water is added to temper it down. The washer also sense just how much water that the load is absorbing and also adds more spin time between rinses and gives 10 mins for the final spin. I have not used the Steam option since the Extra Hot wash temp in my mind is plenty for what the load would need.
One thing that this washer does during the wash cycle, as the water is heating in the sump of the outer tub, the load will not move, then the jets kick on and throw that heated water on top of the stationary load then after a few seconds it will tumble the load and do it over again until the water temp hits the target temp. One can check what the water temp is by touching the Delay button and then the Temp select button and it will show the water temp in Celsius. The Normal cycle adapts to what ever you are washing and changes up the wash action profile to match the load it is sensing.
So far this set is alot of fun to use and the performance has been outstanding. The dryer is very quick in its task of getting the job done and I use the Normal cycle for most loads and I dont have any shrinkage on anything dried in that dryer.

 

[littlegreeny]

Thanks for the explanation Mike. What does the steam button do?

 

[appnut]

Mike, how did you find out the dryer has a variable heating element?-- akin to Kenmore Soft Heat? Is variable heat only used for Normal cycle or other cycles?

 

[egress]

thats good to know about that temp trick, I'll have to try that on my WM3900

 

[henene4]

The steam option fills only to cover the heater and then steams before the wash starts.

I don't think it has a variable heater per se.
It might have 2 heater banks and pulse the heater on/off.

Never seen a truly variable heater as in more than 3 power outputs.

 

[appnut]

I'll say it agan

The one thing I still don't like about the dryer is the pathetic cool down. Drying my compression stockings on Ultra Delicate, the cool down phase was actually shortened by 2 minutes. I did a BobLoad of towels last week on Towels and the cool down was extended 9 minutes (while watching the app on my phone) before it shut off. Once it did, I started the dryer on air fluff and let it run for 30 minutes. Used the residual heat to take care of any possible damp spots in the load. I've also gotten used to selecting the cycle that has the specific temperature I want to dry a load on rather than actually selecting the specific temperature I'd prefer. Perm Press and Bedding both use medium, but Bedding dries the load almost bone dry before it begins cool down. Same with Towels vs. Normal--both cycles using medium high.

 

[trappn]

Dryer Cool Down......

You're not imagining it. As stated before, nothing very sophisticated going on here compared to the old Whirlpool.

Have tried experimenting with the Wrinkle Prevention option to improve finish on permanent press dress shirts. Doesn't help much; so, after the main cycle finishes, these shirts go for another 10 minutes or so on the Steam Fresh cycle. This actually improves the finish quite a bit.

Recall someone mentioning they loved the dryer's permanent press cycle, but it seems inferior to what we used to have.

 

[nmassman44]

I find that as the the load dries on the Normal cycle that the dryer throttles back the heat so that that nothing gets fried out much like the Soft Heat/ Gentle Heat feature that Whirlpool dryers have. If one is concerned about the heat then one can use the Energy Saver button and that will drop temps even further, but the heat does not kick on until a set period of time once the dryer is started. That will extend the drying cycle. I used it once and once was enough for me.

The Steam feature on the washer will extend the cycle depending on load size it can add a cool 35 to 40+ mins to a wash cycle. Now steam in a dryer is helpful if one does not want to iron or they want to refresh a load that was forgotten for a few days on the dryer...that never happens here since I am on top of it on laundry day. The cool down on a cycle is very dependent on room temp that the dryer is in. If the dryer is outside like mine is in my laundry shed and if the air temp is a toasty lets say 90F, the dryer will take longer to cool down a load to get to where the dryer thinks its good to shut off. I have seen the dryer hit the one min mark and not shut off for another 5 mins. But, with the cooler weather here and I did laundry yesterday, the dryer had no issues with holding at the one minute mark.
Getting back to the Steam Feature for the washer, in my opinion , its kinda useless unless you need to sanitize something. As far as stain loosening I would think that it would not do much. I normally will pretreat a stain and let the washer get on with the wash process, but that is me.

 

[appnut]

Mike, thank you. After I downloaded the app, I wanted to try the remote start feature. It was a load of towels and defaulted to Normal. With the app, you cannot cancel the energy saver option. And I knew it would tumble in room temp air for a while before heat turned on. All said and done, that load of towels took almost 2.5 hours. I obsrved the sensor adding time to the cycle twice to gt the towels dry, thus the very cycle. So, no more remote start for me. But I like the app so that I can keep track of how each load ends up adding or reducing cycle time. Plu I downloaded the Ultra Delicate cycle.

I've gotten spoiled with the Duet not having to go through the process of huting for and treating stains. With both the F Flo and the LK toploaders, I'd spend marahon laundry days with the time each wash cycle took, going through the pile for the next load hunting down and treating stains. And the subsequent Fridgemore wasn't much of an improvement either. The Duet became a Freemom Maker with not having to tie myself up to hunting/treating stains. I could do other things while loads being washed. So for difficult stained loads with an LG, I just use the prewash and then select hot or extra hot wash temps on Normal to give me an even better profile wash. Hence my disdain for topoaders that don't deal well with stains and requiring front loaders to include onboard heating.

Also, I haven't had an indicator from the app that I needed to download updated software for the dryer.