New LG washer coming Thursday

[pumper]

Just bought a LG - 4.5 Cu. Ft. High-Efficiency Stackable Smart Front Load Washer with Steam and Built-In Intelligence - model WM4000HWA. Really didn't need all the bells & whistles but I did want the Turbo Wash 360. My 17 yr old Frigidaire FL was ready for retirement. Never needed a single repair on it.

 

[launderess]

Congrats!

 

[peteski50]

LG

Congrats!

 

[appnut]

Congratulations. That's the same model NMASSMANN44 has. Powerfin64 and myself have the WM4200.

 

[petek]

The only fault I have with mine (wm3700) which looks to have the same control panel is that it is difficult sometimes to read it otherwise been super happy with it.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I'm pretty sure that's the one I would get as well... As long it has a heater and turbo wash 360...

I think one of the lower tier LG models without turbo wash actually has a water plus option...I guess having turbo wash and water plus would be too much to ask lol

 

[nmassman44]

That is the same model that I have and I have the matching dryer. This set was rated #1 according to Consumer Reports as a team. The washer is made here in the USA in Clarksville TN in the new LG plant that was built. The dryer is still Korean made but its still very well made as the washer.
The only thing I wish it had was a drum light like my Electrolux washer had but that is the only want. You will enjoy this machine, I know I do.

 

[decodriveboy]

Congrats

We have the LG WM8900 set and have been very pleased with it so far. Congrats!

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Nice!

As I have mentioned a thousand other times, try the Towels cycle instead of using Normal. It does not have the option for Extra Hot, but uses a higher water level, good tumbles, and 3 interim rinses with strong interim spins. Plus the final spin isn't either 2 minutes or 30 minutes. Lol.

 

[mark_wpduet]

@ lakewebster...

I've remembered you saying that and noted it...Say you do choose the towels cycle..with turbo wash activated..what's the estimated time? Hopefully it's not too extreme...

I'm used to my duet either heavy duty or whitest whites (both with 3 rinses) and heater activated (normal soil level) and it's 1:10 (give or take)..

 

[appnut]

Turbo wash on towels only reduces the cycle about 5 minutes period there are no spins spray rinses on towels.

 

[decodriveboy]

Towels

The Towels cycle on my LG is 55 minutes with normal soil, extra high spin, Turbo Wash, and hot water selected.

I use this cycle whenever rinsing is especially important, and I find it to be the best “daily driver” so to speak. Water levels are higher and seem equal for both wash and rinse segments.

Other LG cycles I’ve found convenient + reasons:

Bright Whites - sort of an abridged version of Towels that uses only one rinse. Clocks in around 40 minutes depending on options. Wash portion is brief with minimum time about 10 minutes.

Normal - lower water level for wash with extended time (30 minutes at least) and one higher water level rapid spin rinse followed by tumbling. Time is about 1:20.

Speed Wash - ranges from 15-22 minutes or so depending on options. Uses a brief tumbling period for wash with a lower water level - then one higher level rinse, but with no spin in between.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Towel with TurboWash

As appnut said, it reduces time by about 5 minutes. Not sure how, because it seems to still use the recirculation even with TurboWash off.
The cycle runs about 1 hour. IMHO, the Normal cycle with TurboWash is designed too much for speed anymore. BY the time you adjust the cycle for it to perform better, with extra rinse and extra high spin speed, you have added nearly 20 minutes, which defeats the entire purpose of TurboWash.

 

[nmassman44]

How is it that the Normal cycle on my model is no where near the 1:20 time frame said here? Most loads on Normal with my machine clock in at 40 mins using TurboWash and that is with an extra rinse selected. You have to remember that the larger the load the more time the washer will use to get the load done. Towels cycle , yes does use more water and the levels are higher , but the wash cycle portion time is shorter. The thing that is maddening about that cycle is it can take up to 3 hours to do a load of towels in my machine since it takes its time with water removal, gradual removal. With my model Turbowash is selected with every cycle since I want the water moving and detergent to be dissolved properly and distributed well.
Yes you can add up to 3 rinses as well for each cycle. On my model one cannot deselect Turbowash on the Normal cycle. I use just two cycles , Normal and Bright Whites since the AI feature is used on those cycles. Heavy Duty will use more water and auto select Heavy Soil and uses plenty of water. Times with that cycle can clock in at 1:30.

 

[decodriveboy]

Nmassman

Seems our models do differ quite a bit with cycle structure and timing as you described.

Another example, Heavy Duty on mine is exactly the same as Normal but maybe a bit longer. No difference in water levels. Also, Allergiene did nothing but blow steam for an hour (no water) yet appears to be something entirely different on other models.

Towels on mine is like Normal on yours and vice-versa. Who knew!

 

[appnut]

My Normal with a 10-12 lb. load and 1 extera rinse is about 52-57 minutes.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

cycle times

A majority of the time they fall closer to what appnut is claiming. If you increase the final spin up to 'Extra High' it will fall right at an hour.
I have never had the Towels cycle take more than about 70 minutes on heavy soil.

 

[nmassman44]

I find that using the extra high setting for spin is kinda overkill since high speed , for me, is plenty fast at 1100 rpms. I find that using the extra high spin speed only adds more time and the clothes look a tad weary when I take them out. Not to mention the wrinkling that even the dryer has an issue with.

 

[ryner1988]

This has been an informative thread for me because likely something like the LG 4000 model will be my next washer assuming it's still available when I need one.

I did not know, for instance, that Turbo Wash is automatically selected on Normal. That's really helpful information. Are there other cycles where it's automatically selected? Also, it would seem that Bright Whites is a good alternative to wash towels on because Towels is really long, even if one has all colored towels as I do. Is this correct, @nmassman44?

Is Normal just as it is, without extra options, a good idea for everyday street clothes? In my case this is mostly athleisure, t-shirts, the occasional blue jeans or dockers. Not many delicates in this house, nor really dirty farm clothes. It would seem that I could get away with mostly using the cycle dial and not having to monkey with the touch screen much, which would be great given my visual limitations.

 

[appnut]

Mike, I only use Extra High on Normal/downloaded denim when washing towels, which I use that cycle for the extra hot water capability since I think 112F is pathetic for hot water and I select lightest soil that gives me about a 45 minute wash phase for extra hot which gets me to about 140 degrees. And with the extra high, I get about an 18-20 minute final spin. And it's only used for towels. Also, I have discovered that putting big load of towels in dryer and using default settings on towels rather than normal dry cycle, the towels actually dry faster. And my towel loads are the same for each load each load I have for towels. I even add the 6-8 cups of water to the tub before I put in the load, tricks the washer into thinking it's a super big load and adds more water.

 

[mark_wpduet]

OK...Yesterday.. I watched a video of a guy doing a 35 pound load in his LG (but it was a square door LG that looks like it was from a few years ago. (not 360 turbo wash) but just turbo wash... He used prewash, heavy duty, max soil, 5 rinses (he selected max extra rinses... I was cringing because I thought he overloaded it but the drum was so big that even though it was overloaded, it still washed well..but the cycle was 3:30 (but he said that was 2 weeks of laundry in one load and he didn't care about the time) He seemed to understand laundry as he talked for a long time about different laundry stuff for the first few minutes.. but he just put everything in and didn't bother to separate anything...which made me wonder.. He also has both hot and cold coming from his water heater (not sure how that's possible) but with that you would get NOTHING but hot washes AND rinses (LOL)

But here's the thing...After each drain, it spun and spray rinsed for a LONG time.. I felt like it was a solid minute of spray rinse...I'm almost sure the new ones don't do that...(See what happens when you wait???) A great option that was available is no longer available)

 

[lakewebsterkid]

WM9500

I know exactly what video you are talking about. Lol. I will have to watch and pay attention to the spray rinses. I don't recall them being that long on my machine.

 

[appnut]

I watched some of that video last night. The spin spray rinses is very different than the sseequence of the concept now. Yes, that spray/mist was potentially up to a minute and speed was much faster.

 

[mark_wpduet]

sometimes I'm terrified that when the time comes for me to have to get a new washer...there's going to be nothing on the market I want...as it stands it's already slim pickings. I have a suspicion my duet is going to last a few more years...unless the control board goes... I don't understand how it can just keep going.

 

[appnut]

Mark be thankful for the duration of the life left.

Replacement could be either LG or GE.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Duet

I know I sound like the LGs are more of a hassle than they're worth, however they are far better than a majority of machines on the market. My Duet was kind of glitchy and had its own issues, though I absolutely loved that machine. If anything, it had personality. But, I might like the Kenmore a bit more. It just depends on the cycle.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #20

See what happens when you wait???)

Yep, that's exactly what I'm afraid of about waiting too long and why I feel like I may have made a mistake getting the direct drive repaired instead of just buying something new. The DD might last too long now and by the time it finally breaks, there will be very limited options on the market that I'd both be interested in and can easily afford. On the flipside though I can't justify in my head getting rid of my current washer when it works just fine. It's a dilemma that's always sort of in the back of my mind, so I understand where you are coming from there, Mark.

Ryne

 

[mark_wpduet]

Or maybe they will innovate more... Let's hope so...If it was, say 2017.. I would have predicted that no machine in 2023 would have a more water button.. so we could be totally wrong...but that 2019 square door LG had a long spray rinse.. that might be my favorite part... and it did it in all five rinses...from what I've seen, there is only one spray rinse with these and it lasts 7 seconds or something like that. So in 2023, you've basically LOST the spray rinse...at least from the cycles I've seen...there could be a longer one depending on what's selected...

My duet has never been glitchy...even when it spins it sounds like it purrs along (with the once in a while more shaky load (not violently shaky) but the occasional shakes more than usual.)

One thing that amazes me is when more water is added to these machines... it's like it does not take much before it's too much. The clothes lift and drop turns into a roll..I don't think the baffles in them are big enough for too much more water.

I'm so used to 1000 RPM spin that I may not use extra high spin in these if HIGH spin is 1000 RPM since it adds more time...I wonder if there's a huge difference between 1000 RPM and, say, 1300 RPM

I wonder if anyone at LG reads these? If they do... please consider bringing back the longer spray rinse in future models without taking away true rinses.. and make sure that all cycles spin between rinses (well, maybe except for delicate)...

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Spray rinse

mark_wpduet, the 'High' setting on Normal cycle will perform a final spin of anywhere from 1100-1255 RPM for only about 1-2 minutes. Whereas the 'Extra High" setting adds anywhere from 8-14 minutes of spinning at that speed. IF you need something washed quickly, this would be sufficient, however a full load of laundry is not ideal. My Duet was programmed so that the spin setting purely changed the spin RPM, which I preferred. However, at least on my Kenmore, the spin RPM is highly variable. Last week I did a load of 4 pairs of jeans and 4 t-shirts and the machine decided to do the 1255 RPM spin. Though, if I have a large load of towels, washcloths, and bathmat, the machine usually will do a 1129 RPM spin. No ramping up for the last minute or anything. Spin performance is still great, but it's not at all what I was used to.

The interim spin with TurboWash is also too short and at too low of an RPM now. The older models would spin up to nearly 1000 RPM after the long spray, however, now they are lucky to spin to any more than 400 RPM and the interim spin is done. Plus, the drain pump stops as the machine ramps down, so there is still sudsy water in the sump that is used for the rinse. Not sure if they avoid the higher speed and longer duration to avoid sudslocks, or purely are doing it for time purposes. Since the water level in the rinse is significantly higher, I know they aren't doing it for efficiency. Though, I do believe the entire concept of TurboWash is efficiency driven on the Normal and Heavy Duty cycles. If an 8 pound load can be washed in 8-9 gallons of water, and the option can not be turned off, there is a specific reason why. CR would initially test TurboWash machines with the option turned OFF, as they do not run additional options or features for their testing cycles. Thats just my opinion on it though.

 

[appnut]

LG Normal Cycle spray rinse.

Mark, the former member who provided me with all the info he gave me said spin sprays have to have 600 rpm for the spray to activate. I've clocked that watching rpm numbers and it is true. Here ius the sequence for the 1st rinse on Normal (and bear in mind htis is the only rinse on Normal)For average loads, it will get up to the spin speed to do spin spray. The machine slows down to distribution speed and begins adding more water for a bit and then ramps up to about 25-40 rpms and spins with all that water surging through the load. After about a minute or two, the tub stops spinning alltogether. Then additionmal water is added and it ends up being quite a deep amount of water and tumbles for another minute or two. Then drains and goes into final spin. This sequence is only for Normal cycle. Now if the load is a heavy load or the machine senses a lot of suds, it wwill attempt to try to spin spray a couple of times and will then give up and just begin to fill with water for the rinse. It doesn't do the distribution spin speed with waater surging through the clcothes. This rinse is the exception for the following. All other spin spray sequences will do the spray. And continuese to spin for about 30 seconds and ramping up to whatever speed. then the spinning stops. The pump then puimps out all the water that's in the sump before the machine begins to fill for each rinse. So it does attempt to remove as much sudsy water as possible.