Pauses between tumbling... too long too short.

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askomiele

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I've seen that different brands have different tumble cylci.
On a regular cycle
A miele tumbles 25-30sec to one direction pauses for 1 or 2 seconds and proceeds to the onther direction.
My olympia does 10 sec clockwise pause 1-2 seconds and proceeds.

Now I watched a lot of frontloader videos and it seems to me that other washers pause long sometimes very long... even at the end of the mainwash... Always learned that the mechanical action (tumbling) did the cleaning so why are other machines having a long break between the switching of tumble directions?
I've never heard of a Miele or Olympia that wouldn't tumble anymore so don't think that their tumblecycle is hard on the motor...
 
Well it depends on what the machine's doing at the time and on the design of the programme.

Typically, machines have a number of tumbling patterns that can be used during different cycles and at various stages of a cycle.

Cottons cycle will usually give you a lot of tumbling and relatively short pauses.
Synthetics : slightly longer pauses, shorter tumbles
Wool: Pulsed tumbles and lots of soaking.

Machines may also vary the speed of the tumbling action.

Some cycles may have a profile of tumbling action too. E.g. perhaps starting off with quite rapid and frequent tumbling to ensure the detergent's well mixed and the clothes are saturated properly. This may then be followed by a long tumble + long pause phase etc

Miele machines typically do a tumble that starts rapidly then slows, then pauses!

Some machines do a rapid tumble one way, then a slow one the other..

There's a logic to the design of these programmes.

Rapid tumbling on its own is neither necessary nor particularly better at cleaning the clothes.

You're trying to get the machine to push water through the clothes and expose the fibres to warm detergent-laden water. The action's not about rubbing the clothes against each other or violently pummling them around the washing machine. You're trying to make water flow through them.

The machine also is designed to use the weight of the wet clothes to squeeze them. So, it may throw them out to the edge of the drum with a rapid tumble, then a slower one to let them 'flop' onto each other.
 
More expensive machines have more accurate speed control as they've effectively got a full 'variable speed drive' rather than just a simple motor.

They're not unique to Miele etc, but to most mid to high end machines and are becoming more common place as full electronic control and induction motors are now cheaper.

The 'el cheapo' machines rely on on-off patterns rather than more subtle adjustments to the speed of the drum.

This is is one of the major reasons why more expensive machines tend to be able to produce better results.
 
Yeah that's true. Slower aggitation/tumbling during rinses is to avoid suds or foam building up... I've tried it by switching my olympia to gentle tumbling in the rinse cycle and I does make a difference...:)
 
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