POD 5/5: Maytag Recommends Cold For Wash 'n' Wear

[frigilux]

Apparently Maytag believed the dryer did most of the heavy lifting in the wrinkle removing game of Wash 'n' Wear. They recommended the use of their Modern Fabrics speed selection (slow/slow) and a cold water wash temp. Meanwhile the slide rule set over at Whirlpool had already trotted out a comparatively elaborate (though water-guzzling) cool-down protocol for the Kenmore line.

Furthermore, daily-driver detergents had yet to be formulated to do their best work in cool/cold water. A bold move, Maytag; a bold move.

Aside: Happened to glance up and notice I'd been bestowed this rare designation.
[this post was last edited: 5/5/2016-05:33]

 

[combo52]

Maytags bold Move To Cold Water Washing

Interestingly MT has longed claimed to be the first AW washer that could easily do an all cold water wash, but I guess they never saw a Blackstone AWW witch always had the ability to due cold water washes.

 

I certainly dough that MTs cold water washing would get dirty Mens shirts anywhere nearly as clean as WPs and KMs early WnW cycles that used H-M-or W washes at high speed with the water suspension cool down and gentile spin speed. Again it is interesting when MT introduced their all push button A160 washer in 1959 it had a cycle for WnW very simlar to WPs, LOL.

 

Eugene congratulations on being the first to see and comment on the picture of the day, and you are just 20 posts away from hitting the 10,000 post mark, Yay, I wounder if you win something for that.

 

[lordkenmore]

Even with the cold water detergents of today, it seems to me that the Maytag wouldn't be as good as a WP/KM. Tap cold could be too cold in some parts of the US in winter. I seem to recall it was you, Eugene, who reported trying Tide Coldwater, and finding it worked fine in coolish water, but not so well in tap cold.

 

[lordkenmore]

just 20 posts away from hitting the 10,000 post mark

The Big 10,000. Amazing someone can hang in that long here with crazy loonies like Lord Kenmore also here!

Seriously, early congratulations, Eugene!

 

[frigilux]

Tap cold water in southern Minnesota is useable in the summer, but is far too cold to be effective in the fall, winter, and early spring. Fortunately, the Maytag 8100 has a 'cool' water setting which hits the sweet spot year round when a cold water wash is called for.

Unfortunately, the cool setting can't be used on the Maytag's otherwise excellent Cold Wash cycle. It provides a protocol similar to Kelvinator's Magic Minute: All the detergent is dispensed with a very small amount of water. After about 15 minutes of fairly fast tumbling, more water is added and the wash cycle proper begins. At any rate, the Cold Wash cycle is a summer-only proposition for me.

Honestly hadn't noticed I'm nearing the 10,000 mark 'til you and John pointed it out. Apparently, I'm that guy who never shuts up, LOL![this post was last edited: 5/5/2016-22:28]

 

[appnut]

Apparently, I'm that guy who never shuts up, LOL!&#1292

No you aren't.  When you "speak" it's worth volumes. Ugh, me a 13, 430 lol

 

[gansky1]

10,000 posts

Yeah, but we're oldies around here, Bob.  Been here since Jeff's Yahoo! Group days.

 

[launderess]

Tide Coldwater

Is a bit of a misnomer IMHO.

IIRC directions say to use in water about 85F to 100F; that is a lukewarm to warm water range IMHO.

Would have to haul the thing out but think my vintage box of Cold Power recommends water temps that are warmer than say tap cold water in NYC during winter.

 

[washer111]

Based on watching the marketing videos produced at the time these types of garments were produced, I can agree with Maytag's proposition that the dryer (where used) does a fair bit of the work.

If hot water was only used to shift wrinkles and for some additional cleaning power, why not just forgo the water-wasting cool-down periods instead of cold-water washing? After-all, detergents formulated for cold water didn't exist at the time, and people's clothes were just as soiled and smelly as they are today.

Should wrinkles be set from a warm wash, the dryer could theoretically take care of it. At least in theory, by using cold water, no wrinkles would (necessarily) be removed, nor would any be formed. And cleaning power would presumably have been compromised.

Eugene, I recall digging up the threads from your Cold-Water "Conversion/'I've seen the Light'" with your old FriGEmore washer. However, I've always wondered whether it was your addition of LCB for loads of whites that did the majority of the heavy lifting.

FWIW, congratulations on the 10K mark. No, I have not found the posts annoying. They always bring an interesting perspective to discussions. And who could forget your famous "Performance Tests?"

 

[frigilux]

Launderess: Checked the jug of Tide Coldwater Clean and there is no mention of a suggested temperature range. Tide's website says it is effective in temperatures down to 40 degrees (F). Other Tide products are effective down to 60 degrees (F). My own tests found that Tide Coldwater Clean lost a substantial amount of stain-removal power when winter-cold temps of around 45 were used.

Follow the link and click on the FAQ tab for more info.

http://tide.com/en-us/shop/type/he-liquid/tide-coldwater-clean-he-liquid

 

[yogitunes]

there was a commercial, which I can't find, of a guy using Cold Water Tide in a container with ICE, to demonstrate how the stained sample cloth was cleaned in chilled temps.....

cold water washing seemed best on lightly soiled laundry, and if you could lengthen the wash time, not so much of agitation, but with a long soak, which proved to me effective, if you have time or a machine that would allow you to do that...

 

[tomturbomatic]

The wash 'n wear cooldown cycles were geared toward people who did not have dryers in the 50s when the synthetic blends were coming out. If garments were washed in water that was too hot and then spun immediately the heat would set new wrinkles in the fabrics. Ironically, heat in the form of warm wash water or in the dryer was needed to relax the fabrics so that they would dewrinkle. If a dryer was used, this process was finished in the dryer. If just a washer was used, the results were not as good, but the amount of ironing needed was greatly reduced.

While older Maytag and other dryers operated at higher heats and the new blends required lower heats than cottons during drying, by the time the Halo-of-Heat dryers came out, the regular drying cycle did not reach temperatures high enough for best permanent press performance so the permanent press setting on HOH dryers continued to heat the dried fabrics until they reached 160F, the ideal temperature for relaxing wrinkles and resetting pleats, before the cooldown began.

Maytag's slow agitation was somewhat surprising when I read the instructions for the A502 which stated that the slow speed was ONLY for the most delicate of fabrics, a much different approach than our Kenmore and GE washers. Once I saw the normal agitation of the Maytag, I understood why they reserved the slow speed for the most delicate stuff. It would not have moved a full tub of regular weight fabrics. If you wanted a slow spin with normal agitation, you were SOL.

 

[bajaespuma]

Am I crazy or do I remember that at one point Maytag washers' Permanent Press cycle used an abbreviated NORMAL speed spin no matter whether NORMAL or SLOW speed was selected?

 

[appnut]

No Ken, you're not crazy.  I remember CR commenting something to the effect that even if gentle action button was pushed, the spin speed following the cool down phase was high speed.  But final spin was slow speed.  I don't remember if that was just the 06 series or later 2-speed models too.   

 

[Gilles8008]

My parents had the A208 series which was a 2 speed washer. No matter what speed you chose in the Permanent Press cycle being Gentle or Regular, the spin during the cool down, and the first and final spin was of high speed. The Permanent Press final speed lasted 3 minutes which including the final drain.

 

[combo52]

06 Series MT Washers With Separate PP Cycle

Did all spin at Hi Speed [ as noted in Gilles post #14 above ], Maytag really had no idea what they were doing at times, I guess they were banking on their little HOH dryers to remove the wrinkles, although MTs dryer cool-down period was never quite long enough even on the WnW and PP cycles so you had to get the clothing out of the dryer fast.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Maybe they were running the motor on high during the post wash drain in the PP cycle to drive the pump to pump out enough water to reset the water level switch and initiate a cool-down fill before the timer advanced out of the spin period and into the fill for the rinse. I think that is why Maytag kept the DELICATES setting in the last 4 minutes of the Normal Cycle because that cycle could be set for slow spin speed and had long enough spin periods to completely empty the tub when everything was working right. If you were using a dryer, the cool-down was not needed. I washed perma press dress shirts in my WCI-58 with the 1140rpm spin and dried them in the matching Filtrator with great results.

WP-made machines, when set for slow agitate and spin, would give one fast stroke as agitation ended because the motor shifted to high speed for the pump out. At the end of the two minute drain, the motor would sift back to low speed for the slow spin. With the neutral drain machines, motor speed during drain did not make any difference.

GE always ran their pump on high speed and used the clutch to control wash and spin speed so their machines would pump out at the same rate whether or not the machine was set for normal or gentle action.

John helped me change the fixed temperature cool down thermostat on my DE806 because of the cool-down problems. The chime was supposed to ring at the start of cool-down, but it rang once and the dryer instantly shut off. I got a thermostat with an adjustable shut off temperature (essentially open on temperature fall) and adjusted the setting on the thermostat so that the machine would give a decent cool-down with the chime sounding every minute or so for the clothing to be rescued.[this post was last edited: 5/7/2016-12:48]