question about a brand new Whirlpool washer

[ryner1988]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted so I hope all are well.

So my Maytag that I've posted about on the imperial forum in the past finally kicked the bucket a couple weeks ago. I know that many of you probably could have fixed it easily, but given my disability, I decided to go ahead an buy a new washer with a warrantee in case anything happens. I went with a Whirlpool, model number WTW4816FW. So far, it's done pretty well and I did a mountain of catchup laundry this past weekend so it's gotten a fair bit of use already. I do, however, have a question.

It seems to me that the machine will not fill up with hot water on the "normal" cycle but will do so on the "heavy duty" cycle. Is this a machine malfunction, or is "normal" designed with energy efficiency in mind, and I should use "heavy duty" or something like that if I want a hot wash? I know that modern washers mix in cold water to save energy, that's not the problem. what I'm talking about is on the "normal" cycle, it will start out as hot for a couple minutes or so, and then fill with cold water for the remainder of the fill, therefore negating the little bit of hot water it put in. However, as I said it does not do this on "heavy duty." Is this typical? Is "normal" really kind of a joke on modern washers and should I just use other settings? I've also used "quick wash" and "delicate" both of which seem effective.

Thanks for your help, as always.

Ryne

 

[murando531]

It's not a malfunction at all. Because of energy mandates, machines are required to comply with energy and water use regulations, but only on their "Normal" or default cycle. The Normal cycle will typically give you 15 or so minutes of wash, and quick spin, then a spray rinse (unless the Fabric Softener Option is selected, then it will instead deep fill like a conventional machine we've been used to). The water temps will be lukewarm at best, even when Hot is selected. That said, it's a cycle that is perfect for normal dark and light colored clothing like t-shirts, underwear, light fabric shorts and such. For towels and jeans and other items that may need tap hot water or longer washing time, use the Heavy cycle. It's not any different for your machine in particular because the agitation and spin speeds are the same, but the wash time will be a few minutes longer, plus the water temps aren't tempered down like on the Normal setting.

 

[suburbanmd]

Cycles other than the normal cycle are included in the energy and water scores, weighted according to their expected percentage of use. If only the normal cycle was included, then the other cycles would be a free-for-all and there'd be nothing to complain about, right?

 

[Chetlaham]

WTW4816FW

I've been debating about getting one of those, however my hesitation being fill level. On Deep wash, does this machine fill to the top? And water are rinses like?

 

[ryner1988]

From what I can tell, deep water wash does fill to the top, although I think I've only used that once. I honestly just leave it on the auto fill setting as that seems adequate, I've checked during various loads and it seems to fill pretty generously with water even on that setting. For instance, yesterday I washed a load of towels that filled the machine about 3/4 of the way, and that's about how much water it put in.

I do have another question though. It's about my Roper dryer. No idea about model number but it's the one that only has a 30 minute time dry, and pretty small capacity comparatively to others I've seen. It also has an auto sense, and I usually use the "very dry" option which has worked well. However, I now need to be able to dry more delicate clothing, and there's no separate temperature selector. On this model, would I just select "less dry" and would this give me a low heat dry?

Thanks!

 

[retro-man]

The lower end dryers that I have seen are as follows. The auto dry cycle is the high heat option and the timed setting is medium setting for a lower temp cycle. Hope this helps.

Jon

 

[foraloysius]

I'm glad that they only weigh a few cycles here in Europe, some manuals mention what cycles that are. Usually it's an eco 60 degrees Celcius and a 40 degrees Celcius cycle with dumbed down temperatures. So if you don't want dumbed down temperatures, you choose another cycle than the eco cycles.

 

[combo52]

Roper Dryer

Should be around 6 cubic foot capacity which is big enough for all but monster loads and is much bigger than most US dryers were throughout the 50s-70s. This size dryer was considered super capacity when it was introduced in 1966 and WP matched this dryer size with their monster top load washers.

 

There may be only one heat on your dryer, if you want to dry delicate items just use the timed cycle and be careful to set the drying time on the short side, as long as there is a trace of moisture left in the clothes the clothing temperature will not go much above 100F.

 

[appnut]

Ryne, how long have you had your dryer?  Are you the original owner?  I had to ask these questions because this dryer has various timer dial arrangements based upon age and brand. I did find a current Roper dryer manual that has just a timer dial and push to start button.  It has one auto dry cycle that starts at about 9 o'clock and ends at about 12 o'clock.  That is high heat.  The timed dry begins between 12 & 1 o'clock and stops at about 4 o'clock.  That's also high heat.  Then there's an air fluff that starts at about 5 0'clock and ends at 6 o'clock.  Then there's another auto dry cycle that starts at about 6 o'clock and ends between 8 and 9 o'clock.  That is an auto dry cycle with low heat.  A Kenmore version has only one auto dry cycle and it's low heat.  I've also found an Admiral version with the same arrangement as what I described the Roper.  A good friend of mine has an Admiral that's about 6 or 8 years old.  It has one auto dry cycle that's high heat.  It has one timed dry cycle that is about 30 to 40 minutes and that's low heat.  Another timed dry that's about 60 or 70 minutes long and is high heat and there's also an air fluff short timed cycle.  You may need to have a friend or family member read the dial sections to you.  All these dryers that are based upon the same model but different brand labels do have a low heat and high heat on the timer dial.  Just depends upon where it is and whether it's timed or auto dry  Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you.  Bob

 

[ryner1988]

Roper dryer

Bob, thanks, that's actually very helpful. Mine is an older version, as I got it at a used appliance store. Yes, it does indeed have the control dial, along with the start button and that's it.

My auto dry high heat does indeed start between 8 and 9 o'clock on the dial, and after that, there is a 30 minute time dry cycle with low heat. My wife's mom showed me this a few days ago.

What I usually do is use the auto dry for towels, jeans, t-shirts, and the like, and any delicates that can go in the dryer at all I put on the 30 minute time dry low heat cycle. When in doubt, I just hang dry.

I do like this dryer though. If it kicks it, I'll be buying a modern version as close to it as I can find. I don't need all the fancy electronics to dry my laundry.

 

[appnut]

Ryne,  so glad that's your dryer.  My good friend that has the same dryer likes it a lot.  I've used it several times.  Those are very well-designed, reliable dryers.  It's Whirlpool's tried-and-true design they brought out in like 1965 or 1966.  Bob