WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???

[pulsator]

My mom bought a dozen new large exercise towels and everytime she buys towels, she insists they be washed and dried at least 6 times before they get used. I washed them the first three times in her Fisher Paykel and the machine chose to use the medium water level, but it was still struggling and then later decided to go to medium-high. Mom never trusts the auto water level feature on the Fisher Paykel saying it never uses enough water. I got home from work today and I was gonna run the towels through the BD Kenmore to relax a bit and I find this scene taking place in the Fisher Paykel. It was dead, off, silent, and filled with water up to the low water level, which on a Fisher Paykel is really really low. I called mom to see if she was soaking the towels or if the washer had a power failure or something and she told me that she started it before she left for work. She put it on the Heavy Duty cycle and on the LOW water level! The tub wasn't even floating! It was still engaged! She told me she wanted the towels to rub together and get rid of as much lint as possible. I told her that if she did it again, she'd likely kill her precious washer if it wasn't dead already. Luckily, I think the motor just overheated and the machine decided to just shut off as it seems to be working, although the motor doesn't sound the same. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING???

 

[panthera]

Jamie,

A more relevant question is: What on earth was this machine's logic 'thinking' to allow this to happen at all?
My LG (1999) and every electronic Miele, AEG and even Bauknecht I have ever had have certain program combinations which they will not permit.
Never mind your mother's feelings on lint removal (I, personally, would think those six washings shorten the towel's lifes so much they aren't worth it), is this normal behavior for these machines?

 

[DADoES]

Normal.

This couldn't have happened with automatic water level sensing, the machine would NOT agitate until AFTER the basket floated. By choosing a manual setting (low), it *can't* fill any higher. It'd fill to low and try to agitate even if the saturated towels were too heavy to allow flotation, and the motor WILL sense if the load is too much (which it should know *immediately* if the basket hasn't floated) and shut itself off with an error code. Shouldn't be any damage to the machine far as I know. Remember, there are NO gears, cams, tranny, or other mechanicals involved, just pure electric torque.

 

[rolls_rapide]

6 washes before use?!?

seems somewhat excessive (mothers...who'd have them?).

One wash before use, should be sufficient to improve towel absorbency.

One drier cycle before use, should remove the loose fibres.

Too many washer and drier cycles will knock the stuffing out the towels.

 

[gizmo]

Your Mom should leave the thinking to the washing machine. It knows best how to do its job!

Also, if you follow the instructions,you can alter how much water it adds for each level - there is a sequence of buttons you can push to tell it how stingy or generous with water you want it to be. If you think it doesn't use enough water, it can be programmed to automatically use more - at least you can on Aussie versions, not sure if this is another feature defeated for the USA market?
Best Wishes
Chris

 

[peterh770]

"She told me she wanted the towels to rub together and

Ummmmm... Towels ARE lint... That is why new towels are thick and fluffy and old towels are threadbare and rough... You guys must be keeping the cotton mills in the South in business...