Whirlpool direct drive washer -- quick wash cycle

[ryner1988]

Hope everyone had an enjouable holiday weekend, I most certainly did as the weather was great here in Indiana.

I needed a few clothes washed for a trip we took this past weekend and so I put my Whirlpool direct drive washer on the quick wash cycle instead of my usual normal, in order to save a bit of time. I've had this machine for nearly a year and I realized that, although it's not actually much quicker, it does have a slow agitate, fast spin combination and I did not know this.

I know a lot of you are fans of the style of washing and it would seem beneficial. It is quieter, probably less wear on components and certainly less wear on clothes. Glenn/DADoES in particular seems to prefer this combination of speeds when using a DD washer. The problem is, it only goes up to 10 minutes of wash time on that cycle. Is this sufficient for most loads?

Is there really any instance under which the fast/fast combination should ever be used?

Just curious,

Ryne

 

[repairguy]

The purpose of the quick cycle is usually for a few items so on a direct drive slower agitation is better for water levels under medium. Fast agitation is good for some medium loads and most regular loads above a medium water level for best turnover.

 

[DADoES]

 
Kenmore models with speed control independent of the timer cycle may label Slow agitate / Fast spin as Regular vs. Fast/Fast as Heavy Duty.

Whirlpool labels Slow/Fast as Quick Wash instead of Regular or Normal, which is misleading to the user IMO.  The quicker aspect of it is on models with speed control integral to the timer having a shorter maximum wash time on the Quick Wash cycle.  A Whirlpool I have with the speed control separate from the timer provides up to 16 mins wash time on all speed choices.  The Normal timer cycle is hard-coded for Low agitation for the last 4 to 5-ish minutes so either of the Ex Low speed choices will increase to Low at that point.  Seems overkill to me that the labeled Casual/Perm Press speed choice is High agitation, although the Casual Permanent Press timer cycle is hard-coded for Ex Low agitation for the last 4 to 5-ish minutes.

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #2

Yes, this is why I was curious about it. I knew that models with separate speed control often lable this wash/spin comination as regular or normal, so it made me interested to try it out on a regular load of clothes. Seemed to work well although I'd probably still use the normal (in this case fast/fast) combination for a large heavy load which is honestly what I do most often.

 

[DADoES]

 
Consider also the KitchenAid models that ran low motor speed for fast/regular agitation, although with the larger base/fins agitator.