Mixing different fabrics in same wash cycle
Hiya,
This maybe my only post, but it's about a question driving up the wall: Which wash cycles do I use on my washing machine?
Basically, it has: Anti-Stain, Cotton and Synthetics (and a whole load of specials that appear straight forward). The manual helpfully advises: "separate clothes into material type". Great, I've got a mixed load of roughly the same colour, many of the garments are mixed fabric. Is there a basic 'mixed' wash? No. There are daily quick washes for mixed, but these are clothes in need of a good wash.
So if I use Anti-stain, it's a rigorous wash, won't it shorten the life of the clothes? (having used it for a week I'm already seeing bobbling on some).
If I use Cottons will it wear out mixed and the synthetics I'm throwing in at the same time as it's a 3:00hr wash at 40°?
If I use Synthetics: will it get the mixed and cotton clothes clean as it's only a 1:20hr wash at 40°?
All these new clever settings are great, but our old Indesit had a 'wash at 40° wash' (option 4). It didn't care about what you threw in as long as there was room for laundry to move.
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Choosing a wash programme for mixed-fabric loads
- The problem
- The user was unsure which programme to use for mixed-fabric laundry on a washing machine that offered Anti-Stain, Cotton and Synthetics programmes, but no standard mixed wash. They were concerned that Anti-Stain and Cotton cycles might be too harsh and had already noticed some bobbling after using Anti-Stain.
- Likely cause
- The discussion supports that programme agitation differs by fabric type, and harsher programmes such as Cotton or Anti-Stain can damage or shorten the life of some clothes in mixed loads. Synthetics was understood to use less agitation, but no fault with the machine was reported.
- What fixed it
- The accepted advice was to separate laundry by material type where possible and recognise that using one general programme for everything can shorten clothing life. After reading the guidance, the user chose to use the machine's 'Synthetics Resistant' setting at 40°C for their mixed loads. The exact cleaning performance versus other cycles was not independently confirmed in the thread.
- Checks to try
- User reported bobbling on some garments after a week of using Anti-Stain
- Accepted reply explained that washing mixed items on one programme, often Cotton 40°C, can damage clothes
- User concluded that Synthetics has less agitation than Cotton and changed to 'Synthetics Resistant' at 40°C
2 Answers
Funny enough I've just written two new articles on this subject which you may find useful
Why are clothes getting stretched?
What do the wash symbols mean?
I also have an article on the causes of bobbling and how to avoid it
Try to find time to read all the articles but basically it can be such a pain to try and wash everything on the "correct" wash programme that most people (like my wife) bung most things in the same wash programme (often cottons 40 degree wash) but this damages and shortens the life of clothes. The agitation settings are explained in my articles
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Hiya,
Thanks for the articles, an interesting read.
I'm taking it that the Synthetic washes have less agitation than the Cotton settings (as your wife continues to use!), so have started to use the 'Synthetics Resistant' setting on my machine, but at 40°C. At least the white-coated men programmed the machine to remember the last setting on a key press, instead of the several I need to get it to the right setting to start with (just got to get my wife to use it!)
Still, a shame they just don't have a 'Mixed-standard wash' or similar. Apart from the towels, I can't think of any wash that doesn't have a mixture or mix clothing in it, and I can't be the only one on the planet with the same issue!
Cheers,
Ty.
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