Can some bright spark explain why a slow wash (clothes) taking 3 hours is marked as eco whereas the other in the same category takes I and 1/2 hours. How can the longer one be cheaper?
Perhaps the temperature or the amount of water it uses?
temperature can be set from above 60 to cold, so it’s not that. amount of water, maybe!
With an eco mode you’re using less water and a lower temperature than most settings. Usually though, you’re in for a longer wash to get the same level of cleaning.
That’s because heating up the water takes the most energy. In fact, 90% of a washing machine’s energy consumption comes from that. The actual spinning of the drum uses very little power in comparison.
A longer wash means the water doesn’t have to be quite so hot. So, you’re still saving energy, even if you’re not saving on time.
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Same with dishwasher! Eco uses less water but then goes splish-splosh for a while, and then stops for a while so takes forever.
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My eco programme takes 3h but as I do it overnight it isn’t a problem.
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I have recently started doing all my washing on the eco programme which takes 2h20, has no set temp, has 2 rinses instead of the 3 I always did before and spins on the second highest programme. Apparently by letting the washing soak in the water with the liquid already added helps the clothes to shed the dirt, there is no high heating of the water (mine felt quite cold) and then less rinsing making less water used = less electricity and water costs. Same with the dishwasher which takes 3.5hrs on my eco cycle but again, it rests, uses less water and electricity. So far my Linky consomation is showing considerably less usage than last month when I did things on other programmes. A lot of the cleaning is done by letting things soak for longer in both machines.
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thank you, Jane and Vero aussi…I do all my washing at night during the heures creuses, and seldom wash at over 20 and sometimes on cold, so I guess I’m doing all possible. Just seen the rugby. What a humiliation for poor england, but as a dual national I can celebrate a great victory and hope frznce win thr series!
I think Ireland have it sewn up now. But if France can play like today at the World Cup then they’ll be one of the favourites… The only problem is they struggle with consistency.
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I was evidently too excited to spell properly, but Ireland would do!
Something worth mentioning is that running some devices on eco all the time can cause problems because the lower temperature gives a lower efficiency. Our dishwasher gets smelly if run repeatedly on eco, a little extra warmth being needed to help solubilise food waste and carry it away.
Less heating, less water?
I do a short hot wash with one of those bottles of cleaning stuff every couple of months, the dishwasher never gets smelly.
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Yes, I use the sachets of powder to do the same and with the washer, it goes automatically to “clean the drum” programme so that gets done with a cleaner and Calgon too! I also keep a deodoriser hanging in the dishwasher which takes any smells away as well. Another tip is to throw the tab or tabs (sometimes 2) straight into the dishwasher bottom and not put it in the little holder witht he sliding door, I find my dishes are better for doing so
But is it damaging the rubber seals? I looked at one packet of that sort of stuff and it said you had to wipe down the insides afterwards to stop the rubber degrading. Life’s too short, so just throw a handful of bicarb in from time to time.
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I thought that was to get any lingering bits of detached gunk that might compromise the seal. No problems over the lifetime of any of my machines, but they have a very hard life chez moi because of being a famille nombreuse, so maybe they die of engine failure before other bits give up.
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We too use the cleaning liquid a couple of times in the warmer months, though not needed much of the year.
Most of the time for the last 8 years it’s been just the 2 of us, and although the machine is a narrow version, it only gets run a couple of times per week. Perhaps a higher through put would make our circumstances more like yours.
This thread is surprisingly interesting! I have questions to add…
Our washing machine gets used a lot (don’t ask…) and generally I don’t use an eco wash because I don’t really seem to be able to get clothes clean on a non-eco one, whatever the temperature and “normal” wahes certainly take 3 hours - I dread to think how long an eco one would take. 
We can’t use the more aggreesive detergents because of skin problems, so either use the ones for very sensitive skins, or use one we make ourselves out of savon de Marseille. Neither of them seems to work very well and also we very rapidly get a build-up of black slime in the machine itself and in the waste pipes.
Having clean laundry is very important to me for a number of reasons so any suggestions people have would be very gratefully received!
Bicarb is your friend here…
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We use bicarb as well, we have 9 cats so keeping on top of clothes and sofa covers is taxing at times, we never use clothes softener, we use vinegar instead and one of the proprietary oxyclean powders + bicarb to dissolve the cat hair
We have found we now very rarely have to clean the washing machine as we just don’t have buildup even though we our water is very hard.
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