My attention was drawn to rinsing efficiency after noticing that out of dozens of washing machines reviewed by Which? most of them had a poor rating for rinsing. Even those singled out as Best Buys were “poor” at rinsing. Believe it or not, at least one Best Buy was “very poor”. I found that pretty shocking.
From studying the figures it is clear that if “good”, or “very good” rinsing was one of the prerequisites for a Best Buy there would be no Best Buy washing machines or washer dryers at all – not a single one. It appears that Which? have decided to allow the poor rinsing results to be a caveat instead of a best buy killer. Please note however that several Which? best buys are “satisfactory” at rinsing which is something at least.
Out of 125 washing machines and washer dryers tested, a remarkable 75 of them (60%) were rated either “poor” or “very poor” at rinsing with only 3 getting the rating we should expect for all washing machines which is “good”.
The rest were a mere “satisfactory”. To summarise, just less than 3 % of the 125 washers & dryers are “good” at rinsing according to Which?
Since writing this article I’ve discovered Which? no longer give the majority of washing machines 1 or 2 star ratings for rinsing ability, and the majority appear to get 3 or 4 stars. Which? tell me they’ve readjusted their rinse marks to more accurately reflect the degrees of abilities between even poor rinsing machines. However, they are still critical of many of their rinsing abilities in the comments and the pros and cons.
What does this mean?
Well for a start it doesn’t mean that we can settle for one of the three washing machines that are “good” at rinsing because they unfortunately let themselves down in other areas such as with “noisy spin, and poor brand reliability”. However, if you really need a washing machine that rinses better than any other – maybe because of allergies – then at least Which? have identified three candidates out of the 125 they’ve tested so far.
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Why aren’t they rinsing properly and does it really matter?
Surely all washing machines should rinse well? It’s surely quite simple, you just use enough water to rinse them properly. It’s astounding that we have reached the situation where the majority of washing machines and washer dryers on sale in the UK are apparently poor at rinsing.
This has probably come about because people have been focussing on other aspects, which has left rinsing as a low priority. Two explanations spring to mind. Firstly, the focus on using less and less water is clearly impacting on our washing machine’s ability to rinse effectively. Whereas modern detergents can facilitate efficient and effective washing results at lower temperatures and with less water, no such product is currently allowing effective rinsing with much less water.
Good rinsing needs plenty of water which is in direct opposition to the current environmental concerns and clamour to be the washing machine using the least amount of water.
Eco LabelsThe second explanation I can think of is that the eco-labelling system which awards ratings for energy efficiency, spin efficiency and wash efficiency do not appear to take into account rinse efficiency.
As such, manufacturers aren’t being judged on how well their washing machines rinse, only on how well they wash and how well they extract water on spin. I’m speculating at this stage, but I can’t see how so many washing machines could be awarded an “A” wash efficiency rating if the tests took into account how well the clothes were rinsed. Presumably, as long as all stains are removed and laundry looks “clean” no one bothers about how much soap detergent residue is left.
It might be a good idea to create a fourth category, “rinse efficiency” on the eco labels, or at least include the rinse efficiency as part of the wash efficiency test.
Ultimately if customers don’t notice an issue then it could be argued that it doesn’t really matter.
Maybe it doesn’t for most people, but it surely does to anyone sensitive to wash detergents and with allergies and a lot of people are. There were 581 comments added on this topic from such people before I had to close comments to prevent it being endless.
The current situation is that to anyone keen to buy a washing machine with good rinsing I have no washing machine to recommend because none of the companies producing the best, and the most reliable washing machines currently supply one that rinses above average according to Which? although this could easily change and you would need to check out the latest to be sure.
Are Which? being too critical? Are Which? applying too stringent a rinse test? I must admit I’ve not had many complaints from people saying their washing machine isn’t rinsing properly and my own Miele washing machine, which although a Which? Best Buy, didn’t receive a “good” rating for rinsing yet it appears to rinse perfectly well as far as we can see.
In fact I remarked to my wife that my clothes don’t smell of detergent like they used to in the old washing machine and deduced that it rinsed much better. However, neither of us have any reactions to washing machine detergent. The thing about Which? is that they are totally independent.
They work only for their subscribers interests and are actually a registered charity. They don’t make any money directly by recommending any product (even though they could) because they want to be seen as 100% unbiased. They are highly respected and I expect they test products fairly. However, my understanding is that the do charge for companies to display their “Best Buy” logo!
I suspect Which? are right and that modern washing machines don’t generally rinse very well because of the reasons I speculate about above. Whether it matters or whether it will change depends on whether enough of the public are bothered, or even notice. The 581 comments added to this article below show that many people do find this a big issue.
Which? research
NOTE: Which? do rate some washing machines as satisfactory for rinsing and even a couple are rated as good, although unfortunately the few rated good (so far) are not so good on reliability.
Which? are constantly reviewing washing machines so if rinsing is particularly important to you it makes sense to become a member and see all the buying advice. I can’t print their advice for copyright reasons.
Here’s how they describe their reviews –
We are of course well known for our traditional product testing. And when we test something like the proverbial washing machine, we will ask the laboratory not only to measure how clean the clothes get, but how much water and energy is used? How easy is it to work out the programmes? What is the machine like on specialist cycles? How long does it take? All these things feed into our best buy criteria.
We will devise the testing schedule by looking at things from the ordinary user’s point of view: and if standard industry methods are not good enough we will devise our own methods ”
Causes of poor rinsing
There are some common causes of poor rinsing even in washing machines that do rinse well that it might be useful to point out. Anyone experiencing poor rinsing problems where washing comes out with detergent residues or white powder streaks should read this – White streaks or residual washing powder after washing
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Well actually some machines made during the last 20 years did work pretty well. My Indesit 1263 worked from April 96 till Oct 09. and gave a satisfactory wash and rinsed well. We only scrapped it because the bearings were noisy. Oh how I wish I had them replaced or even done them myself!
Washing machines in the 90s used more water on rinses than today so might still be better at rinsing but by then they’d started reducing water levels. The 70s and early to mid 80s were the days when they filled half way up the door glass.
I just think buying a 15 year old washing machine to get better rinsing will only ever be a very temporary solution as you just wont be able to keep one running long. Parts will be obsolete.
Quote from Nikki Jenkins
Miele washing machines can be reprogrammed by Miele engineers to take in more water. They are designed so that their engineers can modify the software running the machines in response to changing requirements.
Someone said warm water may be better for rinsing but virtually all washing machines rinse in cold water and always have even back in the days when they rinsed much better.
The bearings are protected by a special seal and the Miele seal should be one of the best. No water should be able to get past the seal even if the water level was up to the top of the door. Having said that clearly these seals can still fail, especially when old, and the lower the water level the less pressure would be put on the seal.
Oh dear, if buying an old washing machine is not the long term answer, we’re stuck with new ones that use too little water for rinsing.
Until the public complain like mad to the washing machine manufacturers, BBC Watchdog etc. then rinsing will never improve and people’s health will continue to suffer as a result!!
Simply pressing the “extra rinse” or similar button every time does not work on its own. I’ve tried that.
Please don’t put up with bad rinsing, do something about it.
I have to say for me buying a 15 year old machine was the only solution I could think of at the time and am still none the wiser today. I do have to disagree and say there are plenty of parts still available for my Bosch, even though some at a price, £256.00 for a motor for example. But can you put a price on your health?
Plus my Bosch can do a 60oC cotton wash in about 1 hour 15 minutes, it takes a modern machine anywhere between 2-3 hours to do a 60oC and then all the extra re-rinsing of the load and extra final spin, this could take you up to 4 hours, I haven’t the time or inclination to put up with stupid wash times like that, and some will still not rinse properly. Also could damage your clothing.
To Nikki Jenkins, my Bosch uses cold water to rinse (4 rinses 1/3 up the door) and does rinse properly. I suffer from servere dermatitis and eczema and react to the smallest amount of detergent residue. However there could be something in the hot rinsing theory, my dishwasher is on a hot water supply so does rinse in hot water and the pots do not smell of detergent but when it was on a cold supply the pots smelt very strongly, so it does rinse better in hot water. Personally I would feel rinsing in hot water in a washing machine could cause the soap to sud back up, whereas cold water seems to kill it more, I could be wrong, it is my own theory. What about connecting your washing machine to a hot only supply so it rinses in hot water? This would only be acceptable if your water temperature is not above 35/40oC though, or it could damage your laundry or possibly the machine. Plus you would not be able to do low temperature washes if the incoming supply is too hot, again could be wrong only my own thoughts.
Also never heard of a high water level damaging bearings, overloading may do as you also have the weight of the extra water to damage the water seal.
All the best,
Oliver.
I don’t give a fig what anyone says … you cannot rinse properly with cold water. This is a basic scientific fact. You need at least warm water to rinse effectively, end of.
In the old days, washing machines rinsed properly. ALL the machines I have ever had had a hot and cold rinse … from memory, you could choose. I think that was an Indesit I had that you could choose hot or cold rinse.
I will not ever in a million years accept that you can rinse clothes effectively with cold water. Try it for yourself – plunge a soapy cotton garment into cold water, rinse it until the water runs clear. Then plunge that same garment into hot water – it will be soapy.
I would have thought water is water regarding flushing detergent out of laundry. I would guess laundry is rinsed by flushing away anything loosely attatched and I’m not sure how the temperature of the water affects it significantly. It’s the physical action of the water pushing through the laundry and the dilution effect that presumably does the rinsing.
If the water is hot or warm it’s more likely to create suds by activating the remaining detergent, which may give the impression it’s getting more detergent out. It’s possible that cold water is just as effective but it doesn’t cause excessive sudsing so you don’t get the “evidence” of detergent being removed, it’s just quietly removed.
All I can say is in the UK I’m not aware of any washing machine ever using anything but cold water to rinse and find it hard to imagine that if warm water was better we would have had nearly 70 years of washing machines all rinsing in cold water without at least one of the major manufacturers claiming their washing machine is better at rinsing than all the others because it rinses in warm water.
I know if I wash my hands with liquid soap and then rinse it off with warm water it throths up more and seems harder to remove yet if I rinse under cold water it seems to be more effective. However, I’ve no way of testing if either method is actually more effective.
I expect all these new machines have a small microprocessor to control the washing cycle
and water level etc. Mine has a USB plug at the back for communicating with it. It cannot
be beyond the wit of some of the very clever people out there to modify the program.
If I knew how to do it I would throw out a challenge to the hackers of the world to hack
into these things and write a program to make them to wash properly with plenty of water.
Any suggestions anyone? — After all if they can do it with cars, why not washing machines?
Why do modern detergents create so much foam if you use a little bit too much for the load size? If I use the recommended amount and I don’t have a full load, my washing machine will create lots of foam in the last 20 – 30 minutes of the main wash programme. This is particularly a problem if I’m washing towels and also a major problem if I wash hotter than 40 degrees. The hotter water does in fact create more foam, maybe that explains why Nikki Jenkins can see more foam when warmer water is used (comment #166)?
Why don’t the manufacturers install a foam sensor in every washing machine, so if excess foaming occurs then the appropriate action can be taken? Excess foaming is solved by allowing the suds to slowly settle for about 30 minutes, then spinning the laundry and starting again.
I live in a hard water area; I can imagine people living in soft water areas have a major problem with foaming? I’m sure too much foam seriously impairs rinsing?
Warm or hot water is required to rinse clothes effectively. My husband explained it to me in a scientific way, which tbh I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something about the molecules in the water when heated up become agitated and start jiggling about, thus rinsing in warm or hot water is far far more effective than rinsing in cold.
You don’t have to take my word for it. You can try it for yourself. Take a cotton tea towel, wash it by hand in the correct amount of detergent, then rinse it in cold water and keep rinsing until the water runs completely clear – it will take you some time because the water is cold. Then plunge that tea towel, well rung out, into a bowl of hot water, and you will see for yourself what is scientific fact !!
These days you cannot find a washing machine, except a very old second hand, that will rinse in hot water. The only way to do this is to run your machine for a second time on a warm or hot wash with no detergent. But if you are on Economy 7, as I am, this is impractical. However, it is what I am going to have to do once my husband has repaired my Miele – he has taken the drum out, and bits are lying all over my kitchen floor whilst we wait for some bearing or other to be delivered!