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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On a note about detergents, do tablets contain less ‘filler’ material than powders? Forget to ask that when I mentioned liquid detergents.
I think that rinsing is mainly about dissolving the remaining detergent. People on this thread have remarked that if they have a cold feed on their detergent draw it progressively clogs up. Thats because cold water doesnt dissolve the detergent properly. You can imagine that if detergent sticks firmly to a smooth plastic surface it wont be possible to remove the stuff from being tied up in the fibres of a towel. I have demonstrated to myself that It doesnt seem to matter how many times you do a cold machine rinse a warm manual rinse will release loads of undissolved detergent. I have done this with Bosch & Miele machines.
It was possible to buy loads of different keys for doing pretty much any pattern of washing and rinsing on the Hoover Keymatic. There were 4 different programs on each plate and I had about a dozen plates (48 permutations!). Unfortunately the plastic keys worked some metal “fingers” which used to break off so after numerous repairs it was reluctantly dumped.
Presumably the manufacturers avoid giving the option of a warm rinse in order to meet certain energy efficiency targets and also because of the cost of electricity, energy efficiency is more of a selling point than rinsing efficiency.
@Nikki Jenkins – I have come across a patent application regarding warm rinsing: https://www.patentsencyclopedia.com/app/20080271262
Hopefully that link will not break.
For those who want to try warm rinsing, I would be very careful if washing delicates like silks, net curtains etc. A water temperature higher than about 30 degrees is likely to shrink delicate items. It’s cottons and towels that seem to be harder to rinse compared to other types of fabric.
To anyone interested,
I have adjusted the pressure switch on the IAR Siltal and it now takes in a sensible amount of water to both wash and rinse. I did not want to adjust the wash, but had no choice as level 2 is made up of level 1 and a timed 20 second fill. So for wash it fills up to the bottom edge of the door glass and about 2″ up the door on rinses and wool wash.
Towels are not hard, and although it does not rinse quite as well as my 16 year old Bosch, it is not bad at all. My Mum and Dad are very pleased with my little “adjustment”, they have both remarked that it also washes better and the rinsing is 1000 times better. If I had known about this when the machine was new it would have been changed then. The rinse used to be 3-4″ in the bottom of the drum, hardly enough to properly wet the load let alone remove detergent and muck very well. It has been increased by over 150% and the difference is amazing.
It has 2 adjusters, one for level one and the other tells it when to start distrubting and when to reduce spin speed due to sudslocking etc. I assumed one would be level 1 and the other level 2. It took me an hour and a half to get it just right, I even had it filling half way up the door at one point, but that was too high for wash, so had to strike a balance, which I think I did.
I still sudslocks some times but is a hell of alot less than before, more clear evedence modern washing machines use too little water to rinse, and wash in this case as well. The only down side is increased water and power consumption, but at least it now works properly.
I however would not recommend attempting this if you are unsure as it would be VERY easy to flood the house or damage the machine, also would invalidate any warranty your machine may have. The IAR Siltal is nearly 9 years old now so I was fine. This weekend we shall be replacing the bearings, brushes and belt as well. It has done way over 5500 loads since new, a fair few of which have been overloaded as well. They have been told off for that as well!!
Oliver.
Hi Simon,
Tablets are just a normal dose of powder very tightly compressed, nothing special, it should be the same.
HTH,
Oliver.
Apart from connecting your washing machine to the hot water supply alone (risky on delicates), the only to achieve more than one warm rinse is as follows:
1. Pre-wash (only washes at 30 or 40 degrees)
2. Main Wash (30 degrees or higher)
3. Spin after main wash
4. Run an entire programme without detergent, the main ‘wash’ being a warm rinse.
Which effectively means that 2 and 4 above are your warm rinses, which only gives you 2 warm rinses out of the total number.
I remember on some old washing machines, the first cycle on the list was a pre-wash followed by a boil wash ~95 degrees. Not what your delicates need!
I don’t think many people would turn their hot water down to 30 degrees and connect the washing machine to the hot water supply only. I certainly would not. How much extra electricity and time would it take enable warm rinses with plenty of water? Probably too much, so that’s why warm or hot rinses are not used on washing machines, even if it does rinse much better than cold water, especially in the winter when cold water from the mains supply is much colder. I’m sure they could invent a method to enable warm rinses on domestic washing machines without using too much electricity or waiting 3 hours or longer??
For anyone who is tempted to try warm rinsing: I was amazed at the results of warm rinsing when I done my 40 degrees cottons wash.
Having first performed the pre-wash, using detergent for the pre-wash only, then running another cycle without detergent, I decided to do a bit more. I run the hot tap and added the hot water for the cold rinses. With all that extra water and it being slightly warmer, I couldn’t believe the amount of soap bubbles I could see!! Clothes that you think are rinsed properly STILL contain detergent!!
It seems that warmer water does help rinsing, as Nikki Jenkins says in several comments above. I did have a towel on the floor below the detergent drawer, as you may spill some water.
Yes it’s a bit of hassle, but it doesn’t take long to pour in jugfuls of hot water. I’d rather spend just a few minutes adding hot water and fiddling with the controls, it’s much better than paying the price with angry skin allergies!! Also, I’d rather be at home when the washing machine is running, having read the section of this site on “Appliance safety warnings & recalls”. I don’t trust appliances and it’s better to be around and deal with a bad situation (which will hopefully never happen), than come home and find the kitchen flooded or worse! Not trying to go off-topic.
I’ve yet to try this warm rinsing on towels and I’m wary about delicates. If anyone else has luck with warm rinsing, please post a comment, as I’m very pleased. There is light at the end of the tunnel. :)
I’m aware some people have their washing machine in a location away from a hot tap. I don’t know if you can make a washing machine fill with water at 30 degrees every time without turning down the hot water for the whole house? If you only wash cottons, maybe the hot water connection is fine, if you don’t mind things coming out creased?
Hi WMUser,
For hot rinsing permanently you will need a Themostatic mixing valve, they use hot and cold water and feed the mixed water to the machine, tap etc. They can mix 80oC hot water down to 30oC if you set it correctly and they work instantly so no damage to the machine or laundry. They are available from the likes of Screwfix and are not too expensive. This way you will not need to set the domestic hot water supply to 30oC permanantly.
HTH,
Oliver.
Hi Nikki,
I have tried your trick, took a clean flanel that has been washed in my old Bosch with a full load of towels (the hardest thing to rinse known to man!), it had a correct dose of detergent (persil bio powder), not underdosed, it was washed on 60oC. When immersed in hot water absolutley nothing came out of it, not even one bubble. I do not use fabric conditioner either, cannot stand the stuff!
So my machine must rinse properly with cold water.
Have you fit the TMV valve yet?
Oliver.
Hi Steve,
Thats exactly what I mean. Yes it will also increase the cost of the wash, by how much depends on where your hot water comes from eg. solar or gas etc.
Oliver.