Panda washing machine cycle selection
July 18, 2020 10:30 PM Subscribe
This is silly, but I don't quite understand the available cycles of my washing machine.
The machine is a compact (1.6 cu. ft.) top loading unit made by Panda, with model designation PAN50SW. The available cycles are Heavy, Quick, Jeans, Anti-wrinkle, Normal, and Air-dry. The manual is absolutely terrible, and does not explain what these mean. It provides this chart of cycle times, however.
My question: What does Heavy mean? Does it mean heavily soiled, or items that are physically heavy? Based on the chart, there's less washing time than the Normal cycle, so that leads me to think that it means physically heavy and not heavily soiled. But there's also a Jeans cycle which also implies heavy items.
What does the extra rinse cycle provided by Heavy achieve? More cleaning, or it's required to get soap out of thick material? And what counts as 'heavy' material, anyway?
Also, why do the cycle times not vary with load size for Heavy like they do with Normal?
Also, the default selection when you turn on the unit is Heavy, not Normal, which is incredibly frustrating as you have to press a button 4 times to get from Heavy to Normal every time you use the machine. Does this mean Heavy is what they want me to use? That is contradicted by the text in the manual saying that Normal is the most efficient.
Bottom line: I have very dirty cotton items and I want maximum cleaning, do I choose Normal or Heavy? I've been using Normal this whole time (several years of ownership.) I think it's the right setting and it seems to work ok. But this manual and the UI pisses me off so much that I had to ask, it's been wearing away at me.
The machine is a compact (1.6 cu. ft.) top loading unit made by Panda, with model designation PAN50SW. The available cycles are Heavy, Quick, Jeans, Anti-wrinkle, Normal, and Air-dry. The manual is absolutely terrible, and does not explain what these mean. It provides this chart of cycle times, however.
My question: What does Heavy mean? Does it mean heavily soiled, or items that are physically heavy? Based on the chart, there's less washing time than the Normal cycle, so that leads me to think that it means physically heavy and not heavily soiled. But there's also a Jeans cycle which also implies heavy items.
What does the extra rinse cycle provided by Heavy achieve? More cleaning, or it's required to get soap out of thick material? And what counts as 'heavy' material, anyway?
Also, why do the cycle times not vary with load size for Heavy like they do with Normal?
Also, the default selection when you turn on the unit is Heavy, not Normal, which is incredibly frustrating as you have to press a button 4 times to get from Heavy to Normal every time you use the machine. Does this mean Heavy is what they want me to use? That is contradicted by the text in the manual saying that Normal is the most efficient.
Bottom line: I have very dirty cotton items and I want maximum cleaning, do I choose Normal or Heavy? I've been using Normal this whole time (several years of ownership.) I think it's the right setting and it seems to work ok. But this manual and the UI pisses me off so much that I had to ask, it's been wearing away at me.
It defaults to heavy, in hopes that you will use that and therefore it will wear out faster and you will have to buy a new one sooner.
posted by Melismata at 5:16 AM on July 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 5:16 AM on July 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
I agree that those cycles don't quite make sense to me. You'd think heavy soil would be longer wash combined with an extra rinse, that's what my Kenmore's cycle does. Most of the time I'm worried not about clothes that are soaked in mud, but rather set-in stains, so Normal would be my choice, even though it's inconvenient.
posted by wnissen at 11:01 AM on July 19, 2020
posted by wnissen at 11:01 AM on July 19, 2020
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posted by james33 at 1:42 AM on July 19, 2020 [1 favorite]