What do you mean the last video!? Don't hold back.

That added water pretty darn quick and those bubbles broke down so quick.

What detergent was that?

I have saved a lot of clothing with a boil wash. It's amazing how much gunk the heat takes out. I don't use it often but it's great to have the option.

Question....when you boil wash and start out with a cold fill, and I want to say anytime you boil wash it should be started on cold or cool and gradually heated to boiling, so that is great Alex.....but my question. ..after the water is actually heated to boil how long do the clothing actually wash in the boiling temps?

Incredible!! LAST video? Child, hush that mouth and stop this nonsense talk! These videos better keep coming. I love them, and it makes me look slightly less cray cray with my videos. LOL

Mama, it seems most loads in the Little Giant are about an hour (ish). Remember these machines have a shocking 5000W internal heater, whereas other machines have about a 1000W or so heater.

Excluding filling, heating, draining, rinsing and spinning....the actual time the laundry is agitated and exposed to the heated water & detergent is about 30 mins. Pretty amazing!! There is not a stain so far that my LiGi has not tackled. Cold fill, heated to target temp and then maintained. GO LiGi!!! :)

Thanks for answering, Larsi, because I don't have a clue (yet). My incoming tap is colder than yours (still in the low 50s at this point). I selected the 200F Hygiene Wash and it clocked at around 80 minutes. By the time the clock showed 50 minutes remaining, the glass on the door was way too hot to touch. The rinses start right around 30 mins remaining, IIRC. So At least 20-30 minutes exposure at the ultra high temp. If I were to have added Intense Wash, I think that adds another, what, 20 minutes?

@George - that's using Persil Universal powder spiked with STPP. When the water fills you can see how really yucky it is (yellow/brown). And those towels were "clean" going in. They were washed and on a shelf right before I put them in for the boil. Crazy. I can see why Mama boils all those vintage sheets. There's something to it.

About washing whites....I've said this before...but....if your washing something that's going to change the water color to yellowish or fairly soiled looking a prewash should always be done. Otherwise they spin out and the cold rinse water hits them constricting the fibers trapping some of the soils. Another thing, expecially for whites, its not only important to sort whites from colors, but you should also sort whites by soil level, you don't want to wash say a pair of heavily soiled white socks in a load with light soiled white tee shirts....laundry can be complicated lol

So complicated but so fun! Yes, you are the expert in whites and I often refer to previous posts where you've given instructions. All those whites were "clean" so I didn't do a prewash but I will definitely do another boil wash now that I've seen just how much yellow gunk came out. Next time I will use Tide Vivid White instead of the Persil, just to see.

Okay okay, I'll do some more videos. I do need to get a better setup and use our DSLR camera instead of my iPhone.

I was thinking lol...Europeans have long known the benefits of boil washing, which is why they have machines that boil...Americans have also known the benefits of boil washing, but that knowelage seems to have been forgotton thru the generations. When laundry was done in a kettle using a plunger type tool the water was brought to a boil but I think once the first washer hit the US, it seems people lost some of their good laundry practices. than throughout the years good laundry practices were all but forgotton by many Americans. Clothes are shoved into machines, one type of detergent is all that's commonly found in a household and that is dumped into the machine along with the no sort, over packed load...than cold/cold is chosen. These people wonder why they end up with permenant stains, yellowed sheets, dusty looking darks, dingy whites, and pilling. The vast majority of excuses I hear as to why cold water is used....shrinking and fading. But what do they do...toss it into a hot dryer or hang it in the sun....may as well washed in hot and at least had clean clothes.

BUT.....boil washing can save some garments it can also be the total death of them...fabric is not created as it used to be and most can not take repeated temps even above 140F......motto LOL...be careful what and how often you boil...but by all means for normal every day clothes use hot water...water temp is probably the most important factor in clean fresh clothes and linen.

Mama - this is absolutely a subject that fascinates me. I remember the first time I did a boil wash (actually it was probably only a 175-185F) in France. I had a load of white socks and t-shirts and asked my French host where she kept the bleach (eau de javelle). OMG, the look of horror on her face. She took my socks, threw them in the Miele with some powder and cranked up the heat. I couldn't believe what came out! Blinding bright whites. She warned me only to do this from time to time, when they were dingy, and sure enough that's all it required.

There are many theories on how American laundry evolved to be large machines with lots of water and only tap-hot temps (lack common 240v outlets, boiler temps that were hotter in previous times, capacity, desire for short washes, etc). I do know that when Europeans come here and do their laundry, they'll often run their clothes through laundromat machines for 2 or 3 cycles because they can't believe clothes are getting clean. LOL.

Lol Alex in Europe the chlorine bleach is found in the cleaning supplies..not the laundry isle..its not used for laundry there....no need..they have the boil washing machines to kill bacteria if needed and to whiten. I can just imagine your hosts look of astonishment. Lol.

Alex, even in the 1900's Europe, war time, most people used large pots over a fire and boiled everything..they used soda ash otherwise known as washing soda, and if they were lucky enough to afford a fairly new product, lux flakes, otherwise they shredded bar soap like Sunlight....their rinses were also done in boiling water and this water used to wash more things....wash day was once a week and took all day, sometimes into the second day, girl children were always kept home from school on laundry day to help, the madame just couldn't do it alone with all the other chores...I can't even imagine enjoying laundry day back than, women worked 16 hours a day on a non laundry day..imagine when laundry day rolled around with no modern day appliances and doing all the household chores and the Laundry. ..and all this on a empty belly..remember its war time..food was rashioned....no they did not love laundry as we do....now how did I sway off topic..lol

You're not wrong about any of that. If my grandmother were alive I think she'd be offended to hear us say laundry is fun or relaxing, knowing how she did laundry for 8 kids in the back yard with wash tubs up until the early 50s.

I was telling Larsi yesterday that before next winter, I am going to buy a mixing hose so that the incoming water to my machine is slightly mixed with hot tap water. Otherwise, my starting water (and rinse water) could be as cold as 37-39F in January. Way too cold for a good prewash or rinse.

Yes, deep-cleaning using a boil wash should involve a prewash. Some machines will do that automatically. I learned it the hard way: I once washed two identical loads of greasy smelling dish towels. One time without, the other time with prewash. The load without the prewash still smelled like grease after drying.

As a matter of fact, I once saw a Euro TL from the 70s and, instead of Main Wash, it said Clear Wash on the control panel. The prewash was supposed to deal with most of the dirt and the main/clear wash was supposed to wash away the residue - in mostly clear water.

As for Cheryl's question about the thermal hold on the boil wash cycle: the LiGis have disinfection cycles that hold the temp steady for a specific amount of time. I *think* the Thermal Disinfection cycles maintains the max temp (185F) for ten minutes. Chemical Disinfection cycles maintain lower temps for longer.

You're right about the disinfection cycles, Alex, though I do not have them activated in my menu. The Kitchen Linens cycle will still go up to 95C and also defaults to either one or two pre-washes for exactly the reasons you describe.

I am so thankful to have avoided the drudgery of our great grandmothers. I do love having a washing machine. I really enjoy how nicely it cleans.

Thank you for insight into the pre-wash that makes such great sense-i always just washed them as separate loads. I don't think that I had ever heard about the cleaning power of a hot wash until I read it here, I always thought that hot water set stains....although I had always been told to run the whites on hot...

I also had not realized that the soaps only work well in certain temperature ranges and that warm or hot on some machines was barely tepid...so eco but so inefficient. Now I know better and can do better.

The unexpected side effect of reading this forum (aside from watching videos of washing machines which DH assures me is a wacky past-time) is that the laundry never piles up anymore....when one of my sort baskets gets full I run the load and barely notice it as "housework" in the overall scheme of my daily activities.

I dont know if you ever seen a euro Miele from the 80's? With those machine you had to choose not to do a preewash. You always had to push in a button if you did not want it.

I usally only do a prewash if it is really dirty. Kitchen towles with stains and smell will disapear with a 200 wash. The difference between a domeatic and a LiGi washer is the heater among other things. My miele has a 2000 watt heater so the wash time, exposure to washwater will be longer.

A 200 program take about 2 1/2 hours in my miele and in the bosch 3.

All towles, kitchen and bath, dogthings, cleaning cloths and mops are all done in 200 degre washes and I have done this for years and I do not think it wears out prematurely and no shrinking.

Bjorn - I have to admit, I wish I could dial back that 5000w heater just a bit to slow how fast the LiGi gets to temperature. Yes, I could choose an intensive wash which lengthens the wash time by a bit. A profile wash with a slightly slower build-up to high temps would be good, I think. Although, the garments may hold up better because they aren't exposed to several-hour tumbles in super high temps. Who knows. Being able to do 4 loads of laundry in an evening after work is totally new to me. I could barely squeeze out 2 before.

OMG, that is F'ing awesome! I want this washer!!!

I showed my husband a pic of the stainless steel versions of these last night and he liked them. He also liked how they're commercial models. He did say we'd spend all our appliance money of a fridge. We've always wanted a Sub Zero with a glass door.

Greeny....GET the Little Giants and a regular Subzero. Glass door...you have to be neat, and who wants to see jars of jam, hot sauce, containers of left overs and milk cartons? lol

We have the Stainless washer and the White & Stainless dryer. Once you use a Little Giant...you will be spoiled for life!!!

Glass door fridge is like glass coffee tables - a constant chore to keep clean! LiGi is a constant joy to *help* you clean.

No biased advice here. :)

We have a glass and travertine coffee table from Italy in our family room, off the kitchen. O M G! I feel like I could Windex it 3x a day!! GET THE LiGi washer and dryer!!!!

Intensive adds something like 30 minutes to a cottons wash. With the supervisor menu "Wash Time - Cottons" option you can lengthen the wash time by just 10 minutes (or other choices).

I have a serious thing for high-end appliances of all sorts. Eventually I'll get these when we buy a space. And I would keep my fridge organized if it had a glass door.

Alex, we already have glass coffee table...And polished concrete floors, now that is a chore to keep clean! Thank goodness for my Jazz.

I'm right there with you on the appliance thing, Greeny :) Once the budget has recovered from this shock I'll be purchasing and installing a vent hood in the kitchen. In all reality, that would have been the more logical and higher value-add project to tackle first. But... a boy has his desires.

Glad you like your Jazz. My mom is loving hers as well, though at 74 she does find it a bit heavy. The Kirby G4 she had years ago was extremely heavy to lift but had an intuitive self-propel system that made it easy to push/pull.

@mamap, well you made me laugh again, and how subtly you lead us to the punchline of those eyeballs falling out. On another important note, tell us the outcome of Queenie's repair appointment as soon as you can, we're all waiting for good news. Alex, a technical machine for the technical task of proper laundry habits! Great! Yes, keep the vids. coming.