Pre-wash in an Indesit washing machine

Experts note that pre-washing in an Indesit washing machine is one of the most useful functions in modern household appliances, which for some reason many users underestimate or do not even use. But in the list of programs on the control panel, this mode is often number one, showing its importance. Let's look at why this option is so good and how to use it correctly.

What is the usefulness of this algorithm?

Nowadays, there are indeed a lot of new functions appearing in washing machines, and not all of them significantly change something in the washing process, but they seriously increase the price of the “home assistant”. However, this does not apply at all to prewash, which appeared in equipment around the same time when manufacturers added modes for synthetics, wool and silk to washing machines.

It is noteworthy that today no one criticizes the presence in SM of modes for sportswear, sports shoes and quick wash, although they appeared much later than the preliminary mode.

This function is about as important as rinsing and spinning, because without it, the quality of the wash will often leave much to be desired. So what is pre-wash in simple words? It can be compared to soaking dirty clothes in a basin of hot water and powder. This ancient method of treating laundry consists of simply loading dirty items into a basin of water so that they soak there for several hours. After this procedure, clothes wash much better than simply washing them without soaking.

This is roughly what pre-washing looks like in the latest devices, except that everything happens automatically without user intervention. With this mode, a person can only pour an additional portion of washing powder into the detergent compartment, which is usually marked with a Roman numeral I icon. If you then activate this function and start the work cycle, this is what will happen inside the washing machine:

• the “home assistant” will collect a large volume of water and heat it to the user-selected temperature;

It is not necessary to turn on the heating of the liquid for the preliminary washing stage, because in some situations it is not needed, for example, for treating items with blood that need to be washed in cold water.

• While the water is being collected, the detergent from the pre-mode compartment will be washed into the drum and create a cleaning solution. Household chemicals from the compartment for the main wash cycle, marked with the Roman numeral II icon, will remain in place until the next stage;
• after collecting water, the drum is activated, which will begin to rotate slowly so that the powder begins to dissolve, and also so that the product penetrates better into the fibers of the fabric;
• after a long time, the machine will get rid of waste water;
• a full working cycle will begin, the washing machine will start drawing water, during which it will wash out all the powder from the main dispenser for household chemicals.

A further description of the working cycle does not make much sense, because it will not differ from any other classic cycle, that is, it will include washing, rinsing and spinning. If necessary, you can run an additional rinse, which is especially important for baby clothes and other things that are very difficult to rinse. As a result, pre-washing is a mode that to some extent imitates and replaces soaking. It allows housewives to save their time and also improves the quality of washing, because, unlike conventional soaking, dirty clothes do not lie motionless at the bottom of the basin, but are subject to slight mechanical action of the machine in order to improve the penetration of the powder into the fabric.

This useful mode can be started with almost every wash cycle, with the exception of special programs for wool and silk, as well as quick modes, the main advantage of which is speed, so they do not have to be lengthened several times. The latter is due to the fact that the pre-wash itself on Indesit machines can take from 15 to 40 minutes, which directly depends on the model of the washing machine.

How to use this mode correctly?

Despite the simplicity of modern household appliances, many housewives do not use prewash correctly. This is primarily due to incorrect loading of household chemicals, which is why the work cycle is carried out without detergent. Let's figure out how to use this useful feature so that you don't have any questions in the future.

This is due to the fact that during the pre-wash phase, the device flushes out all the powder from the compartment with the Roman numeral I icon, but does not touch the chemicals from the dispenser for the main cycle. Therefore, if, as usual, you add powder only to the compartment with Roman numeral II, then household chemicals will be used only for washing, and the preliminary stage of processing things will take place without detergent, in crystal clear water.

Carefully study the instructions for your washing machine model to find information about the location and purpose of each detergent compartment tray - most often the pre-wash compartment is located first, if you count to the right.

The second mistake is overloading the drum. The preliminary washing stage works well when the user has added no more than half the maximum load to the machine. If there is too much dirty laundry, then soaking will not be as effective, plus, the device will not be able to collect enough liquid to properly process all the dirty clothes. In the case of large bulky items, you should be especially careful - there should not be too many of them in the drum.

Finally, when starting the pre-wash, you should not add gel detergents to the main cycle compartment, as they may leak out during the preliminary stage. When choosing to soak in your washing machine, load the powder into the section marked with the Roman numeral II symbol, and avoid overloading the drum, and you'll be fine.

Why might a machine not be able to handle tough stains?

Sometimes there are situations when even the newest washing machine with pre-wash cannot completely wash heavily soiled clothes with stubborn stains. Often this happens not because of the low power of the washing machine, but because of mistakes made by the owner of the smart device. Even loading laundry has its own rules that must be followed so that every wash goes well.

• Try to store and wash clothes with different degrees of soiling separately.Very dirty things can contaminate relatively clean clothes, plus, if things remain compressed for a long time, they can fade and stain each other.
• You should not store dirty laundry for too long - it is better to wash it several times a week in small batches. This is especially true for private homes, where insects, such as ants and flycatchers, can get into the laundry basket.
• If there are stubborn stains on clothes, it is better to pre-treat them with special cleaning agents so that after washing the stains do not become even more ingrained into the fabric.

The fresher the stain on your clothing, the easier it will be to remove, so never put off cleaning clothes that have just become dirty.

• Bed linen such as duvet covers and pillowcases should be turned inside out to remove crumpled lint from all corners, which has no place in the washing drum.
• Keep an eye on buttons and various decorative elements on clothing - if necessary, sew or fasten them onto the item better so that they do not fall off during washing and cause a blockage.
• Be sure to separate clothes by fabric type, not forgetting about colors and degree of soiling.
• Under no circumstances should you wash your shoes together with your regular clothes - there are special shoe bags for this.
• Don't forget to use fabric softener to keep your clothes pleasant to the touch and smelling good long after washing.
• Pay close attention to the pockets on your clothes, because even such a small thing as a coin, a paper clip or a pin can ruin the washing machine, which will require expensive repairs after the operating cycle. In addition, such a simple check will allow you to avoid accidentally washing your passport, money or plastic cards.

As you can see, the list of recommendations is quite extensive, but this does not mean that it is better to skip it and save time. The more responsible you are in preparing your laundry for the work cycle, the better the quality of the wash will be and the less likely it is that something will go wrong.

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