What is “Pre-wash” in a washing machine

The pre-wash inscription or icon can be seen on almost every control panel of a modern automatic washing machine. There is no doubt that this mode or function is popular and in demand, but still many users do not understand what it is and how to use it. This function is mentioned in passing in many information articles that can be found on the Internet, but no one talks about it in sufficient detail - we will be the first!

The essence of this function

There are many skeptics who will give us a thousand reasons that manufacturers of modern washing machines are making new modes and functions out of thin air. Some of these arguments are not without common sense, since certain functions in the latest models of washing machines really remain unclaimed by users, although they paid a considerable price for them. Can the same be said for pre-wash? No way!

In terms of importance, pre-washing can be compared to rinsing and spinning; if it is not used, the quality of washing will be unsatisfactory from time to time. To make it clearer to you how this function works, let’s compare it to the banal soaking of laundry in a basin. Everyone knows that if you put very dirty things in a basin of water in which the powder has been dissolved in advance and keep it in the basin for a couple of hours, and then wash the laundry by hand or in a machine, the laundry will wash much better than if you simply wash it without soaking.

The algorithm of the function we are now talking about is based on this simple principle, only all of the above is done automatically without human intervention. The user's task is simply to pour an additional portion of the product into the pre-wash compartment, which is located in the cuvette under the Roman numeral I and press the button indicating this mode. Further in the depths of the “home assistant” the following happens.

1. The washing machine takes in a fairly large amount of water and heats it up.

When pre-washing, you don’t have to turn on the water heating if you need, for example, to wash things stained with blood.

2. As the machine draws water, it flushes powder out of the prewash compartment. Wherein the detergent remains in the main wash compartment (Roman numeral II on the cuvette).
3. Next, the machine activates the drum and it begins to slowly spin in order to better dissolve the powder and have a slight mechanical effect on the laundry soaked in water.
4. This happens for a long time until the washing machine drains the water.
5. After this, a new portion of water is poured, the powder from the main wash compartment is dissolved, and a full wash begins, provided for by the program you have chosen.

Then everything happens as usual - washing, rinsing, spinning. If necessary, you can turn on additional rinsing, which is also an important function, especially if you wash difficult-to-rinse fabrics or baby clothes. Thus, the pre-wash function can be “very roughly” and briefly described as a function simulating soaking. Only this is not simple, but high-tech soaking, which occurs automatically with partial mechanical impact on the item for better penetration of the powder components into the fabric.

Getting ready to wash

In some cases, even the high-tech pre-wash function does not help remove difficult stains, and this is due to the fault of the user who did not properly prepare the laundry for washing. Some people will ask the question in bewilderment: what is there to prepare, take it out of the laundry basket, throw it into the drum and wash it? Well, of course, after dividing the laundry by color. It's actually not that simple. In the process of preparing for washing, you need to adhere to some rules.

• Do not put laundry of varying degrees of soil in one large pile or in one basket. Firstly, things tend to pollute each other, secondly, heavily faded colored items can stain white ones while lying in a compacted state for a long time in a basket, thirdly, domestic insects, such as ants, can be found in stale dirty laundry, and that’s completely undesirable.
• Do not store dirty laundry for a long time or accumulate it. Try to do a “big wash” at least once a week.
• Items with notoriously difficult stains must be treated with special products before putting them in the washing machine. Otherwise, after washing, the stains will stick to the fabric even more strongly.
• Before washing, duvet covers and pillowcases should be turned inside out, remembering to remove tufts of crumpled lint from the corners. You don't want those clumps hanging around in the washing machine.
• If items have poorly sewn buttons or any decorations, this needs to be corrected.A button that comes off during washing can get into the washing machine tub and cause a clog.
• Before throwing things into the washing machine drum, arrange them into piles, dividing them by color, type of fabric and degree of soiling.
• If sneakers are among the dirty things, take them out shoe washing bag and put them there.

Remember! Shoes, no matter what they are, must be washed separately from other things.

• Don't forget to choose the right laundry detergent and fabric softener in advance. It is important not not only wash things well, but also make them soft and smell nice.
• If items prepared for washing have pockets, they must be checked. Firstly, there is a possibility of washing a document, money or plastic card, and secondly, you can damage the washing machine if a nail or sharp pin falls out of your pocket during washing.

In general, do not neglect preparing things for washing. All of the above recommendations did not arise out of the blue; they have been suffered through by many users of automatic washing machines, and if you follow them, you will avoid many troubles.

If things are very dirty

Some users believe that using a pre-wash is something out of the ordinary and is completely unnecessary for them. Our experts, in order to dissuade skeptics, have prepared a specific example, from which it is clear that this function really helps in the fight against stains and it’s a fiction to name it.

An example is the following. I needed to wash several plain shirts, two of which had old ketchup stains. The stains were pre-moistened with cold water and rubbed with laundry soap.The shirts were placed in the washing machine and powder was poured into both compartments: pre-wash and main wash. We started the “cotton fast” program and pre-wash in cold water. The washing machine spent 1 hour and 30 minutes implementing these two modes; as a result, the stains were completely washed off, and the shirts became like new.

Some manufacturers call the pre-wash mode the pre-soak mode, in principle it is the same thing, only pre-soaking is possible without rotating the drum and adding powder.

In conclusion, we note that we talked about the usefulness of the pre-wash mode, which is invariably present in the arsenal of many modern automatic washing machines. We hope that now people will use it much more often, which will naturally improve the quality of washing things. Good luck!

4 reader comments

1. 12/05/2017 at 11:18

   Anonymous:

   Great article

   Answer
2. 01/02/2018 at 19:37

   Vovan:

   Great, thanks for the info.

   Answer
3. 03/01/2018 at 11:07

   Doniyor:

   Thank you, now at least I know... after five years of use :) And there is no explanation for this function even in the instructions (Samsunga).

   Answer
4. 10.30.2021 at 16:35

   Marina:

   Thank you

   Answer