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Electrolux Washer & Dryer: Load Weight issue?

eieio8
11 years ago

Dear All:

i'm about to purchase a genuine wool mattress pad in order to provide more temperature insulation from my Tempurpedic memory foam mattress (mattress too hot despite me buying the mattress with 2 air cooling channels!).

the mattress pad is specifically stated to be machine washable (cold, delicate cycle, low heat drying) which is attractive to me as some other types are dry clean only, which i think would be unhealthy to breath in dry cleaned mattress pad for 8 hours per night.

Question:

while i have a very large Electrolux washer and dryer

(washer EIFLW55HIW IQ-Touch Controls;
dryer EIMED55IIW IQ-Touch with Steam),

this wool mattress pad is roughly 1.5" thick pile!! In my King Size, that would be an enormously heavy item for the washing machine, right?

fyi, this is the specific wool mattress pad (from Cuddledown): (again, kindly remember that this is in KING size please)

http://www.cuddledown.com/product/plush-wool-fleece-pad.do?sortby=newArrivals

My Concerns:

- that the washing machine, once filled up with water, may be overloaded with weight as this VERY thick item (in King Size) would soak up so much water that it may well break or overload the relatively high end Electrolux washing machine!
Might it either break my Electrolux washing machine, or not be able to finish the washing cycle and just break down with water inside, or shorten its life even if it doesn't break with one washing?

- that the dryer might not be able to handle this weight either! i'll end up with a wet King Sized super heavy item and no way to dry it!

- drying instructions for this wool mattress pad states: "tumble dry low". Well, even with items less thick (i.e. cotton flannel sheets), i need to use medium/high (not merely medium) heat in order for the items to dry in, say, 1 hour! with something THIS thick and large (King size), i'm concerned that in "tumble dry low" setting, this may take 5 hours to dry!!

May I kindly ask for advice? Will washing this huge and heavy item ruin/break my Electrolux washing machine and dryer?

Any other advice please?

I live in the middle of NYC and taking this to a commercial washing place isn't the most convenient solution at all.

Thank you all very much in advance!

Comments (25)

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Larry,

    Thank you very much for your thoughtful and detailed reply!

    A couple of follow up questions, clarifications, please:

    - there is no zipper to zip up! it is a mattress pad, i.e. one that wraps around the top and sides of the mattress. the only surface that this pad does NOT wrap around is the bottom of the mattress. there are (i believe, as it will arrive this Thursday) elastic elements that allow it to wrap fully around all the sides and go slightly under the outer edges of the mattress, but only a few inches in -- the bulk of the under side of the mattress is NOT covered.

    With the lack of a zipper, may i kindly ask you to please modify any of your instructions as necessary? Thank you very much in advance.

    I'm quite concerned as these two stacked Electrolux's are rather difficult to get in and out and repairs would be enormously difficult.

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    fyi: i called and asked: King size of that particular wool mattress pad is 10 pounds when dry.

  • weedmeister
    11 years ago

    I had a Queen sized one for a while. I never had any problems in my LG, which I think is a little smaller than yours.

    Treat it like any other item made of wool. That is, tumble low. Otherwise it will shrink and be hard to put back on the bed.

    So, it is probably "Machine wash cold, tumble dry low". do you plan on using, er, Woolite?

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    weedmeister:

    thx for your kind post and genuinely informative, actual user's experience! btw, is yours the exact same item from Cuddledown, i.e. their "Plush Wool Mattress Pad" and not their "Luxury Wool Mattress Pad (dry clean only)"? If so, how has the "after washing" experience been? Is the product every bit as good? or is it slightly inferior after washing? Would drying it create a huge amount of lint, i.e. have to clean the lint filter after every 10 minutes or so, similar to washing new cotton flannel sheets?

    re: detergent -- what might you recommend please? I have Persil Power (for whites and general use), Persil Color Mega Perls (for color use), Perwoll (Persil's Wool specialty detergent (which i believe is a liquid gel - i forgot because i bought it 2 years ago and have not yet had the opportunity to use it), and possibly Woolite Dark, which is not appropriate. Unfortunately, my Perwoll is probably for Dark colors only as well. Bummer.

    Look forward to hearing what's the best detergent for this purpose.

    Kindly note that i'm in nyc, so with the freezing weather, my concern is that doing a "cold wash" might mean that whichever detergent i may use, might not fully dissolve properly!! I do not believe that my Electrolux is smart enough to SLIGHTLY heat up freezing cold water to the proper "cold wash appropriate temperature"!! I wonder which machine(s) might be smart enough to do that? In any case, i'm not going to replace my 2-year old newish Electrolux machines! Nonetheless, this was one "feature" that i did not concentrate on when vetting which washer/dryer to buy 2 years ago. i was concerned about the major features, drum sizes, etc. In restrospect, i'd love to have a washer that is able to SLIGHTLY heat up freezing cold water to make it the proper "cold wash" temperature.

    look forward to reading more. Thanks!

  • cleanteamofny
    11 years ago

    Since it is a deep pocket M-pad, load the machine like my YouTube video on Washing my King Size Bed Spread. You can use eco warm which is warm/cold as if ATC was being used since our water is freezing at this time of the year. You may want to turn off the warm rinse feature to further reducing shrinkage.

  • dave1812
    11 years ago

    don't worry, OP, it will be FINE.

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @cleanteamofny:

    while i appreciate your post and information, i have some comments, please:

    - there is no "eco warm" on my EIFLW55HIW IQ-Touch washer!

    Here's the manual:

    http://www.manualowl.com/m/Electrolux/EIFLW55HIW/Manual/210071

    Current outside temperature is very cold here in NYC so "cold/cold" may well be way too cold to properly dissolve Persil Powder or Persil Color MegaPerls. I'm going to buy Woolite HE and use that (it's a liquid). It sounds like Woolite is definitely made for cold water-ONLY, right?

    - How to fold the wool mattress pad properly in order to put it inside the washer? Your video shows that the OUTSIDE of your bedspread is completely folded INWARDS so the washer's drum doesn't really touch it. That sounds counter-intuitive for my wool mattress pad's situation. The wool has a pile of around 1.5"! If one were to fold it completely INWARDS, it may mean that the soap suds or residue may never rinse off properly! May I ask for comments from all the good folks here on this forum please? I really would appreciate good advice!

    Thank you very much in advance.

  • whirlpool_trainee
    11 years ago

    Couple of thoughts:

    - use Perwoll, if it's the pink bottle, which is for wool. Don't overdose - that stuff will get sudsy!
    - my Duet's Wool wash cycle can't be as "high" as 40C (104F), which is perfectly fine for most woolen items. Wool is more sensitive towards too much agitation, not so much too high temps.
    - my Duet has a 3.3 cu.ft. capacity and it'll hold 24 lbs. of dry towels. Your Lux is even bigger so it should be a problem at all.

    Alex

    Here is a link that might be useful: Lots of towels and water - no problem :-)

  • dadoes
    11 years ago

    I see a Warm/Cold temp selection on that panel, and an Eco Friendly option.

    Handwash cycle (to minimize agitation)
    Warm/Cold temp
    Prewash option (if Handwash accepts it)
    Eco Friendly option (reduces the warm temp somewhat)

    When it's done, spin it again (Spin Only cycle) at Medium. Wool holds a lot of water and usually is spun at a relatively high speed to extract it and shorten drying time. Yes?

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks to all for such friendly and useful tips! I'm a bit lost on how to do this one properly so i'm very grateful for the friendly and actually extremely helpful posts! Follow up questions, please:

    ********
    @whirlpool trainee:

    - use Perwoll, if it's the pink bottle, which is for wool. Don't overdose - that stuff will get sudsy!
    - my Duet's Wool wash cycle can't be as "high" as 40C (104F), which is perfectly fine for most woolen items. Wool is more sensitive towards too much agitation, not so much too high temps.

    Follow up questions: are you saying that 40C/104F is too hot or not too hot for this wool fleece mattress pad (kindly recall that this has a 1.5" wool piling)? You indicate that you don't feel that warm water is bad for wool, but everything else seems to indicate that warm temp will shrink or otherwise make the item go out of shape! I'm confused. Shouldn't I use "Delicate" cycle as per the instructions? My concern is that "Hand Wash" cycle won't really wash it, and Color or Normal cycles, will, of course, over do it. I was thinking to myself that "Delicate" cycle would sort of be the smart middle ground, as per the washing instructions.

    ********
    @dadoes:

    Handwash cycle (to minimize agitation)
    Warm/Cold temp
    Prewash option (if Handwash accepts it)
    Eco Friendly option (reduces the warm temp somewhat)

    When it's done, spin it again (Spin Only cycle) at Medium. Wool holds a lot of water and usually is spun at a relatively high speed to extract it and shorten drying time.

    Follow up Questions: I see that you recommend spinning at MEDIUM, while "whirlpool trainee" posted that wool is very sensitive to agitation/spinning!! Which one is correct?

    My concern is that spinning at LOW speed won't get enough water out but that spinning at MEDIUM speed might make it go out of shape!! Gosh golly: what to do?

    Also: the washing instructions say to dry at LOW TEMP. you know, when i dry my cotton flannel sheets which i use during winters, i have to use medium/high drying temperature on the Electrolux Dryer!! I don't see how a wool pile of 1.5" would ever get dry! Maybe in 5 hours or more! 1.5" thick of wool pile of a KING sized mattress pad is a whole LOT of stuff to fluff dry, right?

    What do you all think, please? fyi: in the dryer's Medium temperature setting, the temp is barely warm, it's not even warm/hot. Even at Medium/High heat on the dryer, it is merely comfortably warm to the touch! I'm attaching a picture of my Electrolux's dryer's control panel for y'all to see - it might help.

    Thx in advance!

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Also attaching a picture of the mattress pad:

    see how thick the wool pile is? plus, it's a king size mattress pad.

  • miele1966
    11 years ago

    Maybe I can help shed some light on this subject. Wool can be washed in warm just fine. It is sudden, drastic changes in temperature that it does not like. Delicate cycle is probably a good choice, to make sure it gets clean. Delicate probably will run on Med spin speed, anyway. Only knitted wools are damaged by Hi spins. So, after delicate cycle, I would run a Rinse and Spin, followed by another Hi speed spin. You want it rinsed out well, and then extracted well to reduce drying time. As for tumble drying, I would consider tumbling in a warm dryer "agitation". Shrinking might occur in the dryer. I would line dry on a windy day, if at all possible. If tumble drying is the only option, I would follow the tag directions. HTH.

  • whirlpool_trainee
    11 years ago

    Ditto on everything Miele1966 said.

    Another thought: does the label allow dry cleaning? ;-)

    Alex

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    i know i've been droning on and on about this, but i wanted to learn from this experience and do this type of washing better from now on, rather than trying to learn these things one item at a time.

    re: dry cleaning - the point i am trying to make is that i don't wish to sleep with all the residual dry cleaning chemicals for 8 hours each night! hence, i purposely bought a wool fleece mattress pad that allows machine washing.

    re: tumble drying vs line drying - i live in the middle of nyc, in an apartment. i don't have outdoor space to line dry this.

    Low heat on my Electrolux dryer is VERY cool. even Medium heat is very lightly warm only. Medium/High is what i need to use for my cotton flannel sheets! Otherwise, the King sized comforter cover/duvet cover won't dry in over 1 1/2 hours! Using Medium/High heat, at least the cotton flannel duvet cover would dry in maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes or so, roughly.

    ********
    Btw, how would we reconcile what one person said about wool being very sensitive to agitation (even more so than water temperature, he/she wrote!), versus the recommendation above to spin it on HIGH? Spinning on HIGH would certainly be a huge amount of agitation!

    This post was edited by eieio8 on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 19:14

  • miele1966
    11 years ago

    Spinning is not agitation. Clothing does not change positions in the spin cycle.

  • whirlpool_trainee
    11 years ago

    Yes, the spin cycle just compresses items against the drum. It doesn't tumble them.

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    ok, thanks to all here, i think i have enough to go on now.

    last question please:

    how to fold or arrange this thick mattress pad when putting it into the washing machine?

    i'm rather uncertain about the method on the youtube video that one poster above suggested that i watch and follow. no disrespect to him: he was folding his bedspread where the top surface was all folded inwards, so no part of the washer's drum would touch the top side of his bedspread.

    However, in my situation with my 1.5" thick pile wool mattress pad, my concern is that all this thick fuzzy wool pile, IF folded inwards as he suggested, may leave the wool piling's dirt trapped inside and unable to be washed "out".

    Any ideas, suggestions please? Thx!

  • cleanteamofny
    11 years ago

    The purpose of inverting the bed spread is to reduce pilling that happens against the rubber gasket, This is the area you will not notice until you see it spin and where this item rubs against the upper part of the clothes guard of the boot.

    2nd the weight of the spread compresses while tumbling so the detergent is working through the fibers and it does not matter which way to wash. Like I said, I do it to reduce pilling.

    3rd loading this spread this way guarantees a balanced spin, if done any other way the machine will take forever to balance right.

    BTW....., no harm is done! This is an open forum and we learn from one another!
    The machine is very gentle when the proper cycles are used and de-linting will happen in the dryer if this were to occur during the wash..

  • cleanteamofny
    11 years ago

    Also looking at the IQ Manual, (ATC) Eco-Friendly Cold should be used to desolve detergent in cold water.

    Here is a link that might be useful: IQ WaveTouch Manual PDF. Page 16

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    the IQ Manual that you linked to is for the current 2013 model. Mine is the 2010 model from 2 years ago. There is no "ECO COLD" on my IQ model!

    Here's the manual to my IQ model:

    http://www.manualowl.com/m/Electrolux/EIFLW55HIW/Manual/210067

    I'm attaching a picture of my IQ model's control panel for your convenience.

  • ArliVie
    11 years ago

    I think Eco Cold can be achieved on your model by selecting cold/cold in conjunction with "eco friendly" under Options. However, I'm thinking that is what you don't want, since eco friendly means straight-from-the-tap frigid with no ATC.

    In descending order of temperature, you have:
    ~ warm/cold
    ~ warm/cold + eco friendly
    ~ cold/cold
    ~ cold/cold + eco friendly

    Nowadays, "warm" is somewhere in the low 80s, which is really tepid. If you want cool, go with warm/cold with "eco friendly" selected.

    In the end, your best bet is to test the temperature yourself, just like gates1 wrote in your other thread. You will know for sure which selections will get the ATC to kick in.

  • cleanteamofny
    11 years ago

    I had this model IQ before upgrading to the WaveTouch.
    Eco-Friendly is used to thumb down the temperature for hot and warm washes only and by default is two rinse only!

    Cold is cold tap water without ATC, Please read page 19 of Manual,

    Eco-warm is pee warm and most of my loads are washed at this temperature except for whites and bed linens.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of my past IQ

  • eieio8
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the useful, thoughtful points, ladies and gentlemen.

    Upon further thinking, i think this might be the best solution:

    - Warm/Warm and press the Eco Friendly button.
    Reason: this reduces the normal "Warm" temperature, and will be, between cold and warm. this, in theory, in this frigid winter weather with freezing cold "cold water from the tap/outside", should result in a barely warm water, right? This would ensure both a "Barely warm wash cycle, and then a Barely Warm rinse cycle", ensuring a thorough rinsing of detergent.

    Furthermore, when Warm/Warm (with Eco Friendly selected) is done, I think I ought to do one more Rinse Only cycle, with extra spin, at "High" speed spin. This would ensure that detergent would be thoroughly out, and that water would be centrifuged out.

    Any comments please? Advice?

    How should I fold my natural wool fleece mattress pad when putting it inside? Only one person has made a suggest thus far, and he suggests that i fold all the wool fleece INWARDS. My fear is that detergent might get in and not get out!

    Thx in advance.

  • georgect
    11 years ago

    Watch how cleanteamofny loads his king sized comforter into his washer.

    Like you said use Warm/Warm Eco Friendly.

    You can add an extra rinse and extend the spin time in one shot or do a separate cycle all together (your decision) .

    Here is a link that might be useful: Loading Washer (Bulky)