I think most if not all FLs (and maybe TL's? I don't know.) have ways to add extra time to a normal cycle via prewash or stain treat options, plus an extended cycle for very dirty stuff.

We can have some pretty dirty clothes here as well. My dh does a lot of volunteering with a nature group and I swear I've never seen clothes as nasty as some of what he comes home with depending on what he was doing that day! I've been amazed at how clean everything comes out. You may find that between the longer cycles of a FL and the way it cleans, your clothes won't need to soak. I specifically wanted a soak cycle on my new machine b/c I also soaked stuff in my old TL (not overnight, but 30 minutes-hr or so with Oxyclean and detergent). I very rarely use the soak cycle though.

CDO ducks from the things thrown at her by other gardenweb users for writing that the manufacturers did the right thing.
: O

Okay - I've just soaked the dirty clothes I have
for 35 minutes.
I used warm because cold didn't work last time.
I agree with adding a slight amount of bleach.

I will now wash this stuff on a normal load and see if it came out clean.

Otherwise, it's back to the bucket method.

CDO and Doug

A soak cycle on a frontloader typically fills a little more than it does for a standard wash, and rotates the drum one revolution or so every few mins to keep all the clothes wet. The "manual" method won't flip the load, so would work best for just one or a few items.

Soaking with bleach is probably not a good idea. Bleach is very hard on fabric, and whatever effect it will have pretty much maxes-out in about 5 mins. That's why automatic bleach dispensers on frontloaders typically trigger either in the first rinse, or at the last few mins of the wash phase.

I use this for our electric mattress pad, as it that what it calls for for washing.

Then I have to start the wasy cycle myself (as I said, a very simple machine). I sometimes let the prewashed clothes sit in the machine awhile, soaking in the laundry chemicals, before I start the wash cycle. When I've had a load with, for example, some food stained shirts this has worked well for me.

YMMV, of course. If I had a soak cycle, I'd use that, but I've been able to work with the 4 very simple cycles that I have: normal, delicate, presoak, heavy duty.

CMC

dadoes -
I like the idea of turning the machine off to soak for a while.
What do you soak in? regular detergent and not bleach?

CDO

You have to unplug the machine to hold the soak cycle (or at least on the machines I have seen). If you just cancel the soak cycle, it partially drains the water out.