I wonder if the error is in their product communications - all say 158 - or if the error is with the rep you spoke to. The people who answer Live Chat don't exactly seem like experts.

He was suppose to be a product specialist, I was not impressed and I didnt want to be rude to him. I dont care what he says, LG makes the kenmore version of the washer, it just has some minor changes to it and rebadged. I agree and already knew that the sanitar cycle was 158 degrees

I was given the same hot/warm/cold temperatures as you when I called them to inquire.
The manual reads: "The heater inside the washer increases water temperature and provides better cleaning for SANITARY and BRIGHT WHITES cycle." I also asked the specialist about the heater; my impression was that it was only used in those 2 cycles.

I do not believe that the heater holds warm temperatures. I have stuck an instant meat thermometer in a few times during these first 3 washes. At the end of my last warm deep rinse, the temperature read about 84. I will keep monitoring, because the first measurement of warm wash temperature was way off; but I read someone's comment that their machine got better at determining temperature as time went on.

The LG Web site says 158: "NSF-certified Sanitary Cycle heats water up to 158F.."

I wonder if the language "up to" is a loophole. If so, that makes me lose respect for LG. However, if the Sanitary Cycle was NSF-certified, I believe that, whatever the temperature, it is hot enough. But that's no excuse for poor communication that is only borderline accurate.

Ellenpm, maybe the heater doesnt work in the rinse cycles, only the wash cylces, which would explain the drop in temperature. I do know that my HE3T does in fact use the heater in the warm wash cycles to maintain 85 degree's and it will maintain a hot wash at 130, sanitary at 153 and cold at 70 degree's. From what I have read about the sanitary cycles and temperatures on all manufactures machine is exactly what you said.."UP TO" the designated temperature. ITs either a loophole, or they put it in there for people who use these cycles and shorten the wash time, then that would indeed effect the end result in how hot the water gets. I do not trust these so called "product Specialist" as you see from my original post, the missed the temperature of the sani cylce by 11 degrees and he even admitted that he was reading off the the general top loader sheet.

Regards to heated rinses, it's unlikely any washer will do that ... particularly a 120v machine. Doing so could/would result in a long rinse

Regards to a typical telephone rep knowing the technical/engineering specs of a product ... they likely are gleaning information from the same sources that the customer can find ... the manufacturer's web site, sales literature, and user instruction guides.

My washer (5101HW) doesn't seem to get hot enough for me on the Bright Whites cycle. I turn off the cold water and just let the hot water enter for my whites. I have my water heater set at 140 degrees. Therefore, with the heating of the water on this cycle, I believe the water will stay at 140 degrees or hotter. Not sure. I haven't measured the temps.

I asked this question via e-mail to LG support and Live Chat. Both responses confirmed that the Sanitary cycle uses Extra Hot water which is 158.

Kimbers, I knew the washer went to 158 degree's , I wanted to see what LG would tell me about it. The results speak for themselves.

Isn't there some sort of button combination one can press for the washer to display the current temp inside the tub? Some service manuals indicate that pressing the temp or both the temp and soil level button makes the washer display the water temperature in Celsius.

Whirlpool trainee, Id sure like to know if my washer is capable of doing that. if u find out let me know

I just got an Email from LG about the water temps on the washer and what cycles the heater is active on, Hot is 120 warm 90 cold 66 sani is 158 and the heater only works on the Bright whites and sanitary cycle...booooo. It does not maintain a warm wash on other cycles. I guess the Bravos 850 is the only TL HE machine that will maintain warm wash cycle and I like that as my current FL does this.

gates1, you have a Whirlpool front loader, right? No, they don't have this feature.

Yes, the Bravos 850 seems to be the only TL to have an user-adjustable heater. Not even the Vantage has this feature any longer! >:-(

Whirlpool tainee.....I have a first generation HE3T, my heater runs on H/D, Sanit, whites, and Normal....it will maintain or boost water temp as needed

I have what I believe is the first generation HE3t, purchased in 2003, and on my machine, the heater only comes on in the Heavy Duty, Whitest Whites, or Sanitary cycles.

The only time the heater will be used on the Normal cycle if the stain treat option is selected.

On the HD or WW cycles, the temperature is "measured" one minute after the fill finishes. If the soil level is set to light, the heater will not come on ever. If the soil level is set to normal, the heater comes on if the water temp is below the set point (77 cold, 104 warm, 127 hot), but will only stay on up to 7 minutes. If the soil setting is high, then the heater will stay on up to 16 minutes.

If the heater did not need to come on after the first minute, it will not come on later in the wash cycle, even if the temperature dips below the set temp.

If the heater turned off before it times out, it will not turn back on during the wash cycle.

If the stain treat option is turned on, then the wash cycle is extended (on all soil levels) and the heater will stay on longer. It will, however, not turn back on if it turned off due to reaching the set temperature.

Joe...I dont know if you and I have the same model number machine or not, but I have the tech manual for mine couresty of a great sears employee. My HE3T machine will heat on Normal, heavy duty, whitest, whites, and sanitary cycle. If I was h some thing no matter what is it, that can take hot water, I will extend the cycle to the max. The wash time issue has never been and issue with me. I kne what I was buying before I bought it, and If I wanted every thing clean and done in 30 min or less with sub par results, I would of stayed with my old convental top loader. Send you model number and I will see if it matches mine. How do you know when you heater is on or not on?

LG is a Korean product, so it should be of no shock that the customer service is sub par of our super American stanards. Keeping true to American pomp, I bought my LG because it looked expensive.

JCROW, when I first contacted LG about wash temps, I also contacted, Maytag, Whirlpool, they couldnt even give me answer other than, we never had that question asked before, and we dont know, end of call... So much for Korean Customer service being the only sub par company and people...

These days telephone servers are mostly in India and you get the heavy accent and the sound of pages being rapidly flipped. Same for my bank, my phone bill, my tv satellite, and product services on whatever product. That's the American profit above all business philosophy.

One thing i'll miss about the soon-to-be-discontinued Bosch washers is that they will take as long as necessary to reach the specified temperature (unless it abnormally long, in which case it assumes a malfunction somewhere and doesn't want to get stuck running continuously and not shutting off). At least that's how the 24"w machines work - I have the service manual - and I recall it was the same for the 27s.

LG-manufactured machines (including some Kenmores) usually have some button combination you can press that will give you the current water temp in degrees C. I recall there were some complaints they weren't always hitting the target temperatures though.

I am several months late answering your question, Gates1, but I am not at home and do not know my model number. I know when the heater is on as I can hear it click on and off.

I just bought the LG Waveforce w/sanitize option. I have manually set several washes to "hot" and then opened the lid after 10 minutes or more to test the water and it was warm at best. I don't want to have to use the sanitize cycle every time I want a "hot" wash because it's 3 hours long! So far I'm disappointed with this washer as it isn't living up to it's hype! :-(