Should You Use Quick Wash Or Normal Wash? What Your Clothes Actually Need

On laundry day, your goal is likely to get the job done as quickly as possible. With that in mind, as you peruse the dial on your washing machine, the quick wash setting may jump out at you. However, when deciding whether you should use quick or normal wash — or one of the various other settings — the choice should be made based on what your clothes actually need. To that end, the decision will be based on the amount, type, and soil level of your clothes. As a bonus, not only will using the right settings get your laundry properly clean, it can also help extend the life of your washer.

Although most modern washers have a multitude of different settings, it most often comes down to quick wash or normal wash. As you might imagine, normal wash, which is sometimes referred to as regular, is for normal loads, and is the most commonly used wash cycle. However, it can take about an hour to complete. Quick wash, as the name implies, is much quicker, taking only 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the machine model and any extra settings.

As you may have guessed based on the abbreviated wash time, quick wash, which may also be labeled as speed or express wash, also uses less electricity and water. So, if you worry about how much water your washing machine uses, you may be tempted to keep the dial on quick wash. However, there are good reasons to switch it to normal for some loads or even utilize settings such as bulky, heavy duty, or sanitize for special circumstances.

While warm water is often the default water temp for quick wash, many models allow this to be adjusted to cool or tap, which further reduces the energy usage and wash time. Additionally, a lesser-known part of the quick wash is that during the spin cycle, the drum also spins faster, meaning clothes are less wet when the cycle is done. This allows them to dry faster than if they had been washed on normal. Some also suggest that it may result in less wear and tear on many types of clothing.

Although that description may sound ideal for doing your laundry in record time and being eco-friendly in the process, quick wash isn't an ideal choice for all situations. Generally speaking, it is to be used for small loads of gently or lightly used clothing. That is because its washing power is not up to the task of thoroughly cleaning more heavily soiled clothing. It certainly is not the right cycle for getting stains out. Nor is it good for very delicate items that could be damaged by its high spin cycle. But, if you have a few pieces of daily wear clothing that you need to get ready rapidly, quick wash is the right choice.

Normal wash is the most commonly used cycle for a reason — it can handle a wide range of clothing types and laundry soil levels. This is because it uses intense agitation during the wash cycle, followed by a high-speed spin to remove water. This process takes about twice as long as a quick wash cycle, but it ensures the clothes are thoroughly clean, and it's superior at removing stains. It is also able to handle a much larger load size, as well as loads comprised of mixed types of laundry.

It is also possible to adjust additional settings to customize a normal wash cycle based on the needs of that particular load. For example, the water setting can be set to hot for seriously dirty, soiled, or stained clothing. Additionally, since it can handle a larger volume of clothing at once, it actually can be more efficient and economical if you have a lot of laundry to do. That is because even though it uses more electricity and water per load than does the quick cycle, you will be able to complete your week's worth of laundry in far fewer loads. However, as is the case with the quick cycle, normal isn't ideal for delicate clothing items that may become damaged in its aggressive agitation process.