Hello friends, Bruce Alan here. I’m going to show you how to use an LG washing machine,
as well as share some tips and tricks I’ve collected over the years using the LG WT7300C
top load washer. The information also applies to WT7250 and WT7400. For those subscribers who
regularly visit the channel for my product review and repair videos, I appreciate you, so you may
want to skip this video. I’ll post some new stuff for you soon. For my laundry friends, I appreciate
you too so if you like what you learn today, hit some of those buttons to let me know. If there
are specific things you’d like me to cover in the future, for example, frequently asked questions,
resolving lint issues, specific care or cleaning tips, or if you want a deep dive into the latest
App features, let me know in the comments below and I’ll do my best! Let’s get started…
If you’ve recently purchased this overly complicated washer, this video should get
you washing in no time. Now I understand some folks just want to get to washing so
for those who aren’t concerned with maximizing performance and don’t want to hear me talk,
to which my other half would probably say, “I get it!,” just load the machine around the center,
put liquid detergent made for high efficiency machines here, add fabric softener here, bleach
here if it’s a load of whites, close the lid, turn on the machine by pressing the power button,
select a cycle or just press and hold the play button. Congratulations! You’re
doing laundry using the NORMAL cycle… unfortunately, it’s the cycle that
uses the least amount of water and doesn’t provide the best performance in many cases.
I’ve basically just shared my first experience with this machine after which I wanted to put
this thing to the curb. Luckily, I’ve come a long way since then. (See my review here)
I’m going to assume you’ve done laundry before and know to read labels, sort out delicate items,
as well as sort garments into whites, lights and greys, and darks or bright colors. So let’s talk
about loading the machine. With this machine you want to load around the outside of the tub as if
there was an agitator in the middle. Additionally, don’t pack the clothes in too tightly or the
turnover will be low. And perhaps that’s because the machine’s impeller is designed to push clothes
up from the bottom of the tub through the center to the top of the tub. I believe it’s
called “blooming,” which I learned from Daniel L. And Daniel gets a shoutout for sharing his
knowledge and providing helpful responses in the comments. Now, you may not want to hear this,
but I’ve found this machine performs best when the tub isn’t loaded to it’s full capacity. I’m sure
you’re saying to yourself, “…But the whole reason I got a large capacity washer was so I could do
more in fewer loads.” Yup, I was hoping for the same thing. Unfortunately, if the tub is loaded
to the top or packed too tightly, turnover will suffer; however, don’t fret! A smaller load can
finish in less than half of the time of a larger load and I’ll give you some options in a moment.
Once the tub’s loaded, now to add detergent… Be sure to use a detergent marked “HE,” which means
it’s made for high efficiency machines, and know that less is more. Use too much detergent there
will be too many suds, which can lead to detergent build up on the machine or even on your clothes.
Liquid detergent gets put here in the right side of the detergent drawer and the amount
you use depends on the load size. Perhaps I’ll do another video on how much I use.
If you’re using powdered HE detergents, they also go in
the right side of the detergent tray, but be sure to remove the blue cup.
For folks who prefer to use PODS, they should be tossed into the bottom of the tub. Obviously
it’s easier to toss a pod in before the clothes are loaded; however, if you’ve loaded around the
outside as recommended you can easily tunnel your way to the bottom through the middle.
That wasn’t actually a pod… those were my keys. If you like to use fabric softener, which gets
added into the final rinse, put it into the left side of the detergent tray here.
Again… less is more! And finally, if you’re doing a load of whites and want to add bleach,
carefully add the bleach here. I stress carefully because bleach can eventually eat away the finish
and rust the area around the bleach cup. Shame on you LG! There was actually a class action lawsuit
about this albeit an unsuccessful lawsuit, which is why I bet LG added this sticker, but I digress.
Close the lid, turn on the machine, and select a cycle. Now… The best advice I can give you to
get the best washing performance from this machine… and it’s going to seem obvious…
is to use the cycles as intended… with one exception which I’ll get into in a moment.
First up is the NORMAL cycle, which uses TurboWash; unfortunately, it’s incredibly
stingy with water so I only use it to wash everyday clothes that aren’t too dirty or sweaty.
Basically things worn once say to the office or zoom meetings around the house, or clothes
worn out for dinner. That’s pretty much all it’s good for in my opinion so I’m going to move on.
I’m going to jump to DEEP WASH next since selecting the WaterPlus option with the NORMAL
cycle changes the cycle from NORMAL to DEEP WASH. After posting my review of this washer,
I don’t really use this cycle much anymore because there are cycles that
provide better wash and rinse performance. I basically think of DEEP WASH as a “lite”
version of the NORMAL cycle, even though it uses more water than the NORMAL cycle.
The manual says that it’s good for heavily soiled mixed loads, but in my opinion, it’s only good
for medium to large loads of everyday, worn-once clothing. Again, worn once clothing are things
that aren’t visibly soiled or even stinky. DEEP WASH’s limitations are because TurboWash isn’t
available when using this cycle. Therefore, the motions during the wash segment aren’t as
rigorous as with TurboWash enabled cycles, and the rinse segment is an ol’ fashioned fill and swish.
Because the old fill and swish doesn’t provide much turnover, clothes at the top of the tub
don’t get rinsed as well. In contrast, the rinse segment of a TurboWash cycle uses the
sprayer to provide a top down rinse similar to how you’d rinse your hands in a sink,
which I’ve found to be more thorough. So in my opinion, DEEP WASH is OK for worn-once clothes
in cases where you want more water, but there are cycles, like HEAVY DUTY and the hidden gem
I’ll discuss shortly, which provide better wash and rinse performance for mixed loads.
HEAVY DUTY with the TurboWash option selected is my “go-to” cycle because it’s best for sweaty,
dirty, stinky clothes… so my stuff; I not only use it for my gardening, landscaping, and construction
ware, but also for the kids’ clothes… my daughter used to come home from school with marker, food,
and grass stains on everything. I also recommend HEAVY DUTY for a load of bath towels and for large
mixed loads. Now, you don’t have to select the TurboWash option, but I usually do because it
will not only shorten run time, but it gives the clothes a good tussle and a better overall rinse.
When using HEAVY DUTY, I also change the soil level from the default, which is HIGH soil,
to NORMAL soil…. unless it’s a really disgusting load… again, my stuff… and I
like to add 1/4-1/2 cup of baking soda depending on the load size and that helps remove odors.
Now DELICATES is a good option for wools, silks, and ladies undergarments because the
NORMAL cycle should you use it, will tangle up and stretch out bras… according to my other half.
Cycles that use more water are less of an issue, but either way,
DELICATES is intended for small loads so keep it to a 1/4 tub.
The BEDDING cycle is for bedding, and this cycle can be confusing so I’m going to elaborate.
The Bedding cycle is best for bulky stuff like blankets, pillows, and comforters… and even pet
beds…oh and poly filled jackets; however, those items are best washed by themselves to avoid an
unbalanced load. If you’re just washing sheets, pillowcases, and a duvee cover for example,
so light bedding, I recommend using HEAVY DUTY with the TurboWash option selected and
the soil level set to Normal. Using HEAVY DUTY and TurboWash will help reduce air
pockets and prevent light weight items from floating. I’ll get more into SPEEDWASH later,
but if you’re just washing one set of sheets and pillowcases, SPEEDWASH,
which uses TurboWash, is an even better option. Just change the soil level to Normal.
WATERPROOF, which is for waterproof items, is another confusing, but important cycle. Obviously,
you’ll use this cycle for raincoats, ski jackets, wind breakers, sleeping bags, and mattress pads;
however there’s so much more. I’ve gotten a lot of comments about lint showing up on clothes and
in my experience I’ve found it occurs when some garment or garments that are slightly waterproof
have been added to a mixed load. If you’ve ever done a mixed load or left a Kleenex in one of your
pockets, and ended up finding your darks covered in lint patches, let me know in the comments and
I’ll do a video showing you how to remove it. For now, I’ll tell you the way to avoid lint
issues is to separate out and use the WATERPROOF cycle for anything slightly water repellent,
water resistant, or even sweat wicking. That includes running clothes, workout wear,
swimsuits, and even yoga pants. And that’s not to say you can’t throw running clothes or yoga
pants into a mixed load using a different cycle, I do it all the time, but if there’s a tissue or
heavy lint producing item like a towel in the load, you’re likely going to end up with lint.
I rarely use Pre-Wash+Normal because I always miss the window. With Pre-Wash Normal you’re
supposed to pretreat stains, start the cycle, they soak and get tossed around a little,
and then after the chime you add the remaining clothes and detergent. Well,
if you’re not standing by the machine when the chime goes off, the cycle continues on its way.
I always end up having to start the cycle all over again. It’s too bad the app couldn’t say,
“Hey man, it’s time to load the rest of the clothes and detergent.” Nope! Get on that LG.
So when things require hand washing… I just do it the old fashioned way… in the sink.
Now for the exception to the rule, which I mentioned early,
and what I consider the hidden gem of cycles… It’s SPEEDWASH …. Sure the manual says it’s
for 2-3 lightly soiled garments, but o contrare my friends… SPEEDWASH offers so
much more. It actually reminds me of the regular cycle we had on our old Maytag.
Contrary to what it says in the manual, SPEEDWASH can handle small to medium sized loads. So 1/4
tub to 1/2 of a tub and maybe even a little more. Similar to the NORMAL cycle, it only takes 28-30;
however because it uses more water than the NORMAL cycle, it provides better performance
in my opinion. Bonus! Take that hack LG! I used SPEEDWASH to launder this overflowing basket of
clothes, roughly 11 lbs of laundry (yeah, I weighed it in the name of science) and it
was no problem. I even paused the machine so you could see how much water it used.
SPEEDWASH handled this load with no problem. So if you want a NORMAL cycle only with more water
for a medium sized load or less, try SPEEDWASH… just be sure to change the SOIL LEVEL to Normal.
Since the video is already running long, I’m not going to cover the DOWNLOAD cycles,
but the default is SMALL LOAD. Works OK, but just keep in mind it’s intended for a few
normally soiled items. Perhaps I can go deeper into downloadable cycles in a future video.
Let me just say LG has added and removed cycles over the years from
the app so yeah… They’ve figured out how to overcomplicate laundry! Moving on.
Just briefly, the WaterPlus and ColdWash options. You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned
them. Well, I rarely use Waterplus because in my experience when the appropriate cycle is selected,
there’s usually enough water for decent performance. As far as ColdWash… I’ve used
it once. I can’t understand how it’s efficient…. Yes it uses cold water,
but it runs forever so no thank you. If you’re concerned with your bright colors becoming faded,
I would say don’t be although I recognize every home’s water heater may be set differently. I’ve
found that the “warm water” in our home is barely what I’d consider luke warm so
it doesn’t have a significant impact on bright colors. If you have a concern just pause a wash
that’s using “WARM” water and stick your hand in. Alright, let’s get to washing.
Add some detergent since I didn’t do that before.
Close the detergent tray. Close the lid. Select a cycle,
and press and hold the play/pause button.
Once the lid locks the sensing segment of the cycle, say that a few times fast,
begins. If you need to add or retrieve something at any point during the cycle,
just press the play/pause button and once the machine comes to a full stop, the lid will unlock,
and you can dive in. To resume the cycle, close the lid, and press the play/pause button again.
Lastly, once a cycle has finished, remove the wet laundry from the machine promptly,
leave the lid open, and pull out the detergent tray so everything can dry
out. That will help prevent odors, mold, and mildew.
Now you know the basics and I hope you’ve learned something from this video. For more helpful LG
washer related videos in the future, check out my “lg washer how to” playlist, which will grow
as new videos come out. Lastly, I’m neither affiliated with nor am I being compensated by
LG for making these videos. If you want to help me keep the channel going, show your appreciation
by hitting the “thanks” button below and I’ll give you an honorable mention in a future video.
Or just “Like,” subscribe. That’s helpful too! Until next time laundry friends. Laundry’s done!