What does the iron symbol on a washing machine mean?

What does the iron sign on a washing machine mean? Some images on the panels of washing machines are intuitive, while some remain a mystery to housewives. For full operation of the washing machine, it is better to fully understand what and how it works, as well as what function is designated as. For example, does an iron on a washing machine mean something related to ironing or not? Let's figure it out.

What function is marked on the iron?

The iron symbol in the washing machine indicates the “Easy ironing” option. Contrary to popular belief, few people iron absolutely everything after washing. As a rule, children's things (especially diapers and undershirts) are subjected to heat treatment en masse for hygiene purposes - high temperature is the key to sterility, as well as items of work clothing (a banal office dress code requires well-ironed clothes). Can “machine ironing” cope with these tasks?

Attention! Light ironing is not an analogue of real ironing and does not replace it, but only softens the fibers of the fabric.

In fact, the sonorous name “ironing” and the corresponding iron symbol serve more to attract attention than to describe the real benefit of the function. Its essence is to prepare the laundry for the iron by softening it, and also prevents the appearance of new wrinkles during the washing and spinning process.

How is the program implemented?

To fully understand the effectiveness of an option, you need to have a good understanding of the specifics of its operation.How is the effect of uncrumpled laundry achieved when the machine washes and spins things, seemingly as usual? In fact, the principle of operation is this: the amount of water during washing increases, and the duration and number of spin speeds is reduced. This actually means a gentle wash with more water. As a result, the laundry is moist and less wrinkled.

Items made from synthetic fabrics are generally ready to wear after this function and do not need ironing. On natural fabrics, folds also become less noticeable, and things do not need to be steamed, which saves time, effort and energy costs.

Important! If you want to activate the Easy Ironing function, the drum must be filled no more than halfway.

The additional functions to some extent account for the cost of the entire washing machine. Is it worth paying to have it? Experienced users claim that the “Easy Ironing” program can be manually configured independently. How to do it? washing takes place in a large amount of water

Place less clothes in the drum than usual.
Use large volumes of water when washing.
Set the spin cycle to low speed.
Duplicate the rinse cycle.

Usually, spinning is done after all the “water procedures”, but if you start rinsing again after it, then the clothes will be damp and, accordingly, less wrinkled. Moreover, the more water, the fewer folds. To finally answer the question of whether a feature is worth the overpayment, you need to summarize all its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages and disadvantages

Of course, the main advantage of this option is that even if it can be set manually, it requires time and effort - checking the filling of the tank with water, remembering to set the spin speed to low, and so on.And if the function is built into the washing machine, the only thing that is required from the user is to press the button. Besides:

wet clothes after washing are easier to iron and smoother;
Frequent use of the program contributes to a longer service life of the laundry;
Infrequent use of the iron reduces energy costs.

It is worth remembering that activating the function increases the washing time. This is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage, but simply a fact. Now let's move on to the cons. the laundry comes out wetter

Some items, especially those made from thick fabrics, remain downright wet after washing.
Instead of saving on electricity from infrequent use of the iron, there is a greater consumption of water and energy during washing.
The gentle mode sometimes does not allow the powder to be completely washed out of the fabric fibers.
Due to the low load volume, you have to wash things in several passes.

As a result, this function is not so practical that you have to pay extra for it, but it still has certain advantages.