As you know, we’ve been test driving the Maytag Bravos XL HE Washer and Dryer these past two months to see how they perform in a pet household. And, besides being a six-pet household, we also have other laundry challenges: water.
If you’ve never lived in the country, you probably don’t recognize this sight…
…and if you DO know what that is, you hope that’s a sight you don’t see again in the near future! That’s a well digger pulling the pump on our well, the pumphouse torn apart so the jack can lift the pump from deep in the well.
Living in the country in the midst of a drought that’s now gone on for two years, we are very (painfully) aware of our water usage. We try to cut our water usage in any way possible but, with a full household, it’s not always easy.
Cutting that water use is one of our biggest laundry challenges…but I have to say that the Maytag Bravos XL has really helped those worries. Using 76 percent less water (and 78 percent less energy), this Energy Star qualified machine has a low water EcoConserve wash that consumes less water and energy. Besides using less water per load, I’m also able to do fewer loads. Energy Star says that the average household does 400 loads of laundry per year (no wonder we’re tired!) but I know that we’ve been able to reduce that number. I’m now doing laundry about every third day. That’s a big load off my mind!
Besides saving water, another of our laundry challenges is size…specifically the ability to wash large items like couch covers (we always keep the couch covered so we don’t have doggie paw prints all over it). Frequent washing of these big covers also helps us reduce the flea population in a natural, safe way.
Plus, let’s face it, in pet households, accidents happen. Recently we woke up to find this wet stain on one of the pet beds:
OK, I’m not naming names since we don’t know the cause of this stain…but let’s just say there has been more that one instance of “revenge peeing” on the part of Coco, our cat, who gets mad when one of the dogs or other cats sleeps on this pet bed.
It is not a small pet bed…but we’d read that the Bravos XL was large enough for 21 full-sized towels so we gave it a try…
…and, as you’ll see, it fit right in this extra-large washer!
As Maytag Moms, we’ve been learning a lot about removing pet stains from laundry so I pretreated this stain with an enzyme pre-treat then washed it…and it came out like new!
Speaking of stains, I’ve also been experimenting with the Cold Wash Cycle, a deep cleaning cold cycle that saves energy and is designed for tough stains like chocolate (guilty!) and ground-in dirt, which is always a problem on John’s clothes when he’s been doing repair work, cutting brush, etc. The cycle has a slow-motion soak and extra cleaning action to help get out those toughest stains.
The washer features numerous cycles and those vary not just the action of the machine but the length of the washing cycle, too. The shortest is the Rapid Wash cycle but I’ve mostly been using the Normal cycle for everyday use and the Heavy Duty cycle for pet bedding, couch covers, duvet covers, etc. I also like the Power Wash cycle for really dirty clothes like John’s work jeans after a day of home repair.
One of the biggest changes to my laundry routine has been moving away from timed drying cycles. I’ve always set the dryer on the longest drying cycle then gone off to do my work; now I take advantage of the dryer’s Advanced Moisture Sensing technology to figure out just how much time the load really needs to get dry…saving energy and eliminating the risk of overdrying and the dreaded shrinking that can result.
So far, a big paws up for the Maytag Bravos XL Washer and Dryer!
For more information on Maytag Bravos XL, be sure to follow Maytag on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosure: I wrote this post participating in an Maytag Moms Dependable Laundry Ambassador program by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Maytag. I was provided with the Maytag washer and dryer set to facilitate my post.
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