sb-laund,
you didn't say to what temperature your Duet heats up the water on the delicate cycle. I am sure it won't be hot enough to do any damage to your clothes.
"I realize that the heated water is to break down detergent, however, there are some garments that tap cold wash is necessary."
This is just not true. European washers don't normally even have a setting for tap cold water. The minimum temperature is 30°C (just below 86°F) and that temperature doesn't do any damage to clothes that are exposed to body temperature anyway. The definition of "warm" or "cold" varies widely, so I wish that all the labels would give you an actual number instead of a vague term. The 30°C wash IS considered a cold wash, even the 40°C (104°F) is not more than luke warm. A "warm" wash for colored items is 60°C (140°F) on German washers. Delicate items would not be washed at 60°C, but 30 or even 40°C is not a problem at all.

Looser, thanks for the input. Agree with what you've said. My thought is two fold. One we are creatures of habit. I have always done tap cold wash with my most delicate of garments. Silk is definately very tricky. Second, there is little cold water that enter into the drum, (not enough to saturate clothes), before hot water goes through dispenser and into wash. Have noticed that some of my cottons are pilling more and my other newer cottons etc have faded. Nothing different here but the machine. Therefore, IMHO, for the longevity of the clothing, cold water wash on more delicate garments, is better. Have been in Europe, and for the most part, hand washing is common practice. My relatives all own front load washer, none use it full time. Hand washing is still done in a sink, with cooler water. Spoiled here at doing hand washing in our front loads.

Finally, I spoke with Whirlpool and they don't even know what the factory temp settings are for their machines. No clue. This is information that should be available. Also, Whirlpool representative said they were "well aware of the concern regarding the cold water wash".

Still feel that if someone out there really wants that cold water wash only, its not an option on this model. Just thought I'd put it out there....

sb-laund,
I agree with you 100% that the user's manual should start the temperature of each cycle and also give a rough estimate of the cycle time. It seems that the manufacturers either put out the one OR the other. The Bosch manuals do state all the temperatures while the Whirlpool manuals state the cycle times. It sucks that the manufacturers tink the consumers are not smart enough to process a few more details. I think the temperatures are more relevant than the cycle time, but some people buy a FL and get really upset about how long a heavy duty or sanitary cycle takes.

I grew up in Germany and I didn't experience to much handwashing at all. Maybe some very expensive items like cashmere or angora sweaters get washed by hand, but I have never owned too many of those. Fancy things like some dresses and suits normally get dry cleaned and everything else goes into the FL. Fading should not be an issue at temperatures of 100°F or so. The whitest whites and sanitary are surely not meant to be used on delicate or very colorful items. I think some manuals are misleading in saying that most everything can be washed on those cycles.
The dryer poses a much higher risk to the longevity of clothes. Dryers were not too common in Germany 20 years ago. A lot of clothes are still not meant to go into a dryer at normal heat settings...and the cold ones take forever.

FWIW...don't neglect to consider the huge differences in "tap cold" water temps from locale to locale. In much of the southwest U.S. "tap cold" in summer is 90+F. In winter in North Dakota, it's 40F. Detergent manufacturers regard 60F as the lowest temp to use under any circumstances -- even the special-market "cold water" variations.

Hi Aslo,

In an earlier post you mentioned you own a whirlpool 9400 washer...my question is regarding the bulky cycle. My manual states that the bulky cycle begins with a thourough soak and then a wash. I noticed with my machine, autosoak and autowash are not available modifiers (this makes sense) however, the cycle goes straight to wash. No autosoak light comes on. Is this correct or should there be an autosoak period then the wash...? Sorry to be a nuisance about it. Thanks for your time.

By the Way, agree with the cold water wash temp in taps. Tap cold doesn't seem to be all that cold now that's summer time. That hot water really doesn't seem necessary right now.

Sorry to be so little help. I only use that cycle infrequently and I am only at the machine's location infrequently so have no reference to respond to you with. Only recollection I have is general....which is to say that every time I've selected a particular cycle and then paid any attention to it, the machine did do what the manual said it would do. Wish I could be more specific in my response.