What does the snowflake icon on a washing machine mean?

Buying a new washing machine is a great excuse to immediately drop everything and start doing laundry anew. This is exactly what many buyers do, not even bothering to understand the instructions or the symbols on the machine. This approach is fundamentally flawed, as all the symbols are needed to set the correct operating mode to avoid damaging clothes. Of course, you can learn how to wash clothes correctly yourself through experimentation, but why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn the most important symbols in advance? For example, what happens if the snowflake symbol on your washing machine lights up?

Deciphering the snowflake pattern

It's the snowflake symbol on a washing machine that often raises the most questions for homeowners. However, there's nothing complicated about deciphering the symbol that can't be deduced using logic. Snow is always strongly associated with winter and cold, so it's only natural that a snowflake symbolizes cold water.

Clothes are often made from fabrics that can't be washed even in warm water, let alone hot. Temperature settings are designed for such situations. The illuminated indicator opposite the snowflake indicates that the machine will start washing clothes without the heating element turned on in cold water.

Don't worry about the powder not dissolving in cold water and your clothes not getting clean, as modern detergents dissolve perfectly even in ice-cold water.

Therefore, if the snowflake icon is flashing on your washing machine, nothing serious has happened – the machine simply hasn’t turned on the heating element and is washing in cold water.

Drawings indicating programs and functions

Many washing machines don't have Russian-language labels, so the control panel either features symbols without explanations, like the snowflake symbol on the washing machine, or has labels only in English. This can make it difficult to navigate the settings without the manual, which may not be readily available. To make choosing a washing program easier, we'll list the main washing symbols on modern machines.

• The pre-wash looks like a basin with the Roman numeral one inside.
• The main wash looks the same, only there is a number two.
• The rinse is marked by a basin with waves of water.
• The spin is shown as a spiral or snail.

The pre-wash symbol is often placed on the detergent dispenser or gel dispenser. The detergent manufacturer places this symbol specifically to prevent housewives from confusing the compartments before starting the wash cycle.

A number of symbols directly related to the end of the wash cycle are worth highlighting separately. For example, the "Rinse Hold" symbol appears as a container filled with water, while the "Rinse" symbol appears as a basin of completely clear water. The "Drain" symbol is depicted as a container with an arrow emerging from the bottom, representing the draining water. The end of the cycle is depicted as an arrow pointing to the right, toward the door, or vertical bar.

If your washing machine has a timer, the control panel will have a square with the word "TIMER" and the numbers 8, 12, and 24. This feature allows you to delay the start of your wash cycle. If the machine is capable of washing silently, then the corresponding symbol will be placed on the device’s body – a sign in the form of a square with a wave inside and the caption “Very quiet”. If the device is equipped with imbalance control, it will be marked with a square with a circle and a double-sided arced arrow inside.

The "Easy Iron" function, which allows you to pre-prepare clothes for ironing, typically looks like an iron with two dots on the body and a pair of horizontal lines under the soleplate. The drum capacity of the washing machine is depicted as a weight with a number indicating the maximum weight in kilograms that can be loaded into the machine.

The extra rinse is indicated by a picture of a container of water and a right-facing arc arrow positioned just above it. To remove excess foam and detergent from the drum using a special pump, the "Foam Control" feature was developed. It looks like a square, half of which is filled with water and the other half with soap bubbles.

Finally, it's worth highlighting the icon that looks like a folded shirt. It's called "Five Shirts" and allows you to quickly wash five or six shirts at once in water at 30 degrees Celsius. The "Blankets" mode is also very useful, allowing you to wash bulky down duvets.

These are far from all the symbols found on washing machines. There are many rare features and unusual modes found on premium models, which can be explored in the manual. It's difficult to list and remember every symbol on a washing machine, but we've described the most popular and frequently used ones.

All symbols are specifically designed to be easy to recognize and remember. However, homeowners often don't want to waste time memorizing them, so they simplify things by covering the symbols with paper stickers labeled for each function. This method can be helpful for elderly washing machine users and those with poor memory.

   

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