If you own a Hoover washing machine, you’re familiar with the fact that each program and setting corresponds to a specific symbol on the appliance. You can use these symbols to select the best settings for a particular wash cycle.
But what do you do when the symbols have rubbed off/worn off? You could read through the user manual, but if you’ve got no idea where yours has gone, this guide should teach you everything you need to know.
Every Hoover washing machine is slightly different, and different models will always have unique settings. However, several symbols are universal across all Hoover washing machines. This guide will discuss each of these universal symbols so you can make the most of your appliance and whizz through your laundry.
Washing Machine Symbols
There are two main washing machine symbols that you need to know about with any shooter washer – detergent and fabric softener, and fabric softener.
Detergent and Fabric Softener
Overview – The detergent and fabric softener symbol is shown by a basket with a solid black line in the centre. Some Hoover washing machines may have a slightly different symbol for a special selection of prewash cycles, which enables you to add more detergent than usual.
Best used for – Identifying where to put your detergent and fabric softener.
Benefits/drawbacks – The detergent and fabric softener symbol is present on washing machines from every brand. It enables you to easily identify where to put your detergent when starting a wash cycle. There aren’t any notable drawbacks to having this symbol on your washer.
Fabric Softener
Overview – The fabric softener symbol denotes a flower. It may or may not have the word ‘MAX’ written next to it, which indicates the maximum amount of fabric softener that you should use per cycle. It’s a standard feature that you’ll find on pretty much every washing machine that you use.
Best used for – Identifying where to put the fabric softener for a wash cycle and how much to use.
Benefits/drawbacks – The fabric softener symbol makes it easy to identify where to put the softener, so you don’t end up pouring it into the wrong tray and damaging your machine. The drawback is that not all washers will have the ‘MAX’ line, which makes it more difficult to know how much fabric softener to use for a single wash cycle.
Front Washing Machine Symbols
There are programme symbols on the front of every model of Hoover washing machine. These symbols enable you to identify which washing programme you’re using and adjust the settings according to your needs. Below are some of the standard programme symbols that you’ll find on a Hoover washer.
Cotton
Overview – The cotton symbol is shown by a ball of cotton, and it’s a commonly used programme that you’ll use to wash your cotton-based garments.
Best used for – Washing cotton-based clothing.
Benefits/drawbacks – Since most modern-day clothes are made predominantly out of cotton, you’ll probably use this setting more than most of the other programmes on your Hoover washing machine. The drawback is that this setting may be too aggressive for delicate garments, such as those made out of wool, chiffon, or lace.
Mixed and Synthetic Garments
Overview – The symbol for mixed and synthetic garments shows a triangular container, and it’s another common setting across most Hoover washing machine models.
Best used for – Washing garments that are made out of a mixture of synthetic materials, such as polyamide and polyester.
Benefits/drawbacks – This setting is perfect for washing a variety of mixed-fabric clothing. However, as with the cotton programme, it’s not suitable for delicate fabrics.
Woollen Garments
Overview – If you spot a symbol that shows a ball of wool on your washer (if it’s not worn away yet), this is the setting that you’ll use to wash woollen laundry.
Best used for – Washing woollen clothing.
Benefits/drawbacks – It’s helpful to have a setting that is specifically designed to be gentle enough for wool-based items. However, if you own very few woollen garments, you might never have enough to fill the drum for a full woollen garments cycle.
Silk and Delicate Garments
Overview – The symbol you’ll need to find when washing silk and delicate garments is the image of a butterfly. This programme is ideal for washing delicate fabrics, such as silk and lace.
Best used – Washing garments and bedding made out of delicate materials, particularly those made from silk.
Benefits/drawbacks – This programme enables you to safely wash delicate garments without the risk of ripping or stretching them. However, you might not need to use this setting that often if you have very few silk-based items and it won’t be strong enough to wash thicker garments made from cotton or synthetic fabrics.
Eco-Washes
Overview – The eco wash setting on your Hoover machine uses a lower temperature than a standard wash cycle, so it uses less energy. It’s shown by an image of two leaves.
Best used for – Saving energy when doing your laundry.
Benefits/drawbacks – The eco wash programme is better for the environment and for your wallet because it washes your laundry at a lower temperature and uses less electrical energy per cycle. The downside is that this setting isn’t as powerful as a standard setting and might not rid your clothes of stubborn stains.
Mixed and Coloured Garments
Overview – For mixed and coloured clothing, you’ll need to search for the symbol that shows a triangular container and a t-shirt. If your symbols have worn away, this programme will be one of the few that are on the front of your washer.
Best used for – Washing clothes and bedding that comprise a mixture of fabrics and colours.
Benefits/drawbacks – The mixed and coloured garments programme is ideal for a wide range of items, and it will protect your clothing by preventing colours from running. However, it’s still best to separate colours, blacks, and whites, when doing your laundry as much as possible to reduce the risk of ruining your clothing.
Cold Wash
Overview – The cold wash symbol shows a snowflake. When this cycle is active, the appliance doesn’t heat up the water during a wash.
Best used for – Washing delicate fabrics.
Benefits/drawbacks – The cold wash setting will protect your delicate garments from damage by using cold water to rinse them. This setting will not be suitable for washing thicker, heavily soiled clothing, as hot water is required to power through tough stains and dirt.
Child Lock
Overview – The child lock symbol shows an image of a key, and it indicates when the child lock is activated on your Hoover washing machine.
Best used for – Activating the child lock on your washer.
Benefits/drawbacks – Every modern-day washing machine has a child lock, and it’s become a universal safety mechanism across multiple household appliances. When active, the child lock disables all of the buttons on your washer, preventing your little one from turning it on or changing the settings. There are no drawbacks to this feature, but you’ll need to make sure you deactivate it next time you want to use your washing machine.
Easy Iron
Overview – The easy iron setting washes your clothing so that it comes out with minimal creases, making your ironing much easier. It’s denoted by a symbol with an iron.
Best used for – Washing clothes that are prone to creasing and those that you want to iron before putting away in your drawers and wardrobe.
Benefits/drawbacks – This programme is perfect when you have a lot of clothes that crease easily and are a nightmare to iron. You won’t need to use this setting all the time, though.
Rinse
Overview – The rinse programme washes your clothes with fresh, clean water. You’d use this setting after a full wash cycle to freshen up your clothes. It’s shown by a symbol of a washing basket with sprinkles of water above it.
Best used for – Rinsing your clothes.
Benefits/drawbacks – The rinse setting is helpful to have, but it’s not necessary to run a rinse cycle after every wash load you do. It’s not powerful enough to wash your dirty laundry, but it’s ideal if you need to freshen it up before putting it away.
Steam
Overview – The steam setting is denoted by a puff of steam and it blows steam intermittently into the washer drum during a cycle. The steam removes allergens and bacteria from your clothing.
Best used for – Removing allergenic particles, like pollen, dust, and pet fur, and bacterial particles from your garments.
Benefits/drawbacks – The steam programme is beneficial for those of you who are prone to allergic reactions or are immunocompromised. When using the steam setting, your appliance will use more water and electrical energy than it would during a standard wash cycle.
Drain
Overview – The drain programme is shown by a symbol of a spiral with a downward arrow. This setting removes water from the drum of the washing machine during a wash cycle.
Best used for – Avoiding excess water inside the drum when you’re running a cycle.
Benefits/drawbacks – The drain cycle prevents your clothes from getting soaked and reduces the risk of damage to your appliance by draining water away from the drum. Activating the drain setting may increase your appliance’s energy usage per cycle because the washer pump will require energy to pump water away from the drum and down the drain pipe.
Pre-Wash
Overview – Every washing machine has a pre-wash programme. You can use this setting to quickly rinse your clothes before a full cycle. It’s shown by a symbol of a washing basket with the word ‘Pre’ written above it.
Best used for – Rinsing heavily soiled clothing and bedding before a full cycle or rinsing your garments.
Benefits/drawbacks – The pre-wash setting rinses your items in cold water to remove some of the dirt and stains before you run a full wash cycle. It’s ideal for wool, delicates, and hand-wash-only items. However, it’s not necessary to use this setting with everything that you wash.
Special Garments Washing Machine Symbols
Hoover washing machines are a series of symbols associated with the wash cycles for special garments.
Duvet Programme
Overview – The duvet program shows a set of bedding, and it’s designed to wash thick bedding. When you use this programme, you can load the drum to its maximum capacity.
Best used for – Washing your bedding.
Benefits/drawbacks – The duvet programme is perfect for when you’re washing your bedding, and it’s designed to provide a thorough wash for every single item you load into the washer. Because it’s a more powerful setting and requires a higher volume of water, it will be less eco-friendly than other wash programs in your Hoover appliance.
Baby 60
Overview – The Baby 60 wash programme is denoted by an image of a baby’s bottle with a dummy. This programme sets the temperature to a minimum of 60 degrees Celsius to provide an extensive wash that removes bacteria and allergens from your baby’s clothing.
Best used for – Washing and sanitising your baby’s clothes.
Benefits/drawbacks – The Baby 60 option ensures that your little one stays safe by completely sanitising their clothing. However, because the minimum temperature is 60 degrees, this setting uses a lot of electrical energy to heat the water up inside the drum during a cycle.
Jeans
Overview – The jeans wash programme is shown by a symbol of a pair of jeans. This setting is specifically designed for washing denim clothing.
Best used for – Washing denim clothing, such as jeans, skirts, and jackets.
Benefits/drawbacks – Using this setting to wash your denim clothes will ensure that they don’t get stretched or shrunken during the washing process. It washes denim clothing at the perfect temperature to maintain the quality of the fabric. The downside is that you might never have enough denim to fill up the drum of your Hoover washer, so you might never need to use this particular wash programme.
H-WASH 500 Washing Machine Symbols
The H-WASH 500 is one of the most popular Hoover washer models, and it has a variety of special settings.
All in One 59′
Overview – The all in one setting washes your clothes for 59 minutes at 40 degrees Celsius. It’s a quick programme that is designed to wash different coloured clothing made from a variety of materials at the washer’s full capacity. This programme is shown by a symbol of a T-shirt, two spiralling, and the number 59.
Best used for – Quickly washing a variety of clothes.
Benefits/drawbacks – The all in one setting is eco-friendly and fast. It washes at 40 degrees Celsius, takes less than an hour to complete, and enables you to load the drum to its full capacity, so it’s perfect when you’re in a rush and are conscious of the environment. However, due to the lower temperature used for this programme, it might not provide a thorough enough wash to power through stubborn stains or heavily soiled laundry.
Kg Mode
Overview – The Kg programme detects the total weight and type of load and chooses the best setting for it. You’ll see the symbol for this programme as a weight with the letters ‘KG’ inside it and four black parallel lines next to it.
Best used for – Allowing the washer to choose the best programme for your laundry.
Benefits/drawbacks – If you have no idea which washing programme is the best for a particular load, this setting is a lifesaver. However, because the machine chooses the setting automatically, you have very little (if any) control over which program is being used to wash your laundry.
Care 14/30/44
Overview – The care 14/30/44 lets you choose how long you want to wash a load for, with the option of either 14, 30, or 44 minutes in total. It’s shown by an image of two leaves with the numbers 14, 30, and 44 below them.
Best used for – Completing quicker wash cycles.
Benefits/drawbacks – The care cycle is versatile and enables you to choose how long you want to wait for your laundry to finish. It’s eco-friendly and uses less energy than a traditional cycle. However, this setting won’t be strong enough or long enough to wash heavily soiled clothing or bedding.
Allergy Care
Overview – The allergy care symbol shows a plus sign inside a circle with a baby’s bottle and dummy. It washes the load at 60 degrees Celsius for 79 minutes to completely rid your clothing of allergens.
Best used for – Washing clothing to rid it of allergens, such as pet fur, dust, and pollen.
Benefits/drawbacks – The allergy care programme is great if you’re somebody who is affected by allergies. It’s also ideal for washing your baby’s clothing and equipment to fully sanitise it because it washes at a higher temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. This setting won’t be necessary if you don’t have allergies or a baby!
Fresh Care
Overview – The fresh care setting washes your clothing for 30 minutes at 30 degrees Celsius and uses steam. It’s shown by a symbol of a T-shirt with a puff of air to the side of it.
Best used for – Lightly washing or freshening up your clothing.
Benefits/drawbacks – This setting is ideal when you don’t want to run a heavy wash but because it only reaches a maximum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, it’s not going to be strong enough for thicker items or those that are heavily soiled.
Soft Care
Overview – The soft care symbol shows a butterfly with a box in its centre. It’s suitable for washing delicate garments and washes at 20 degrees Celsius for 59 minutes.
Best used for – Washing delicate fabrics like silk, chiffon, wool, and lace.
Benefits/drawbacks – The soft care programme will wash your delicate garments without damaging them. It uses less energy than a standard wash cycle because of its low temperature and only takes one hour to complete. It won’t provide a powerful enough wash for non-delicate items.
Fitness
Overview – The fitness symbol is a T-shirt with a racquet. It’s designed specifically for washing sportswear or clothing made from synthetic fibres and runs for 29 minutes at 40 degrees Celsius.
Best used for – Washing sportswear or clothing made from synthetic fibres, like polyester and polyamide.
Benefits/drawbacks – If you’re a sporty person, you might use this setting regularly. However, because it’s specifically designed for particular fabrics, it won’t be suitable for every item of clothing.
Auto Care
Overview – Auto care is shown. By a symbol of a T-shirt and the words ‘Auto Care’ written next to it. This program is highly versatile and enables you to wash a variety of load types.
Best used for – Washing a variety of loads.
Benefits/drawbacks – Auto care provides a higher degree of flexibility with your laundry. There are no drawbacks to note, aside from the fact that you might not use this setting that often.
