Sidebar into a somewhat-off-topic note: I suspect the long washing machine cycles are similar to long cycles for dishwashers. My husband and I were in Lowe's a couple of years ago, purchasing a new refrigerator. Got into a very interesting conversation with one of the guys there who does a lot of their warranty repair work. He talked a lot about what makes appliances fail: For ranges, it's the self-clean cycle. The electronic circuit boards are not built to take the ultra high heat that most self-clean cycles use, and end up getting fried. For dishwashers, it's the detergent pods. Oftentimes the pods do not dissolve completely and gum up the works. I wish I would have asked him why the pods don't dissolve completely - if it's hard or soft water, not hot enough water, not enough water period, etc. I mentioned that I was holding out on replacing my dishwasher, which was in our home when we bought it 20 years ago. He told me to keep it working as long as I could, it was likely much better performance-wise than most of the ones on the market! I asked him why the newer dishwashers run for so long. They're supposed to be more energy efficient, but how is that possible when they run at least twice as long as my old one does? He said they're more energy efficient because the power pulses as it runs. On, off, on, off. In the older ones, the power stayed on. This makes me wonder if that's why washing machines run longer, too.