A:Answer I own this set and agree with you that this seems like a long time for a normal wash. The difference is "normal". I have had my set about a month or so and have used the dickens out of them. If I am washing a small to medium size load, I've had great success with the 15 minute quick wash. You can add more time to that if you wish, but with the availability of water temp and spin speed, it hardly seems necessary. There have been great results with this short wash, but with large to extra large loads, I like to go with a preset cycle.