Ask our experts

How is it possible that a front-loading washing machine with a 70- to 90-minute normal wash cycle is more efficient than a top-loader with a 35-minute normal cycle?

Sharon Davis
Scottsdale, AZ

The biggest energy advantage of front-loaders is their ability to extract far more water from clothes than top-loaders can. That means your dryer doesn't have to run as long. Even with their longer cycle times, front-loaders use less water overall—about 10 gallons less per load on average. And since the smaller amount of water used by a front-loader concentrates laundry detergent, cleaning performance is typically boosted.

Why did my car’s gas mileage drop when I started using E10 fuel?

Harvey Fox
Schenectady, NY

Ethanol has a lower energy content than gasoline, so your fuel economy with E10—10 percent ethanol, 90 percent gasoline—will be lower than with 100 percent gasoline. Our test vehicles usually run on 100 percent gasoline. When we drove a Chevrolet Tahoe flex-fuel SUV using E85, mileage dropped 27 percent compared with gasoline. So using E10 should result in about a 3 percent drop in gas mileage.

Does preparing food in a slow cooker destroy nutrients?

W.D. McLellan
New Orleans

For many foods, any cooking method that involves heat will destroy some vitamins and minerals. In theory, slow cooking would destroy more nutrients than most methods because it exposes food to heat and liquid for hours at a time. But some of those losses may be recouped because you'd probably consume the cooking liquid with your meal and not discard it as you would after boiling or blanching.

Do warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club backdate membership renewals?

Craig Losche
Berthoud, CO

Sam's Club uses the original expiration date when you renew within 60 days of that date. So if your membership expires on Jan. 1 but you renew on Feb. 15, your renewal will be backdated to Jan. 1. If you renew more than 60 days after the expiration date, they won't backdate the membership. Costco is similar. At BJ's, if you renew within a month of the expiration date, your renewal is backdated, but after that you get a new expiration date.

Send your questions to www.ConsumerReports.org/askourexperts.