What is that little "pour" channel on top of a washer machine for?

Ok, when you open the top of an electric washer machine, there is this ‘drain’ on the corner of it where I think you are supposed to pour down bleach?

Umm But the Chlorox instructions just say to put the bleach in the water once the washer fills up. If so, why is there that little port? And what is it for? WHere does it go – does it moderate how the liquid bleach is distributed?

Don’t you have the instructions for the washer? If not, you can probably find them on the Internet.

I don’t wait for the washer to fill with water, so I use the pour thingie for bleach. Then I can just walk away. I haven’t looked at the manual, but I assume the bleach dispenses when the washer starts to agitate.

Yes, it’s for bleach. It supposedly helps reduce the chance of “burning” by letting the bleach dilute in the water before it mixes with the clothes.

Nope, on any machine I’ve had the chance to disassemble, that dispenser just dumps the bleach into the space between the outer and inner tubs.

So it dispenses as soon as I pour it in?

Not exactly. Straight chlorine bleach will burn holes in your clothes. So you don’t want to add it directly to where the clothes are for fear that some concentrated bleach might get on the clothes.
Buy using the little cup, the bleach drains between the inner tub (where the clothes are) and the outer tub (which holds the water in) By the time enough water is added to the machine for the mixture of water and bleach to reach the clothes, the mixture is dilute enough that burning is not a problem.

Aah. I get it now. (And I used to work in a factory that made washing machines.)