Front loading washers

[TrekJeni]

I was wondering whether crystalline citric acid might be an alternative for cleaning the washer (although as I said, in 11 years it's never seemed to need it, other than popping out the detergent tray for a good rinse and scrub once in a while).

I wouldn't use the citric acid wash as I'd be concerned about the rubber gasket and the pump hoses degrading over time.

*** I work for Procter and Gamble in the Fabric and Home Care division ***

I have done YEARS of research on front loaders with stain removal tests, whiteness maintenance, and color fading. My lab consists 16 front loading machines with a state of the art computer controlled water system that can recreate all water conditions across the world. We test EVERYTHING that is remotely front loading. Whirlpool, Maytag, Bosch, Miele, LG, Maytag, etc. The biggest gimmick is the LG Tromm with it's Steam Wash. There's no such thing. The commercial is over exaggerated. We laughed when we got it in as we all sat in front of it waiting for it to do its magic and was disappointed. Nothing like the commercial at all.

I got out of the appliance side of things last year and am now doing upstream technology research which means I'm testing new surfactants for potential product usage.

When Geoff and I bought our house in April, we bought a Whirlpool HT as we wanted the extra heater to do some tough cleaning on bedding as we have dogs and cats. There is no need to buy a high efficiency dryer unless you want them to match. The washers spin at twice the speeds that the top loaders do resulting in less drying time.

I've seen many people mention longer cycle times and keeping the door open. The reason the cycles are longer is because your relying on the kinetics of the surfactants rather than the mechanical action of an agitator to do your cleaning. It's also the reason why you need to use HE detergent. It's got a suds suppressor in it so it doesn't lock your machine up. Half dosing regular detergent doesn't cut it - I've got the data to prove it. Leaving the door open is recommended as the water tight seal doesn't allow for the washer to completely dry out between cycles. I've taken the machines apart by hand, you don't want to know what can be growing behind there, trust me!

[kacie tri-ing]

Love my front loading...it saves on space when you live in a tiny condo!

[jobob]

*** I work for Procter and Gamble in the Fabric and Home Care division ***

No way!!!

I used to work at a biotech company that supplies P&G with enzymes for laundry detergents. I used to work on the protease that went into Tide. An enzymologist's dream job - how to make a protease that didn't fall apart in hot water but still worked well in cold water. I used to know all sorts of arcane things about water hardness all over the world, surfactants, that sort of thing. Oh and the different types of technical swatches - BMI and the like ...

But back on topic -- LeeBob is lurking this thread now, we were just discussing the possibility of stacking a front loader washer & dryer in our little laundry room.

[Tuckervill]

I LOVE my Whirlpool Duet and none of the things Xeney complained about are a problem for us. We don't wash diapers, but my husband's work-out clothes get pretty rank. We started adding Febreeze laundry additive to those washes, and that made a difference. We have extremely hard water that leaves residue on surfaces, so maybe mine works better because of that...I dunno how all that works (but I hope the P&G folks will chime in). My clothes are cleaner with the Duet, and it's wonderful. I love it.

I just made a habit to press the "Cold" button whenever I wash. I do that to save money on heating the water. Nothing has shrunk, though, even on warm. Maybe my water heater is not up enough (the former owner put a partition around it and I've never even seen the stupid thing).

I'm sorry your Duet is not working out for you. I'm sure someone would buy it if you decided to sell and get something else.

Karen

[DDH]

I have a Duet also, and I love mine. I did have a problem with my (and I know this is going to sound weird) permenant press always having a smell to it. I couldn't stand it and it was driving me crazy that only these clothes were smelling and I could not figure out what was wrong.
Finally I started leaving my door open and I try to remember to put the washer through the cleaning cycle once a month like it recommends but I know I miss times. Anyway, it has stopped. I don't know why it was ever this way or why it stopped but I no longer have a smell problem with my clothes.
The only thing I could think of was I quit stuffing the washer with clothes and started making two loads out of my permenant press. That's the only thing I ever had a huge amount of and I guess it just wasn't getting them clean since I was stuffing the washer.
It still washes a whole lot more at once than my top loader ever did and it saves tons of water.

I get irritated the the detergent is more expensive, but other than that, I love it.

[Irulan]

My Duet 4.0 is getting delivered/installed on Friday.

[xeney]

We don't wash diapers, but my husband's work-out clothes get pretty rank. We started adding Febreeze laundry additive to those washes, and that made a difference.

Unfortunately that is not an option with the diapers -- additives like Febreeze can really affect the absorbency. Plus I try to avoid things with scents, and it frankly makes me angry to spend this much money on a washer and then have to add things to mask smells that it is not removing.

I just made a habit to press the "Cold" button whenever I wash. I do that to save money on heating the water. Nothing has shrunk, though, even on warm. Maybe my water heater is not up enough (the former owner put a partition around it and I've never even seen the stupid thing).

Sounds like we have different versions of the machine -- if there were a "cold" button it would be easier, but it's that little button you have to press multiple times to get through the cycle of options. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just an annoying interface and I am irritated that "warm" is the default when most people wash on cold for the reason you point out, to save money. And our water heater is turned WAY down because we have a toddler who likes to adjust the water temperature in the bathtub.

I should stress that I am not comparing the Duet to a top loader. We have not had a top loader for about ten years. But it is nowhere near as good at cleaning clothes as our old Kenmore was. We really wish we had had that one repaired a fourth time rather than buying this machine. After two months, our towels (which looked like new in the Kenmore) look like old rags, and our diapers stink, and I hate this machine.

As soon as I can afford a new one I will probably put this one on Craigslist.

I hope yours works out, Irulan. I really wish we hadn't bought ours.

[Tuckervill]

My friend with cloth diapers always put baking soda in the wash. She bought giant boxes of it from Sam's Club.

My Duet wash has a button that says something like "Hot Wash/Cold Rinse" Warm Wash/Cold Rinse" and "Cold Wash/Cold Rinse". It defaults to the middle one (warm) and when I press it, it goes down the list, so it goes right to the Cold/Cold. Once I trained myself, it became second nature and I don't even think of it anymore.

Karen