I have a highly rated new washing machine (an electrolux 700 series front-loading washing machine) and I HATE it. I want to replace it, but I suspect everything on the market is just as bad. When I first started using it, I got rashes. I changed the brand of laundry soap, I had two repairmen check it out, finally, I took to washing my underwear twice, both times on “heavy soil”, both times with a full load, including a towel or three that I have soaked with water to increase their weight, the first time with 1-2 tablespoons of detergent, and the second time with no detergent. Both times with an extra rinse.
So it takes me 3 hours to wash my underwear.
I usually just wash the shirts and stuff on “colors” with an extra rinse and a fast spin, and sometimes that’s good enough, but other times I put on a freshly laundered shirt and it smells like it needs to be washed.
Anyway. I realized that a fundamental problem is that the only thing people test for in “cleaning ability” is how well a machine removed a spot. But dislodging the soil from the garment is only step one, if you don’t also rinse it away, it just gets deposited elsewhere, but dispersed enough that you don’t see the spot.
And new machines use so little water that they don’t actually rinse.
I asked both repairmen if there was a way to just run a couple of rinse cycles, and the answer is “no”. There is no “rinse”, only full wash cycles.
Anyway, does anyone have a new machine sold in the US (like, in the last 3, possible 5 years) that actually removes all the soap?
It just doesn’t use enough water to actually remove the soap. Nor all of the soil.
Anyway, I have zero interest in what AI says about the listed features, I want to hear actual human experience from other people with sensitive skin and or sensitive noses. My husband has neither, and the machine works fine for him.
I have an LG that does “rinse only” cycles via a dedicated “rinse+spin” button on it. I don’t know how effective it is, though, sorry If there’s some way to test this for you, I’d be happy to, but I’m not able to detect/sense the detergent residue on my own.
Hopefully you are using detergent designed for high efficiency washers? If not, that’s automatically an issue with a front loader.
But also, if you are using 1-2 Tablespoons, that’s most likely 2-4x the amount you need even with a decently soiled load. No surprise but the detergent companies making recommendations on how much to use have a vested interest in over-usage. Use too much and the excess detergent just sticks around and can exacerbate smells. The measuring cups they give out usually recommend too much, even for the smallest loads.
My family used to run a dry cleaners, and even with the old style washers, they knew most people used too much detergent. It was less about the water used by the machines and more the amount of soap used. They could toss folks’ clothes into the wash without any detergent and they would start sudsing. Worse, the excess detergent causes clothes to fade faster.
Not to say you are doing that, but it’s very common and would be the first place I look.
I started with their best “eco pick”, and the repairmen didn’t like it for front loaders, and said that might be my problem, so I have switched to their top overall pick.
That wasn’t my source, but I did research which detergents are least irriating. Thanks.
you are right, I misremembered. I use 1-2 teaspoons, at the advise of the repairmen, which is actually very hard to measure out. The measuring cup that comes with the detergent wants me to use about 5 times as much.
And basically all the brands say they can be used with high-efficiency machines. But the repairmen liked the All more than the 7th Generation with high efficiency machines.
There might be a specific ingredient in it that you’re sensitive/allergic to, perhaps? Like maybe SLS or some of the phosphors? 7th generation stuff tends to have a lot of ingredients.
Also, if you have a HE (high efficiency machine), you need much less detergent than before. My detergent cup is usually like only 10-20% full for a XL full load. You can try experimenting with even less to see if it helps at all…
Honestly, what i want at this point isn’t less soap, it’s more water. I really really want a washing machine that uses more water. And ideally, warm water, as everything rinses off better in warm water. I’m doing a second load with no soap in large part to get a warm water (actually hot water) rinse.
I have never found a washing machine that does that. The only thing I can do is to manually open the lid and keep pressing the start/continue button until it loads enough water each time, it typically puts a big bowl-ful of water with each press. Then I manually slosh the laundry around by hand to make sure all soap residue on the walls and column is wiped off.
Well, my LG does have that. Or maybe you can find an older machine off eBay or similar that still uses the extra water. Top loaders should fill all the way too and require a lot more water.
My mom had a Bosch / Siemens (?) that actually had a dedicated button (well, touch screen area) for selecting how much water it should use.
You might also have hard water, which would make the soap harder to rinse out. Try adding a water softener.
Edit to add:
If you are desperate to just get a warm water rinse, and depending on how clever your machine is: Wait until it starts the rinse cycle, pause it, then open the detergent drawer a bit and pour in lots of warm water. Then let the programming continue.
Make sure not to fill in too much, your machine likely is not built to be filled to the brink.
I just checked on my washer, and it does let me select the rinse+spin without a wash. However, it won’t let me use hot/warm water for that. It also has a things like an allergy cycle that adds steam + hot water + extra rinse. Not sure if that’s any more than what your machine already does.
I did find out the hard way, accidentally, that I can force it to use warm/hot water if I just reverse the cold & hot water inlets. Our installer put them in the wrong way and we couldn’t get cold water until we changed them back.
Mine supposedly can sense that, and tells you about the error.
I mean, using “extra dirty, plus extra rinse and allergen feature, with a couple of soaking wet towels thrown in to convince the machine it is full” does, in fact, work fine as a rinse cycle. It’s just that it takes 90+ minutes and also, I need to start it AFTER I’ve already run the actual wash cycle.
I don’t think I’d mind all that much that a load takes 3 hours if I didn’t have to futz with it in the middle of that time. It just ends up taking all day to do two loads of laundry.
So I’d love to replace it with a machine that used enough water on its own.
They might be out there, but it’s an uphill battle because they’re all trying to use less and less water these days, especially hot water The design criteria for the rest of us is working against your specific sensitivities…
Yeah, I used to have one of those, and I tried really hard to get it fixed when it finally died at age 30. It got my laundry really clean and fresh in about 45 minutes. And used a ton of water.
In theory, I would like the efficiency of a front loader. I just also want the damn thing to rinse on its own. Ideally, in less than 90 minutes. And super-ideally, without having to trick it by adding extra towels. But maybe none of the front loaders work unless they are “full”.
My wife has issues with rashes from almost all laundry detergents, but has had no issues since we switched to using All Free and Clear or Tide Free and Gentle soaps. We also use Downy Free and Gentle fabric softeners. On all of the above we make sure we see the “he” (high efficiency) logo.
We’ve had both front and top loaders in that time and both have worked fine for her.
I have a new Samsung washing machine that I hate. No central agitator, it uses water jets to balance and clean the load. Unless it doesn’t like the balance or the load, then it will drain, refill, and start again. It will keep doing this over and over until you have used hunderds of gallons of water.
Hit stop and put it on spin only, fixed right? No. Even on Spin only, if it thinks the load is still unbalanced it will refill with water again. Spin only and still filling with water. I hate this NEW machine.
If there’s some way to test this for you, I’d be happy to, but I’m not able to detect/sense the detergent residue on my own.
