I have recently bought a front loader and I am not happy with it. I use front loader detergent, but for some reason all the clothes and particularly the towels have become extremely hard. I use softener, but it makes no difference. Any ideas? I am ready to send it back.
By Marina
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Funny that. I have the same problem and thought it was just me! There is a product that looks like crystals which you put in with your detergent and it works like a fabric softener. I'm going to try that next and see what happens! the only thing I can think of is that the machine is taking the fabric softener too early and rinsing it out at the final rinse. maybe all front loaders do it. vinegar instead of fabric softener may be an option but I've never had success with softer clothes using vinegar in a "normal" machine. I've just learned to accept it.
I have melie and the biggest mistake I've ever made. I have tried everything possible, bicarbonate of soda, calgon, vinegar, less detergent.
Same here. I hate the front loaders. I have sensitive skin and after it's finished i have to soak anything that goes close to my skin in fabric softener and spin again. Might try vinegar or sensitive soap powder, liquid
You're right. There's nothing you can do to let your clothes soft if you have a front loader.
I have good luck with filling my liquid bleach despenser with about 1/2 cup white vinegar. The clothes come out much softer than with fabric softener and also absorb better when drying my body with the towels.
Using vinegar did not work for me and we have soft water.
I have had a front loader for years and love it. Your clothes wind up getting detergent left in them from using too much detergent and overloading the washer. As above, if you double rinse (don't panic the machine uses less water anyway) and use vinegar in the rinse cycle it makes a big difference.
I am really unhappy with my new Bosch front loader washing machine for the same reason as everyone else it seems. I have a small B&B and so soft fluffy towels is a must and something I've been able to provide for 15 years with my old Simpson top loader. Those towels now are hard and tufted and nothing makes any difference...different spin speeds, adding bi-carb and vinegar etc and as always shaking out towels before hanging on clothesline.
Get rid of your front loader is the only way. Front loader save water and soap but who cares
My new husband came with a front load washer, and it's been a learning experience, lol! I have learned that with front load washers, less is more when it comes to detergent, and that using laundry soap for front load washers (marked HE for High Efficiency) is the single most important tip around!
Until I figured that out, our clothes came out of the washer nearly stiff enough to stand up on their own. I'm lucky that my new husband understood it was a learning curve:)
I solved the stiff clothes situation by running the clothes through a full wash cycle (with an extra rinse) without soap-OH WOW, I had to run some of the clothes twice to get all the left over soap out of them! It was amazing to see all the soap suds sloshing across that window the first wash cycle, LOL.
Then I cleaned the washer by running it empty two full cycles without soap, changed the laundry soap to HE products, and cut back the amount of HE soap I used to the barest minimum when I started washing clothes in the front loader again.
It was a bit of time consuming work (tell me again how a two hour washing is an energy saver?) but our clothes are soft and soap free when the wash cycle is done. Even dried on the clothesline, the softness stays-the ultimate sign of clean clothes without any soap residue.
I know this is an 8 year old thread - but if you're still out there Frugal Sunnie, do you run a second wash cycle with no soap after every load or did you only do that the first time around? I just moved into a house with a front load washing machine after having top loads my whole life, and my clothes are coming out stiff as a board - stiff enough to stand on their own as you say!
Same here. I've just got a new LG Vivace front loader which cost me a fortune and is ruining my clothes.What a waste of money!
Make sure you're using soap designed for front loaders. Since they need much less soap and use much less water, using regular soap would leave clothes feeling stiff or hard. I've been using mine for almost 3 years and my clothes not only come out soft, but new clothes don't seem to look as worn as quick.
Try adding some vinegar to the rinse water.
three years trying to learn how to get undamaged laundry out of this front loader. Destroyed closet full of husbands dress shirts. Yes, white vinegar seems to help the bath towels only so don't go there. HE detergent obvious, hypo allergenic trying. Almost no detergent, small loads , extra water and extra rinse cycle an obvious must ALONG with final rinse only cycle. I've gotten it down to his WASHABLE SILK dress shirts and a handful of Cotton. Comes out feeling like burlap and shrunk from XLarge down to nothing! And again, have been buying these cigar shirts for years and washing (OLD, OLD top loader) for years with no problems. Going thru process of elimination from three days soaking and refreshing water, six water only full cycles, laundry mat water only wash (to see if it's our water with water softener) to dropping off at cleaners for them to analyze and wash with hopes of softening. Next stop beating machine with sledge hammer and kicking to curb! *****HELP!!!!!
Front loaders spin (usually at a higher RPM) so unless you're using a dryer to fluff out your towels or any clothing after they spin in a front loader, they're going to have stiffness about them.
A top loader would work better if you're not using a dryer, or...if your front loader has a slower spin cycle, that might help, but it seems no matter what softener you use, the fast RPM (spin) with the front loading washer is going to flatten out the fibers in any fabrics, making them feel harder because the fibers are all packed together after the high RPM spin.
Use half a cup of baking soda straight onto the clothes and half a cup of apple cider vinegar in the rinse cycle compartment.
Never use fabric softener it only stays on the fabric,and is very harmful to the water pump.
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