We have just purchased a new front loading washer, and would like to
ask those of you who own front loaders what brand and type (powder or
liquid) of detergent do you use ?

FYI it is an LG WM2077CW 3.7 cuft 7 cycle without sanitary cycle. We
also use a water softener due to our water quality.

Thank you for any and a;; replies.

Jungle Jim writes:

We have just purchased a new front loading washer, and would like to
ask those of you who own front loaders what brand and type (powder or
liquid) of detergent do you use ?

FYI it is an LG WM2077CW 3.7 cuft 7 cycle without sanitary cycle. We
also use a water softener due to our water quality.

Thank you for any and a;; replies.

Liquid Tide HE here. Works groovy.


--
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On 02 Apr 2006 23:25:54 -0500, (Todd H.) wrote:

Jungle Jim writes:

We have just purchased a new front loading washer, and would like to
ask those of you who own front loaders what brand and type (powder or
liquid) of detergent do you use ?

FYI it is an LG WM2077CW 3.7 cuft 7 cycle without sanitary cycle. We
also use a water softener due to our water quality.

Thank you for any and a;; replies.

Liquid Tide HE here. Works groovy.

Any HE detergent will work fine, but that's not what I do. I just use
whatever powder detergent I find on sale (right now it's a big box of
Arm & Hammer) and put in only about a tablespoon or so of the stuff in
the front loader. Works groovy for me, and a lot less $$, to boot.

We have a Kenmore front-loader (made by Frigidaire). We keep a lookout
for Sears to have a sale on laundry detergents and have bought large
buckets of the store-brand HE powder (sometimes several at a time) when
it's been 50% off.

I've seen the HE detergents (Tide, IIRC) at Costco too, but we've never
tried any.

It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

Perce


On 04/02/06 10:07 pm Jungle Jim wrote:

We have just purchased a new front loading washer, and would like to
ask those of you who own front loaders what brand and type (powder or
liquid) of detergent do you use ?

FYI it is an LG WM2077CW 3.7 cuft 7 cycle without sanitary cycle. We
also use a water softener due to our water quality.

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:57:56 -0400, "Percival P. Cassidy"
wrote:

It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

Regarding "insufficient cleaning power to do the job," I have not
noticed same in my experience (assuming I'm the other contributor you
mention), and I *CAN* say that most, if not all, soap manufacturers
want you to use as much soap as they can con you into using. Think
about shampoo! Lather, rinse, repeat! Same concept, and in all
honesty, the instructions probably call for double the soap actually
needed. My strategy so far hasn't had any deleterious effects over
the 3 years we've had our Frigidaire Gallery front loader. But if
BJ's ever shows an HE detergent marked way down, I'll buy that. Why
not?

On 04/03/06 08:27 pm KLS wrote:

It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

Regarding "insufficient cleaning power to do the job," I have not
noticed same in my experience (assuming I'm the other contributor you
mention), and I *CAN* say that most, if not all, soap manufacturers
want you to use as much soap as they can con you into using. Think
about shampoo! Lather, rinse, repeat! Same concept, and in all
honesty, the instructions probably call for double the soap actually
needed. My strategy so far hasn't had any deleterious effects over
the 3 years we've had our Frigidaire Gallery front loader. But if
BJ's ever shows an HE detergent marked way down, I'll buy that. Why
not?

No doubt the amount of detergent, shampoo (mostly a fancier,
skin-friendlier detergent), etc., depends on how dirty or greasy the
fabric, surface or hair is that you're trying to clean. It also depends
on how hard your water is.

If you use as little regular detergent as you say, you probably aren't
generating enough suds to get into the bearings. And if it gets your
clothes as clean as you want, then I guess that's OK for you.

But to take your example of shampoo, I know that all the first spoonful
of shampoo does for me is generate a stream of dirty water; it takes the
second spoonful (after rinsing) to produce a lather.

Perce

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 23:22:53 -0400, "Percival P. Cassidy"
wrote:

If you use as little regular detergent as you say, you probably aren't
generating enough suds to get into the bearings. And if it gets your
clothes as clean as you want, then I guess that's OK for you.

Indeed.

But to take your example of shampoo, I know that all the first spoonful
of shampoo does for me is generate a stream of dirty water; it takes the
second spoonful (after rinsing) to produce a lather.

Have you considered that perhaps the lather is just a marketing
gimmick, again to get you to use and therefore buy more shampoo? Or
of course you could just be a lot dirtier or greasier than I am, but
in all honesty, the point is to get clean, I thought. I'm happy with
my squeaky clean hair and skin after my single spoonful of shampoo
(which lathers up fine) and don't feel the need to redo the process
and waste shampoo.

Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

I've had a front-loader for 8 years now and using only a couple of
tablespoons of detergent, regular or HE, works just fine for almost all
loads. Probably you could do many loads with no soap at all which is
how those "magic ball" scam things "worked". I am sure that for most
people 90% of what they wash really isn't very dirty.

Where HE really is important is in doing loads on very hot water.
Normal detergent, even a tiny amount, will completely fill the washer
with suds when I wash whites at 205 degrees and doesn't rinse out very
well.

I believe the last time I bought HE (at Sam's Club) the price was the
same as for normal so there's no reason to not get the HE any more.

"WDS" wrote:

Probably you could do many loads with no soap at all which is
how those "magic ball" scam things "worked".

That was from the detergent left in the clothes from previous washings...

"Jungle Jim" wrote in message
7...
We have just purchased a new front loading washer, and would like to
ask those of you who own front loaders what brand and type (powder or
liquid) of detergent do you use ?

Aldi's regular Tandil powder, at a little less than the usage level as for
top loaders, works great. My Whirlpool's manual ominously warns that
"regular detergent will lead to unsatisfactory performance over time" (some
payola between the mfr and the high priced HE soap companies?) but I have
not noticed any ill effects on either clothing or machine in two years. Oh,
and a cup or two of household ammonia in prewash or wash greatly helps to
get out gnarly grease stains with any kind of detergent.

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:57:56 -0400, "Percival P. Cassidy"
wrote:

It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

Regarding "insufficient cleaning power to do the job," I have not
noticed same in my experience (assuming I'm the other contributor you
mention), and I *CAN* say that most, if not all, soap manufacturers
want you to use as much soap as they can con you into using. Think
about shampoo! Lather, rinse, repeat! Same concept, and in all
honesty, the instructions probably call for double the soap actually
needed. My strategy so far hasn't had any deleterious effects over
the 3 years we've had our Frigidaire Gallery front loader. But if
BJ's ever shows an HE detergent marked way down, I'll buy that. Why
not?

Frigidaire Gallery's are sensitive to bearing trouble, as I hear from one
repair guy. There is a seal which is supposed to keep the wash water out of
the bearing, but it sometimes doesn't hold up very well.

On 04/10/06 08:36 pm HiTech RedNeck wrote:

It's important to use the HE stuff. The regular detergents foam/suds
excessively and can get into the bearings, resulting in an expensive
repair. I don't see that simply using a small quantity of regular
detergent will work (despite what another contributor to this thread
says): it's likely to have insufficient cleaning power to do the job.

Frigidaire Gallery's are sensitive to bearing trouble, as I hear from one
repair guy. There is a seal which is supposed to keep the wash water out of
the bearing, but it sometimes doesn't hold up very well.

So maybe it's primarily a Frigidaire problem. Our Kenmore is made by
Frigidaire, and my information about regular detergent causing bearing
failure came from the guy who came to replace our controller unit (free
under service contract; $200+ plus labor otherwise). He said that the
bearing is not available separately, so a repair involves replacement of
the whole drum/bearing assembly, which is a two-person job taking at
least a couple of hours. I.e., it costs more to repair than to buy a new
one.

Perce