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.