How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine

[Judowolf PE]

We have a front load he washer upstairs and I don't really notice a difference...we have our older top loader in the mud room right off the garage, so maybe when we have muddy clothes from the farm they go mostly in there and we wash our 2yr old toddler clothes in the top loader too, but I think the front loader works fine...it uses a stanard 1hr 5 min load and you can do longer/shorter settings if you want

 

[Capt Worley PE]

For the record, our HE washer is a top loader.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

We've had a couple issues with our washing machine. Sometimes if the load is too big/heavy (like trying to wash the comforter for the bed), it will throw the counterweights off and cause it to shut off instead of going through the spin cycle. The issue with that is the machine will then "unlock" the front door before all of the water is drained and it will leak all over the place. The other issue is that we tried some of those dissolvable soap "packets" that you put in with the clothes instead of the liquid or powder you put in the separate tray, and if the load is too big / heavy the packets won't completely dissolve and consequently end up with a wad of soap stuck to the clothes.

So it all boils down to making sure we don't overload the machine and it runs fine.

Edit: forgot to mention that for some reason the "hot" water cycle doesn't work anymore. If I run a load with hot instead of warm/cold, it won't add any water and just tumble the clothes with the dry soap. This went bad a couple years ago, I'm assuming due to the water pressure issues we had at our last house. For some reason the hot water cycle would end up causing a "water hammer" effect on the house, which I believe ultimately messed up the valves. Either way, we just wash everything with tap or cold and the clothes seem to come out fine.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

How about electric dryers? I'll have to look into that.

We got an he washer a few years back. Did it more for the larger capacity than the energy/water savings.

Moisture sensors did a lot to improve the efficiency of electric dryers. Now, as long as you are using an automatic cycle, the dryer doesn't run as long as it used to.

Mines an electric one and has this feature. If anything, it underdries and forces you to run it through a 2nd cycle. It usually isn't an issue since most of mine and the Mrs' clothes are hung up in the closet, but it can be annoying when trying to wash the kids clothes, towels, or a blanket.

Yeah, I have this problem too...especially when I'm drying khakis and jeans at the same time. Khakis are done, but jeans are still wet. I usually just use time dry for those, and set it for 45 minutes or so.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

^^^ Yep.