He detergent necessary?

[katy]

I just got a Whirlpool Cabrio top-loading washer. The instructions are adamant about using He detergent. One of my sisters says she just uses a lot less regular detergent. Is this a detergent scam on the part of manufacturers, or what?

 

[Chronister4673]

A short answer: I dunno.

The longer answer: It depends on many factors, including the mineral content of the water in your area, whether or not your water is soft or hard, the brand that you’re using, etc…

The reason that they recommend HE detergent is that there is so much less water used, so they want to be sure you don’t use too much regular soap and not have it all get rinsed out. I have HE machines and have used them with regular detergent from 2004 until 2006. In 2006 I started using homemade laundry soap.

Occasionally my clothes will start to develop a film and my whites get a little dingy. When that happens, I add some other things to the wash for a couple of weeks and I get back to normal. The things that I add are 1/2 cup of Borax per load and a medium load sized measure of color safe bleach. Before I tried the Borax, I used to use OxyClean. Borax just seems to be cheaper and does just as good a job. Don’t tell Billy Mays, or the folks over at the sham-wow thread. :blushing:

My machine has held up well. If you’re concerned, use the HE stuff. If you’re willing to take the risk with your machine and your clothes, go the cheaper route. I guess I wasn’t too worried because I bought the 5 year warrantee on the washer and dryer. I don’t normally do that, but this was back in 2004 when the HE machines first came out and the washer was almost $1000.

 

[jazzbaby1]

Speaking of the warranty…not using He detergent might void yours. Ask the company what they recommend (you can email their home economist).

 

[jwashu]

Speaking of the warranty…not using He detergent might void yours. Ask the company what they recommend (you can email their home economist).

This is important, if it says use HE I would use it. Around here it’s not any more expensive than the other.

 

[basilisk]

I see this as kind of like how my car says “unleaded fuel only.” It’s an instruction from the people who built it, and understand it better than I do.

If for no other reason than to avoid voiding the warranty, I would use the HE detergent. Those machines are freakin’ expensive, and if something goes wrong, I don’t want to have made the stupid choice to screw myself out of my warranty coverage, especially if I paid for an extra-long one!

 

[Christy_Beth]

What is HE detergent? I’ve never heard of it before, and I don’t remember any particular degergent when I bought my washer and dryer four years ago.

 

[noclevername]

It’s “High Efficiency” detergent. It’s for those front loading washers. You can use whatever you want in regular washers.

 

[Alexandra]

I haven’t found any perfume free, or at least scents that I can live with, HE detergents yet so I’ve been using smaller amounts of the detergent that I’ve always used.

 

[HouseArrest]

I use smaller amounts of regular detergent in mine. I also use Oxyclean from time to time. I haven’t noticed any problems.

 

[Seatuck]

According to the manufacturers as well as most testing sites you should use the He detergent.

**

**
If suds are the problem, can I just use a smaller amount of
regular laundry detergent?**

No. Using a lesser amount of regular detergent will not alleviate
the sudsing problem — and in addition, will compromise cleaning
performance.
That’s why HE detergents are recommended. They have a totally
different formulation in order to clean your laundry effectively in
low-water conditions.

Here’s a guide to He.

housewares.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=housewares&cdn=homegarden&tm=31&gps=403_442_1276_798&f=20&tt=12&bt=1&bts=0&zu=http%3A//cleaning101.com/laundry/HE.pdf**

 

[Seatuck]

What is HE detergent? I’ve never heard of it before, and I don’t remember any particular degergent when I bought my washer and dryer four years ago.

Next time you go to the grocery store look at the detergents. You should see bottles with He on it.

 

[Brenda_V]

I haven’t found any perfume free, or at least scents that I can live with, HE detergents yet so I’ve been using smaller amounts of the detergent that I’ve always used.

It took me a while to find an HE detergent that was both scent free and dye free - Tide has an HE version that fits the bill. It is the only one that doesn’t leave my clothes smelling odd and that I can use due to allergies! There are others but they just didn’t seem to get my clothes as clean.

BTW, I use either. My mom got stuck in CO for about a week and she can’t stand not to have clean clothes every day so she had to find buy some detergent and a laundromat. She brought me the rest of the ALL super concentrate that was “Free”. That one did get my clothes clean and did not leave an odd odor but it did make me itchier than normal! So once it was gone (I can’t waste anything if I can help it ) back to my Tide Free HE.

Oh, and I have had my front load Kenmore for over five years and only had to have it serviced once, the latch broke (teens are rough on things ). That was about two years ago!

Brenda V.

 

[mom2boyz]

Use HE. I buy All-Free. It is unscented and without dyes. Usually you end up using a lot less with HE. Most major brands make an HE version of the regular. You just have to look on the packaging.

 

[Gwyn]

I would stick with HE detergent, if the machine recommends it .

We got our front loader in June and I had to give 3 containers of good soap to my sister because the machine asked for HE detergent. I did some research and found that HE detergent makes less suds and since the machine uses less water it is necessary to use the HE detergent else clothes may come out with a residue…

 

[katy]

This all seems a bit complicated, but many things do to start out with. I have high hopes for this machine, when I get it figured out.

 

[BlestOne]

Ya know… back before HE detergent… when you went to the laudramat they would tell you to use 1/4 of the amount of detergent you would add to a top loader…

 

[manualman]

We’ve had our front loader Kenmore for 5 years. Never bought any special soap for it. Works fine using the “1load” line on the soap cup for Costco Kirkland detergent. Our front loader is about twice the clothes capacity of our former top loader, so that’s equivalent to a half scoop per load.

No issues unless the load itself is too small. Those are the only two times I ever got the ‘sud’ malfunction. Even then, no biggie: rinse and repeat.

Our water has about 8 grains of hardness and it all works out pretty well. Might be an issue if we had totally soft water.

 

[Seatuck]

So right after posting in this conversation I bought detergent and wasn’t paying attention and accidentally purchased He detergent. So now the question is Can you use He detergent in a regular top loader? LOL I did it works fine.

 

[BamaRider]

 

[Brenda_V]

Oh, I think it is time for D. to get Guy to start doing the laundry as well as unloading the dishwasher! I see there are other guys who help out with the wash.

Now, I know I should talk because I don’t think my dh knows how to use the front load Kenmore even though it is pretty intuitive and like I said we have had it for well over 5 years!

Brenda V.