Downy woes

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paulg

paulg

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My sweet home... Chicago
My Mother-In-Law recently purchased a new GE washer. She complains that Downy doesn’t dissolve leaving spots on clothes.
I used Downy in my 15 year old Speed Queen and have no problems. Her older Maytag is still working (Atlantis?) and she didn’t report Downy issues. The new GE pair was purchased and installed upstairs due to mobility issues. The older Maytag pair still resides downstairs.
I’ve been in the house a lot recently. Checked the GE water temp. I can get a hot wash.
Ideas? I’ve not done my detective work recently. Could she be using this new washer incorrectly?
ALSO, some additional clues.
She lives on a farm. Well water and a water softener. Well has been recently serviced, water softener brand new. The water heater is brand new too. Shortly after installation had to have the water heater serviced to remove the rod (gosh I forget what that rod is made of) that made her water smell bad.
All ideas welcome.
I’ll be out at the house again today. Maybe I’ll take a load of my clothes and test it myself.
 
well for one thing, softeners are getting really thick lately....

what I always did for Mom was take an equal size empty bottle, and do a 50/50 mix with water, this thinned it out enough for HE machines especially, and as Mom was used to using a full cap for decades lowered the quantity...

dispensers didn't get plugged or gummed up either....

I did the same 50/50 for her liquid detergents.....it was always hard for her to see those numbered dosages inside the cap....watered down, a full cap was just the right measurement...
 
Could it be that she's not using a fabric softener setting?
Many modern washers default to spray rinses, especially on normal/regular cycles, unless a deep rinse/fabric softener option is selected.
 
 
Which GE model?

Softener must be diluted in the dispenser with water.  Is she not doing that?  Maybe she's using too much?  A full cap is an overdose.

Snuggle softener in my experience is less goopy than Downy.
 
Paul, and anyone else wondering.

I bought a GE top loader and matching dryer about 3 years ago. When we moved to Florida, I left them with the house. I was planning to bring them with me, but fell in love with the front loader in our new house so decided to leave the GE set in Connecticut. It was a very flexible washer with many options and choices. I really liked that set, except for one thing, the fabric softener issue. I always used Second rinse on it because it gave you a very long spray rinse plus a deep rinse. Using the deep rinse setting which was labeled for use with fabric softener gave you a deep rinse but left out the spray rinse. On either setting, after the wash water had drained, it would start a slow spin. After spinning for a short time, it would slowly start to ramp up, releasing the fabric softener into the outside of the dispenser. After that (which defies logic) the motor would stop and the tub would coast to a very slow spin. Once it slows to a low enough RPM, the motor kicks back on and it immediately starts the spray rinse at a low RPM. After the spray rinse it slowly ramps up to spin the water out, then coasts to a stop for the final rinse. The only problem during this whole sequence is that while it's coasting to a stop, the fabric softener is slowly released from the auger barrel ONTO your clothes. This happens before the spray rinse because the tub never slows enough to release all the softener so when it finally slows for the deep rinse, it releases what was left. When you use the dedicated softener setting it's even worse because it does the same sequence, only now you don't have a spray rinse to dilute the softener that was just sprayed all over your clothes. I always diluted the softener in the dispenser ( the very few times I used it). I wound up getting softener spots all over my dark shirts and realized what was causing it. The final time I used the dispenser was on a load of dark blue sheets. When I took them out of the dryer and put them on the bed they looked like someone had sprayed oil all over them. I had to re-wash them in hot water to get the softener stains out. That was the last time I EVER used the fabric softener dispenser. For the next three years I added the fabric softener manually to every final rinse. It was a pain in the ass but I got used to it. I always did laundry when I knew I was going to be home so it became routine to just add it to the final rinse. The softener I used was Downy. I tried Snuggle to see if it made a difference but it still stained. Very long story short, if your mother in law has the same machine, it is a function of the machine and not the fabric softener.

Best Regards,
Geoff
 
 
F&P has a glitch on some agitator models produced after the AquaSmart was introduced.  The cycle programming for those agitator models is apparently based on AquaSmart, which brings the interim spin to a complete stop before each spray rinse.  AquaSmart has a timed/flush softener dispenser so no problem there.  Agitator models have an agitator/centrifugal softener dispenser so early release happens on them.  JoeyPete has videos on YouTube that show the problem.  Earlier agitator models don't exhibit the glitch.
 
Wow

I'm surprised that another machine has this glitch as well, especially a higher end brand. I know I'm in the minority, especially coming from a KitchenAid Superba, but, even though the GE had the fabric softener issue it was one of the best machines I've ever owned. I've owned a LOT of machines in my life including very vintage, but my new GE, used properly was near tops for me. In some aspects, I miss it. I've now been turned on to front loaders completely which I never thought would happen, ever.
 

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