How to wash duvets and pillows in a frontloader?

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

lavamat78800

Well-known member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
397
Hey guys,
just wanted to know how you wash duvets and pillows.

Do you use any especial detergent?
A special cycle?
What temperature?
Which spin-speed?
Do you put them in a dryer?
What capacity does the tub of the washer and dryer have?

Most time I´m washing pillows and duvets my machine is oversudsing..:(
 
I take mine

to a coin-op laundry, use a measured dose of a liquid with enzymes, and then rinse twice (some machines it's an option for a dollar extra).

Since I only have fibrefill duvet and pillows (allergy), I dry in a LOW dryer.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
If they are down feathers, put a pair of tennies in the washer to help beat out the air, and use them also in the dryer to break up the feather clumps. Tennis shoes work better than tennis balls because the odd shape.

If they are poly-fill, just a regular wash should work fine.

These items are usually not so dirty that they need a full dose of detergent. Go easy on dosing and use a liquid softener in the final rinse.

Unless the duvet is quite thin, I recommend using the larger washers found at a laundromat rather than washing them at home. The duvet should be relatively clean if you are using a duvet cover.

Care must be taken when washing pillows at the laundromat. You need to have the right number of pillows in the right size machine to get good results. I have had many customers put 2 pillows into a 50# capacity washer only to have the pillows rip open and loose their stuffing. If there is too much room in the frontloader, the weight of the pillow and the action of the machine can cause the heavy, wet stuffing to bust out of the shell.
 
Further questions...

After dismal results in my '63 Westy (and the tendency to use my 1-18 to do it since), how do you launder plain-old poly-fill items without getting megaclumps? Pillows are especially bad (and they're probably not really meant to be laundered), but even duvets are sometimes problematic.

Are the tennies--and hence, the lack of internal airspace for clumping to happen--the key here too?
 
Have always used cottons 60, biological detergent such as Ariel or Persil and maximum spin speed - gets the job done easily!

For my thick duvets they go to the launderette, as they don't fit in a machine any smaller than 35lbs!

Jon
 
Use a cycle with plenty of interim spins, or add them yourself ... They tend fail to rinse properly otherwise.
 
I just did a full/queen size down comforter in my Duet the other day with no trouble. I have to washer-sit in the beginning, I run the machine through a rinse & spin cycle, punch and squeeze all the trapped air out - then reset for a normal wash, warm water & extra rinse. I usually use Woolite for washing these down items - they seem to rinse easier than with heavily scented, gooey detergents.

Old, clean tennis shoes (sneakers) tied inside of a pillow case work very well as would a few tennis balls or those bizarre dryer softener balls. They smash into the clumps of wet down to help break them up and dry faster and lighter.

Drying can be a bit of a chore, in a standard home dryer you have to pull it out and turn it every half-hour or so as it will ball up and not billow and fluff as it should. After it's been in the machine (and out and in and out and in...) for around 2 hours, I pull it out and throw it over the line in the basement to completely dry overnight. I've had my comforter for over 10 years now and I've never had trouble washing it this way.

Pillows I do very similarly but they need much longer to dry.
 
Washing the big stuff

For what it's worth, for large items with any type of stuffing/batting, I've always used a large laundry bag. I have a front loader, and it helps to confine the item so that the exaggerated movement (especially at the corners) is controlled.

For pillows, I also use a large laundry bag, but I put them in a large load, so the movement of the pillows are also controlled. Doing this has always given me good results. I typically make my quilts, pillows and alike; they never rip apart.
 
What great advice from the famous home economist, Mary Margaret McNunn! ha! Seriously, you should write a book on how to clean a house and do laundry. You're my hero! ;-)
 
The Neptune 7500 seems to handle poly pillows and comforters just fine. I use an extra long cycle - usually the stain cycle, which lengthens the wash cycle with extra pauses between tumbles - to help make sure everything gets wetted down evenly. Usually use a liquid detergent because they seem to rinse better and in general the items aren't that soiled to begin with.
 
Bakem in the car

When i hit the coin op for the comforter and the pillows, i dry the comforter all the way, and let the pillows tumble away with the comforter. The pillows are always a bit damp. Sometimes in the hot summer i have left a couple of the not so dry pillows in the backseat of the car, a day in the sun, while one is at work, they are bone dry, the bonus is the car smells great too.
 
Writing a book...

One of my clients said the same thing to me this morning after I gave him a short class on washing windows! There are a thousand books on the shelves on housekeeping, but sadly, few seem to read them.

I guess when you're selling books, it doesn't matter if anyone reads them. One of my favorites I read years ago was "Speed Cleaning" by Jeff Campbell. I ignored most of the product advice and found my own cleaning products that work for me, but the organizational and most of the methods outlined in the book are terrific.
 
"Speed Cleaning"

"...but the organizational and most of the methods outlined in the book are terrific..."

I read that book years ago after I'd moved into a HUGE place and couldn't keep it up using my usual neurotic cleaning methods, and I still use some of what I learned until this day.

I had no intention of wearing an apron or tying up my dirty cleaning cloths into "ragamuffins" for heightened efficiency (please), but going around a room once, left to right, his feather duster method for miniblinds (pull blind out and swipe from the back), the powdered cleanser for inside tubs, basins, toilet bowls, etc., really proved to be good common-sense tips.

On the other hand, he advocates using either ammonia and water or a "Brite"/"Mop and Glo"-type product for cleaning the kitchen floors, and that really doesn't work for me....I also think using the kitchen sink as your mopping pail is kinda gross, but that's just me....

The author is very particular about doing things his way at all times, but I just cherry-picked what I liked, and his methods really worked well for me that way!

BTW....I usually wash pillows, bedcovers, etc. with Persil if I have it, Tide if I don't (and I throw a shot of bleach in for good measure....)...for the comforters, bed skirts, shams, balloon valances, etc. I usually use Cheer liquid to preserve the dyes. I'd been taught by an acquaintance who worked at a laundromat to use 1 part liquid All Stainlifters formula, and 1
part Woolite Gentle Cycle powder for those items, but the Woolite powder is no longer available here, so Cheer has to do (and, in fairness, it does well!)

You have to sort of pull at the pillow ticking at intervals when you dry (like making dumplings!), along with shaking the daylights out of them from one seam to another, without bursting them, in order to shift the stuffing back into shape.

Good Luck!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top