I heard about using power detergent is better for vintage washers Is this true?

[maytagneptune]

I have heard Gsohoover say in his videos that he uses only powder on his 1-18s and other old machines. Is it better to use powder on my 1-18 and 1982 Kenmore? The jet flow lint filter on the 1-18 makes the perfect detergent dispenser for liquid. So do I need to use powder or can I just stick with my Purex Liquid. If anyone is curious I use Purex Mountain Breeze detergent and fabric softener. I'm having issues finding Free&Clear powder for a good price or Purex Mountain Breeze powder. The reason for that is because If I like the scent of the detergent I don't want to wash it out with the softener smell. With the Purex Mountain Breeze Detergent. the Purex Mountain breeze softener boosts the Detergent smell.

 

[rp2813]

The story goes that powder rinses out better than liquid.  Other than that, I see no reason to use only powder.  Wisk has likely been around longer than either of your washers.  If anything, the scent of Purex will be preserved more because it's a liquid.

 

[launderess]

Seem to recall a few conversations years ago now

That some modern liquid detergents affected seals or other rubber parts in vintage washing machines.

Other than that find vintage phosphate laden powder detergents far easier to rinse in my "vintage" Miele w1070 than many modern liquid or pod versions.

Today's liquid/gel/pod formats have chemical component lists that run well over a dozen substances. They tend to be highly surfactant laden which one supposes is necessary to give good performance in all this cold water washing.

 

[tomturbomatic]

You are right about early liquid laundry detergents possibly attacking rubber parts from vintage machines from the 50s and 60s which were not designed to be able to stand up to the high alcohol content in the early formulas as liquid detergents moved out of the Wisk and Liquid Cold Water All era into more brands and formulas. I do not think that a machine as new as a 1-18 would have components that would be attacked by today's liquid formulations, but yes there were cases where seals and such were damaged by liquid detergents in the 80s as the phase out of phosphates led to the innovations in liquid detergent technology.