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timborow

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Joined
Oct 28, 2005
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274
Location
Georgia
I have a GE FL set that I bought in July. What is the best way to load a FL to keep it from getting off balance? I've tried putting big things in first and small things in first, but there are still times that it gets of balance. Is this just normal for a FL and something I'll just have to get used to? I like the machines, but I am sort of missing the TL set especially with the long wash times of the FL.

BTW we are using Cheer HE and love it. It smells great, and cleans really well.
 
TBH.... Ive seen and heard recomendations on ways to load front loaders, but as they tumble action mixes the load around in the drum I've never saw the point in loading things in a certain order!
In a top loader I think loading in a certain order is more important due to the fact that the load doesnt seem to be mixed around as much as in a front loader! They just sit in the water and stir around a bit!

I've been a front load user all my life and have never loaded in any certain order. I tend to wash things seperatley though.

Sheets - heavy flannel sheets seperate from lighter cotton or cotton blend sheets, as this is likely to cause an imbalance.

Towels - never really have a problem with towel loads.

Jeans - Ive had problems in my new front loader with washing loads of just jeans. My old front loader was more sturdy and the balance sensor was more forgiving, however my new front-loader is quite the opposite. I now tend to wash jeans mixed into the darks loads for better distribution in the drum during spinning.

I cant imagine you having too many problems as your machine should have an imbalace sensor to stop things getting too dramatic!

Hope this helps.
Thanks
Many happy years washing :-D
 
I really never paid attention to the loading of a washing machine, most of the time I simply sort the clothes, get the ball of dirty stuff and press it inside the drum all at once... done that I check for leftover clothes in the path from my room that I might have dropped and then simply start the machine.
 
I have yet to see a front-loader go off balnce when loaded medium to full. One or two items especially of different/weight/bulk/size can be a problem however.

Were all of the shipping straps and bolts fully/properly removed?

I'd alternate big/small & light/heavy, BTW.
 
I'll try that Toggle. It uses very little water. I think it'd work better using a little more, but I'll have to deal with that I guess. Maybe that's why it goes off balance. Yes, I think all of the shipping straps were removed. The store installed it. How could I tell if they weren't?
Tim
 
You can check if the shipping bolts/straps were removed looking at the back of the machine and comparing with the pictures in the instruction book, with those is fairly easy to check. Hope this helps!
 
It's quite simple. If your machine goes drastically out of balance you need a new one!

To load : stuff machine full of laundry and close door.
 
~How could I tell if they weren't?

My FridGeMore had long bolts that penetrate the back and go through the machine.
The front panel (bottom) comes off and a piece of styrofoam comes out; it holds the bottom of the drum in place.
All needed to be removed before use. Perhaps someone can tell us exactly what packing/shippng provisons apply to your particular machine.
 
I have the same problem with my Frigidaire FL. The instruction manual says to load larger items first, although I can’t imagine how the machine would know the difference once they are all tossed around. I have found that having items of equal weight sometimes makes the balancing better. For instance, one pair of jeans combined with lighter items won’t work, but a couple pairs of jeans combined with the same lighter items might work better. That said, however, there is no rhyme or reason to what this machine decides to do. I have leveled it six ways to Sunday, and still, sometimes it balances fine, and sometimes it doesn’t and won’t spin, no matter what I put in it or how much. I hate it! I’m seriously thinking of chucking it and getting a conventional TL.
 
I do like my FL. However, the cycles are way too long,and as I said it doesn't use enough water. Can valves be adjusted on GEs to make it use more water, or would that void a warranty?
Tim
 
Hi Tim~

why on earth would you want to use more water? Isn't Georgia experiencing a severe water crisis.?
I have an LG Tromm Front load washer and find the low water levels work just fine as long as you don't overstuff the washer. As for Cheer HE liquid, it is ok..but, a rip off like most HE detergents. Just to let you know, you don't necessarily have to use HE detergent. There are a few non HE detergents on the market that work great in an HE front load machine..ex: Fab Powder,Fresh Start, Oxydol liquid and believe it or not, Tide with Bleach powder! Regular Tide and Tide HE powder suds up alot more than you would expect so I would avoid them.
Make sure if you do use the non HE detergents to use about 1/8- 1/4 a cup..that should be more than plenty to get your whole wash load clean and bright!

Good Luck!
 
Tide with bleach

We brought a package of it from the States last year but we cannot use it in our FL at all; it foams like hell! The machine will overgo after a while.
Also we can't use it anyway as we are allergic to the perfume as I had said already a while ago here in the forum and do not like the strong smell either. Each time the whole attic "stinks" of somewhat named "mountain-spring" when hanging the clothes up there for drying! LOL
In the end we found it suitable for doing the washing of our doggy's blankets and cushions and are now going to use it up for that purpose in our top-loaders (american SpeedQueen and english Hotpoint Electronic DeLuxe 1050)!

Ralf
 
Alternate!

The right manner of loading a FL (as it has often been recommended on FL owner's manual here) is to ALTERNATE big and small pieces...

It's true that tubmling the machine could reach a point of balance during the wash that can be the same until the spin...but it wouldn't be always so...

Apart from that (and this is what I said on my tesi and what I've said to anyone has asked me whether a FL were better than a EuroTL) if you tumble clothes in a drum with 1 bottom only, the other side represented by the windowed lid cause the twirling of the whole load and I guarantee you tha the biggest items will collect all the others like a "fagotto"...while in a EuroTL this doesn't happen because that drum has the 2 bottom so is not like doing a "polpetta"...

I tried them both... in the FL the bedsheets collect all the underwears you put in... in the TLHA it doesn't!

Well check out at end whether if you got some problem with the suspensions...
 
Faggoto - Faggot (UK) - Meatball (English American) Faggots are what us brits call meatballs made of various offal, hearts liver kidney minced up with herbs spices etc. To add more confusion I am near Stoke on Trent (home of various pottery makers such as Churchill, Etc) where Faggots are also known as Savoury Ducks pronounced Savry Ducks. Despite sounding awful they do taste very nice! But then im very fond of Liver and Kidney anyway in most ways.
 
"In a top loader I think loading in a certain order is more important due to the fact that the load doesnt seem to be mixed around as much as in a front loader! They just sit in the water and stir around a bit!"

Not at all washboy. There is no need to load a TL in any certain order. You just throw in your clothes, add detergent and Bob's your uncle. Things get mixed around and turned inside out good and plenty, unless it's an 'overload' of course.

Greetings from Oz

Rapunzel
 
Wow!

i am with MRX, if the machine is off balence, you need a new one. GE makes lemons as well as washers sometimes, not on purpose. That was the case with my old Neptune, it was always dancing into the wall, my poor house! It finally went the way of bye bye, and i bought a new washer and dryer that I do not have to be particuar about loading, just not to use too much soap. I have briliant results. The only place that I do not miss water is on my bill.I always recamend a little oxyclean with a load if your soap does not already have that in it. i just get the big one from Costco. As far as the long wash times, it is not a big deal, i always tell myself that perfection takes time, plus the three rinses maker sure that all of the soap is out.
 
There are smaller tub front loaders and larger tub front loaders. The larger tub machines can have more difficulty distributing a load evenly around the drum. The smaller tubs have less peripheral area for the load. There are certain things that are more likely to present balance challenges in either machine. Fortunately, if the tub can reach even minimal spin speeds a few times, the water that is extracted lightens the load and makes it tumble more freely allowing the load to fall out and distribute evenly.

Toggle gave good advice. In the larger tub front loading machines, larger loads of similar weight fabrics are more likely to distribute evenly. Towels and sheets will be trouble in most anything. I discovered that many top loaders will "sort" items of different weight simply because of the resistance to the water currents between heavier and lighter weight items. Sheets would often wind up on one side of the tub and towels on the other.

It is a common misconception among long time users of tumble action washers that top loading agitator washers just barely stir the load. What they do not realize is that the agitator fins produce powerful currents that move the water through the fabrics as well as move the fabrics through the water. If anyone wants a demonstration of this, watch a top load agitator washer fill for rinse and start agitating. Within the first few strokes, the clear water becomes sudsy or cloudy as the rinse water in flushed through the fabrics.
 
loading a front loader?

You guys bring back some memories! My grandmother and mother both had Frigidaire top load washers for many years. My grandparents had a 1951 set that lasted up until the 80's and my mother had her Frigidaire set up until just a few years ago. I remember that both of them were VERY particular how those Frigidairs were loaded. They never had any problems with tangled clothes but I had heard stories of owners hating the Frigidairs because they tangled clothes. I was told by the Maytag installer to alternate heavy and lighter articles in my Neptune but in 6 months I have never had any unbalanced loads. It seems to redistrubte the load if it seems of balance at the start of the spin.
 
It might help to load the machine fully. The manual of some older AEG frontloaders instructed to not let the machine perform a spin cycle when it was loaded only partly. At that time they didn't have a off balance sensor and went straight into spin. If they were only partly loaded they would go off balance very easily.

These machines are designed to use low water levels. Multiple rinsing should rinse out the detergent effectively. It's important not to use a low sudsing detergent (HE or not) and not use too much of it. Some detergents rinse out better than others.
 
My 1997 FriGEMore is not particular about loading as long as it has at least a half-load in it, so Toggle's advice is good IMO.

Tom's comments on the behavior of sheets in top-loading machines is interesting.
My 1964 Highlander washes a set of queen-sized sheets and four pillow-slips without any problem at all.
However, my newer and larger-tub Maytag will bunch-up the same sheet set load every time! Go figya.

I just washed a similar set in my solid-tub SQ this morning without incident.

I didn't even think about putting them in my '53 Unimatic.
 
Loading

A useful way of determining correct drum load is to look at how many baffles/sections the drum has , most are divided by three, some have four, you can tell me how many the Staber has??

So for a three sectioned drum,determine the load by how it would best spin, 3 large bath towels suplimented with smaller item will probably ensure even distribution around the drum when spinning....

As a simple example, One large towel/bath robe and a load of underwear will struggle to balance...
2 large towels/bathrobes should be fine unless its a large duet then 3 would be better
or one large bathrobe and a matching number / weight of towels/smaller items...

Its mainly cotton loads which would cause more OOB, in which case its why a similar load of equal weighted fabrics is best suited.....

Most machines go OOB when only one or two sections of drum are evenly loaded whilst spinning..gravitational pull determines the rest...of course it does help to have good suspension legs and a non oversensitive OOB sensor!!!

When you think of it imagine what a 9kg load of wet towels weighs???now imagine how much torque your machine/motor/suspension has to deal with NOT to go OOB....
 
Loading of a FL

What causes the load to become tangled? Yesterday in our 4.0 Whirlpool Duet HT WFW9200S I was washing:
1-pair of jeans, 4-pairs of adult PJ's (tops and bottoms), 4-sweatshirts, 1-bulky sweater, tee shirts and socks. The load got into a tangled up ball. The washer did spin after the initial wash. At the end of the 1st rinse it did not spin at all since it could not balance. It finally went into the 2nd rinse without a spin. After the 2nd rinse it finally shut itself off after about 20 minutes of rebalancing. I untangled the load, set it for drain/spin and it got balanced enough to spin.

Does anyone else have problems with the load turning into a tangled mess? If so any solutions?
 
Nope, it never happened to me, maybe because I only run the machine when is filled to capacity. Actually I can get my bedding put of the machine without taking other stuff out, not even socks ever get tangeled together with bigger stuff.
 
My Duet HT can also tangle things but I haven't yet figured out what combo of laundry items causes this to occur. If I'm washing king sized sheets and pillow cases, they almost always come out with some twists and tangles but it wasn't a whole lot better with my old '97 Amana shred-o-matic.

I still can't figure out the self re-balancing thing the machine does. I can be there watching and the drum is turning at a good clip before spin, it's hardly wobbling, the machine increases speed, everything is smooth as silk, and yet it ends up slowing down and going into re-balancing. It really frustrates me that the machine can't seem to tell a balanced load from an unbalanced one and opts itself out of opportunities for a smooth high-speed spin.

These machines were advertised as being able to wash 16 pairs of jeans in a single load. I'd like to know what size jeans they are talking about. I can't imagine even getting 16 pairs of my Levi's to fit in there. The literature that came with the machine says it will hold 23 bath towels. What size? Mine are fairly large and I feel I'm stressing the machine with only 10 of them in there. Can anyone elaborate on these claims Whirlpool is making regarding capacity of the full sized Duets?
 
I totally agree

I wear a 36/30 jean which by no means is extremely big. But the load I described earlier filled up the drum. Not packed but full! I can't imagine stuffing 16 of them in my Duet HT. And the 20 something towels! Give me a break! They must be talking about hand towels!

As far as the spin goes the final spin does intermit regardless. The first of the two final spins (from what I have read) pulls out a lot of the final rinse water then slows down to allow the pump to drain off the excess water. Then does the balancing act again then ramps back up to full spin speed.

I went to the Whirlpool web site this morning. They suggest as everyone else does wash different tyes of clothing together. We've had ours since 11-12-07. I have tried every combination in the world sometimes with luck, sometimes not.

Saturday I washed my winter coat, a lighter weight winter jacket, 2 pairs of jeans and a sweat shirt. I waited for it to take off. But it never did. The spin on this load was the smoothest since we bought it.

We really like the machine! But it has really taken us a while to get use to it!
 
These modern FL's do take some getting used to. I didn't like the idea of placing detergent into a compartment in a drawer but now I don't give it a 2nd thought. FL's take longer to do a load but I just walk away and let it do its thing. If I'm in a hurry I can use the "Quick Wash" cycle.

I also wipe the boot after each load and wipe off the inner glass, and I always give the tub a spin around to make sure there are no stray socks stuck to the side. And of course I leave the washer door open a bit when not in operation. These are refined machines and require a bit more in the way of routine maintenance or practices but I liken them to a nice car that you tend to baby. They are prima donnas for sure compared to your average TL, but IMHO they are worth the trouble. Our Duet removed stains on clothing that had been washed and dried in our Amana TL pair many times without success. That was all the results I needed to validate my switch from TL to FL.
 
I completely agree!

You certainly cannot beat it for cleaning! We leave the door ajar, check the boot regularly...just like you said liken to taking of a nice car.

I need to get use to starting it...closing the laundry room door and walking away until I hear the beep...beep...beep telling me it's done! Maybe peek in from time to time.
 
I never thought about it

I've had a front loader (Bosch) for about five years. I use the Persil soaps and love them. The only time I've had foam is when the husband used a large scoop of soap instead of a small one but the washer seemed to take care of that for me. It added some or many rinses (I didn't pay that much attention I just remember seeing Added Extra Rinse - Foam in the display) until there was no more foam.

I just stick stuff in there and never thought about alternating large and small items. I don't know exactly how it senses or not but at times I hear it start to rev up and then slow down. It seems to do this a few times but always seems to be able to balance the load and get to a full spin that sounds like a jet engine in the laundry room.

I have never had a load that did not spin because it was off balance. I don't recall any terribly tangled messes either. Maybe the washer wants someone who really doesn't give a crap about how it gets loaded. It's getting back at me every load because of my indifference to its needs. LOL.

Mine does have the smaller drum so based on some of these other posts that may be the reason why I haven't seen many of these problems.
 

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