Washing habits for compact/Euro style front loaders?

[jaybird14]

Hey all,
I’m about a week I’ll be moving to a new apartment and for the first time I’ll have in-unit laundry! Very excited about that. The only thing I’m wondering about is if I have to change any of my habits (be it how often I wash, the size of loads, detergent dosing, detergent type, etc) with the laundry set they have in my new apartment. It’s one of those GE compact front-loaders (paired with a condenser dryer, which I already know means I have to temper expectations). I do believe it has a heater as it has “steam” and has an NSF sanitize cycle.

Any recommendations for things I need to change, if anything, to my routine? This is my first time with a compact washer as I’ve only had experience with conventional deep-fill TLs, Alliance/Speed Queen/Huebsch FLs common in multi family residential, and of course my parent’s LG FL with TurboWash.

 

[askolover]

I've owned euro washers for 26 years. Of course they are a little smaller but I haven't had any issues washing king sized sheets and blankets...depending on how fluffy the blankets are. I switched to tide pods a few years ago for dosing purposes because hubby was always overdosing liquid detergent. We use powder for our whites. But before I got a water softener I didn't have any suds problems.

 

[chachp]

Two of us...

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I gave up my huge front loading washer/dryer because I wanted a set I could put under counter.  Never looked back.  Our loads were never that huge to begin with.  I keep things sorted in the laundry room and I do a load when a bin is full.  For two of us I average about 5 loads a week.  I do a load each workday morning.</span>

 

[mieleforever]

We have a front loader with a capacity of about 7.8 kg - and we are a family of 5 plus a Yorkshire. Our machine basically runs about everyday - one or two loads per day.

It does take quite some time to wash - but it really has stellar results. You will adapt rather quick I suppose and won't look back once you get used to the longer wash times and the smaller capacity. Plus there is the water savings that you also have to take into account.

If your laundry basket is full - put a load in when you come home from work - and once it is finished - put it in the dryer and go to bed. Washing done in the morning.

 

[jerrod_six]

Some people moving from top loaders to front loaders have had problems with too many suds due to leftover detergent residue in clothes, so I would start out using very little detergent until you see how many suds are created in your loads. I ignore package instructions and instead base my detergent dose on how dirty the items are, how large the load is, and what is being washed. For example, towels hold on to suds and can become hard to rinse, so I use less detergent when washing them.

 

[chachp]

Jerrod

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Reply #4 - It's funny you brought that up.  I bought my first front loader around 1999ish.  It was an Asko, and I remember the sales man saying to me "you don't want to use detergent in the first few loads you do because you want to get rid of the residual detergent left over from your top loader."  I remember the first few loads I did had lots of suds in the window which surprised me.  I was always conservative in the amount of detergent I used in my TL Maytag.</span>

 

[jaybird14]

Thanks for the tips and tricks folks! Most of my washing has been done via my current building’s Speed Queen front loaders or my parent’s LG front loader so I don’t think buildup will be an issue but I’ll keep a close eye out. Any changes to detergents I should consider? My usual is the Dirty Labs liquid + the Dirty Labs booster with DNase, but is it worth springing for something like Persil Megaperls or Miele UltraWhite/UltraColor with the more concentrated loads and longer wash times?

 

[jerrod_six]

I bought Persil Megaperls for color and Persil Universal(For whites) from Amazon and they clean and rinse very well and will last a long time. Your current detergent contains enzymes and the booster contains oxygen bleach so you could try those in your new machine and see how they perform. I would try the Persil as It has a better enzyme mix than the USA Miele powders.