Still more water than necessary. Your loads aren't as large as you think. Rapid, frantic rollover is overrated, with items spending mere seconds at a time at the oscillating lower fins, compared to a leisurely roll having the items spend a minute or even a couple down there before moving on up.
The little load pictured above, the lowest level or a little more, maybe 9:00 to 9:30 position, is sufficient.
Sun, Xtra, and other low-cost liquid detergents have a larger proportion of water in the formula ... adds volume and reduces the concentration of cleaning ingredients (lower production cost). Low-cost powders have a lot of washing soda (sodium carbonate) which can contribute to harsh-feeling fabric. These products also may have only one type of enzyme or none at all.
Pinol Ensueno powder has no enzymes.
- Sodium Sulfate (filler), a sodium salt of sulfuric acid
- Sodium Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (cleaning agent), an anionic surfactant
- Sodium Silicate (builder), composed of quartz sand and soda ash, aka water glass (soluble in water)
- Sodium Carbonate (builder), an alkaline sodium and carbon salt, aka washing soda
- Active Poly Sodium Metasilicate (builder), a non-phosphorus detergent/water softener
- Fragrance
- Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate (optical brightener), a dye that absorbs UV light and reflects blue light
Does someone in the household have skin sensitivity such that you can't use enzyme detergents?
Witness the gray scum-line on your agitator ... that's scrud (combination of laundry soil and mineral content from the water) that isn't held suspended in the wash water to be flushed away, and thus sticks to the agitator (and the basket) at the water line. This occurs with low-quality detergents (not handling the water conditions and soils), and too-low of detergent dosage can be a factor.
What you see on the surface *may* (or may not) be much worse accumulation on the outside of the basket and inside of the outer tub, where it can't be seen without disassembly. Although that's not unusual for the typical washer. The outer tub is translucent so scrud/gray/black residue sticking to it can be seen if the outer cabinet is removed ... if you're up to doing that.
Consider Arm & Hammer, All, Gain, and Tide Simply Clean (yellow bottle).
Good Housekeeping 2019 Best Detergents
If you want some extra rinsing without involving the full 2nd/Extra Rinse option, run the Perm Press cycle. It adds a partial-drain and refill for the cool down before the first spin, which also functions as a sort-of rinse.
This is a perfectly fine leisurely rollover at low speed (not ex-low). Set of sheets plus a bedspread. Everything moves down, spends plenty time at the fins where the cleaning takes place. High speed of course would be more aggressive and/or the wash time could be longer at 14 or 16 mins instead of 12 mins, but not really necessary for the load.
