I love my HE front loader washing machine, but last summer I was starting to see spots on a few of our dark shirts. I was very confused. I tried many tricks that others recommended online, but nothing was working. I had a repair man come out to our house to see if something was wrong with my washer. He did many test and determined that the only problem was I was using too much soap. WHAT?!? Too much soap??? I was doing just as the detergent cap recommended for HE washing machines or I was following the lines in the HE washing machine liquid detergent insert.
The spots that I can see are liquid detergent? The problem is that when you remove the clothes from the washer they are wet and you can’t see the spots. Then once I place the clothes into the dryer the detergent gets set into the fabric and creates a greasy looking spots.
For HE washing machines the detergent recommends filling to the number 1 for small loads and the number 2 for large loads. The repair man told me that HE washing machines are designed to only be used with 1-2 tablespoons of detergent per load. There isn’t enough water being used to allow for more soap than that. I used a measuring spoon to measure 1 and 2 tablespoons into my detergent cap and drew new lines with a permanent marker. (Notice the computer lines; they are where the detergent recommends.)
Something else the repair man told me was that the liquid washing machine insert recommends too much soap. The minimum line allows for a little more than 2 tablespoons and the max line is more than 4 tablespoons. That is double the recommended amount of soap! He told me NOT to follow those lines, but to only do 1-2 tablespoons of detergent.
Note: To help reduce/break down the build up of soap in your HE washing machine drum use a washing machine cleaner every 1-2 months. I have been doing the Tide brand, but he told me that the best one on the market right now is Affresh
