Seeing Spots?

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. This will help clean out all that extra soap in the washing machine so that you don’t get those yucky looking grease spots anymore. Good luck!