Wash Routine for TL/HE Washer??
bridetobe6808
member
We just bought the Maytag Centennial HE/TL washer from Lowes. Our old machine was a dinosaur but MAN did it get our cloth diapers clean clean clean!! It was the old school agitator with like 3 settings. We decided to buy an HE just because it seemed to be a great deal and has good reviews. Did my first load of CDs and they are NOT clean. 
I am so dissappointed. After watching some youtube videos on the HE/TL washer it just doesn't seem like enough water is going to be getting to my clothes. It also has a lock feature which I really don't like at all. I don't like that I can't see what's going on in there! Sure, I could spend an extra $300 to get a see through lid, but unfortunately, that's not in our budget.
Looking for washing routines that work for anyone who has TL/HE washer! Willing to give it another go before trading out.
Also, what kind of soap do you use? We have been use HE Liquid Tide and that worked perfectly with our old washer.
Compromise and Balance are key. JH.
Re: Wash Routine for TL/HE Washer??
I have the LG WT5001CW washer, which is a TL HE washer.
Step 1: Rinse and spin in cold water.
Step 2: When rinse and spin cycle is complete, I add Tide Ultra HE powder detergent and start a custom cycle. With our machine, that cycle is Whites plus SOAK plus Extra Rinse. The machine fills with "hot" water (really lukewarm at best, since it's a cold water machine), then soaks the load in the soapy water for 20 minutes. Then it agitates the diapers, followed by two cold water rinses.
Our diapers are clean; we primarily use flats, but even the microfiber inserts on our Flips, BG, and Blueberry diapers smell clean. I did notice some barnyard smell on a few diapers, but remedied that with 1/4c. of bleach in one load a few weeks ago. No problems since.
Married Bio * BFP Charts
I've only had about 6 months of experience but it's going well so far:
1. cold rinse/spin
2. add detergent (I use Rockin Green Classic Rock) and do a hot wash with two rinses.
3. air dry covers/pockets, tumble dry AIO's and inserts.
Every once in a while I do a double hot wash to get out extra stinkies.
Good luck!
I don't have a top loader HE (I got an LG front loader) but have you tried reading the manual? When looking for washers I read every manual to see which machines have different features. They vary greatly. There may be some features in there that will help you.
I tried looking up a manual based on the name of the machine you gave (without the exact model number it's hard to tell if it's the right manual). Do you have one with "deep water wash" that you can turn on with the heavy duty cycle? It says that will use more water. According to the manual I read it also looks like you can stop the machine and unlock it to add more clothes. Maybe you can open it and add more water? The instructions are under "unlocking the lid to add garments."
We have a top loader HE. I have determined that it takes more "rinses" to get things clean because each one uses less water.
1. warm quick wash with extra rinse (no detergent)
2. bulky wash (highest water level- your manual should tell you which has highest water level)- on hot, extra heavy wash, extra rinse and the fabric softener button pushed (for extra water) with 1/2 way to the 1 on the Tide original HE scoop
3. warm quick wash with extra rinse (no detergent)
After some experimenting, I will either dump some more water on the diapers before the hot wash cycle to make them heavier or put a soaking wet towel in there as well.
Hope that helps! I also googled my washer name and "cloth diaper" for ideas when we first bought it.
Look for a cycle that will add more water or try adding a very wet towel.
Some have a heavy duty or soiled cycle.
My old-school washer died on me, so now I have a Samsung HE TL and this is what I do for my diapers:
1. Quick wash on warm with a pre-soak (no detergent)
2. Bulky wash on hot with 1 scoop of RNG Hard Rock. I throw in a soaking wet towel to get it to add more water.
3. Line dry pockets and covers and dry inserts in dryer.
- We don't do any extra rinses since we have extremely hard water. I was told that it will only deposit more minerals onto the diapers and cause buildup/need to strip. It's worked great for us so far and seems to be getting them just as clean as my old washer did.