top loading vs. front loading- just as clean?

rjmagness

We currently have a top loading washer- and it is great w/ stains  and general cleaning of the cd's. We are considering getting a front loading washer/dryer... I have heard they don't clean the dipes as well? True/false?  I currently do a cold rinse cylce then do a full cylce w/ detergent. Do you have to do different setting or the same? Thanks ladies!

VABride2008

I like our front loader but our diapers do have stains.  I EBF, so I don't know if that's why or if it's the detergent I use.  I use Allen's Naturally detergent and only wash every 2-3 days. 

I do a cold rinse and then a hot wash followed by another rinse.  You do have to make sure you use less detergent than you would in a top loader.  

For what it's worth, I have used my parents top loader and still had stains so I would be willing to be it's our detergent. 

ked77

I LOVE my LG front loader, I think it cleans my diapers great!  I have used a top loader a few times on vacation and I didn't feel they got as clean as at home.  As long as you can get enough water into your wash you'll be fine with a frontloader, mine has a "water plus" feature that I use and it works great

LilLee11

To get more water you can also select "no spin" and that helps a lot!!!

NanaDi

I bought my first washing machine in 1979, so my comments are based on quite a lot of experience. I've done laundry with conventional top-loaders, the ancient wringer washers (when I lived overseas), and friends' modern front loaders.

I recently bought a Maytag Bravos, which is an HE low-water-use top loader. It uses a shockingly little amount of water. But I'm amazed at how clean it gets my laundry. I usually dump in a small bucket of water (to make the laundry heavier) before I start the machine, to "trick" it into thinking it needs to fill with more water.

Yes, this negates some of the benefits of the low-water design of the machine. But I just don't believe laundry (especially diapers) could get clean when 1/4 of the load isn't even submerged. I use the bulky and delicates cycles most of the time, these two cycles use more water.

If I were going to be washing cloth diapers at home I would forgo all the new bells and whistles. I would buy a conventional top loader that uses plenty of water. There is a great Laundry forum over at gardenweb.com. The people there are true washer-heads. You might also ask your question there. Many of the posters there very highly praise the Speed Queen line, they also tend to tout high-end brands like Miele, Electrolux, and the like. 

jessacrea

Ditto with the LG love. I have new LG front loading machines and I use a pre-wash and the water plus feature on my machine. My diapers seem so much cleaner than when we had a conventional top-loading machine. I have not had to sun any of them and they are all bright and stain free. I have used RnG on them since day one.