Washing Microfibers in a High Effeciency Washer

rott3np3anut

rott3np3anut

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So our washer broke down and we're probably getting a new HE washer. Has anyone had problems with the special HE detergent? Any special or different things you have to do to wash them?
 
Use the HE detergent and DO NOT put more than is called for. We use Charlie's Soap and it works well for all clothing and microfiber towels also. MF's washed separately of course. In short........follow the directions and use the correct detergent. If you don't you will need to run all clothing through many many rinse cycles which kills the savings offered by high efficiency washers..
 
Re: Washing Microfibers in a High Efficiency Washer

RTexasF said:
Use the HE detergent and DO NOT put more than is called for. We use Charlie's Soap and it works well for all clothing and microfiber towels also. MF's washed separately of course. In short........follow the directions and use the correct detergent. If you don't you will need to run all clothing through many many rinse cycles which kills the savings offered by high efficiency washers..
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Boy do i agree when we first got our machine wife didn't know you needed to use special detergent what a mess that made lol .
 
Re: Washing Microfibers in a High Efficiency Washer

Harleyguy said:
Boy do i agree when we first got our machine wife didn't know you needed to use special detergent what a mess that made lol .
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Haha yeah, our salesman had some horror stories about people who used regular detergent.

Thanks for the advice RTexasF. I was worried the microfibers wouldn't be as clean since it uses so much less water. Technology is freaky haha.
 
Boy do i agree when we first got our machine wife didn't know you needed to use special detergent what a mess that made lol .
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Gotcha! Our first introduction to high efficiency washers was in Europe. In short, due to our ignorance.......ONE load of clothes took us over four hours to rinse out and that was AFTER washing them! FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! We had never seen one of those before but learned quickly after the first suds-othon which went everywhere. The floor (and the clothes) were extremely clean after that first load,I'll tell you that much.........especially the floor. Ignorant Americans, what did we know?
 
I've had no problems with tide he, just Make sure there's no fabric softer left over from previous wash :)
 
No problems here. After washing with HE detergent, I follow with a MF detergent. MFs come out great.
 
I have also heard that adding a little vinegar will act as a water softener.
 
We use Dropps in our HE and it does a great job. I presoak the towels in APC+, seems to help.
 
Re: Washing Microfibers in a High Efficiency Washer

rott3np3anut said:
I was worried the microfibers wouldn't be as clean since it uses so much less water. Technology is freaky haha.
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I think the biggest concern is having enough water to rinse out the detergent. I always select the second rinse option with vinegar in the rinse dispenser.

Microfiber detergents are watery compared to the gelish traditional soaps like Tide He.
 
rott3np3anut said:
So our washer broke down and we're probably getting a new HE washer. Has anyone had problems with the special HE detergent? Any special or different things you have to do to wash them?
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When Meguiar's upgraded the classroom to a tiny room to a huge room they installed a brand new washer and dryer primarily washing microfiber towels for our classes there and I don't remember any problems switching over from a top-load washer to the new high efficiency model and we used it a LOT.

Somewhere on MOL I took some pictures of the new system... not sure what I would use for a key search word to find them though...


:)
 
Re: Washing Microfibers in a High Efficiency Washer

Bunky said:
I think the biggest concern is having enough water to rinse out the detergent. I always select the second rinse option with vinegar in the rinse dispenser.

Microfiber detergents are watery compared to the gelish traditional soaps like Tide He.
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Al, I agree with you completely!

There's a learning curve when these new washers and the balance between the water level and the liquid detergent added takes a few times before you'll get it right.

The washer I have automatically determines, probably through weight, the correct amount of water it needs to effectively wash that amount of clothes. It's my responsibility to determine just how much or little to add to any given load.

Microfiber detergents are watery and rinse out much easier. I've tried several and they all work however rinsing them is allot easier than with a conventional HE detergent.
 
We just bought new HE machines for the house we bought and I haven't had any time for detailing so I hadn't even thought of this. Glad it was mentioned otherwise I'd be pretty hestitant to put my MF in there.

So do yall add your MF Restore (or whatever MF cleaner) into the drum or into the dispenser? Do you wash first with Tide HE or just with the MF cleaner?
 
My wife is like a clothes washing connoisseur, use He detergent & use the longer washing cycle.
 
Pristine Image said:
So do yall add your MF Restore (or whatever MF cleaner) into the drum or into the dispenser? Do you wash first with Tide HE or just with the MF cleaner?
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I toss the towels in the machine then add the recommended amount of Microfiber cleaner. Because it's a very thin solution it mixes right in!

And I was one of those that used to wash them in a bucket!! :doh:
 
I do all of the laundry in our house. A few years ago I made a comment about the way my wife did laundry and I got "assigned" laundry duty after that.

A year or so ago we got a new HE front loader. I didn't do much research and just went down to Home Depot and got the cheapest one. It's an LG (don't know the model).

I didn't pay attention to any features when I bought it but I'm glad it came with what it did and I couldn't live without them now. It has extra water, extra rinse, and pre-wash features that are a must-have. Other features are a quick wash and rinse & spin.

Our old machine had an extra large tub, so I had to adjust how much laundry I can put in the new one. For the first load I did, the clothes in the middle didn't even get wet. I now fill up the tub no more than 3/4 full AND I add extra water. I use Tide HE soap and put in less than what it suggests.

For extra dirty MF I will do a hot pre-wash (small amount of Tide in the pre-wash bin), hot wash (MF Restore in the soap bin), cold rinse (sometimes with vinegar in the softener bin), and an cold extra rinse. This method takes about an hour and 20 minutes. Extra water for big loads (20 MFs will soak up all of the water in normal mode). Use extra high spin and they don't need much time in the dryer.

I noticed the MF Restore really foams up, so I use no more than 1/2 ounce. Even less for small loads. That's where the rinse & spin feature comes in handy if not all of the MF Restore got rinsed out.

To bring MF back to life when they stop absorbing water or don't feel as soft as they used to, I do a hot quick wash and extra rinse with 1/2 cup vinegar in the soap bin, and another hot quick wash and extra rinse with 1/4 cup baking soda.
 
Re: Washing Microfibers in a High Efficiency Washer

Weve had Duets for several years ... just use a MF specific soap (DP, Microrestore) and white vinegar in the rinse. No issues ...
 
I have been using a Matag Neptune since 2000 and nothing but Tide HE. For my microfiber towels, I use the regular cycle plus the stain and soak features plus the addition of Oxyclean. Total wash time is about 90 minutes. Towels come out really clean. Front loaders are so qreat and efficient, I don't understand why top loaders are still sold.
 
I have an Asko HE machine. It is a small machine with a small capacity which is perfect for just me. It is the PERFECT microfiber machine. I run a full cycle at 40 degrees C, use microfiber cleaner through the dispenser. no fabric softner and spin them at 1600 rpms. They come out like new. I dry them in the dryer (Asko) as normal laundry. Total cycle time is 75 minutes in the washer.

Devoted MF detergents don't seem to suds up very much indicating they are more detergent than soap. Less water with a standard dose of MF detergent equals a stronger concentration which seems to work really well.
 
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Wow thanks for the advice everyone!!

I'm glad there seems to be no problems with these machines and microfibers. Hopefully this thread helps others too, there's lots of good info here.
 
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