High Efficiency (HE) Detergent V.S Regular Detergent for front Loading washers

[Neovingian]

Howdy y'all,

Just have a question regarding detergent, my cousin and I are having a freindly debate over liquid laundry V.S. High efficiency (HE) detergent specially formulated for front loading washing machines.

His theory is that High Efficiency detergents are a scam, waste of money & a evil conspiracy formulated by apllicance and laundery detergent manufacurers to suck more money out of consumers. He also beleives that using any liquid detergent is fine as long as you don't over fill the detergent resovoir. Also another point he brings up up is that HE detergents are not as common and only made by certain companies and not all detergent manufacturers.

My opinion is that you should use the detergent that is recomended for your washer. I look at this sorta like gasoline in a car.

Any thoughts or opinions?

[B0000rt]

Soap designed for HE washers are low sudsing, and are generally the ones put out at those Proctor and Gamble warehouse sales, so they're generally cheap!

[Cas77]

Front-loaders use less water than top-loaders, which is where they get the saving of both water and energy resources. However, less water also means regular laundry detergents do not dissolve as easily and can leave soap residue on your clothes.

Also, the tumbling action of front-load machine is gentler on fabrics but adds more air to the water as your clothes are plunged into and lifted out of the water. This creates more suds than a conventional top-loading washer would. Excess suds can overflow and actually damage a front-loading machine.

If I put regular soap in my machine the wash will take 3-4 hours and the message on the screen will show 'SUDS' meaning there is still soap residue on the clothes and they're not clean. This defeats the whole purpose of have an energy efficient washing machine....

Also, there is very little price different between the 2 types of detergent if any...there was a few years back but not anymore.

[Neovingian]

If I put regular soap in my machine the wash will take 3-4 hours and the message on the screen will show 'SUDS' meaning there is still soap residue on the clothes and they're not clean. This defeats the whole purpose of have an energy efficient washing machine....

Also, there is very little price different between the 2 types of detergent if any...there was a few years back but not anymore.

3/4 hours is along time for a wash, and thats unacceptable for 1 load, I can get 3-4 loads in 2 hrs with with a top loader.

I've recently picked up some HE detergent a few days about and it was roughly twice as much as regular leading brand liquid detergent. It was $8.99 for HE v.s $4.79 for a similar sized non HE detergent.

I guess the other question to ask is, are there different quality grades of HE liquid detergent? I've only ever seen Tide & Sunlight?

[Cas77]

3/4 hours is along time for a wash, and thats unacceptable for 1 load, I can get 3-4 loads in 2 hrs with with a top loader.

I used it as an example to see what reg detergent does in HE machines because my washer has a mechnism to measure if the clothes are clean or not. If it didn't have that the soap residue would stay on the clothes. So it washes and rewashes until the soap is all gone.

I've recently picked up some HE detergent a few days about and it was roughly twice as much as regular leading brand liquid detergent. It was $8.99 for HE v.s $4.79 for a similar sized non HE detergent.

I guess the other question to ask is, are there different quality grades of HE liquid detergent? I've only ever seen Tide & Sunlight?

When it goes on sale it always includes the HE.

I know PC makes HE detergent there's also GAIN HE. I was never a big fan of perfume smelling clothes so I usually just buy the tide free or sunlight equivalent. Also, some detergents mau say HE compatible...such as the Kirkland (Costco) Free and Clear (or soemthing similiar)....but trust me based on their recommended quantities it is NOT HE friendly! The SUDS warnign showed up almost immediately. Look for a strictly HE product rather than an HE 'compatible' one.

[Neovingian]

Thanks for all the feedback so far, i'm new to this front loader machine stuff.
Just wanted to make sure I was buying the right stuff. So looks like its time for me to stock up on HE detergent. I already have 4 bottles which should be enough for approx 128 loads.

Its funny I know a few people who use regular liquid detergent in their front loaders and don't seem to have complaints.

[Kevinck]

A lot of people will say you can use regular detergent in a front loader if you cut the amount down by half to avoid the over sudzing problem. This will probably work and wont' damage your machine, but think about what you're doing. You're using half as much detergent as you usually would. If you think that's fine, then why weren't you doing that in the top loader? And why stop at half. Why not 1/4? or 1/8? Things aren't going to clean as well.

Water quality also makes a difference. IF you have really hard water, nothing is going to make suds much at all.

Also when comparing prices you have to take into account the quality. Don't compare Tide HE to some noname brand regular detergent. Compare HE to Non-HE of the same brand and usually there really isn't much of a price difference. I use the presidents choice HE stuff because i find it cleans well and doesn't cost as much as Tide.

[CheapScotsman]

Our Front load is 6.5 years old (Kenmore) and the manual says to use either low sudsing detergent or regular.

We purchase Sunlight regular in a 8.8kg box that indicates it is good for 90 loads. If I used the measuring cup that comes with it, we would use about 300ml. Instead, we use about 50ml so we probably get a couple of hundred loads from one box of detergent.

The clothes come out fine and smell great. We pre-treat bad stains (tomato sauce, blood, etc) and sometimes use bleach ... my work clothes (think doing concrete or roofing for 2/3 days before cleaning) come out fine.

However, its been a while since I have checked out the price of HE vsrsus regular. Food shop coming up on Wed/Thu so I'll check it out at Superstore then.

[Daffyd]

Get thee to Costco and pick up their brand of HE Detergent.

A huge containter will last months and months and months, doesn't really cost much money and gets rated highly by Consumer Reports all the time.

[fireguy9]

been using the extra brand for 4yrs in our front loader without any issues. We use less then called for and its great

[Kanus]

A lot of people will say you can use regular detergent in a front loader if you cut the amount down by half to avoid the over sudzing problem. This will probably work and wont' damage your machine, but think about what you're doing. You're using half as much detergent as you usually would. If you think that's fine, then why weren't you doing that in the top loader? And why stop at half. Why not 1/4? or 1/8? Things aren't going to clean as well.

If a front loader uses less than half the volume of water, it makes sense you would use half the amount of regular detergent.

I use regular detergent in my front loader and use the amount recommended for a regular load (not a heavy load) and I find it works well. If I do a really small load, I find I do have to cut back on the amount of detergent or I will have a sudsing problem.

[hoob]

I'm using the new Tide Free HE Ultra.... The bottles are small (even compared to regular HE) but the recommended amount of liquid is only about 1/6 of a cup... Works fine, glad to see the Free stuff in HE finally.

[JWL]

I know PC makes HE detergent there's also GAIN HE.

Where did you find Gain HE? It was highly rated by Consumer Reports but I haven't seen it in any stores in Canada.

[Diamondog]

Howdy y'all,

Just have a question regarding detergent, my cousin and I are having a freindly debate over liquid laundry V.S. High efficiency (HE) detergent specially formulated for front loading washing machines.

His theory is that High Efficiency detergents are a scam, waste of money & a evil conspiracy formulated by apllicance and laundery detergent manufacurers to suck more money out of consumers. He also beleives that using any liquid detergent is fine as long as you don't over fill the detergent resovoir. Also another point he brings up up is that HE detergents are not as common and only made by certain companies and not all detergent manufacturers.

My opinion is that you should use the detergent that is recomended for your washer. I look at this sorta like gasoline in a car.
Any thoughts or opinions?

HE detergents are widely available and by numerous companies and cost the same as regular detergent...where's the scam?

[bionicbadger]

Get thee to Costco and pick up their brand of HE Detergent.

A huge containter will last months and months and months, doesn't really cost much money and gets rated highly by Consumer Reports all the time.

The costco stuff comes in a "bottle" that is exactly the same as the tide HE stuff, so I'm assuming its just relabled.

And you can use regular stuff as pointed out, just cut the amount down to 1/2 or 1/3 of regular. You pretty much have to do this if you wash delicates since I don't think they don't sell Ivory or Zero HE in Canada (at least they didn't last time I looked around 6 or 8 months ago).