Anybody have front load W&D like the Duet from WhirlPool?

[door knob solitaire]

I have the new front loader machines...love the way they look. They perform quite well. All and all I am pleased. Wish I had thought about the dropage while transferring items from washer to dryer. I do drop about 30%. Frustrating as you know you are dropping wet clean items on the floor. So I end up doing all sorts of off moves in attempts to save this or that. Yes, I could put a basket or something there. But who wants another step in laundry?

The reason for my post is to ask a question to those of you who may have these units. Specifically concerning the pull out tray that you add the detergents/bleach/softener ~ the area that holds the bleach is always full of water. I think because it is, it is not taking the proper amount of bleach. The water level does recede as you add bleach. I switched to the gel bleach as I feel I have more control to that of a thin watery liquid. So....do any of you also have water in that slot...all the time? It is driving me coo coo. No one at the retails stores have a clue, nor when I have attempted to contact manufacturer.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

DKS

 

[zoebartlett]

We also have a font loading washer and dryer (stackable). They say they''re full-sized but I''m not so sure. The space we have put the machines in is a narrow pantry with doors right next to the fridge. Kinda weird to put them there but that''s how it is. And yes, our washer also has water built up right next to where I put detergent. I have no idea why and it drives me batty. I haven''t done anything about it but it always creeps me out to think how long the water has just been sitting in that little tray.

 

[robbie3982]

We have the the duet sports. I LOVE them! We don''t get the water in the drawer that you''re talking about. After I do a load the drawer is wet, but I pull it out and leave it open for a few hours (sometimes a whole day) until it''s dry and then I close it.

Do you have the pedastals? We have them under the washer and dryer so when I''m transferring clothes, I pull the drawers out so that if I drop stuff it''ll just fall in the clean drawer.

 

[belle]

Date: 10/16/2007 1:45:12 AM
Author:door knob solitaire

I have the new front loader machines...love the way they look. They perform quite well. All and all I am pleased. Wish I had thought about the dropage while transferring items from washer to dryer. I do drop about 30%. Frustrating as you know you are dropping wet clean items on the floor. So I end up doing all sorts of off moves in attempts to save this or that. Yes, I could put a basket or something there. But who wants another step in laundry?

lol....not THE dreaded droppage!

i usually try to employ the 'grab as much as you can and quickly transfer' method to get things to the dryer. it seems to work okay, though i do still run about 25-30% on the droppage.

i thought about getting a basket and putting everything in there before moving it to the dryer but that seemed like an a very unnecessary extra step. i decided to take my chances on the droppage and hope i get most of it in the dryer without it hitting the *gasp* floor first.
so far, i'm usually only losing the smaller items and longer sleeves to the floor. i'm content with that.

i did talk to an authorized repair guy about the washer and dryer (he was out for something else but saw my washer/dryer and offered some helpful hints) and he said that you have to be very careful pulling jeans out of the washer because they are very heavy and the snaps can catch on that rubber ring and tear it. apparently the rubber ring is somewhat costly to replace, so you want to be extra careful when getting the jeans out. i was glad he mentioned that because i certainly was just draaaagggging them out before

lucky i didn't do any harm!

Date: 10/16/2007 1:45:12 AM
Author:door knob solitaire

The reason for my post is to ask a question to those of you who may have these units. Specifically concerning the pull out tray that you add the detergents/bleach/softener ~ the area that holds the bleach is always full of water. I think because it is, it is not taking the proper amount of bleach. The water level does recede as you add bleach. I switched to the gel bleach as I feel I have more control to that of a thin watery liquid. So....do any of you also have water in that slot...all the time? It is driving me coo coo. No one at the retails stores have a clue, nor when I have attempted to contact manufacturer.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

DKS

i am glad you asked this because YES i have been having that problem!!

it doesn't seem to be 'hurting' anything but it is totally annoying to keep finding the cup full of water!
i actually asked the repair guy about it the last time he was here and he seemed very surprised that it was happening. he asked if i used liquid fabric softener. since i had used it a few times, i said 'yes, occasionally'. he said it was likely the liquid softener that was 'gunking' up the inside and not allowing the water do drain properly. the theory made sense but like i tried to tell him, i really don't use the liquid softener THAT much. i've only used it a few times...4 or 5 at most. not much at all. if the thing is THAT sensitive, i'm not sure it's for me!

anyway, after he left i kept trying to think of what could be causing it to happen (lol...obviously i didn't think it was the liquid softener!) and i realized that it seemed to have started when i bought that new bottle of GEL BLEACH.

i was using the regular liquid stuff before but it is sooo hard to get just a little bit in that cup back there!

so....i had the bright idea of getting that 'splashLESS' gel stuff. now, i can't make any guarantees about that being the exact problem but it does seem like an interesting coincidence. obviously, the water in the cup hasn't bothered me enough to buy some more liquid bleach to test the theory but i will try it next time just to satisfy my own curiosity.
anyway, i'm glad you brought this up! we might be able to save the world with the information that we share here! hehehehehe

 

[door knob solitaire]

Awhh....thanks gang.

Zoe you are right...that water sitting there too long...ick! I would do as Robbie suggests, and leave it open...but it is nearly 1/2 cup of water. Guess I could always suck it out with a straw. Just kidding.

Robbie...sometimes the simplest solutions are right before us and appreciate you pointing out the drawer thing. I will try it. Hubby grew up with some sort of floor rule...if it is on the floor for only 10 seconds it is OK to eat it. Or use it to eat with...or use it as a napkin...(respectively to the item of course)...don''t know the clean clothing rule...but something tells me clean should stay off the floor. My family never ate off the floor!! (his are animals!!) Just kidding.

Thanks Belle...yes my bleach slot is FULL of water. You have to add the gel in 3 intervals and allow the water/liquid to recede. And like you drives me batty. Every one you ask say they have never heard of that before! Argghh. Thanks for the heads up about the snaps...lets add open zippers and anything else that may cause damage.

Hubby always sneaks a toothpick in somehow. I bet I better pay more attention to that. Last month his whole wallet went through the cycle. We have never been accused of money laundering...but he was packing some cash...so we did that day.

Thanks again all...

DKS

 

[jcrow]

hum. that much water??
we have the duet sport on peds and there''s DROPLETS of water, not half a cup!

 

[door knob solitaire]

Well I am special.

DKS

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 10/16/2007 10:41:28 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Well I am special.

DKS

I guess I am too because I have lots of water and I gave up w/why it looks like that. I drop laundry too so I do the basket under it so it doesn't fall on the floor.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Ok...I am convinced that the water in there has to do with some sort of rinsing of the depenser area. It is rare that the blue color of my detergent remains...and think about it...your next load after a bleach cycle may not be another bleach cycle so you would want all the bleach residue to be gone.

Wonder if the gel bleach is just harder for the sensor to know it is all clean...and therefore gives you more water after the draining of that area has drained.

Now, this doens''t make sense why Robbie and Jcrow only have water spots...unless they aren''t using Gel.

OK next question:

Which of you are using Gel and which are using the liquid watery bleach?

DKS

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

We have a front loader and we love it. We don''t have the water issue but I use the gel bleach just because it''s not as easy to spill as regular bleach and we''re both klutzy. We just had a problem with the washer that you should all know about. One day a few weeks ago I was home fro work doing laundry. I started a load and as I walked out of the LR, I heard water running loudly. I turned around and saw that my washer was hemorraging water. So the W/D are under warranty still and we called Sears to come out to check it out. Turns out, a pair of my undies had worked their way in between the seal and up into the water output where it jammed the hole. So water was backing up and pouring uot everywhere. The repair man literally walked in, heard the description of the problem, pulled out a screwdriver, dislodged the panties, and left. Thank god it was under warranty because it would have cost us $130. The washer is fine, no ill after-effects. But the Sears man saw my panties

Thank god they were nice ones!

So be careful about overloading your front loader!

 

[belle]

Date: 10/16/2007 10:26:31 AM
Author: door knob solitaire

Thanks Belle...yes my bleach slot is FULL of water. You have to add the gel in 3 intervals and allow the water/liquid to recede. And like you drives me batty. Every one you ask say they have never heard of that before! Argghh.

mine is FULL of water too. i actually take the cup out and dump it in the washer before i add deterent or bleach. i don''t know if the duets have the removable cup(?) i have the lg tromm steamwasher and the cups are removeable.

Date: 10/16/2007 10:26:31 AM
Author: door knob solitaire

Thanks for the heads up about the snaps...lets add open zippers and anything else that may cause damage.

to that i will add:
spaghetti straps in the dryer. i have ruined at least three shirts because the strap got caught on the corner of the lint trap thing while the dryer was spinning away. the straps just broke off. i have found it to be a REAL hazard.

a lingere bag might be a good idea for items that could get caught.

Date: 10/16/2007 10:26:31 AM
Author: door knob solitaire

Hubby always sneaks a toothpick in somehow. I bet I better pay more attention to that.

better than an inkpen!

Date: 10/16/2007 10:26:31 AM
Author: door knob solitaire

Last month his whole wallet went through the cycle. We have never been accused of money laundering...but he was packing some cash...so we did that day.

hehehehehee

 

[belle]

Date: 10/16/2007 11:30:21 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
We have a front loader and we love it. We don''t have the water issue but I use the gel bleach just because it''s not as easy to spill as regular bleach and we''re both klutzy. We just had a problem with the washer that you should all know about. One day a few weeks ago I was home fro work doing laundry. I started a load and as I walked out of the LR, I heard water running loudly. I turned around and saw that my washer was hemorraging water. So the W/D are under warranty still and we called Sears to come out to check it out. Turns out, a pair of my undies had worked their way in between the seal and up into the water output where it jammed the hole. So water was backing up and pouring uot everywhere. The repair man literally walked in, heard the description of the problem, pulled out a screwdriver, dislodged the panties, and left. Thank god it was under warranty because it would have cost us $130. The washer is fine, no ill after-effects. But the Sears man saw my panties

Thank god they were nice ones!

So be careful about overloading your front loader!

oh hh, that''s awful! i would have been totally freaking out!!

the repair guy actually told me about that happening too. though in his example, he used socks. i wonder if he was just trying to avoid using the ''p'' word?

i have been periodically checking the outlet thing just in case. of course, i don''t check THAT often. certainly not after every load that might contain a small article of clothing.

these units are high maintenance!

 

[jcrow]

dks - do you have the sport ones?

and as for blue, i know i''ve don''t have blue left over. just water droplets.


funny the mention of underwear. similar thing happened to us. the washer said it had an electrial error. and the pump or whatever wasn''t sucking the water out. we bought the 5 year coverage and the guy comes to check it out. he found a little mangeled pair of thongs.

and worse, my husband stayed home to meet the repair guy while i was at work. whoops.

good too know about the straps and the dryer. i think i hang up most of that stuff and don''t dry it.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

We have droplets only. Your machine must be male--sprayiing all over the place.

I no longer have the dropage problem b/c I pray to the laundry gods....(yes I unload while kneeling.....)

cheers--Sharon

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

belle-This guy mentioned socks too. Apparently anything small can work its way up in there. Nice to know my Ps are small!!

 

[belle]

Date: 10/16/2007 11:42:31 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
belle-This guy mentioned socks too. Apparently anything small can work its way up in there. Nice to know my Ps are small!!

lol...
here''s to p''s that are small enough to clog up the washer but hopefully never do!

 

[Eva17]

I had the front loader. I didn''t have any of the issues mentioned, but I had a serious mold problem. It is apparently a hazard of the front loaders.

I have since gotten rid of it and now have the whirlpool cabrio top loader, but I seem to be having a problem with the towels smelling strange from that washer too. I had to buy all new towels after getting rid of the front loader, so the towels were all new. And it is only with towels.....

The machines are very high maintenance.

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 10/16/2007 1:28:05 PM
Author: Eva17
I had the front loader. I didn''t have any of the issues mentioned, but I had a serious mold problem. It is apparently a hazard of the front loaders.

I have since gotten rid of it and now have the whirlpool cabrio top loader, but I seem to be having a problem with the towels smelling strange from that washer too. I had to buy all new towels after getting rid of the front loader, so the towels were all new. And it is only with towels.....

The machines are very high maintenance.

HI:

Eva--I have/had the same problem with my LG. Apparently it is an issue with front loaders--I googled the problem and read the litany of complaints with different makes/models. I called the vendor who sold me the machines and asked what to do--fella told me to use powder instead of liquid soap (liquid apparently has something in it that contributes to mold/odor....). Now I keep the washer door open to air it out, and use a sani-wipe to clean around the rubber door guard and drum. Also, I use the sani-wash cycle the manufacturer recommends, every few months or so. I now seem to have less "locker room" smelling towels than when I first got the machine early this year.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 10/16/2007 1:55:50 PM
Author: canuk-gal

Date: 10/16/2007 1:28:05 PM
Author: Eva17
I had the front loader. I didn't have any of the issues mentioned, but I had a serious mold problem. It is apparently a hazard of the front loaders.

I have since gotten rid of it and now have the whirlpool cabrio top loader, but I seem to be having a problem with the towels smelling strange from that washer too. I had to buy all new towels after getting rid of the front loader, so the towels were all new. And it is only with towels.....

The machines are very high maintenance.

HI:

Eva--I have/had the same problem with my LG. Apparently it is an issue with front loaders--I googled the problem and read the litany of complaints with different makes/models. I called the vendor who sold me the machines and asked what to do--fella told me to use powder instead of liquid soap (liquid apparently has something in it that contributes to mold/odor....). Now I keep the washer door open to air it out, and use a sani-wipe to clean around the rubber door guard and drum. Also, I use the sani-wash cycle the manufacturer recommends, every few months or so. I now seem to have less 'locker room' smelling towels than when I first got the machine early this year.

cheers--Sharon

This is SO timely! We have a Neptune and I used to use powder Tide and never had a problem with weird smells, then we switched to liquid and I started to smell *something* (HH said I was imagining it, LOL) so I moved on to high efficiency liquid and now I really hate the smell of the laundry--nothing smells *clean* anymore. I was going to start a thread on this but I never got around to it--thanks for saving me the trouble DKS! (And sorry I don't have any good advice for you on the "water in the slot" problem.)

 

[Eva17]

OK, so i have quite a few bottles of HE liquid detergent in the garage. I am going to try to powder. Which brand? Does it matter? Is the powder available in HE, or it doesn''t matter?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 10/16/2007 10:00:26 PM
Author: Eva17
OK, so i have quite a few bottles of HE liquid detergent in the garage. I am going to try to powder. Which brand? Does it matter? Is the powder available in HE, or it doesn''t matter?

I don''t think I''ve seen any HE powders but for some reason I was thinking I had seen some HE "tablets." When I search though this is all I can find--maybe that was what I saw and I just thought it was detergent. link I''m getting some of this stuff pronto.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

So far, I have only found "Sunlight" in the HE powder. It works well and dissolves nicely (I found the using Sunlight in my old machine used to clump....)

cheers--Sharon

 

[Eva17]

DJ good find.

One more silly question.

Can the powder be put in the same detergent spot or do you just sprinkle in all over the clothes?

 

[YMA]

We have the front loading GE brand and I love it, but we too have the standing water problem too. I just flush it with water to "clear it out" when I first start the machine.

We've had the machine a little less then a year and the rubber seal around the door tore due that "pulling jeans problem too" from what the repairman said it is pretty common especially with 3 teenagers in the house. We called the manufacturer and they sent a repairman out and fixed it no problem no money!

I use the stacking drawer method too for catching clothes, b/c although you are supposed to put detergent and stuff in there we don't so it's pretty clean and still new looking.

Hey what HE detergent brands is best to use? It's pretty hard to find a big family economy size, with a family of five I like to buy in bulk.

I sometimes use the All brand without any dyes perfumes etc even though it not a specfic HE brand it says you can use it in HE front loading machines. I've heard people saying the water pump went out b/c they didn't use a HE brand.

Has this happened to anyone???

 

[belle]

yma, i get the perfume free, dye free liquid from costco. it is he compatible. even so, i only use a very small amount (as recommended by the authorized repair guy). it works well and i don''t have the odor problems that others have mentioned. i *do* leave the door open when the washer is not in use so it can dry out.

 

[robbie3982]

Date: 10/16/2007 11:19:58 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Ok...I am convinced that the water in there has to do with some sort of rinsing of the depenser area. It is rare that the blue color of my detergent remains...and think about it...your next load after a bleach cycle may not be another bleach cycle so you would want all the bleach residue to be gone.

Wonder if the gel bleach is just harder for the sensor to know it is all clean...and therefore gives you more water after the draining of that area has drained.

Now, this doens''t make sense why Robbie and Jcrow only have water spots...unless they aren''t using Gel.

OK next question:

Which of you are using Gel and which are using the liquid watery bleach?

DKS

When I use bleach, it''s liquid.

 

[Independent Gal]

Another front-load-launderer here, DKS!

I don''t have trouble with the bleach tray, but let me tell you about droppage! I dropdropdrop. I drop everything! I''m the Droppage Queen.

Here''s what I tell myself (and yes, I am aware that this is gross): Hey! Saves on floor mopping time!

 

[door knob solitaire]

Indie you are brilliant! Two chores at once! Great plan.

Dee Jay...I am too am glad of this thread. And as for the smell thing...me too!! I can''t believe you guys began posting about the odor. I thought I was the only one!! No way was I going to bring that up too!! I thought it was because we are on well water. I am so thrilled to learn I am not batty after all (at least on the laundry issue). I feel free now. It was a dirty little secret...there was no way I was going to discuss that!! I have come in from gardening to change clothes ...as the odor was so offensive! They were clean...really. But after the support group here I now feel redeemed and can move forward!!

Belle ...the water drop is brilliant too! Yes, my tray is removable. I did just what you suggested. Pulled it all out dumped the water...slid the tray back in...added detergent...then my bleach...OH NO!! YOU DIDN''T ADD BLEACH!! YES YOU DID...I had just loaded the machine with hubby''s blacks. Argghhhh. instead of a brilliant mine, I just have what was available at the time...so I slid the tray out and headed for the sink to dump the bleach out...didn''t realize the detergent slot had no back wall on it...so there is now a blue streak in my carpet...all over the counter...and down my front!! Like I said, had I been equipped with a brilliant mind I would have just removed the blacks and inserted whites and went on with the wash cycle. But instead I have this huge mess to clean up. Wonder how much the brilliant mind upgrade was...I am sure paying for it now!! (moral always upgrade) But I do thank you for pointing out the removable tray!! Honest.

Well, guess where I am off to? You got it. A date with my stinky, flooded duets. But man I love the way they look!! Superficial...you bet!

DKS

 

[Eva17]

Update

I have purchased Tide HE powder soap, and my towels smell "FRESH" again!!!!!!

"Hallelujah"

I am so happy about this.

I was throwing out and buying new bath towels almost every other week.....


I just can''t beleive it worked. After having the problem with a front loader and now the new top loader, I was afraid I was doomed to keep my dirty little laundy secret forever. I hope it continues to work. DF if you purchase the odor tablets, let me know what you think of them.

Thanks.

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 10/16/2007 10:37:08 AM
Author: jcrow
hum. that much water??
we have the duet sport on peds and there''s DROPLETS of water, not half a cup!

Ditto.....I''ve owned the Whirlpool Duet set for nearly 3 years, and expressly checked the receptacles this weekend......a few droplets, but not even close to a half-cup.