Washing Machine Care
Washing machines are a wonderful time and labor saving technology. But even the snazziest machine has insides made up of a lot of moving parts that can fail at a moment’s notice. And while a reputable repair person will often be your best bet, there are steps you can take to minimize the need to call them.
- Don’t overload your washing machine. Too much weight can throw it seriously out of balance, leading to a costly repair.
- Using too much laundry detergent can actually make your washing machine dirty. Excess suds often don’t rinse thoroughly and can cause buildup and odors.
- If your washing machine fills slower than it used to, check the filter where the water hose connections attach to the unit. Over time the filter gets plugged and will need to be cleaned out.
- Wipe up spills promptly. Washer tops that are porcelain enamel will be damaged by acids in rust removers and long exposure to other chemicals. Synthetic enamels will be damaged quickly by ammonia, chlorine bleach, abrasives, and solvents.
- Hydrogen gas can build up in your water heater and hot water pipes if hot water is not used for a long time. If no hot water is used in your house for two weeks or longer, let all hot water faucets run for several minutes before using any electrical appliance connected to hot water.
Finally, strange as it sounds, you need to wash your washing machine periodically. The inside is constantly subjected residues from laundry soils, detergent and water hardness minerals. Though a lot of the dirt is washed out with the rinse water, some of it remains, and often when you wash your clothes, there are some residues left behind inside the tub, pump, and hoses. This reduces the ability of your washing machine to perform properly.
To protect your investment and clean the inside of your washing machine, try using a washing machine cleaner once per month or follow the machine manufacturers instructions.
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Tips & Tricks
Many stains are more likely to be removed entirely if soaked in cold water before it has had time to set.
If in doubt, test your color garment for colorfastness – apply warm water to an inconspicuous part (inside of the hem, for instance), then press this part with a warm iron between two pieces of white cloth.
To protect your favorite garments, try turning them inside out before washing.
Use a partitioned laundry basket to sort your laundry as you remove it.
Overloading your washing machine could mean that your clothes don’t properly get clean.
White streaks of powder left behind on your clothes due to undissolved detergent are usually caused by overloading your machine, and can be removed with an additional rinse cycle.
Washing much smaller loads on non-cotton cycles to give more freedom of movement in the drum and result in better cleaning.
Using too little detergent can cause whites to become dingy as there are insufficient ingredients to hold soils in the water so they don’t redeposit on the garments.
Overdosing in a soft-water area can lead to “oversudsing” which, in extreme cases, can mean suds come out of the machine.
Always check the fabric care label for the manufacturer’s washing recommendations.
Some dyes will bleed even in very cold water, so always sort your washing into light colors, dark colors, whites, and delicates.
To compensate for washing at lower temperatures, try using a Cotton (most agitation) or Synthetic cycle, if the garment care label allows. There are also detergents specially designed to work in cold water.
Whenever possible, dry your clothes outside on a line; you could see significant energy savings.
Make sure to close all zippers, fasteners, and hooks to prevent and reduce abrasion of fabric and consider placing delicate items into mesh laundry bags.
To pre-treat stains, apply undiluted laundry detergent directly onto stained areas. For best results, allow product to sit on stain for a few minutes, scrub product into stain, then wash.
When adding chlorine bleach, always use the bleach dispenser on your washer to ensure that it is added at the right time in the wash cycle. If your machine does not have a dispenser, add chlorine bleach at the end of the wash cycle.
Check garment care labels for recommended wash temperature.
For all HE washers, make sure to use a low-sudsing HE detergent.
Use the right amount of detergent. Follow package directions carefully. For heavily soiled and/or large loads, use more detergent.
If you do not have a detergent dispenser on your machine, add the detergent while the washer fills with water, ensure the detergent has dissolved, then add the clothes.
Keep your washing machine free of residues by running a monthly wash cycle with Tide Washing Machine Cleaner.
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