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Ok, I was giving this some thought and came up with a way to wash my diapers in a lot more water, even in my HE front loader.
I know that aavt has mentioned in the past that she couldn't add water directly to the tub when putting diapers in as her machine would automatically drain the extra water before starting the cycle. I figured I'd try it to see what would happen with my washer and sure enough it did the same thing. But then I wondered what would happen if I added water a bit later on, once the cycle had already started. It worked!! As long as the cycle has already started (even just a few seconds in), I can add as much water as I want! I've even added so much water that had I opened the door it would have flooded out!
I tried it adding the water directly into the tub, just pausing the cycle, opening the door and pouring the water in. I also did it by letting the machine continue as usual but opening the detergent dispenser 'drawer' and adding it through there. That was how I was able to add a ton of water, so much that it was actually up against the door.
Now, it was a bit of a pain to do, I added it glass by glass from my laundry tub. But if you only did it every so often it might not be so bad. Or you could get creative and either fill a bigger container to dump it in. Or if you have a laundry sink right next to the washer you could hook up a small hose to the tap at the sink, put the other end in either the tub or the detergent dispenser and just turn the tap on!
Obviously you're somewhat defeating the purpose of a front loader but even by adding some water you're still saving on water compared to a top loader. And for those who have serious build-up issues, perhaps in part due to the extremely low water usage of a FL then this may help an awful lot.
Let me know if you try it and how it works out for you!
Karen. |
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| I haven't tried it but read somewhere about adding a wet towel to the load so the washer thinks there is more in there and adds more water itself.....I've been adding the extra rinse option and luckily had no trouble so far, also every few weeks I'll do a second wash right after with no detergent before drying them. |
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| Interesting experimentation, Karen. I'm down to night diapers now, so usally run a rinse and then wash them with normal clothes, but having just returned from the in-laws with horrible horrible horrible water that always leads to build-up symptoms, I might run all the diapers by themselves with some extra water to stave off any stinkies. |
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| Clever ideas. I'd be concerned that the extra weight might throw off (or destroy) the suspension of the wash drum. The solution I've found is to run a pre-rinse on the "no spin" setting. I immediately follow that with my regular wash cycle. My logic is two-fold. (A) The added weight of the soaked diapers will supposedly trigger a larger volume of water to be dispensed. (B) The diapers will be fully saturated for the wash, even if I don't get extra water in the wash cycle. |
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| Choosing no-spin on the pre-rinse is something I've been doing, too. I do think it works pretty well. |
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I don't think the extra weight is of much concern personally. There is only extra weight in the wash portion of the cycle when the drum is only turning slowly, it gets all drained out before the spin cycle. I'm sure that there is way more pressure on the suspension during a 1000-1300 RPM spin cycle than there is with a few extra gallons of water in the wash cycle.
Regardless though, this isn't what I'd call an ideal solution for everyday washing. Honestly it's royal pain in the butt to do unless one has a fancy hookup of some kind. It would be the kind of thing I'd recomend only to those who are having issues and just can't seem to solve them with the easier tricks.
No spin on the pre-rinse is also a great idea, I'll have to remember that one...
Karen. |
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| So our dryer is dying, and we're buying a new washer and dryer. We still have two in diapers and may have another in the future. If you were in the same situation would you buy a FL or a TL? I love the idea of using less water, but not at the cost of stinky diapers. |
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| I've done two in diapers with front-loaders, and would absolutely do it again. I really haven't had problems with stinky diapers and I love how dry the machine spins them out. FLs are also gentler on the diapers and clothes--no more getting something wrapped around the agitator! |
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I think I'd go with a front loader too. Some people do have issues with them and cloth but not everyone does and for those that do it's almost always solvable. I love how little water mine uses and the spinning is amazing too! I would think also that even with another future little one to consider, you'll likely have this washer long past the diaper stage so that's something to consider as well...
There's also the HE top loaders to consider. They use way less water than other top loaders and there's no agitator to add wear/tear to clothing. Not quite as efficient as front loaders I think, but still a great improvement.
Karen. |
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| I talked to a neighbor about hers. She wishes she could have both. She misses being able to dye clothes in her top loader. Are you still dyeing things? If so, how do you do big batches now? |
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No, I haven't dyed anything in a while. It was mostly diapers with a few odds and ends. Now that the girls are only using bedwetter pants at night I'm not really into it as much anymore. If I did I suppose I would just use the sink, bathtub or bucket. But for someone who does a lot of dying then yes top loaders are a huge plus, much more convenient than sinks or tubs...
Karen. |
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