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| i just purchased a new washer it is a whirlpool top loading he washer and have fears of the alleged issues with he washers and cloth diapering... any advice or info you have would be greatly appreciated!! |
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I don't think it's really that bad. The worst thing that can happen is that it won't use enough water to properly wash/rinse the dirt & germs away. And the solution to that is pretty easy, just add water. There are various tricks like using cycles that use more water, adding wet towels to make the load heavier etc... The towel trick seems popular but honestly I don't get it. Yes, more water will be added, but then there's also more fabric in the machine to absorb the extra water so I don't understand how it's supposed to help.
Personally I think the easiest way is just to pour water straight into the detergent compartment (where it just falls into the washer). Just wait till till the cycle has started (pouring water in before the cycle starts will likely be useless as most machines drain out excess water before starting the cycle) and then pour hot water in (using an old detergent jug for example).
Other than that I wouldn't worry about anything else. Just use a regular HE detergent in a normal quantity and you'll be fine.
Karen. |
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| thank you Karen! i wil try that! |
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| Another thing you can do: instead of doing a pre-rinse of the diapers as a part of an overall cycle (like a prewash-main cycle that moves from one to the other), you can rinse them separately and choose the "no spin" option. Then, when you start your regular hot cycle, the diapers will be rinsed and heavy with water, triggering the machine to use more water in the main cycle (without putting in anything extra, like towels). That does require you to come back to the machine after ten minutes or whatever, when the rinse-no-spin cycle is done, but it's a pretty easy thing to do. |
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| good idea!! i will try it! |
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| I agree-Ive always used an he washer and have never had a problem with my dipes! I always soak my dipes overnight in a 5 gallon bucket (wet pail method). I then pour the whole heavy bucket straight into the washer-this tricks the washer into adding more water, and, my dipes are already half clean from soaking overnight. I run a "quick wash" cycle (20mins) with COLD water to rinse and prevent staining, then I run a full regular cycle on hot-easy easy! |
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Yeah, I've always use a FL, and the only time I had serious, serious diaper funk issues was with a top-loader. Granted, that was also with my in-laws' dreadful water, so I'm not blaming the top loader, just saying that FLs can do just fine with diapers.
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| We've had a front loading he washer as long as I've been diapering (5 years), and I've never had any funky issues. I do what aavt suggested, Rinse with no spin, then I do a sanitize cycle, and then I'll often do one more normal hot/cold cycle. It sounds a bit excessive, but I have a 2 yo, now and only wash 1 x per week. When I was still washing every other day, I only did one cycle (after the rinse-no-spin). I also mix some borax in with out detergent to help sanitize the diapers. I bought one set of diapers for my first (a fairly large set) and am still using them with #2. I have never had to deal with build up or yucky smells. Hopefully the trend will continue through #3! I <3 my front loader! |
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