dangerouscrayon+ front load washer = forever

Pin It

I has been several months since we purchased our front load washer and dryer set. It's high time we report back on it!

I still love this set for cloth diapers, perhaps more than I had realized I would. After several weeks of logging my routine, here's what I have settled on (with ocassional variations):

I have a "My favorites" setting programmed to the "whites" option, with added pre-wash, stain, and extra rinse settings. It washes on hot, rinses cold, set at the heaviest soil setting, and at a medium spin. This setting takes about an hour and 23 minutes. I use one tablespoon of Country Save HE detergent (powdered form) and I put it into the dispense slot. I usually run about 27 or so diaper items (not including wipes), so I wash about every other day. Some days I have to split the bag of diapers into two loads. After the initial cycle with detergent, I usually run a second cycle, just like the first one. Everything usually comes out smelling great. I rarely have ammonia stink when the kids are wearing the diapers (although, I admit, I have been using disposable diapers for overnight, so I have not had as many opportunities to see if ammonia smell or burn develops overnight, which had been an issue in the past - hence disposable diapers at night).

I pull the pocket diapers and covers out of the washer and hang them to dry on our drying rack, and I toss the inserts, wipes and prefolds into the dryer for a timed dry cycle of 75 minutes on a medium temperature setting.

To wash and dry a load of diaper, I spend about 10 minutes, and the washer and dryer work for about 4 hours. Not bad compared to my previous washing experience.

Today I'm doing a more thorough wash of diapers - smaller batches, and doing 2 washes with detergent, then rinsing until I see no bubbles. I had some very minor stink problems when the diapers came right out of the dryer, so I wanted to make sure everything was clean.

The washer is working very well for our other clothes, too. It was hard for me to believe that so little water and detergent could actually get the job done. But, when we put in some of Jude's muddy work clothes, and they came out looking clean and smelling fresh, I figured that it works well enough.