I use Charlie's because it's the only thing that I've found that works for me in my FL. When I got my washer, about 6 years ago, I tried almost every detergent that was on the market trying to find something that would get my tops clean. I think the only one I didn't try at the time was Sear's, but I tried it about a month ago when I ran out of CS. It cleaned my clothes ok, but my washer started to get an odor to it before I got my CS ordered. Needless to say the CS got ordered quickly and I won't run out again.

Try the Tide HE Powder. It has the scent of the original Tide. To me the Sears doesn't smell anything like Tide but the CS is good too!

I don't think the mildew smell has anything to do with the Tide, but rather with people not using the machine correctly. The machine will get the smell with any detergent if it's not dried out properly. The mildew smell is most likely mildew! A warm enclosed spot like that is a breeding ground. So be sure it leave the door open to air out and run a cleaning cycle occasionally.

For the detergent question, I'd suggest you try them all and see what you like the best for your clothes, cleaning, water, soil conditions and way you wash clothes. These are all variables. People will shout about a particular brand, but what works for one is not guaranteed to work the same for someone else. There's a lot of elements to washing clothes, like hardness of water, temp, soil conditions, cycle used, types of clothes, and many more.

Try 'em out and see what you like. And have a good time experimenting!

I'll have to try that trick of leaving the door open. I have only been using a FL for about 6 weeks and have no smell but was wondering about the effect of the water that sits in the door all the time. And I started using Charlie's after reading the raves here and agree that its great. I ordered it from ebay so no searching stores for it.

Doesn't Charlie's site have constant free shipping?

Someone here had said that it did some time ago.

I never heard of Charlie's soap!! I'll look it up for sure. As far as the milddew smell, "cynic" was correct that fl machines need ventilation. Leave the door open after a load-at least 3". My Kenmore allows me to do that.

Yes, no matter what product or products you order Charlie's
always comes with free shipping. It's nice to know the total cost of things up front and not have to worry about a high shipping charge being tacked on.

Robyn

I've bought charlies direct from them and off ebay... which interestingly enough came shipped from charlies!!! all times with no shipping costs... omost recently, I 'sucked in' and bought the 5 gallon bucket... I hope not to buy it again for qute a while!

I agree with cynic. Mildew smell usually is a error by the user and not by the detergent. The person either uses way too much detergent or do not maintain the machine as cynic stated.

I have also used many detergents that I have seen others rave about only to be totally disappointed. Best bet, get samples of all the ones you want to try. Many companies either have free samples or samples for a small price that they will send you.

I'm going to have to disagree with Cynic. Even with leaving my Duet FL open and using very little Tide HE, I still had a slight odor in my machine. It got worse with the use of Biokleen and Planet detergents. It never stunk up my clothes so I just tried not to sniff my machine. I figured it was just the price of admission when you have a front loader.

After I switched to Charlie's the smell disappeared. I directly attribute this to the detergent building up in my machine and rotting. I suspect I could probably shut the door now and not have a problem, but I always leave it open anyway.

This is just my experience. We all know that different water chemistry, habits, usage, etc. beget different results. But it isn't always user error--unless you count using the wrong detergent.

Regardless of what detergent I use, the clothes will smell musty if you leave them in the washer for any long period of time after the wash cycle is over. You will also suffer from odors and hygiene issues if you don't wash at 140° or higher at least a couple of times per week -- at least that's been my experience. Ensure that you don't overdose the detergent or gunk up your machine with scented fabric softeners (they are far thicker and stickier than unscented varieties).

I use Bi-O-Kleen Premium powder and love it. It's gentle and clean rinsing like Charlie's, with the addition of enzymes to tackle tough food stains. I also throw in a few capfuls of Pine Sol to keep the machine as sanitary as possible.

One other thought that was prompted by trinityklm's post - are/were you using fabric softener? I'd find it more reasonable to think that rotting tallow could cause a smell before a detergent. And I still find it hard to believe that detergent will give a mildew smell! Especially with the stench of many detergents! Nothing to back it up, but just a thought.

Cynic: Nope. Never use FS. Tallow, yuck!

If one visits diaper washing sites, its easy to see which soaps tend to build up in fabrics more than others (they begin to repel liquid and require stripping). And in my estimation, if it can build up on my fabric, it can build up in my washer.

When I switched from Tide HE to Biokleen, I noticed a film starting to build up on the window of my washer near the bottom. Planet made it even worse. After switching to CS, it disappeared. That was enough for me, even without the fact that my sheets had started holding scents even with hot, double washes and DWV rinses. With CS, they stay fresh for over a week.

Without a doubt I had detergent build up. So in my situation, the detergent made ALL the difference. But that's just me. We all have to do what works for us.

"You will also suffer from odors and hygiene issues if you don't wash at 140° or higher at least a couple of times per week -- at least that's been my experience."

sshrivastava what hygiene issues have you experienced when you don't use a 140F wash?

When I wash clothes, I tend to let them sit for a few hours -- I'm off doing other things. When I get back to the machine, the clothes tend to have a musty odor. I find that situation is much worse if I don't do any >120° washes that week. Seems the hot water kills off whatever is causing the odor. I've started putting a couple of tablespoons of Pine Sol into my wash loads which seems to kill whatever is causing the odor.

It's not a big issue, it only rears its ugly head if I leave the wet clothes in the washer for more than a couple of hours after the wash cycle is complete. Perhaps what I'm smelling is just just natural damp fabric smell?

sshivastava,

That smell issue could be the Biokleen. I wasn't able to leave clothes in the washer using that either. It left horrible build up on everything, but was most apparent on my polar fleece items which began pilling up like crazy.

But, mostly everything stunk. I had begun washing my sheets on the sanitize cycle, which just didn't make sense to need to do that. I was washing them almost twice a week at that point.

CS cured the smell issues and I leave wet stuff in the washing machine all the time, sometimes overnight, with no problems. I know you're not SUPPOSED to do that, but life gets in the way sometimes--I know.

CS might be worth a try for you. Washing clothes in Pine-sol seems like a toxic, extreme solution that's probably only covering up the problem.

So those of you with a front loader - how much Charlies soap do you use for a full dirty load, and how much do you use for light to medium soil loads? And what temperatures do you use with Charlies when washing whites?

Jerrod6,

I use one scoop (1 tablespoon) for all loads. If the load is extra dirty (namely gardening clothes), I do a pre-wash cycle with 1/2 to 1 scoop in addition to the standard 1 scoop. I suspect you could get by with less for lighter soiled clothes, but haven't tried it.

For whites, I use the Whitest Whites (hot) cycle. I usually add some Oxyclean to the main compartment along with the CS.

HTH

I think the experience of another poster may not be your experience due to differences in water composition. For instance, I'm on well water, with a softener, use Biokleen soap and have left my clothes over night with no smell at all. I've never tried Charlie's Soap, so no experience there for me, I'd have to pay shipping to get it (in Alaska) and just haven't decided to bite the bullet for it yet :). For all soaps though, I'd make sure not to use more than a tablespoon, most deteregents come with HUGE scoops (my Biokleen has a big scoop, but I only put in a little bit and it still cleans really well).

After reading lots of recommendations at different sites, I've bought Tide HE w/bleach for whites and Sears HE Stain-Lifter detergent for almost everything else. So far, I have been very pleased.

I just washed a sweater that has always been scratchy in Charlie's Soap. It came out of the dryer fluffy, soft, and amazing! It's like a whole new sweater!

I wasn't a believer of all this "residue" talk, but honestly seeing is believing. Of course, everyone will have varying results depending on their water chemistry. Although I have extremely hard water (35 grains), I have a whole house softener with chlorine filtration that seems to agree with CS. My Asko does 5 rinses, so I had no reason to believe any of my clothes had residue... but after using CS for some weeks I can say that my clothes are definitely coming out much softer and fluffier than ever -- WITHOUT FABRIC SOFTENER!

I think 'fluffier' is a great word... my kitchen towels use to all fit in a drawer, when all were clean... now only about 2/3 of them will fit in that same drawer when wash is done... it's like they have 'bulked' up in some way... the pile is all facing/standing up on them now...

They may be fluffier, but are they clean? I donÂt know about CharlieÂs Soap, but I recently tried the Seventh Generation powdered detergent on the basis of a recommendation from another post. I had a pair of white shorts that had a grass stain from mowing the lawn. The Seventh Generation failed to get it out. Thinking that I might not have used enough, I rewashed the shorts in another load and upped the dose. It still didnÂt get it out. Inasmuch as the Seventh Generation detergent has oxygen bleach and enzymes in it, I would expect the CharlieÂs Soap to have an even more dismal performance because it has none of those things.

"Toxic" it may be, but I think IÂm going back to Sears Ultra Plus With OxiClean. It would have removed that grass stain with no trouble. It really is the best detergent IÂve ever used.

The idea of green detergents is great, but thereÂs no point to them if they donÂt work.

Buzzley,

I certainly have to do more pre-treating for things that I didn't have to when I used Tide HE powder (like grass stains or chocolate milk spills.) That being said, I feel my clothes are cleaner because they don't have a bunch of toxic chemicals and brighteners embedded in them. Just because something has a stain doesn't mean it is dirty. I'd gladly allow a stain to fade away over a few washes or pre-treat with oxyclean free than re-introduce the crud Tide was leaving on everything.

To me, it's akin to someone washing their counter tops with Mr. Clean and thinking that the toxins now remaining on the surface make it "clean".

Yuck.