I'm not really sure of the answer, but I know exactly what you're talking about. All of my baby washcloths got disgusting and gray no matter what I did with them. I even tried soaking with some bleach overnight once and it didn't take it out. I eventually decided it must have something to do with the baby soap because when I later switched to using a regular mild bar soap and bought some new washcloths, the gray didn't come back. Of course I don't know for sure that was the case. I was using Purex laundry detergent in a regular top loading machine at the time. I tried Biokleen detergent once and wasn't satisfied with it's cleaning at all personally, but I'm not sure that it has anything to do with your washcloth problem. The Purex I used was fine on all my other laundry...even got my cloth diapers clean. GL!

I've been using Kirkland's HE detergent ever since we bought our Duet and have no problems. Of course I don't use as much as listed in the directions. I never do, regardless of the product. I mean really, shampoos direct you to shampoo twice each time, but I don't do that either. I follow the directions on my washer, not the detergent bottle and my wash comes out clean every time - no problems. I add OxyClean with every Whiter Whites load out of habit from TL-days, but after reading all of the posts, I'm going to get the better carbonate products instead. I also never add softener and my wash still comes out soft. The only times I got the SUDS error was due to my children's socks getting stuck in the drain pump. I posted that problem and fix on another link.

The size of your dose will depend on how hard or soft your water is, how dirty your clothes are, etc. You might try the suggested dose for a medium size load. If the laundry doesn't seem clean enough, then use more the next time. I tried the Kirkland's/Costco liquid, a couple years ago, and noticed the larger dose for "he" machines than top load. That made absolutely no sense to me. I gave away the detergent. It gets good ratings for cleaning, in that popular consumer's magazine, but I won't support a company that has dosing on their label that suggests twice as much for a 'he' washer that uses a fraction of the amount of water.

My FL (Frigidaire GLTF2940ES) is being delivered in about 2 weeks. Was going to buy one in a couple of years but my horrible 14yo Admiral TL went kerflooey rather dramatically about a week ago and moved the schedule up a tad! I've been reading and reading and reading and I still have several questions regarding detergents. So I'm seeing two "green" detergents discussed here, Bi-O-Kleen and Seventh Generation. Any others recommended? I have chemical sensitivities - let's not even TALK about stuff like Tide Free, ugh! - and admit to a big ole hippie streak as a result. :-) We've been using Seventh Generation products off and on for years, in fact the jug of 7G detergent in my laundry room now is the Free & Clear HE because they didn't have the non-HE in the giant jugs that were on sale, so I'll surely start with that just to use it up but I note reports of "meh" cleaning. Has anyone used BioPac? Their website says their "Ultra" products are HE-OK, and I've had no reaction to their detergent in the past - I know home FLs and commercial ones are different animals, but it worked very well in the laundromat FLs. Is the Bi-O-Kleen Free & Clear as effective as the Premium Plus, which seems to have the most fans? We'll be using mostly cool and warm washes just because we own virtually nothing that should be washed in hot - our sheets and towels are colored and we have purchased very little white clothing for years because of high iron content in the water - although I did see the info about biofilm and will take that under advisement. (I am not at all comfortable with leaving the washer door open lest our adorable but not very bright cat climb in to explore, since she cannot be closed out of the laundry area. We have always kept the top loader closed due to inquisitive cat and never got mold/mildew in that, is this a pretty good indicator that we may be fairly OK with the FL?) Do some natural detergents work better in these lower temperatures than others? Should I stick with liquids for the cooler washes for complete dissolution? How about dealing with vegetable oils - my DH does massage and often gets jojoba or grapeseed oil on his dark blue jersey sheets. Hot water sets the oil and the eventual oil-funk, we ruined I don't know how many sheets while he was in massage school! We've always used a very small dollop of CitraSolv or other degreaser in the TL but that's a no go with the FL, right? Any massage therapists (or fry cooks ;-)) out there combatting grease spots? Do any of the "specialty" detergent companies send out samples, or can they be obtained in very small packages to try out? (I can get BioPac by the ounce at my local health food store, but that's the only one I know of.) Buying these machines in the first place has kicked our budgetary buns, the notion of buying $10+ packages of detergent that may well sit on the shelf gives me the shakes! Most of our friends don't even have their own washing machines, much less fancy-pants FLs, so moochingsharing ;-) with them won't work.