Do you think it could be from using the different ones and maybe some gets left over someway. You would not think build up that soon but that is what it sounds like. Maybe try cleaning the machine or doing a rinse with no clothes to check for suds--or try a hot wash(short) to check. If not that, I don't have a clue.

Thanks sparky! I have my son's sheets washing now (double/full size). CRAZY suds during the wash cycle (140F, Miele UltraWhite powder, STPP). After draining and spinning, before the first rinse...the suds did collapse quicker this load, and by the 2nd rinse the water was basically clear and suds free. The 3rd rinse, of course with a sm. amount of liquid FS....zero suds.

I'm going to do a clean machine (Hygiene) cycle next. At least this last load looked normal after rinse 2. It just has been freaking me out seeing so many suds :-O Maybe it was from that load of towels, with the liquid detergent? I did 5 rinses, before most of, but not all, the suds disappeared last night!

welcome to my world. Have you run a maintenance cycle? Sanitary/sanitary or hygiene in empty machine. One time I had to do it twice. Should handle it.

I have read not to use liquid in towels that it causes way too many suds so maybe that was the trouble??

I've been using the STPP for months now, no suds issues. It seemed to just start a day or two ago. I will do a Hygiene cycle, and not use liquid for towels anymore (I too have read to use powder for towels). Crazy stuff. :)

Perhaps there was a change in the municipal water supply. The whole house softener recycle time is usually based on a pre programmed hardness level. If the supply has changed, that could in fact be the problem, over soft water. I don't believe the softener hardware monitors the actual supply and make changes on the fly. Although I could be wrong.

You always use the same detergent dose, regardless of load size? I thought it should vary, especially since smaller load also means less water. That's a pretty small load in the picture.

@ rpsinfoman....What you are saying is exactly what I thought and told my spouse and neighbor this morning. The sudsing issue was much worse yesterday, especially the load with the bath towels and liquid detergent. The two loads today with the Miele UltraWhite & UltraColor were much better.

I am about 1 hour into a 170F Hygiene cycle, rinse #2...and the water is CRYSTAL clear, one rinse to go! I used a Tide Washing machine cleaner packet. Suds during the wash portion, but a "good" suds level...the kind of bubbles that collapse very quickly!

I'm feeling much better. BIG thanks to all the responses. :)

@ Suburbanmd...I try and remember to reduce the dosage. The smaller load I did yesterday with Tide HE powder, I should have used 1 TBS, not 2 TBS. I'm sure that did not help, especially if the water supply was over softened!

But you are right....CORRECT dosages per the load size is very important in a front loader!!

Btw...that is a load of full/double sheets and 3 pillowcases. SEE....I told you the Little Giant holds a lot, and the wash drum is bigger than one thinks, and it's bigger than it looks!!

Rinse #3 after a Hygiene (Clean Machine) cycle!! CLEAR, CLEAR!!! :) Yipeee!

Another quick way to flush the tub out is to run a spin only cycle and, while it's spinning, pouring a jug (or two, ot three...) of hot water into the dispenser.

Whirlpool...I've tried this on the Electrolux but it's too smart.

If the sump of the drain is "dry" the pump will stop, the tub spins faster.

If when ramping up the sump fills up too fast from the water being extracted from the clothes, the pump turns on and the drum slows down (as not to over whelm the drain) when the sump is "dry" again (usually in a few seconds) ramping starts up again.

I guess it's to prevent a water lock (kind of like suds lock), if that makes sense.

Though I don't know if Miele does this.

I did this on my Duet today and it just spun away at 1,000 rpm. However, I only dumped in one liter at a time - too much water will cause it to water lock as well and stop spinning.

If I really want to scrub the drum out, I do it like this

cool...whirlpool...I'm going to try it right now and see on the "Rinse & Spin" and I'll deselect "rinse".

Well I tried it and it did keep spinning but I kept pumping out the water.

I took out the detergent drawer and put the end of a short hose from the utility sink to the back of the detergent drawer.

I did hear the hot water slapping the drum as it went in (I didn't turn on the water full blast but pretty fast) the pump did keep draining the in coming water though.

So I don't think I can do any kind of spin with standing water in the drum but that surely would clean the outer drum very well.

I bet Miele can do this with it's stronger better drum sealed bearings.

larsi - 2 Tbsp seems like a lot of detergent for softened water, especially for the size of the load in your photo at the top. How many grains do you soften to?

Cavimum I think our water ranges from 0-2, so VERY soft!!

My well water is upwards of 11 grains hardness. This load of darks (7 casual shorts, 7 underwear, 1 boxer, 1 bath towel, 1 hand towel) was done with two tablespoons STPP and FIVE tablespoons Tide HE Ultra with Bleach powder.

No notable sudsing. HE toploader (Calypso).

Neat Calypso dadoes.

How old is it and any issues? I heard they are great when they worked but lots of people had issues with them.

I had that suds issue once when I washed a rag that had been loaded with dish soap to clean something....I thought I had rinsed it fairly well, hah. Sudsorama!

My Calypso is approx 13 years old. It's the best toploader I've used to-date, although on-board water heating would make it better, LOL. I bought it used in 2007 with the matching dryer. Stored them for a year until I had time to refurbish. Upon examination I found it needed some repairs. I put it into use in late 2008 as my primary washer. The touch panel went bad several months ago but I have a stash of spare parts. The dryer remains in storage, I have not used the dryer other than a few test loads after cleaning it up.

The "issues" that people had were primarily due to misuse, misunderstanding, and carelessness. It was the first HE toploader on the market circa 2001, a very newfangled machine at the time. I've read reviews and complaints from people making ridiculous claims such as the clothes came out with dry spots and that it reuses the wash water for rinsing. There's *no way* clothes could have dry spots considering the hefty recirculation stream showering over the load while it bounces around and the basket rotates at 60 RPM. One need only *listen* to the water draining after the wash period and numerous other times throughout the cycle to realize that it does not rinse with the wash water, and in fact runs four or more separate rinse sequences.

I've been told that in some areas Whirlpool early-on had a company representative visit with purchasers to provide usage instructions and tips. There were some initial mechanical weaknesses but numerous revisions were done during production to fix those problems and try to lessen the effects of misuse.

It looks to be the most effective top load HE washer. Things today with their wash plate or infuser seem inferior. The turn over is almost non existent in today's machines.

The Calypso almost reminds me of (can't think of the name) the agitating system that vibrated in an orbital fashion that had great turnover though it used more water.

Dadoes, glad your calypso works so well for you. We had a new one, Kenmore Elite (probably 2001) and it was horrible. And yes, there were dry spots on most of the clothes - all the time. It didn't wash well at all - underwear came out still dirty. I believe it had a recall, and then the board kept going. We finally took the loss and junked it, and bought the GE Adora front loader in 2005. That one washed fine, although over the last year or so the buttons on the control panel didn't work so well. When our dryer died (dryer was from the Kenmore Elite set) a couple weeks ago I replaced both with Speed Queens. Hoping they'll last for 25 years! (Sadly, that Kenmore Elite calypso set cost almost as much in 2001 as my Speed Queens did last week.)

Debbie Branka,

Sorry, this is OT for the thread ...

Calypsos won't run with the lid open unless the safety lid switch is bypassed so you probably have not seen a full view of the Calypso wash action. Have a look at these videos, and explain how dry spots could occur with all the load continually exposed to the pumped water flow during both washing and rinsing? The basket rotates clockwise at 60 RPM to saturate the load through the flow. The load rotates counterclockwise through the flow and rolls over from inside to outside during nutation (when the wash plate wobbles).

Calypso - short clip - the fill level is a bit low in this example. The recirculation stream varies in volume, which it wouldn't on a proper fill.

Kenmore Calypso - This is not a full cycle, the clip is edited/shortened to show a few phases. 2:08 is a fresh water spray for one of the several rinsing periods.

Kenmore Calypso wash action

Whirlpool Calypso - Full wash period, Normal cycle

I know how calypso works. I'm saying the machine was junk and did not work because our clothes had dry spots. Anyway, I'm glad you love yours. After my experience, I would not recommend calypso or kenmore.

I know nothing about these washers but the water keeps running a lot of water where is it going to since it never fills up lol.

Recirculating to wet clothes and help with cleaning. Uses very little water in total. MUCH better than HE top loads on the market today.

MamaPinky,

Correct, it never fills enough to see water in the basket. This is an HE washer. The fill takes only a couple/three-ish gallons plus what the clothes absorb. The strong shower stream at the right rear is not fresh water constantly flowing in, it's recirculation of the water that's in the tub. The pump picks up the water in the outer tub, showers it over the load, it passes through perforations in the bounce plate back to the outer tub for repeated recirculation. If you watch the last clip I linked (which is my machine), pay attention to the water flowing into the detergent dispenser at the right front corner (it runs 3 times), that's the extent of the wash fill.

Is STPP sodium tripolyphosphate? You're running a water softener AND adding sodium tripolyphosphate? Why?

STPP does much more important things beyond softening water.

It's been a few years since I used Tandil liquid. I quit using it because Aldi quit stocking the Tandil with bleach version. I remember it being quite sudsy even in moderately hard water and in a full fill toploader. I was only willing to put up with the suds problem in the w/ Bleach version for my white loads. Wasn't going to fight that battle with the rest of the laundry.

If laundry is muddy, polyphosphates slightly improve removal and prevent redeposition of mud, especially if the volume of water is low (as in HE washing). Beyond that and water softening, what other effect do they have that isn't taken care of as well by cheaper materials nowadays?