Fabric softener should not flush until the final rinse. Are you sure you're putting it into the correct dispenser compartment? Assuming you are, then there's a malfunction of the dispenser unit.

Yep, I'm sure. Somehow water is slopping into the LFS space. If I don't put the LFS in until the washer has filled, it holds it just fine until my last rinse. What I mean by that is that water DOESN'T slosh over there during the mid-rinse fill cycle. Having said that, however, I feel compelled to test it. I believe that is correct. But it makes no sense.

Sigh. It looks like such a simple mechanism. I don't know what could be going wrong. Although in pulling the drawer out and studying the empty chamber today, I did see a little pink mildew and brown mold-gunk on the ceiling of the chamber so I had to wipe it out. Maybe a hole got stopped up and sent water in the wrong direction. But I'm 90% sure it did this from Day 1 of ownership.

Thanks, dadoes. You are always generous with your wisdom.

If you have an electric kettle, use it to pour some boiling water through your dispenser drawer once in a while. Keeps mine clean and clear.

MRB

There are two styles of dispenser mechanisms. One has small motor that moves a diverter mechanism to direct the water flow (or part of it) through the appropriate section at the proper time. The other has multiple inlet solenoids that accomplishes the same process.

Do you have hard water? Not uncommon that accumulated mineral deposits obstruct the holes in the drawer housing and cause the water to spray where it shouldn't ... but that doesn't account for the problem being present since the machine was new.

Softener is incompatible with detergent so surely you don't want any of it mixing into the wash period. I suppose your choice is continue with the workaround of adding softener to the dispenser after the wash fill is complete, or call for service (is the warranty still in effect?). It should be easy for a service tech to confirm the problem if it happens consistently on every run.

So I ran a test. I ran the washer on a rinse, empty, just to ensure it was clean. Then I put one drop of Dawn dish detergent in the softener dispenser and ran a wash cycle with two rinses. Some of the Dawn definitely discharged into the wash cycle because there were a lot of soap bubbles. While it was washing, I pulled the drawer out, and there was better than .25" of water sitting in the softener compartment, and it was faintly blue. I could still see a streak of Dawn in the bottom. The wash cycle ended and the first rinse started, and it dumped even more water into the softener dispenser compartment, because all I had and then was almost a full compartment of water, faintly blue. So, whatever I do, water is going into the softener dispenser.

When the cycle ended, the dispenser was empty, and everything had been discharged.

I have run through my owners manual and don't see anything about this. I guess I could try to call Speed Queen? Annoying, but I have been living with it. And it still isn't worth dealing with a service call. A bad technician could just make things worse. FWIW, I never run laundry detergent through the dispenser. I always add it directly to the drum. I add everything directly to the drum except LFS -- and bleach, which I use only about twice a year.

Thanks, dadoes. We were cross posting. (Why did this thing revert to my full name rather than MizLizzie? Anyhoo, I have gone into Houzz and fixed it.) So, my machine is the SQ unitized stack with digital controls. Yes, it is still under warranty.

I have an appliance repair friend coming over tomorrow to help me with my VentAHood, and now that I think about it, I believe that he is Speed Queen certified. Maybe I can get him to take a look at it. But the one repair call I had when the machine was new didn't give me a warm fuzzy about letting them open the old girl up. They were a repair chain rather than an individual. But the workaround is not a real big deal, because I'm not one to start the laundry and walk off.

I called Speed Queen. They seem perplexed, and said they couldn't think what could be causing this. But they seemed perfectly willing to cover a service call from my regular guy. They said it could be the drawer wasn't seating properly ( seems snug to me) or that there was a problem with the fill valve, which would require taking the dryer off the top, something I'm not willing to do because it just might lead to something worse. Basically, they agreed with me that it just seems like water is splashing over into that compartment all the time. So I asked them if perhaps I slowed down the amount of water flowing into the machine using my shutoff valve, might that help? Answer = maybe. But I would have to slow down both the hot water coming in as well as the cold, because water goes into that cup on both the wash cycle (when only hot is flowing) and on all rinse cycles, when only cold is flowing. I will say this, the machine fills incredibly quickly on all cycles. We do have quite good water pressure here, and the water is of excellent quality, neither hard nor soft.

Unusually-high water pressure could be a factor. Cutting back the supply faucets is something to try.

Thanks, dadoes. It never seemed unusually high, but I know our water is gravity fed from massive, tall tanks where the city stores our water. I remember a plumber once tested the water pressure here for some reason that I can't now recall, and said that it was very good, but not high. Still, you never know. I will cut the valves back about 25% and see what happens!

My Australian frontloader does the same with the fabric softener. I think it's a design fault with SQ. When you run any cycle, remove the soap drawer completely during fill mode and you will observe water entering the FS compartment from the FS valve. It is only a small amount but there is never any softener left for the last rinse. It's extremely annoying however I've never brought this to SQ's attention.... if you find this is same then I'd be interested to know.

Not just SQ all front loaders I have seen do the same thing from time to time.

My Whirlpool FL has done this since i bought it. i don't use fabric softener so it doesn't bother me.

Regardless of whether it does happen, the facts are that it shouldn't. Liquid fabric softener is not compatible with detergent. Mixing them causes a scummy residue and of course the softener doesn't function to soften the clothes. A side "benefit" perhaps is that softener kills suds ... but I would hope manufacturers aren't purposely designing dispensers as a suds-kill device.

Tricks17, you have given a good description of my issue. Honestly, I have given up, I think. Turning down the water pressure didn't help. The only thing that helps a little bit is to put just a tiny amount of fabric softener, maybe halfway to the max fill line. This leaves enough room, usually, for the splash-over water (or wherever it is coming from) such that the LFS level stays below the max fill line. On a more positive note, I guess this means I can stop diluting my fabric softener since the Speed Queen seems to be doing that for me. Jokes aside, I will just keep doing what I have been doing, piddling around in the laundry room until the washer is filled with wash water, and then pull the dispenser out to load the LFS.

I have a SQ FL and it does the same thing with the fabric softener dispenser.

I have the AFN50RSP113TW01 model with the most basic knob controls. It has the same problem. I believe the dispenser design is the same on all the newer Speed Queen front loaders.

Per the user's guide, "the fabric softener will be dispensed during the last rinse stage", but the softener dispenses as soon as any water is added to the tub. Even if you wait until the initial tub fill, the softener gets dispensed as soon as the first rinse starts.

I have pretty much given up hope, and if I am using LFS, I add it manually during the last rinse. Honestly, with this kind of $$$$ equipment, we shouldn’t need to.

Same problem, in 2020! Also, water leaks down the front of the machine from the dispenser area every. Single. Wash.

I can't find the water down the front of the machine addressed anywhere. It is very annoying, I have to keep a towel on the floor. The detergent drawer needs gaskets for these problems!

I have been lurking here for a while hoping for an announcement of a revised dispenser drawer to fix this issue, but it appears that will never happen. The low water level is my other major gripe with this machine (2018 FL), which I think can be adjusted via a screw on the pressure switch. I'm eager for the warranty to expire so I can hopefully fix these issues myself.

I have a 2021 Front Load SQ washer and dryer set Product Code - FF7005WN and Model Number - AFNE9BSP116TW13 (Washer) and Product Code - DF7000WG and Model Number - ADGE9BGS115TW01 (Dryer). I have all the same problems with my washer as discussed above. Seems like SQ made no effort to fix the defects. I should not have these types of problems when paying $4,100.00 for the set. Go figures....

I had a new front load SQ we just got a few weeks ago (Dec '23) and I'm having the same issue with water still remaining in the dispenser at the end of the cycle. It's clean water and the regular detergent is gone, but water is remaining in the left side of the dispenser. Did anyone find a solution for this? Thanks.

Dispenser compartments that flush liquid products are designed with a siphon tube to clear the residual water. Siphoning may fail for various reasons such as an air bubble in the siphon tube, detergent or softener or mineral residue.