You can soak clothes in a frontloader. I do it several times a month or whenever I have someting that is well soiled or stained. My washer is a Fridgidaire FL and has a soak cycle. how it works is you use about 1/2 the detergent you would to wash the load. the machine fills up like normal with cold water, tumbling to get all the clothes wet with the detergent and water solution.once full the clothes sit and soak in the water and evry few minutes the machine tumbles them a little to redistibute them so they are all about equelly emersed in the waterand stay wet. it does this for I think 30 or 40 minutes then spinns out with out a rinse, you then can start a regular wash cycleas you normally would do. Its not a deep soak like in a TL but as long as the clothes kept wet with water and detergent they are getting the full benefit of a soaking.

kateho, I had the Cabrio without agitator for 6 LONG months. You are smart in thinking that it just doesn't seem to do the job. It cleaned our kids clothing terribly. At one point I had to vacuum out the bottom of the washer as it left sand residue in it after completing a load. It left a booger on a comforter after running through a complete cycle. Winter coats never got fully submerged. Sometimes I would watch the load and the clothing on the top of a large load would hardly get any time spent under water sloshing around. It twisted clothing so tightly that I had to iron jeans and other odd items that I never ironed in my life.I experimented over and over with different ways to load it, different cycles etc. The only way to get a semi-decent wash was to use the sheets and towel setting. I thought it was junk for the $1000.00 I paid for it. I was allowed to trade it for a Cabrio with agitator and I have been pleased. It does very large loads. Everything gets wet! For the record I only used Tide HE and Sunlight HE (Canadian brand). I really don't think it has to do with the detergent in my case. I have used these two brands for 15 years and never ever had poor results in my old Kitchen Aid top loader. I have not read anything poor about GE Harmony. All owners seem pleased. Read about Cabrio online at epinions or Sears reviews - majority are poor. I wished I would have first.

Yes, these washing machines are a Total JOKE! Your clothes smell because there is not an adequate amount of water. Clothing is NOT SUBMERGED in soapy water. Instead, they are splashed with a puddle of water that supposedly cleans them. It does not. Samsung, if you think it does, then tell me which scenario of cleaning would be preferred A or B? Scenario A) Your aging father who recently moved in your home is bedridden, incontinent & will sometimes have an accident. Today was a different story. Today he's in your bed while his is being replaced, he not only pees in your bed but he souls himself with a large amount of loose stool (diarrhea) all over your bed. So you toss the smelly, poopy & urine stained bedding in your Samsung so your blankets can be splashed with soapy water. with this method, NONE of your bedding is submerged in water, nor is it agitated. Instead it gently flops back and forth as it is similar to being tossed around in a shallow puddle. A water limit of 13 gallons will be used and reused to get them "clean." Scenario B) Everything above is identical but instead of using your Samsung, you use a MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE ( about $800 less ) top loader. This machine will COMPLETELY SUBMERGE your poopy soiled linens in plenty of hot soapy water while it rapidly oscillates and strongly agitates the laundry as soapy water is forced through the fibers repeatedly. Finally, as it's draining soiled water it fills with clean water then partially drains and filling is repeated until clothes are submerged in fresh clean water. So now I ask you this: Which of the 2 above loads do you choose to put back on your bed? Because I can assure you, if you tested both previously soiled sheets upon removing each from the washer, that the first one would test positive for fecal matter. I am lucky enough to have purchased a latest model, regularly priced at $1400 Samsung front loader For $300 used. I'm also lucky my bf can build/modify just about anything and hacked to water level and also installed a hose with hot or cold water right next to it so I can fill it with the amount of water necessary to clean clothes, Not just wipe them down. Because that's pretty much what they do, lightly pat off the dirt. That does not clean the fabric that is why your "clean" laundry stinks. These machines are unacceptable in my book! If you have one of these front loaders, try this: take a laundered item and get a clear bucket, bowl, tub, sink, anything which will show the water and wash your item by hand and see what comes out of it. Water will be tan to brown. Rip-off!

We wash very dirty laundry In our business and you need to remove organic matter and sanitize. -chemicals to break up and suspend dirt. Very hard to beat Persil 2/1. It has 5 enzymes. STPP (sodium tripolyphosphate) is good to add to the water to soften it and help the detergents. I sometimes add it to the second to last rinse as well. -dilution and flushing We have some stuff that we rinse with a hose or power washer before we put it in the machine. We sanitize with chemicals at that point sometimes. Once in the machine, dilution can be accomplished by smaller amounts of water and more rinses which can take a long time or larger amounts and less rinses, unless you have garments that are water proof or water resistant. It is almost impossible to clean these without a full tub of water. I sometimes wash rinse, wash double rinse. We have all SPeedQueen TL machines that are abused daily and soldier on with no repairs. Mine at home had one repair because someone left nails in their pocket. For sanitation, you will need sanitizing chemicals or heat. we use both. We have the hot water heater close to the machine and turned up to deliver 165F in the machine I would prewash and rinse at a lower temp first to avoid setting what you can. Your husband would know what chemicals you need for what he deals with. Some human pathogens require chorine bleach at certain concentrations to sanitize. The SQ TL has a regular agitator so gets everything very clean. This may not be quite as large as capacity but everything gets very clean which is the most important to us.