Antss....not trying to say anything. I said it. Don't understand why clarification needed. I've said 105F is warm water....probably cooler than you'd use in the sink if you were hand washing. It isn't hot enough for the detergent to do what it's supposed to do in the machine. I would not run ANY DW cycle at such a low temperature. If the machine I own delivered only that, I would regard it as broken. In fact, that's why I just replaced my machine. The relay controlling the heating element failed and there was no capability of heat-boost to an acceptable temperature. (And fixing that 9-year-old machine would have cost too much.) I was left with washing temperature of about 105F, terrible cleaning, and no drying. The OP stated that his hottest wash temperature was 105 which I said was "ridiculous" because it is. If OP's machine is not capable of boosting to at least 120F, I regard that as unacceptable....which is what I said. OP has not responded. I suspect he does, in fact, have a machine that is capable of heating the wash-water above 105 but the heating element is not working properly....but don't know. 120 is the typical "normal" temp dishwashers use. Except for OP's machine, I am aware of none that will not do this in the "normal" cycle. 140-145 is the typical "hot wash" boost, available on many/most machines and gives better cleaning -- of course at the expense of more energy use. 155+ is what DW's typically offer in their "sani-rinse" cycles. Wash temperature is lower than that but the final rinse is boosted way up.

With a normal cycle, the washer seems to work normally until it gets to the rince cycle (3 rt lights on). At this point it pauses and intermitantly sprays and spins (though it seems to struggle getting up to full speed). That is how the shower-spray-spin rinse works. The wash water drains. Then there is a rinse period that runs through varying sequences of spinning at 300 RPM, 600 RPM, and 25 RPM, with sprays occurring at several points. The final spin follows, which ramps up to 1000 RPM if the highest spin speed is selected. With the softner rinse selected, the tub did fill in the rinse mode, but it would empty some and wait 2-3 minutes and then empty a little more and wait again and again. There is still soap on the clothes. With soap on the clothes, I am wondering if it is emptying completely even in the wash cycle. It eventually gets so that you can't see water in the tub, but there may be some water underneath. The machine physically can't spin unless the water is drained. Water in the tub makes the inner basket float slightly upwards to disengage from the drive coupler, it can't spin until the water drains and it re-engages the coupler. There shouldn't be any "wait 2-3 minutes" pauses during the drain periods following either the agitated wash or the agitated rinse. The pump should run through the drain period with *very* short pauses of maybe 1/2 second every 30 seconds or so until toward the end (when the inner basket de-floats) at which point the momentary pauses cease (they are to assist with flushing lint). Much longer pauses occurring indicates a probable bad pump. The pump has thermal overheat protection. It'll shut off if it overheats, then run again when it cools. Run the pump again in diagnostics and let it go for 5 to 7 minutes to confirm it doesn't shut off. Also, visually examine the pump for evidence of leaking, rusting or mineral deposits. Dismount it (no tools needed, ask if you aren't sure how to do it) and check if the impeller turns freely, or seems stiff or loose as if from bad bearings. As you've probably read in other threads here or elsewhere, a bad pump MUST be replaced ASAP or it can short-out and zap the controller board. I'm not sure what'd be the cause of obvious soap-suds remaining. Maybe the pump cycling off on overload, it isn't keeping up with draining the extracted wash & rinse water during spin. Maybe you're using too much detergent? Run a load through a full (short) wash & rinse cycle with no detergent, check if it seems rinsed better.

I too have hated my 1st Generation Neptune washer/dryer, almost since the day i started using it Dec'99! For the past 6 years, I have purchased a home warrantee, and only pay for the service calls. This week I found out the main bearing in the washer needs replacement, and the company (AHS - god bless 'em) wants to give me $$ toward a replacement. I guess I shouldn't complain about replacing it after 8 yrs, but you'd think when you pay as much as I did for these, it would last longer. The repairman told me that the new steam models aren't worth the extra money for the # of times I'd probably use it. I too am at a loss for which machine to pair w/ my old Neptune dryer. I've heard bad things about the Duet, the newer Maytag has some kind of holes that are too big, allowing for coins to slip into the motor...there seems to be a problem w/ almost every machine that I read about. Consumers rated the LGs highly, but I've heard that if they break, they take weeks to fix. Does ANYBODY out there love their machine? (but I guess if they do, they're not reading this!)

Here is my suggestion and I will explain why based upon your husband's socks. Get this Maytag at Lowes Maytag Maxima 5500 You are "negative" about Allergen and Sanitary because you don't have health concerns. Hot water is what cleans clothes. The Allergen cycle is P351 NSF and it is required to reach a temperature around 130 degrees. HE top loaders still have dumbed down temperatures (even with steam) because of the volume of water., My Duet has a prewash cycle and I've never used it, even for my heavily soiled kitchen towels. If I were doing your husband's socks with the suggested machine, I would use Tide HE with bleach powder; Power Wash cycle with extra hot temperature selected and steam for stains. If you feel you must do a prewash, just select rinse & spin and let the "rinse" be a prewash with detergent. Other selection might be Allergen with steam for stains and in both instances heavy soil level. Dumbed down temperatures don't get things adequately clean (Hello MamaP), especially heavy soil. Dirty heavy soils, select extra hot and steam for stains. My duet has cycles machines don't have now days because it's a 2011 model. I don't use a cycle based upon what it's intended garment description says. I select the cycle because it give me the tumble speed I want, ste4am for stains and hotter temeratures. I don't use the "Normal" cycle because that the energy star certified cycle--translates to even lower water temps than in the other cycles as well as reduced water amounts per fill.