While I’m a huge fan of the space savings offered from a stacked washer and dryer, we didn’t know some important details about them. Lucky for us, we just learned some stacked washer tips from a repair expert.
Don’t fill the washer more than halfway.
Say what? You are telling me that we shouldn’t stuff our clothes in the washer to fill it entirely? It feels like it will take forever to wash everything if we have to do more loads. True, we have to do more loads when we fill the washer halfway, but the washer needs to be able to spin inside. When you overload the washer, it’s weighted down and it can’t smoothly spin. The drum can shake, the belt can wear out, and cracks or tears can happen. And who wants to add to their weekend chore list?
Fixing or replacing a broken washer is way more time consuming and expensive than throwing in another load of laundry. Remember, no matter how much you stuff in the machine, there’s always more laundry to wash.
Don’t use laundry pods.
There’s usually way more detergent in one of those pods than a load of laundry actually needs. Those pods are sized for full-size washers that aren’t stackable. In fact, our appliance repair expert says that most washing machines have so much detergent residue inside that you can clean a load of laundry without even adding any detergent.
Instead, we use laundry detergent tablets from Blueland. The tablets can be broken in half for smaller loads, and they are designed to work with high-efficiency machines like ours. Plus, they arrive in plastic-free packaging.
Keep the door open after washing.
Keep the washing machine door open after unloading washed clothes into the dryer? Yes, and open the drawer where you insert your laundry detergent, bleach, and other laundry helpers. An opened door and drawer will help the inside dry out, reducing the amount of residue, mold, and yuck that can easily build up.
How long does it need to be open? It’s best to let it remain opened for an hour or so. You’ll have an easier time keeping the inside clean and machine running well.
Wipe down the inside of the washer after use.
It might not make sense to wipe the inside of the washer, especially since you just put detergent inside and washed the clothes. Didn’t the inside of the washer get cleaned, too? Well, yes but no. There’s residue that remains, and hair and other goo gets trapped in the rubber gasket.
Remember that all of the stuff that was cleaned out of your clothes passed through the inside of the washer. A quick wipe inside the gasket will go a long way toward keeping your washer in tip-top condition.
Run an empty load with bleach once a month.
The washer needs to be cleaned regularly in order to maintain its ability to clean your household’s laundry. Running the washer with a 1/2 cup of bleach is all that’s needed. Don’t put your whites in, and don’t think that running a load with bleach is enough to maintain a washer’s freshness. It needs to be an empty load.
Don’t forget to clean the drain filter.
This is one that we haven’t been doing, which we regret and are grateful to know to do now. On front-loading stackable washers, there’s usually a panel on the bottom of the unit. That’s where the filter is located. Open it up, pull out the filter and wipe it with a towel. Sometimes there are smaller crevices located in this location that can be cleaned using a drinking straw brush.
What do you think?
Do you have a helpful washing machine tip that we didn’t share here? Let us know in the comments below.
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