I'm thinking in terms of the liquid type you put in with your wash, rather than the beads or dryer sheets.

I just got finished cleaning out the area of the washer where the Downy goes. In my case, it's an old-school top-loader, you pour the fabric softener into the center of the stem.

I pulled out the top of that stem a few minutes ago and -- good golly! -- that thing was filthy! It was full of gelled-up fabric softener, a few stray dog hairs, and a literal handful of other gunk. What started as "let's take a minute and clean this" turned into about fifteen minutes' worth of "holy smokes, that's nasty."

Having gotten most of the gunk out, now I'm wondering: what made that get so gunky in the first place? Am I putting too much softener in there, and it's not all coming out? Does the softener that doesn't come out just naturally get gunky? Is there a routine maintenance (cleaning) that I've [obviously] not been performing?

What in the world, y'all? This thing was straight-up nasty.

Yeah, that stuff is not good. We just use dryer sheets.

Dilute it. I use half a cap of softener and fill the dispenser the rest of the way with water. And on loads that I don’t use fabric softener I fill the dispenser with straight water to keep it clean.

Fabric softener is not needed. Lots of people are allergic to it. I have sneezing fits when I see people who use a lot of it.

This is kind of an interesting topic for a gun forum. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
This is kind of an interesting topic for a gun forum. LOL

Haha, you've got a point there. But this is where I know I can get a straight answer (probably with a good side dish of ribbing and sarcasm).

Yep. I could not resist. I knew you were a good sport.

I’ve been using distilled white vinegar. It seems to help. I never did like fabric softener’s effect on my towels, or the slightly greasy feel it gave my clothes. Or the foo-foo aroma.

Between the liquid gumming up the works and dryer sheets adding an undesirable "coating" to stuff like towels, we long ago dispensed with such products altogether.

I pour the fabric softener straight into the tub during the final rinse cycle when the water is about 6” deep. I also use 50-75% less than what’s called for.

I have an allergy of sorts to fabric softener and detergents, my solution is to use white distilled vinegar in place of fabric softener. No residue and seems to rinse out last remnants of any detergent left in my clothing. Not sure if it has any softening properties but works for me. I believe I read about this in a book called "Laundry Love" or something like that.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Or the foo-foo aroma.

I'll tell ya what! My hands are nice and soft now, and smell way too good.

quote:

Originally posted by bettysnephew:
my solution is to use white distilled vinegar in place of fabric softener.

This, I'll try!

I use one of these thingys but I put vinegar in it instead of fabric softener.

Centrifugal force opens it during the first spin cycle, so the vinegar is released during the rinse.

Oh, cool! I haven't seen one of those in years!

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

Oh, cool! I haven't seen one of those in years!

I think that they're on the shelf at Walmart. I haven't checked Amazon, but they're probably there too, and I'll bet the somebody is selling them on eBay.

Aside from the mess fabric softener makes in the washing machine, I had a septic system service company guy tell me fabric softener was the number one cause of drain field failures he saw. Given the price of a replacement drain field in Florida, I banned it from the house.

I stopped using the liquid in our front loader at the suggestion of the forum a while ago.
Our washer and clothes would stink pretty bad. We’d leave the door open and not let laundry sit in the washer long at all but it would still just stink.

Someone asked if we used liquid fabric softener to which we did.
They suggested to completely clean out the tray/dispenser and lines to the washer.
I believe they said most fabric softener used some sort of oil (??) that lead to it becoming gummy and moldy.
Sure enough I took apart the washer to start cleaning and that tray in the back and the chute to the wash tub was absolutely disgusting!!
As I got closer to the tub it got black and the smell was terrible.
After that we switched to those little sprinkle pellets in the wash and dryer sheets in the dryer.
No issues whatsoever.
I will not be buying another front load washer after this presuming top loads are still available.

Based on a Sigforum suggestion, I ditched fabric softener 10+ years ago. I've used nothing but distilled white vinegar in its place. A helluva lot cheaper too when buying the gallon jugs.

Fabric softener is full of fats that clog up everything. With vinegar there is no gunk in machine, no more waterproof towels, no more funky moisture wicking clothing, etc.

All of the vinegar odor goes away in the dryer.

Never use it in the washer. I use a pet dryer sheet to help with husky fur repelling.

I never use fabric softener on towels.

Once a month, I do pour vinegar into the fabric softener spot on the washer when I wash my towels.

After 15+ years, my washer started leaving black marks on my white dress shirts... Turns out that liquid fabric softener turned into a greasy waxy substance that took me a couple of hours to clean after disassembling my washer. It was really gross. I'll never use that stuff again.

Now, I'll occasionally use some vinegar, but that's it.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:

Once a month, I do pour vinegar into the fabric softener spot on the washer when I wash my towels.

This. Vinegar is your friend. Helps towels absorb more water too.