[NikonMama]

I want to try making my own laundry detergent. I've convinced my husband of the savings, and how easy it is to make, but he's still paranoid. We have a brand new expensive HE washing machine, and he's REALLY worried that it will destroy our machine.

If you have used homemade laundry detergent in a front load HE machine, can you tell me how long you have used it? Has it destroyed your machine?

Does it get your clothes clean?

I posted this same question on another forum and of course she said that she used to use homemade detergent in a regular machine, but the sales agent that sold her her HE front loader told her that it would rust the machine and not to use it. This is exact what my husband does NOT want to hear. Is this true??

I would greatly appreciate as many replies as I can get. It took me almost 2 years to get my husband to use my vinegar/dishsoap/water mixture to clean with.

I want to make this transition a bit quicker. lol Thanks!!!

 

[34me]

I've had my frontloader for 3.5 years and have been using homemade laundry soap for about 2.5 years. It's not one of the really expensive ones but a middle of the road. I use the powder recipe and then shoot about 1/4 cup of hot water down the shoot. We have never had any issues with rust or buildup. The only issue we've ever had was a clogged prefilter. Which we fixed ourselves. Good Luck!

 

[NikonMama]

Thank you for your reply!!

I'll be using the liquid kind. We have a septic tank, and I've been told that powdered detergents are hard on them.

 

[SamiPolizzi]

I'm pretty sure the reason you're supposed to use "special" detergent in an HE machine is that it has to be low suds, which is not a concern without homemade detergent since it's very low suds. I've been making my own for about a year and I've yet to have a problem with my HE front loader.

 

[lifeguard]

I agree with samipolizzi about the low sudsing but it is also to do with corrosion in the machine. My Mom owns a laundromat & has seen difficulty with this. The HE detergents are less corrosive. I'm not sure how homemade would work into that.