We moved to a new rental home and it has a HE washer and dryer. I'm looking for maintenance tips for taking care of these appliances.

One tip I do know of is leaving the front door open after finishing washing so the seal can properly dry to avoid mold issues.

Check to see if the washer has a "cleaning cycle", and run that cycle from time to time. Depending on what type of soap has been run through it, the machine may have a lot of soap build-up that may adversely impact the sensors and it may not run as efficiently as possible.

I discovered this cleaning cycle on my LG washer by accident and the first time I ran the cycle, it washed out a TON of soap build-up!



Ed

There's usually a filter at the bottom that prevents lint from going into the drain. Clean that every few years.

Avoid liquid fabric softeners.

Only use HE detergent and follow fill directions.

Run a "Sanitizer" wash once in a while with the appropriate citric acid cleaner.

Keep front door ajar and wipe rubber seal with a towel to mop up the little bit of water which collects at the bottom.

Our GE front loader has an access panel on the lower front. Behind it is a strainer to catch debris that has gone through the machine. Open and clean it periodically (quarterly?). It tends to collect a lot of stuff. Have a small catch pan or absorbent towel ready to catch the liquids.

The single most important thing to do is to check pockets for stuff. Especially things that can cut or damage the door seal.

Level it side to side, front to back.

As others have said clean out the filter that is under the machine.

Use HE detergent, follow directions, a little less is better than a little more. Clean washing machine cleaner every month or two.

Shake out dog beds before washing to get off the dog hair.

Don't overload it. Be gentle when opening/closing the door/drawers. A lot of people are rough and don't realize it or don't care.

Why avoid liquid fabric softener.

I agree with the suggestion not to overload it. But filling it is fine and sometimes beneficial. Our GE washer will not spin one or two towels, Unbalanced. But 5 or more is fine.

I agree with the suggestion not to overload it. But filling it is fine and sometimes beneficial. Our GE washer will not spin one or two towels, Unbalanced. But 5 or more is fine.

Don't use those saop pods. They may be OK in really hot water but the pod itself doesn't fully dissolve in the cold. And it'll cause issues down the road.

Everything has been covered. Close thread, please!

We stopped using the pods and switched to liquid.

I sanitize when it starts to stink. Stinks a lot more often in the summer than winter. I run a little bleach through it during the sanitize cycle. Tried vinegar and whatnot but bleach worked the best. And it's cheap enough.

HE front loaders are great especially if belt driven, direct drive not so much. the clean cycle usually uses bleach, but using white vinegar as a softener substitute works well.

Thanks for the input. Very helpful.