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jewels1003

just got a used frigidaire gallery FL washer and matching dryer

jewels04
12 years ago

I'm so excited, I've washed everything I could possibly think of and now I'm going to be bored the next three days waiting until I have enough laundry to do another load,lol.

I followed some people's advice and I got the Sears brand powder detergent, it was on sale 180 loads box for $11.99! I think I have the whole using less detergent thing down pat. The box tells me to use one whole scoop but I have only been using half of that and I still get suds and my clothes come out plenty clean.

I'm very happy that the people we got the washer from actually took care of it, used to correct detergents and they actually wiped stuff down and ran hot washes with bleach and left the door and detergent tray open to prevent mold. So when we got it it didn't have a smell and looked brand new! I did a hot wash with bleach the first thing when we got it home.

I love my new washer and dryer it's been working great for the whole week we've had it and I hope it keeps working well for a long time. Luckily though my husband is very mechanical so can fix most anything and if he can't we only spent $400 but I LOVE them!

I enjoy reading the forum it's been giving me good ideas on detergents and cleaning that I never would have thought of otherwise (I never would of thought the even try the Sears brand detergent and NEVER would I even thought of trying a powder but it's washed 4 loads of laundry extremely well).

Comments (3)

  • herring_maven
    12 years ago

    jewels04 writes: "I'm very happy that the people we got the washer from actually took care of it, used to correct detergents and they actually wiped stuff down and ran hot washes with bleach and left the door and detergent tray open to prevent mold. So when we got it it didn't have a smell and looked brand new!"

    jewel04, congratulations for getting a well-designed washing machine. We just replaced our 1995 Frigidaire Gallery washing machine after 16 years of reliable service, and it served us very very well. It was not broken -- worked perfectly -- when we replaced it, but we had a chance, at a very, very good price, to replace it with a newer machine that promises similar longevity, and so at our age, we opted to get our "last" washing machine now.

    That said, we never saw any need to "wipe stuff down" in our old Frigidaire Gallery washer -- never did -- and we never had a mold issue or a smell issue.

    We never, ever "ran hot washes with bleach" in the life of the machine, and we never had a mold issue or a smell issue.

    We never "left the detergent tray open to prevent mold." Why would we? For 16 years with that machine we used a liquid detergent (Biokleen All Temperature), and never, ever, ever, ever did we see any mold develop inside the detergent bottle, even though the top always was on the bottle to create a sealed, moist environment. (Of course, mold never formed in the detergent tray, either.) If mold never formed in full strength detergent inside a detergent bottle, why on earth would it EVER form inside a detergent drawer that has VERY THOROUGHLY been washed down by the incoming wash water? Leaving the detergent tray open to prevent mold is a bit like walking down the sidewalk and not stepping on cracks so as not to break your mother's back.

    Enjoy your "new" used Frigidaire Gallery, but please do not think that you need to treat it like a fragile china doll to prevent mold. Treat it normally, and it will go for years without ever having a mold issue or a smell issue.

    Oh, and get over looking for suds. There is absolutely no reason why any detergent needs to show suds to clean effectively. Judge a detergent solely by how well it cleans your clothes and sheets, not by whether it gives you visual entertainment.

  • livebetter
    12 years ago

    @jewels04, I can tell by how you wrote you are so excited. For that reason, I am excited for you. Congrats!

    My first FL was a Frididaire Gallery 10 years ago. The bearings started to fail on it this spring so I replaced it with Miele machines.

    I don't think I could ever go back to top load machines again.

    While I appreciate that @herring_maven never had an issue, I've known several people with mold issues. I say it can't do any harm to be diligent in the care of your machine. It doesn't take much to run a hot wash with bleach once a month.

    In fact, I saw a Dr. Oz episode where he says our washing machines are full of bacteria (like Ecoli and Staph) and we should run bleach through once a month just to kill those. Or if your machine has a tub clean setting, you could do that as it sanitizes with heat.

    I've also seen a detergent drawer with mold. In fact, while I did leave my Frigidaire door open always, I never thought to leave the drawer open and it did develop small amounts of black on the top of the opening the drawer slid into (while not a Downy user, I do occasionally use a "green" Shaklee FS).

    Mold only needs a dark moist place to form.

    I've used liquid detergent, powder detergent, green fabric softeners, oxygen bleach, etc ... I didn't have an issue with any of them.

    Powder is good. Liquid is also very good so don't be afraid of it. Miele makes liquid detergent so it can't be bad. Miele told me liquid is better at removing oily stains where powder is better for clay based stuff. Liquid also dissolves better in lower temps and doesn't leave residue like powder can.

    I never developed any kind of mold inside my machine (that I'm aware of). It didn't smell, towels didn't smell. I did keep the door open always. I also cleaned it periodically with a citric based cleaner like Smelly Washer or Lemi Sine.

    Enjoy doing your laundry and I hope these machines give you many years of good service!

  • jewels04
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    YES I am VERY excited! We moved to our home from an apartment and we had been using a portable washer/dryer that we bought so we could do laundry in the apartment and not the laundry mat so these machines are HEAVEN!

    We are using the same precautions that the previous owners used with leaving the door and the detergent tray open they said that is what they were told to do. It doesn't bother me at all the leave them open, my kids know not to climb in them and we have no cats that would get in them. Our laundry room is big enough I can leave them open, and I only go in to do laundry or get in the freezer so it's not in the way if I have to do either.

    We do have liquid and powder I have the purex HE liquid that I bought before we even got this machine or knew we were getting it, and I stocked up on WISK and then was able to take it back and exchange regular WISK for the HE wisk but after using both the liquid and the powder the powder just seems to be working better for us. But I'm still keeping the liquid because I use it to pretreat and I like to "switch it up" a little sometimes I don't want to use all powder or all liquid all the time.

    However I never used powder before and always used liquid so this's the first time I ever used powder detergent and have been very happy with it so far. Only thing I have trouble with is my clothes don't have a scent with the powder, I've used the purex crystals fabric softner just recently which gives my clothes a nice smell.