sue246,

You will get a lot of responses, but you may wish to search this forum even before you get those responses, because there are a whole bunch of threads on recommended detergents. I will tell you what we do, but it may not fit your style.

Sorting: we separate our laundry into four categories:

o Whites (including natural undyed fabrics that may be buff or tan) that can survive hot water (the trim on many terry towels may flunk the last criterion).

o Colored items generally that very probably will not run, but if they do, the slight tint will affect only the other colored items and not show. All socks (put into a nylon mesh zip bag) are treated as colored items.

o Bedding.

o Delicates that need special treatment.

We separate the bedding because smaller items tend to get balled up in pockets that form in sheets when they tumble and the smaller items thus do not get a free flow of water/detergent running through them.

The whites and neutrals we wash in Hot water (and Cold rinse) with detergent and borax and oxygen bleach. Spin on high.

The colored items and bedding we wash in Warm water (with Warm rinse) with detergent and borax. Spin on Medium or Low.

The delicates get the treatment they deserve, often not in the automatic washer, but instead hand soaked in Eucalan (a miracle cleanser from Canada for woolens and silks) with minimal agitation.

For detergent in the washing machine, we use Vaska. Others on this board have very strong opinions about detergents, usually among competing flavors in the Procter & Gamble stable, or Clorox family or Church & Dwight family or Sun Products family detergents; and the Henkel-Persil fans always will be with us. We use Vaska. Not likely to be found in your local chain supermarket, but readily available on-line and cost competitive on a per-load basis.

As noted above, we put borax into almost every load. Borax boosts detergent efficiency, so you can use less detergent, and aids rinsing so there is less residue left in your clothes and sheets. If you get your laundry well rinsed, you probably will find no use for fabric softeners; we do not have a drop of fabric softener in our home, and do not miss it one bit. For the whites, we just throw a scoop (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) of borax right into the washer drum with the laundry before starting the cycle; for the coloreds, we put the borax inside the smelliest socks in the mesh bag; the socks in the bag then get more concentration initially, and act as a borax dispenser for the rest of the load.

For oxygen bleach, we use pure sodium percarbonate, which is the active ingredient in all of the "color safe" laundry bleaches in the market; but the concentration of sodium percarbonate in Oxiclean or Clorox2, etc., is rather low; you are buying mostly fillers with those products. Pure sodium percarbonate is much more economical, and its only drawback is that you should keep it in a sealed airtight container because it will absorb moisture from the air; Oxiclean and Cloroxx2 will absorb moisture from the air, also, but their concentartion of sodium percarbonate is so low, you probably will not notice it as much.

Here is a link that might be useful: One place to buy sodium percarbonate

Wow, 1.8 grains is really soft water. You might want to start out with a half-dose of detergent. Ours is 4 grains and except during summer, when washing golf & exercise clothing saturated with sunscreen & sweat, I use a half dose of detergent in our W4842.

In fact, when our W4842 was brand new, I had all sorts of over-sudsing problems, well documented here. Our old water hog TL washer did not rinse well, and everything in the house was suffering major(!) detergent residue. It took almost two years before the det. residue got all washed out. How did I know? I keep a flashlight by the washer and watched the rinse water.

I still use the Quick Rinse after a load finishes, and watch for suds (not just bubbles from agitation) in the water.

BTW, powders will dissolve fine because COLD in the W4842 is 86°F. Certain cycles specify liquid detergent.
If you received the owners manual, read it. If not, you'll find one at this link, in .pdf format:

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele USA - owner manuals

Thank you both for the information and for the link to the washer's manual.

I've spent a good amount of time on this site reading people's opinions and recommendations, and it does help to see a general trend toward certain products.

I will try the Vaska/borax combination... I was hesitant to try the vaska because it seems like a lot of people like it (smell, softness) but that it might not do a great job of cleaning and removing stains. I guess that's where the borax will come in.

Thanks again!

Sue, congrats on getting your machine. I have a 3037 for 18 months now and it's been terrific.

When the machine arrived I struggled to figure out which programs to use for what. Another poster here, buffalotina, helped me and we came up with a cheat sheet that many find useful. I'm not a fan of their user manual which I find quasi-dysfunctional. (Their best user manuals are the Aussie & Brit versions which buffalotina dug out).

I've linked our cheat sheet before but will do so again here. I keep a copy in the laundry room for reference. It was created for the 3000 series but can be adjusted as needed -- the basics should be quite similar.

We have a whole-house water softener, thus very soft water, and that has made using various detergents a bit tricky. Oversudsing is bad for the washer as has been written here many times.

I'm a super sorter. Don't mix colors or clothing types. Kitchen & bath towels get discreet loads. Ditto cleaning cloths, lingerie, workout clothes, DH's khakis, jeans etc.

I generally use 1/2 TB detergent per load except for very large ones which get a scant 1 TB. The amounts recommended are always way too much. Because soft water gives me more than the minimal suds fairly often, I run a sanitize cycle on empty every few weeks to clean out the machine (recommended by Miele).

Persil & Miele detergents are recommended for Miele washers. Most say those are too expensive but soft water people have a big advantage. My Megaperls white goes at least 5 times farther than normal. Persil is the best for whitening I've found and removes stains beautifully -- results can be seen on the link.

I have fragrance issues with most detergents. The ones I can stand tend to be Henkel's. I use their Silk/Wool wash (these machines give amazing results on wool and cashmere) and their Black wash. I'm careful with black wash -- 2 TSP does it for most loads.

If I need other liquid, I have Caldrea or Mrs. Meyers. I use Mrs. Meyers fabric softener -- diluted by half -- for towels only.

Recently I tried the new Woolite Everday. It's OK for colors but I'm using it for workout clothes -- a main claim seems to be that it's easy on elasticizers. But it has a funny grape smell so I won't get it again.

Two excellent detergents that haven't proved successful for my soft water are Vaska and The Laundress. It was like Ghost Busters in my machine. Wish I could use them.

I know Herring Maven & others recommend borax. I tried baking soda to reduce sudsing and it did sometimes. But we're on a septic and the reduced soap quantities give me good results without additives.

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele Washer Cheat Sheet