Don't wash in only cold water.

Do run warm and hot washes unless the fabric or item really requires cold water. HE frontloaders take so much less water that even using hot water on every load puts them ahead of the curve on energy savings.

Do leave the door ajar between wash days.

Do use only HE detergent.

Don't overdose detergent, but likewise don't underdose -- laundry soils and body oils sticking to the outer drum due to insufficient detergent to suspend and flush them away is a contributing factor to mold and odor.

Do run a load using chlorine bleach on a regular basis (weekly or every couple weeks), unless your machine's manufacturer prohibits use of chlorine bleach (check the user guide). Bleach will help keep mold and odor away, along with all the tips above.

Do sort your laundry per fabric type and chose an appropriate cycle. All those cycles are on the machine for a reason. It's less forgiving of bad sorting, wildly-mixed loads than your old machine.

If you use liquid fabric softener, do dose is lightly.

Thanks for the info. After seeing the buildup in our old machine from fabric softener, I am more hesitant to use it.

The machine has a bleach dispenser so bleach is OK.

Is using powdered detergent better or doesn't it make a difference?

The salesman said to leave the dispenser open along with the door.

doesn't matter if you prefer powdered or liquid. go on line and look at reviews of current detergents. Buy a water softener if you don't already have one. don't use too much detergent or fabric softener (I dilute FS at least 4 to 1 with water and keep in a bottle) or you will gunk up the surfaces between the inner and outer drums. always leave the door open. wipe out the door seal after the last load of the day. oh, and try to do a HOT load as the last load of the day.

Thanks. That is a great idea to plan for a hot load at the end. I wouldn't have thought of that.

How much is too much for a 3.6 cu. ft. front loader?

And pretreat any stains before washing the garment.

I do pretty much as described by dadoes and have had no problems with mine in probably 10 years. I very rarely run a load with bIeach or hot water. I also leave the soap dispenser open as mentioned and I've never used softener. I use Sears HE powder detergent which is the best detergent I've ever used. I also use Oxyclean stain remover. Love the frontloader compared to my old top loader. I have the Sears version of a Whirpoool Duet and so far it's been trouble free other than the first washer didn't work right out of the box so they brought another one.

Thanks. Delivery is this afternoon. I've heard good things about the Sears detergent. I will need to try that when we need to buy some.