Please check out the link below on cold water. I can't get my dirty clothes clean in the 55 degree water that comes out of my tap December-March. So you need to figure out what "cold water" means.

In the past, some forum members reported that 2-3 Tbl. of POWDERED Tide Coldwater worked well in their FLs.

I personally would recommend against any non-HE liquid (except All Free & Clear) in a FL. They are just too sudsy for FL use.

Here's the big caveat -- some washers have a warranty that is voided with the use of non-HE detergents. Many of us feel it's a CYA thing inserted by lawyers and freely experiment with various detergents in our washers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Is my water too cold?

I've had that machine for almost 2 years now... I now use charlies soap... it works well in all temps and disolves well... typically I wash in warm, but all polar fleece and hand washing in done cold with charlies...

I say it depends on your machine. I have a Frigidaire Affinity and I tried to use reg detergent at a much lower amount and got too many suds, so I can only use HE's in mine.

I am currently trying out the Cheer HE. After all, it was one of the original cold water detergents on the market back when I was a kid. It also got good reviews from CR's and was a consumer best buy in their testing this year for 2x concentrated detergents in the HE variety. It's seems to be working fine so far. I have also gotten good results with the Tide HE powder in cold water. I have also heard others have gotten good results with Gain, but I haven't tried that yet. I hope this helps.

Don't mess with SA8. It has performed poorly in my Duet. I only use it now for color clothes that are lightly soiled like polo shirts, socks, etc.

I bought it because a year ago Consumer Reports top rated by a significant margin. Had to special order it and pretty high cost. Now CR has correctly rated in the lower ranks. Better than plain water, but don't trust it for any thing that is tough to clean unless I pre-treat.

Oh, well.

If you read the owners manual definitely use the HE products. Doesn't really matter what kind. If we use the normal detergents there is a good chance the main bearing holding the tub will fail and that will be an $800 repair expense.

Brad