Like sparky says, add a booster like STPP or borax.

Thanks Sparky and George for your suggestions. I just got some STPP a few weeks ago. It works fabulously as a booster in the dishwasher but I haven't noticed any improvement in the laundry. I have a HE TL, how much STPP do you think I should add?

Greeny, the amount of STPP is going to vary from person to....start out with 1T. Don't add anything else, let machine wash a minute or so than pause and feel the water, it should feel slippery if its not add more stpp until it is..that's the amount you will use.

Thanks Mama. So it sounds like I use STPP to first soften the water then add detergent. I wasn't doing it that way in the few loads I tried using STPP. I just added 1T along with the detergent and it didn't make any difference.

You only need to do this once in order determine the amount you need.

Just remember how much you added to make the water slippery lol.

Thanks Mama. So once I figure out how much STPP I need, in future loads I can just add it along with detergent? I don't always need to add it first?

That's right Greeny, you only need to do this the first time. This way you know how much to use in your machine with your water conditions.

Greeny do you know your water hardness?

Thanks Mama, my city's water is moderately hard (8 grains or 137 mg/L).

Mama hit a home run again (she knows best about STPP, she and Larsi turned me on to it). Like Mama has said many times, STPP makes rinsing even better, which I truly believe.

Your use will vary.

I have soft water and use 2 Table Spoons for a "regular" sized load in my front loader. When I have a huge load (California King top/bottom waterbed sheets, duvet cover, mattress protector) I'll use 4 Table Spoons.

Since your water is moderately harder then you'll need to use a little more.

Yeppers as George says you will need more with harder water....on that note lets talk about half dosing with phosphates. ...the phosphates have to condition the water, you will know its conditioned if its slippery...there's no such thing as using less and it will work better than none....if the water isn't conditioned it can't do its job. I say this because I think someone can't remember who was using a reduced amount of STPP in order to save on the expense..so remember make sure your waters conditioned, and no problem. Greeny after your water is conditioned with the STPP decrease the amount of detergent you normally use. This is where trial and error comes into play...you may only need 1/2 the amount of detergent, you will have to play around with detergent dosing. Curious as to how well your machine rinses...I like to use sheets for this test....start a load of CLEAN sheets, add your STPP and nothing else, watch for suds. STPP will remove all residue. If you find your having rinse issues you can add STPP to the first rinse not the last. I used to do this with my asthmatics bedding.

IMHO there's not a better booster than STPP.

Greeny what kind of detergent do you use in the dishwasher?

George you give the best compliments Thank You XO

Mama, thanks so much for the tips. The rinse test has sparked my curiosity. I don't think my Frigidaire he TL as designed rinses well...But I got around that. I found this out after I started using Tide. My towels started to stink, like a rancid chemical funk stink. I thought perhaps it was residual detergent breaking down in the fibers when they got wet. I was always using a deep rinse by having the fabric softener set to "on". What I didn't realize was the washer doesn't spin out the residual wash water between the wash and rinse cycles (why on earth it was designed that way is beyond me).

What I do now is have the fabric softener switch "off" and let it do it's four 30 second spray rinses after the wash. It does a little spin between each rinse. After the cycle is complete, I run a rinse and spin cycle with the fabric softener set to "on" so it does a deep rinse. My towel stink immediately went away. They now smell perfect-like nothing at all but clean fabric.

I need to wash some towels after work. I'm going to run the wash and spin-spray rinse cycle like I normally do. I'll add STPP when I do the deep rinse and see what happens. Perhaps those four 30 rinses are adequate? Very unlikely I know, haha. I'll then have to do a second deep rinse to get out the STPP, correct?

Yes make sure your stpp isn't in the last rinse

Mama, the rinse experiment was interesting. It took about 3T of STPP to condition the water. There was what seemed to be a lot of residual detergent left in the load of towels after just the spray rinse, which I was not surprised about. The water turned somewhat cloudy and there were some bubbles. Second rinse without STPP had less bubbles, water was almost clear. I thought about doing a third rinse but decided not to.

I forget to answer your question earlier about DW detergent. I use Cascade Complete.

Thanks again for your help.