Hi, First a few questions. What machine are you using? What temperature are you washing in? How many rinses are you using? How big are your loads and how are you sorting them? How full are you loading the machine? Are you using any additives, rinse agents, fabric softener, etc. ?

After you answer these questions and maybe a few more we will try and assist you.

Thanks yes it’s the LG FL WM4270HVA, I don’t know the exact temp, it’s the hot cotton setting. One extra rinse. Loads are normal size, def not overloading (pics checked out on automaticwasher.org). Pretty much all 100% cotton, don’t sort by color bc there isn’t enough laundry. Tried “extra hot” setting once but it pulled dye. I don’t use anything but detergent.

EDIT: also using the default “Turbo wash” setting bc items were even funkier w/ regular setting

I too have soft water. First thing is one teaspoon is not enough detergent to condition the water or clean the clothes. If your clothes are smelling it is probably not because you have detergent build up but because they have body oil build up. Using too little detergent can damage your washer by not suspending soils etc. and flushing them down the drain. You need to find out how much you need. Do this by placing an average load in the machine adding the teaspoon of detergent let it fill and agitate, stop the machine and feel the water. Does it feel slippery? Almost sure it doesn't, if it does your good if not add another teaspoon, agitate, stop and feel the water. When you reach slippery you hit the mark. This will need to be adjusted for different soil levels, amounts of clothes etc. But it is a good place to start. I use a minimum of 3 rinses and I have an older less water restrictive machine.

As I channel MamaPinky (She was the life and queen of all laundry knowledge and of this site) she might suggest getting STTP and adding it to the wash. It is a phosphate and helps with rinsing and assists detergent in removing body oils.

I would never use cold water and if you can do warm rinses that might help.

Some people suggest Borax. I gave up on liquid detergent a few years ago. Except I use an enzyme free liquid on any wool or silk. That is always sudsy, I just rinse a lot. I agree Pure and Clean and really all the detergents you have tried are just too sudsy. I have been using Cheer powdered detergent on colors and Grab Green pods on whites. The Cheer can suds a little, but is much better than any liquid detergent.

I am sure someone else here may chime in. I am an amateur compared to others who post here. Good luck.

Appreciate that! And I was very saddened to hear about MamaPinky, when I was on the forum a few yrs ago I read many of her informative posts. I remember the STTP, was just hoping detergents were advanced enough by now to avoid it :)

That experiment sounds like a good idea. The reason I stuck with 1 tsp started w/ the Spruce as I’m sure everyone has heard of but when I tried to add more (up to a tablespoon or two) the residue was ridiculous. It def has body soil but the residue itself leaves the clothes rigid if air-dried & very uncomfortable against the skin even after coming out of the dryer. It varies so much by detergent. Tide Pur Clean still left things pretty soft. I’m thinking about picking up some Ariel bc our Target has it but I have read it can be high sudsing. Reading reviews of these imported detergents I see I’m not alone in thinking it’s the machine itself not cleaning when it’s really just our ineffective American detergents. One German lady even went so far to say Tide should be banned lol. Anyway thanks again & every bit helps!

EDIT: yikes, looks like Ariel is Tide under another name...based on my exp w Tide powder looks like Cheer or German Persil are my remaining choices.

Any detergent at Target or Walmart is not the hispanic Ariel, it is the US version. Have and occasionally us Ariel. I only use it if I brought it in South America or found it at a local Latin American grocery and it was imported from Latin America. If you want to use imported detergents you need to buy in specialty stores. I don't know anything about LG's so I can't help you with the machine, but others can.

The trick with softened water is that it doesn't take much detergent to garner the slippery feel ... but that may not be enough concentration of enzymes and other cleaning agents to effectively deal with stains and odor.

Dadoes Yes feels like I’m stuck b/t a rock & hard place. I‘m hoping that playing w the pre-wash & different detergents might give me better results bc just upping detergent alone yields more residue. Since the 7th gen powder pods didn’t leave much residue maybe powder is the way to go though.

Sorry to hear your woes.

I too have soft water and I've been trying to find the magic formula/dose for several years now too. I did find it with Cheer and ALL powder detergents. I was such the happy consumer. Both have been discontinued unfortunately.

ALL still has a free and clear powder that I used one box of and seemed ok for our needs, then the pandemic hit and I couldn't get anymore from anywhere. I am seeing it back in stock at various online outfits such as Walmart dot com and Amazon. But one small box (it's tiny) of that was not really enough for me to see if the free and clear version was as effective as the regular and discontinued version.

In the interim, I had to buy a giant tub of 7th Generation professional powder (needed a free and clear powder and that was all I could find at the time). I have very mixed feelings about this detergent. It does well with our soft water, washes our sheets nicely and they feel divine when climbing into bed. However (!!!), it does not remove body oils well and my husbands undershirts are getting that stink build up again--the same one I studied my brains out on this forum trying to figure out how to remove. It makes my kitchen rags and napkins nice and bright, but the odor of old grease is ever present when I use 7th generation pro powder :( Stains are not fully removed either. Mixed results. But if you are a family that doesn't have heavy body oils, it might be good for your needs as I find the items I air dry are rather soft and don't have that board-like feel to them. Items from the dryer are also soft and fluffy. It has pros and cons ime.

Just throwing that info out there in case it helps.

Cheer powder is very low-sudsing. I'm on unsoftened well water and Cheer produces so little suds there essentially is none ... compared to Persil liquid for example that can trigger oversudsing if not dosed carefully, especially on small loads. Very irritating that Cheer has gone NLA, not clear yet if that's a permanent or temporary situation.

SEA SEA I share in your frustration. It must be a real gut punch to find that magic formula only to see it destroyed by bad marketing (or lack thereof). I only recently learned about Cheer, I always thought it was a lowly budget brand. Thanks for the heads up, I had a feeling it was/about to be discontinued.

I’d say body oils are an issue in this household. I remember reading that liquid detergents are better for that so that’s probably why I haven’t tried many powders. I‘m nostalgic for them though, used to just throw in a big scoop of tide powder in our Maytag on the east coast no problem.

I suggest trying a different Tide product. Have you tried the regular he turbo clean liquid? Or the pods with Downy? I have friends who have soft water and swear by those formulas. Also try using a different cycle on your washer. The normal cycle is the stingiest with water and temps. Try using the permanent press cycle. On your washer that cycle is actually quite effective but gentle and uses a pretty nice amount of water. Agitation isn't as intense versus the normal cycle so if soil removal isn't satisfactory, bump up the soil level one notch to increase wash time.

Someone had mentioned Borax, yes I tried that & couldn’t rinse a tsp. Also did the vinegar, Lemi-shine & ammonia at different points. Just too much residue for any one product to make a dent in. Here’s what happened to a bunch of my tee collars using 1tsp of Purex, really misshapen after a couple washes but def not the first soap to do that.

Are you using any fabric softener? Downy will actually help remove detergent residue and prevent that old, stretched out look.

Littlegreeny We had tried Tide pods, Turbo, Free & Clear & the powder in our first couple years w this washer (5 now). Avoided fabric softener bc of potential for buildup & chemicals. We used permanent press in the beginning & that’s when we noticed the odors etc, but never bumped up the soil level so I‘ll try that. I manually increased the water levels a couple years ago & there was some improvement so never went back to Perm press.

Littlegreeny I did have a bottle of Ms Meyers softener I used a handful of times. I think my orig plan was to make sure we had a nice clean base w/o body odor & then start using FS. But it started clumping after a while so I tossed it.

Also have you thought about running the cleaning cycle on your machine a time or two with citric acid to give your machine a good deep cleaning which would get rid of any residue that could cause odors in your clothing?

MiMi I see so much evidence of increasingly lower quality textiles despite industry reports that claim otherwise. One brand of socks I have- 13 years old, *no pilling*, just some holes from ankle rubbing are still wearable. I purchased several pairs from the same brand recently & they pilled after a couple washes. Happens a lot w/ tees but didn’t used to, one screenprinter told me there is no brand of blank tees that don’t pill.

I learned about the Water Plus feature soon after buying this machine, regret we didn’t get one of those models & I see it’s been phased out. :P

I know it sounds crazy but yes even one 1tsp still clings to the fabric in our very soft water. We’ve used about every Tide iteration & Coldwater seemed to clean pretty well even w that small amount but the residue after a few washes felt like sandpaper.

Def going to retry Perm press & see if I can get away w using more Tide Pur clean since that left clothes the softest. Here’s a pic of a shirt that air-dried after one wash in Tide HE powder (tsp) , it was a total mess, pilled & never quite recovered. Since then I jacked up the water levels so it’s never this bad but I ditched powders too.

MiMi I use the affresh or generic washer tablets for tub clean & I think they have citric acid but I will look into it.

I can't imagine that detergent is the fault on that shirt above. Look more like a mechanical-action issue. On what cycle was it run?

Dadoes that was a long time ago so it would’ve been permanent press or cotton. W/ tide powder & Persil liquid the clothes air dried contorted like that. Towels turned into weaponry & looked like they should be thrown away.. I ended up getting a Sidekick thinking it would be gentler & weird things happened in there too depending on the detergent. It’s been Russian roulette. I have two drawers full of new clothes but I’m scared to wash them. Granted it’s really difficult to hand-wash things in this water so I don’t even like to do that.

It’s also interesting bc I bought a pre-owned sweatshirt from a girl who lives nearby & it was stiff w residue upon arrival. When I posted on Nextdoor about my problems I had one reply from a lady who was having similar issues w/ ruined clothes after moving in, but everyone else was happy w their laundry- it sounded like they had older machines though. My neighbor hadn’t noticed anything & didn’t realize we had such soft water but their LG machine is also 8 yrs old. Mine is 5 & apparently has less water than previous models bc the energy eff. standards changed that yr.

We have been on community well water for 39 years. Our water is soft. In earlier years it wasn't the best water at cleaning whites or getting out stains and occasionally we would be surprised with either a washer full of tea colored water or a bathtub full of tea colored water :o Thankfully those days are far behind us and our small community water dept does a good job at maintaining the water.

I don't have a LG washer. I don't have a front load washer. I don't use a teaspoon of laundry detergent :o I DO use a washer with an agitator. I DO use lots of water! I have a washer that advertises "use all the water you want". And if that's not enough to allow my clothes to move freely in the water, I add water to the load (before starting it) to add weight to the washer to trick it into thinking it has more clothes than it does. It also has an option to add 3 or 6 gallons or "max" water and deep rinse. I'm not an expert but I believe it takes plenty of water (for washing and rinsing) to get clothes good and clean and residue free. I don't have crunchy clothes and I don't have clothes that look like the pictures in this thread. The only items that go in the dryer are my husband's construction work clothes, towels, socks, undies, etc. Our "street" clothes are hung to dry. They aren't stiff or scratchy but do have more life to them than if they were thrown in the dryer. I also don't use fabric softener.

I used to use liquid detergent. I was mostly happy with it (Persil). I always spot treat (with detergent) if I think I need to. Most of the times that worked. A few months ago I switched to Tide powder at the suggestion that powder detergents are less harmful to the mechanics of your washer. Also bought Tide powder with bleach and was really impressed with how much brighter my husband's white work t-shirts were! I've been 100% happy with Tide Powder.

Our hot water heater is in the laundry room and set to 145 degrees. I use hot water on everything except our good clothes. I don't know for sure if the washer's hot water setting actually uses 145 degree water. From what I've read, probably not.

All in all I'm happy with the outcome of my laundry. This is my first HE machine and I've had to teach it how to wash the old fashion way :)

Do you have a water softener? If so, have you had it inspected and serviced to verify it's operating correctly and delivering water within specs?

Does your community have a FaceBook page? Maybe post on the page asking your neighbors if they have similar issues and if they found a resolution?

Have you sat down and watched your washer complete a cycle from start to finish? I'm beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with your washer.

I would suggest running the Normal cycle without TurboWash. TurboWash combines the rinses into 1 deep rinse and a few spray rinses. With your soft water I would think that the 3 'deep' fills and interim spins will be your best bet.

I also recommend trying another higher powered Tide HE Turbo Liquid as littlegreeny suggested. Tide Ultra Stain Release in my experience is the best.

Littlegreeny suggested I try Kirkland free and clear liquid detergent recently as it is rated to do a good job on body oils, and it does. I was worried about oversudsing with it, but I ended up not having a problem with that.

I haven't used it constantly just yet because I feel obligated to work my way through my huge pail of 7th Gen Pro powder, but I've decided for dh's wash loads, I'm going to lean on the Kirkland liquid for a while and see how we do.

One thing with suds and soft water is the challenge of being able to use enough detergent to get the laundry clean, but not having a suds disaster or lots of residue--I totally understand your dilemma. This, is my laundry life :(

Try a little citric acid in the wash cycle. You don't need much. I had to do that for a while as I was struggling with body oils not getting completely washed away with dh's laundry. I bought mine on amazon, so amount was large. You can get smaller packages in the canning aisle of grocery stores if you want to try it out.

Littlegreeny mentions to watch your machine to make sure it's working properly. I too think that's a good idea. Also, if you haven't already, check and clean out the lint trap. It might be full of lint or other yuckies. The draining water passes through the trap and if it's blocked, you can't rinse as well as you otherwise would be able to.

Vinegar in the" rinse water" will remove detergent residue from clothes and the machine. The amount of water your machine uses may not be enough to wash clean or rinse well.

Have you considered adjusting up the water level a notch? There is a water level adjustment screw that we could help you find and adjust. Small adjustments like a quarter turn might be enough to help with rinsing.

I have moderately hard water and a top load Speed Queen. Ariel is fairly sudsy in my water--I have to be careful not to use too much. Definitely not for soft water & probably not usable in a front loader.

I have not used Persil Megapearls--only the original stuff no longer available. Good detergent; I used it for only white loads. Was great for keeping whites white. I'm not at all surprised that it lifted the color on your grey sweatshirt.

I use Cheer powder for colors. Mediocre detergent in my hard water. Must prespot. Likely will clean much better in your soft water. IF you can find it. Seems to have done a disappearing act so I'll probably have to find something else for the dark loads.

So, I'm no help. If you want to try Ariel, get the very smallest package because I fear it's going to be suds avalanche in a front loader w/ very soft water. (I use it for rugs, old jeans, sweats, workclothes--already faded stuff that doesn't matter because it does clean nicely.)

Re: water level adjustment -- Some washer designs have gone to a digital, non-adjustable water level sensor integrated into the machine controller board.

However, the OP's model has a separate sensor per parts diagrams so it may have an adjustment. Keep in mind that there may be more than one adjustment. Some switches have more than one trigger level, one of which may be for overfill sensing. Raising only the operating level could get it too close to the overfill level which may trigger the machine to drain the excess water or even throw a fault code.

Try STPP. It seems counterintuitive being that STPP is touted for dealing with hard water ... but it has other effects and can help strip detergent residue.

Several ways to try it. Add it to the wash with detergent. Dissolve a small test dosage in water and add it to the final rinse in lieu of softener. Run a cycle on affected garments using only STPP to see if it has an effect on the scratchy/residue.

Hey guys, thanks for all the great comments & suggestions. I’ll try to answer everything here in no particular order...

The water levels were bumped up (quarter turn) a couple years ago. Things did improve & I have watched the machine run through all the cycles on many occasions. The water goes up just past the door on the cotton cycle. It’s running fine, no error codes or early drains that I see. I’m going to check the lint trap asap.

We don’t have any water softener as the water is notoriously soft in the area.

As far as Turbo clean, when I haven’t used it the laundry was even less clean. For reference I had compared the lint from TC vs regular & there must be much less agitation w TC (pic attached).

At the moment I’m still experimenting w Pur Clean but I think I’ll try the All free pods since my local store has a small pack. Ariel is off my list & I’m thinking since Persil is for hard German water w/ long, hot cycles it may not be the best fit. I’ll consider Tide Ultra SR & Kirkland but I’m hoping All will get the job done as it ranked pretty high.

EDIT Techs looked at it before I raised water levels & it was fine even though I was having worse problems then

Water level past the door??? Perhaps the water level is too high? That machine wasn't designed or engineered to have such high water levels and that might be interfering with its ability to wash and rinse your clothes.

Having the water that high just causes your laundry to float and get tangled or mangled. It also interferes with mechanical agitation which will prevent the wash/rinse action from getting any real water movement through your laundry. Too much of anything isn't a good thing.

littlegreeny I watched it today & it was below the door. It largely depends on the detergent, here Gain is oversudsing w/ some towels. When I do clothes it doesn’t look like they float. The situation w rinsing & odor has improved since raising the water levels. I just did the quarter turn recommended on blogs & video tutorials.

Just thought I’d point out that I’ve had the same problem w the Sidekick (pilling, rinsing) even using the tiniest amount of detergent so that seems to point to water softness & detergent compatibility, not water levels or machine issues. I did try Rockin Green powder for soft water & it didn’t rinse or clean well either even w recommended dose.

Everyone has different standards but I don't consider that last photo to be oversudsing.

holisticthug: I LOVE your granite!!!

Dadoes Interesting! I don‘t use Gain (natural formula) on clothes bc the residue was insane. But that amount of suds is not typical by a longshot.

monicakm_gw Thank you!! We thought it was pretty unique :)

I must know if you've figured this out, I swear I've been having the same problems and it's driving me crazy

e, I hope you can hack the water level! The difference is night & day. I adjusted it back to the original water level little by little after having it too high (just below door) & the odors/residue were out of control again. That’s not to say that having it so high was any better— it was actually worse bc items were getting shredded by the sheer weight of the water. The laundry wasn’t even remotely clean so I have no idea how ppl think a lot more H2O is better in a FL. If I recall correctly it’s just an inch or so above factory levels. I actually gave my tech free reign & he chose to raise it a little more. So I’ll try to post a pic next time. It’s working for the most part, but I can’t use the big name detergents bc the fillers they use still leave too much residue. I‘ve found detergents that were developed in areas with soft water rinse the best. They are liquids & very soluble. Haven’t found any powders that are soluble or that effective at cleaning. I’m tweaking my routine a little now so I’ll follow up with the product specifics after a few more loads.