How to Get the Most Out of Your Water

Consumer Reports' laundry expert explains how to fix your peskiest washer woes by simply adjusting your routine

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Water-saving appliances, like high-efficiency washing machines, are an easy way to help conserve resources—and trim your utility bills, too. What's more, Consumer Reports has collected ample evidence over the past couple of decades that high-efficiency (HE) washers tend to be much better at removing stains than traditional agitator-style washers, while also saving enough water on average to fill a small above-ground pool every summer. (See our washing machine buying guide to see how we test washers.)

Nevertheless, as many can attest, HE washers can have their shortcomings, from emitting a persistent odor to turning out gritty laundry. Owners, particularly those who have used a conventional machine in the past, might assume that it's the efficiency aspect of their washer that's to blame—when, in fact, it's often simply a result of the way they’re using it.

Here, we take a closer look at a few common complaints, along with expert-backed strategies for making things right. With a slight shift in routine, your clothes (and the washer itself) should emerge fresh and clean with every load.

Sure, maybe the stains got removed, but your clothes feel greasy or gritty. This is usually a sign that you’re using too much detergent, and it's leaving residue behind. Today's formulas are super-concentrated, and the recommended doses tend to be larger than most loads actually need, so it's easy to accidentally overdo it—especially since there's much less water for the soap to dissolve into.

Solution: Scale Back on Your Detergent DoseRich Handel, Consumer Reports’ laundry expert, recommends starting with the first line on the detergent cup (often about 1 tablespoon) if you’re using a liquid or a powder. If smaller doses don't get your clothes clean, but larger doses still leave residue, add an extra rinse to your cycle. Lots of washers give you this option on their control panel, or you could run a separate rinse-and-spin program. An extra rinse will use a few extra gallons of water, but the total amount is still much less than a traditional water-guzzling washer typically uses.

If that still doesn't work, you probably just have a lousy washer. Again, not all HE machines are bad, but Handel has heard about some really bad ones. "Consumers have told us some washers didn't even get the clothes wet or left streaks of detergent," he says.

According to Handel, while you don't need extra water to remove stains or small debris, that extra dose really does help remove solid soils. So the default cycle on HE washers will struggle in this case.

Solution: Preclean or Use More WaterYou can remove hair and mud relatively easily before you throw your clothes into a washer—and you really ought to do that anyway, especially with hair, because that stuff can jam the washer's drain pump, if not your drain pipe. Use a lint roller or masking tape for hair. For mud or dirt, shake it out.

If you still want to try to get the machine to do all the work, pick any setting that adds extra water. The "heavy" cycle is a good start. If your washer has a "deep fill," "add water," or "solid soil" option, try that. An extra rinse could also help. And you can still find washers that can positively drown your clothes, including top-loaders from Speed Queen and Maytag Commercial.

What we don't recommend is manually pouring extra water into the washer, because it can mess with the washer's behavior in some weird ways.

Learn how to cut your water use in half.

This is only a problem with front-loading washers, but it's a real one: Seventeen percent of owners reported this problem in a CR survey. The big door gasket, with its deep fold where water can pool, is a perfect place for odor-causing microorganisms to breed because it's dark, damp, and ripe with organic matter like skin cells and body oils—not to mention detergent residue, which makes it harder to rinse away the germ food.

Solution: Keep the Gasket Clean and Allow Some AirflowWe’ve previously explored why mold and odors can happen in front-loaders, and also covered the most important steps for preventing and reducing them. In short, transfer your just-washed clothes into the dryer as soon as possible, and then—if you don't have young children or pets who are in danger of crawling in—leave the washer door open; if you do have little ones around, lock the laundry room door or create a barrier. The goal is to air out any lingering moisture. To clean the gasket, pull it back gently, wipe away the moisture, and dry it. Don't forget to wipe clean the inside of the door, too, and make sure you don't have any socks trapped in there.

This could be the result of a few different things. It could be an installation problem—maybe the lines aren't connected correctly, or the shipping bolts weren't removed. Rule out those issues first. Otherwise, it may be the result of the spin speed: With front-loaders, the spin speed can be twice as fast as that of a traditional top-loader. The upside is that the high-speed wrings out lots of water, so drying times are faster. The downside is that wrinkles or creases can set into fabrics, and some people just find it weird that clothes can be so dry right out of the washer.

Solution: Turn Down the Spin SpeedA medium setting is a good compromise. However, if turning down the speed doesn't work, you might have an old or bad machine. Some older or lower-end HE top-loaders (the kind without agitators) do sometimes struggle to completely wet a load of clothes, according to Handel—and this can tangle up your pants and long-sleeved shirts. So consider an upgrade when you’re ready to shop for a new model. Many middle- to high-end HE top-loaders have recirculating pumps that spray water onto the clothes from above, ensuring that the whole load gets damp.

Soaking a load of clothes or linens in a tub of soapy water can help remove stains and residues (it's basically the same thing as "laundry stripping"), and it can help make sure detergent is evenly dissolved in the load, Handel says. Most top-loaders still make it easy to soak, but front-loaders do not.

Solution: Use the Prewash Option—or Your BathtubThe prewash option on your front-loader (and on some HE top-loaders) can at least boost the stain-removal performance. It's essentially a 15-minute cold-wash program added to the beginning of your regular wash cycle, and it's pretty effective.

If you ever want to give your clothes a good hot soak to help remove detergent residue or body oils every once in a while, you can do it in your bathtub, a utility sink, or even some kind of bucket or barrel. We haven't found evidence that regularly soaking your clothes is necessary unless your clothes and linens get very dirty. But if it's something that's important to you, look for an automatic "soak and wash" option on your next washer—there are plenty of water-conserving models that have a feature like this, including the LG WT7150CW.

Now that you know how to adapt your wash-day habits to get your clothes as clean as possible, here are three washing machines that are highly rated in CR's tests and have some of the features mentioned above.