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this is one of those weird things...we bought a high efficiency washer/dryer combo a year and a half ago, and the guy that sold them to us said "the first time you wash your clothes in this, DON'T USE ANY LAUNDRY SOAP. What's left behind from your old washer will be enough to clean the load." I thought he was nuts... That cup or so of soap that we used for a regular load left so much residue, it's amazing...in any case, it turns out he was RIGHT, and we're using about 1-2 Tbsp of soap now for a full size load, and the clothes are still getting clean. But I still haven't used soap on the swimsuits since getting the tub.
The nasty truth is, 1) Defoamers will cloud your water.
drew,I haven't noticed any cloudiness in my water when using a 50/50 defoamer/water solution applied with a spritz bottle as needed while soaking EXCEPT I do see a little bit of the defoamer on the surface after pumps are turned off. This is always gone by next soak--presumably filtered out. And I haven't seen any residue whatsoever on the filters...it's probably there but cannot be seen and gets rinsed every other week or so. And with the spritz bottle method, there really isn't that much defoamer being introduced. Evil suits indeed! 8-)
Drewster,Thanks for the check list of, do's and don'ts!That makes life simple!