Ever wonder what the difference  is between an HE (high efficiency) washer and a regular washer?

The HE washer uses less water and a tumbling action to clean your clothes, a regular washer uses more water and is not as energy efficient.

Can you use regular detergent in an HE washer? The answer to this is NO.

Not even green laundry detergents, regular laundry detergent pods or tablets, or powder laundry detergents should be used. Only HE detergents should be used in these washers, because either top-loading or front-loading high efficiency washers are designed to use very low water levels and a tumbling washing action. For this reason, HE detergents are created to be especially low-sudsing and are formulated to provide clean wash loads. If you put regular detergent in a HE washer it will confuse the washer, may stop your machine or cause it to overfill.

Regular laundry detergents, on the other hand, are formulated to be high-sudsing and to be used in greater quantities of water. The use of any other kind of detergent in a high-efficiency washer, not only can confuse your washer cycle and stop the machine, but also prevents it from washing properly or rinsing thoroughly. Failure to rinse all the soap thoroughly out of your clothes could result in damage to your clothes as well as your health! Leftover chemicals in your clothes can both affect the color and texture of your garments and can penetrate your skin, where they could cause allergic reactions or even eczema or other skin conditions!

Some people think because there are no suds, that your clothes will not get clean. This is not true! There is nothing that shows that more soap makes your clothes cleaner. What gets your clothes clean is the friction between the garments and the water that happens during the wash cycle.