daft batty

We have a whirlpool duet washing machine and the clothes are coming out still covered in hair and crud. ( cat hair mostly and mine, MOH doesnt have much!) Now my British washing machines had a filter in them that I would remove every now and then and clean it. This North American beast doesnt, well not that I can find. I have just set it off on a "clean machine" cycle but without the bleach, maybe that will help.

Are there any domestic gods or goddesses out there who can suggest anyway to get rid of the hairs?

Apart from shaving the cats, or grooming them everyday

AmyDavid

Do your clothes smell clean when they come out?

Novocastrian

Are you supposed to launder the cat? I bet dbd33 won't approve.

On edit: the OH says there should be a lint trap by the door....I dunno what that means, but I hope it helps.

dbd33

We have a GE machine, it stopped washing effectively after cats and dog and horses shed in it. I took the front panel off and found a filter. There's nothing in the documentation about it having a filter but there it was, clogged with hair and drywall screws. It worked much better with that lot removed.

dingbat

Bottom panel - take it off, right hand side there is a filter cover cap on what is actually the drain pump. Twist it.

It takes a while to come away, and if it floods your laundry room with stinky water, you need to:

A) Pull the whole filter out, dump the piece that looks like insulation, stick the twisty cover (technical term) back in and run it empty to see if it actually pumps out all the water or,
B) You need a new pump.

http://www.partstap.com/browsebytype.aspx?cat=209
Scroll down and look for "filter cap" to see what you should be looking for.
Half loads is the only way I cured the problem, (dog hair, horse hair and cruddy kids being the issues). There is a reason I have an alarming obsession with clean laundry.

daft batty

The washing is clean and smells ok, its just covered in hair. So the filter sounds the thing. I remember the water running all over the floor on my old machine, tomorrow I will look.
Lint traps, isnt that dryers??
I usually find a load of nuts and bolts from him indoors in there as well

cold-one

Are you using HE detergent? We have a Whirpool Duet Sport - what sport means in the context of a washing machine I don't know - but the instruction manual does go on about using HE detergent to reduce crud and residue.

Almost Canadian

Another thing that we were told by an ex-Brit that seems to run the only shop in Calgary where one can get Persil is that most Brits put far too much detergent into North American front loaders (we have the same one as you).

My wife was always concerned about the "lack of water" in the machine when compared to the ones in the UK. She was told that the Duets rely on friction to clean and not big soapy suds as in the UK. I thought this was total bollocks but after reducing the amount of detergent to the recommended amount (as per girl in shop; don't know about what packet says) the clothes have cleaned much better

HTH

daft batty

We have thay very same model, Duet Sport. Generally I like it. I am mean with the washing liquid as I always think they tell you to use more than you need so you buy more. I use HE of course, daft not to, I wouldnt have used the wrong powder before so dont think I need to start now, I cant remember which make but not Tide, maybe Sunlight?
The clothes are clean, its just these fleecy sheets, winter stuff being washed and put away, are covered in hair and fluff even though they were out on the washing line.
I have directed the man to the lower front cover of the machine. He will have a look once he's plumbed the dishwasher in. They come without wiring or plumbing in bits. Daft eh?
So excited, never had a dishwasher before.

woodworm

I have a front loader too and had a similar problem.. I started using an extra rinsing cycle at the end (I don't know if the duet has that one...) but the clothes come out cleaner...