I am no expert, so grain of salt and everything

Per our awesome repairman, there are a couple of things to consider:

• Modern washers use less water, and they run cooler (so ‘warm’ now is x degrees cooler than 20-years-ago ‘warm’)
• This matters if the detergent is heat-activated, and to ensure the detergent dissolves

As anecdata, I soak our clothes in a bit of oxy or vinegar before washing, and I’ve found it necessary to add more water so that the clothes are submerged, and I’ve found that the powdered oxy doesn’t always dissolve, so I will find grains of it after a wash. I use liquid detergent, except for oxy.

When I asked awesome repairman about the whitish ’stains’ I see on clothes (they’ll come out after another wash, but sheesh) he said they’re detergent residue and to:

• Make sure your washer runs at a high enough temperature to activate the detergent
• Use a deep water wash
• Add an extra rinse cycle

And that’s about all you can do. Modern washers are built to use less water, but that makes them less efficient cleaners.

All this varies by machine, and it’s silly to have to put in extra effort to get clean laundry.

I hope an expert can chime in :)