Using liquid detergents for a pre-wash cycle with a powder only detergent drawer

Question

I've found that liquid detergents give the best results in my AEG lavamat washer dryer. These work well when I want to do a normal wash, I just pour the liquid into the supplied ball, pop it in the drum and off it goes.

When I want to use a pre-wash programme however, I have a problem.

The washing machine detergent drawer is not designed to hold liquid detergent, only powder, so I can put liquid detergent in the ball for the pre-wash part of the programme, but then have to use powder for the main wash.

Some AEG lavamat washer dryers have a detergent tray which comes with a flip over divider (you can buy replacements or print your own) but mine does not.

I have played with using sellotape (Scotch tape) and offcuts of plastic to seal off one end of the powder drawer so I can add liquid detergent, but this hack rarely works for more than a few washes, it is fiddly to remove when I don't need it, and I'm always concerned that the plastic or sellotape will come loose, get sucked into the washing machine pipes where it will get stuck and cause a blockage or worse.

I've already dismissed the idea of using detergent tablets as I want to be able to tailor the amount of detergent I use per wash (minimise the detergent used given out water hardness). I've also had bad luck with pods (Liquid 'tablets') in the past. With low temperature/eco washes the plastic didn't always dissolve fully, leaving clothes covered in tiny plastic fragments (especially noticeable on black jeans).

Does anyone have a better way of making a washing machine powder drawer compatible with liquid detergents?

Answer 1

I would consider:

Freezing the detergent into blocks that are placed into the drawer. it may be that it remains solid enough to not flow throughout the prewash phase but is then melted by the water

Permanently modify the soap drawer- shape a stainless steel blanking plate then heat it and push it into the plastic so the drawer becomes dammed. The dam should not be as high as the top of the drawer so that detergent can be washed over the top of it

Use liquid tablets of soap; these typically come as detergent in a kind of plastic that dissolves to nothing in water (but is unaffected by the detergent) - put them in the drawer. A detractor of this is indeed as you note in your comments; on shorter or low temperature washes you can occasionally find they don't dissolve completely an a sort of melted looking plastic mess ends up stuck to a garment)

Place/fix a cut up ice cube tray or other small container with an open top, that is not as high as the sides of the soap companrtment, into the drawer as a permanent feature. Fill the smaller container with detergent. This is the equivalent of permanently damming the drawer end but is more easily reversible if your machine needs to be returned for eg warranty claim