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In 1993 the U.S.A. took Trisodium Phosphate out of both laundry detergent and automatic dishwasher detergents.
They have been replaced with Zeolites, a very poor substitute.
They are beginning to remove them in the U.K. now, even though there has been no evidence of ill effects to lakes and streams after the water has gone through the treatment plant and the small amount of phosphates have been been weakened then mixed with millions of gallons of water.
They are nearly undetectable and do not build up over time. They are less than 10% of your laundry detergent no more than a table spoon in 3/4 of a cup.
TSP worked with detergents,surfactants and enzymes to remove oil,grease and sweat stains out. But more importantly it kept the oils suspended in the water,not allowing it to reabsorb back into your cloths making them dingy.It also softened water helping surfactants to relive surface tension making it possible for stains to be lifted out . If you find this happening and your cloths don't look white anymore and all the oxygen bleach / hydrogen peroxide and optical brighteners fail. Don't dump chlorine bleach in as the last hope.
Use a good brand of laundry powder with enzymes,not liquid for 2 reasons 1. you are paying for high water content. 2. Enzymes are chains of amino fatty acids that break down in just 1 to 3 months in liquid sitting on the shelf.
Powder needs warm water to dissolve in the wash,hot is unnecessary but I still use hot for underwear ,socks,towels and bed sheets. for a large load 3/4 cup Tide+bleach it's Tide powder with Oxygen bleach all in one, then I add a tablespoon of Trisodium Phosphate or TSP at 99% you can get at most hardware or paint stores and even Conner's baseball whites come out clean after sliding on the infield made from red clay and crushed red brick not to mention grass stains. Laundry powder can last for years if kept dry in a sealed container. Once it cakes up from moisture it's worthless.
I know most everyone is groaning by now if you have read this far but a good pair of Mizuno baseball pants is $45.00 + 10% sales tax. He plays and practices 3 to 4 days a week min.
So I had to find out what works and wanted to pass it along.
https://www.triplepundit.com/2014/01/procter-gamble-commits-removing-phosphates-laundry-detergents/
This is the magic stuff that really helps a good laundry powder.
I really hope this helps,I know Baseball is not big in the U.K. but soccer and Rugby players get dirty too.
And even oily red pasta will come out with a good pre soak.
I really hope this helps,I know Baseball is not big in the U.K. but soccer and Rugby players get dirty too.
.
Lol you want to try getting grass stains out of cricket whites.
Pigmy Pony
26-09-2018, 07:43
Soccer? SOCCER?
Seriously Jeff, very informative, and I shall be showing this to Mrs. Pony (she despairs of my underpants). So we can probably blame the tree huggers for our detergents, despite manufacturers' claims, being no better than they were 50 years ago.
Didn't know Tide washing powder still existed, I thought it was a name from my childhood (like Oxydol and Omo) that just disappeared from our shelves.
Sodium phosphates are generally not good for nature as they encourage algi growth in our waterways.. they are also food additives and come under a euro additive number... cant remember which, but that one is essentially an acid neutralizer as well as being a degreaser etc. ..
Primalsea
26-09-2018, 09:21
I think that while phosphates in the environment are a good thing too much causes problems and enough is generally produced naturally anyway.
Unless your beating your cloths with detergent on a rock it is actually broken down pretty well, after going through water treatment.
Commercial detergents still have phosphates! The shiny coating on kids cereal is TSP! but it is broken down in our body. For phosphates to promote growth there must also be high levels of co2,nitrates and iron, it is not needed for every load of cloths either, just really dirty or oily loads and a little goes a long way.
Can you get Persil powder?
We used to like Dash years ago too.
Yeah we have Persil here.
I use enzyme based washing liquid. I avoid powders since they can get flushed out of the machine undissolved and sit in the drain pipe, where with time it will set like concrete and cause a blockage. This happened to my neighbour, who shares the sewer with my property. The blockage was in that part of the sewer running under my land and I had to have part of the garden dug up to remove the blockage and repair the sewer.
I use enzyme based washing liquid. I avoid powders since they can get flushed out of the machine undissolved and sit in the drain pipe, where with time it will set like concrete and cause a blockage. This happened to my neighbour, who shares the sewer with my property. The blockage was in that part of the sewer running under my land and I had to have part of the garden dug up to remove the blockage and repair the sewer.
That is caused by washing in cold water.
Powder dissolves in water as low as 70f.
Once detergent cakes up never use it, as it is very hard to dissolve and any enzymes are destroyed.
Sorry for your pipes, powder in cold water can sludge the pump in your washing macheine too.
Warm or hot and there is no risk.
I would use soap flakes for a cold water wash.
I would use soap flakes for a cold water wash.
or even 30/40c one. it will clog up your machine. I use liquid cleaner, and if needed a little booster either in water or on garment. Also add some laundry disinfectant as cool washes need it.
or even 30/40c one. it will clog up your machine. I use liquid cleaner, and if needed a little booster either in water or on garment. Also add some laundry disinfectant as cool washes need it.
I should have said a cold water hand wash. There are some items which can only be washed by hand and at very low temperatures, rinsed in cold water, and dried flat. So no machine.
Ninanina
27-09-2018, 16:46
I haven't used washing powders/soaps for years and now only use wash balls from Ecozone or Ecoegg
I used to find I itched a bit when using soaps as I have fairly sensitive skin but not when using the wash balls
walpurgis
27-09-2018, 17:18
I haven't used washing powders/soaps for years and now only use wash balls from Ecozone or Ecoegg
Well I've heard of the term 'wash balls', but I'm not sure it was in the same context.
Ninanina
27-09-2018, 18:12
Well I've heard of the term 'wash balls', but I'm not sure it was in the same context.
:rfl: :rfl:
Indeed...
Have you seen the new body gel that's out? I was going to get some for your birthday:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/z2Ei44.jpg
Hours of fun with some suds!
:eek::D:D:eyebrows:
Marco.
Ninanina
28-09-2018, 04:17
Have you seen the new body gel that's out? I was going to get some for your birthday:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/z2Ei44.jpg
Hours of fun with some suds!
:eek::D:D:eyebrows:
Marco.
Damn it I missed those :doh: :lol: :lol:
Have you seen the new body gel that's out? I was going to get some for your birthday:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1024x768q90/922/z2Ei44.jpg
Hours of fun with some suds!
:eek::D:D:eyebrows:
Marco.
What will they think of next?
Russell
Minstrel SE
29-09-2018, 15:39
I use the colour kind liquid and its powerful stuff. I cant imagine its acceptable to the environment
Ive even had the stuff on my tongue cos it gets everywhere and its not nice tasting I can assure you :)
I dont know how they treat all this stuff going down the drains because in those quantities it would seem hard to break down safely...it cant be good for our water courses and I wouldnt want to go near the rivers and outlets.
Nice to see so many red blooded males au fait with the old laundering technology - we've got a machine here in the house somewhere I'm sure.
Nice to see so many red blooded males au fait with the old laundering technology - we've got a machine here in the house somewhere I'm sure.
No doubt referred to as "the wife". :D
Same as the 'dishwasher'?
I was forced into doing laundry by nessecity .
Nosheen has been running the store nearly single handed as our employee had a high risk pragnecy.
My job is 9 to5 5 days a week giving me more time than she has right now. A real man jumps in for the sake of his family even if it means doing dishes or doing the wash.
The 2nd reason , I needed to find a better solution for removing all the stains from Conners cloths to keep from going broke, chlorine bleach just eats baseball pants.
Laundry is something we all have done or are doing now,
And the products available continue to change as dose the washing machines .
I have yet to find a high efficiency that can beat a Speed Qween top loader!
I just wondered how you guys in the UK get really ruff stains out.
I hear your Persil powder, Omo and Dash work very well.
My job is 9 to5 5 days a week giving me more time than she has right now. A real man jumps in for the sake of his family even if it means doing dishes or doing the wash.
.
Of course you're right. I seen my father do the washing and the dishes on the odd occasion. Never saw him use a vacuum cleaner though except to clean inside the car.
No big deal for me this washing business. Cracked it years ago. Automatic machine, delivered and plumbed in, all for a ton. Chuck in one of those gel capsules - I use 'Fairy' myself (make up your own jokes) then chuck in your laundry. No need to do a separate wash for whites if you don't buy any whites! There's a tip for you!
Set all the buttons that say 'Extra...' to 'Extra', and press play. Then go and do something more interesting for an hour.
When it's done (and on max spin speed with 'extra cycle' of course) it's just damp not wet when you get it out. Stick work shirts on hangers - use none iron type so they dry crinkle free (yes they are worth the extra money) - rest of it out on the line or, if wet out as normal, the expandable dryer rack thing by the radiator. Give it 6 hours or so and it's toasty. Then take it upstairs and cram it all into the drawers (except the works shirts obvs).
I mean it's about 10 minutes at best of actually requiring you to do stuff. I don't know why anyone makes a big deal of it. :D
I feel I must explain ere I get labelled a lazy, chauvinist bounder or worse. My aversion to laundering stems from my teen years when the washing was done in some kind of bucket or tub on a hot stove or even a coal fire; my dear father who saw things in a very simple terms stepped into the breach one time when my mother was ill and stuck everything he could find into the tub and gave it a good old boil up. Of course my red woolly rugby socks shrank and my white cotton shorts came out a delicate rosado shade. I spent the rest of my rugby career on the wing in full view of my schoolmates sporting red woolly ankle socks and pink bloomers. This traumatised me somewhat and I have been keen to avoid making such a mistake myself ever since.
As a young man, I started working full time at 15, I paid my mother rent, and she did my laundry. At 18 I got married, and moved into an apartment where my wife did the laundry. All the years I was married, I’d come home to see the wife pooped out, so worn thin, she had been doing laundry all day! “Oh you poor dear! Let me take you out to dinner”.
Zoom ahead to age 38, my wife pulls up and leaves me to fend for myself. I raise the lid on the machine, and read the instructions, I drop in my clothes, add soap, spin the dial, and that’s it! That’s it? It was next to doing nothing! You can literally do it in your sleep! Throw the whole ball of clothes into the dryer, then fold or place on hangers, all of 15 minutes of work. I took my work shirts to the cleaners! So no ironing for me.
I think I was had! 20 years of sympathy for that?
Russell
Still experimenting with different brands from India and all over.
There is really only 3 companies and Surf is made by Sun now owned by Henkel (who makes Persil and Omo, and Surf is made by Unilever for India and the UK as Surf Exel.
Proctor and Gamble makes about 50 different detergents.
Persil is the top liquid so far but is not available in powder and Omo is not available at all.
It dose seem our laundry powders are made up differently than the rest of the worlds though. Example Surf here only removes stains in very hot water.
Tide and Cheer work well in warm water 60f to 80f.
I think Persil and Omo must be like Cheer and Tide is here in the U.S. and everything else sucks. Tide is very expensive ,I use it with TSP for whites and very dirty washes in warm water 80f.
Cheer removes chlorine and protects colors from fading or bleeding color and works well even in cold water 50f.
Cheaper detergents only do well in very hot 130f water.
Any one here use Persil or Omo in warm water with good results?
stopped using detergent powders. use liquid gel fairy non bio. P&G make it. any stains get sprayed first with an oxy solution. also add a little laundry disinfectant as i wash in cool water. overall pretty cheap due to not heating water so hot, and the disinfectant covers you due to lack of hot water. its about body temp. Never had any issue.
I know baseball is not a thing in the UK , soccer / football is the thing both there and here in youth sports.
Baseball has a special challenge other sports including American football don't have to deal with . Infield mix, It is crushed /pulverized red brick, soft red clay . These red stains are very hard to get out of expensive baseball whites and even gray pants but whites are the biggest challenge . Made from Polyester blends if you get the water to hot you set in the stain if the stain is not removed and you put them in the dryer even on low heat you set the stain forever. So water must be below 80 F. or 26C. It means laundry powders like Surf won't work. On bright colored jerseys Cheer works best in both cold and warm and there is no fade. It's the pants from Base sliding that take a beating. I have found only one Tide plus bleach with a table spoon TSP added, Next best has been a liquid Persil but you need to over use it , a full cup and the results are a close second.
I keep thinking there must be another brand that costs less that will remove tough stains , as Tide is very expensive. It has been proven to me , with laundry soap (YOU REALLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR) there are brands of liquid that proved no better than just using warm water alone.
I use the same washer and dryer to test every brand at the same regulated water temps, All the fields here use Hastings infield mix, I have tried every off the shelf brand in powder,pods and liquid to find Tide , Persil , Cheer and Arm and Hammer all are more expensive products actually do the best job at real world temperatures. Cheap detergents only work at all in very hot water, if at all.
Ok, found this.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=how+to+clean+pollyester+baseball+pants&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1
Pretty much what an oxy spray is. Bleaching agent and a surficant. I've found some of the cheaper ones work best. I usually use tesco, s own brand.
Pretty much what an oxy spray is. Bleaching agent and a surfactant. I've found some of the cheaper ones work best. I usually use tesco, s own brand.
Did you see she is soaking them in Iron out? I don't think it's the oxy getting the red clay out, After looking on line people use this stuff all the time on baseball whites it even says it can be used for white cloths on the bottle.
I have only seen this used to remove rust stains on toilets,urinals and sinks it is very powerful stuff.
https://summitbrands.com/product-category/iron-out/#
spendorman
22-01-2019, 16:42
Got a new washing machine recently, only just disposed of the last one, an AEG bought in 1974. Just use Lidl liquid.
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