New Laundry web pages

Oh, wow, this is great! Thanks!

You wouldn't consider adding a link to my favorite laundry information that would be in no competition whatsoever with yours, would you? It would finish it off nicely *best innocent look*

A recent post of yours about Snuggle fabric softener lead me to buy and use a liquid fabric softener for the first time since my pediatrician told me Downy was the leading cause of diaper rash -- 33 years ago! I have been using dryer sheets. I tried the Snuggle Ultra, and while I would prefer non-scented, I must say that so far I am liking the results very much. Everything is so much softer and wrinkle free, and I have not broken out yet.

Thanks Tom! I have also been warned away from fabric softeners. We don't use them much over here anyway. But did you know that they are extremely toxic to children? 1/2 cup can supposedly be fatal.

As for water temperatures, in Europe, the washers heat their own water so you just set it on 95 C (or something cooler). It takes a couple hours but the clothes sure do get clean.

I liked the section of stains. I am still looking for a remedy for dandelion stains, those black spots that come from the milk in the stems. Never have seen a remedy for that. Maybe you have a source?

Thanks for sharing

Kirsten Harvey Sollie Heimdal, Norway

Yes Indeed!!

They look great, but I think I need to change my browser settings so that the link colors show up more ;-) I'd be interested in information on soaps vs detergents, and specialized products such as woolite vs baby shampoo and so on.

I went to look at your portfolio... it doens't work properly in Mozilla. I had to load it in IE that I keep for situations like this... just thought you might like to know.

Penny

Thanks for the good info Tom. I purchased front loading WM about 3 months ago and all I can say is WOW! Gentler on clothing, much dryer after the spin cycle and finishes much faster that the old machine. The dryer (gas) is much more efficient that the old 13yr old. one. Towels are done in less than 30 minutes, compared to almost 1 hour. So in addition to saving on water, detergent, and time I will save on my power bill too. My last set lasted 13years.

Oh, were you ever advised badly... a liquid softener, if used in the correct balance with the detergent, will wash away leaving nothing but (perhaps) scent. Dryer sheets are *designed* to leave residue on your clothes.

I'd prefer unscented Snuggle too. Oh well.

Tom Farrell

That's true of a lot of household things. I'll make a few inquiries anyway.

I know, my friend has a european washer-dryer set. It's wonderful. Everything comes out so clean, so soft, so nice. The only problem he has is that he wanted to pre-shrink some fabrics for a quilt, and he discovered he *can't* - the dryer flatly refuses to shrink anything.

I'm not sure, I've never seen that kind of stain, which is odd because as a kid I played with dandelions all the time. Dandelion milk is fairly acidic... which implies they might not be stains, they might be

Tom Farrell

I know its not for laundry, but I use Mr. Clean magic erasers on laundry spots sometimes and the little thing is amazing! (Black dirt off white satin - but in all fairness the satin was very cheap) not to mention removing crayon off walls. (not affiliated with mr.clean btw)

Michelle Giordano

Good web page, Tom. I do, however think that you missed one important part and that is water quality. That is, the water in your particular area plays an important part in how you do your laundry. We have very soft water here in the Pacific Northwest and use much less detergent to effectively clean our clothes than they do elsewhere. Fabric softener? No thanks. Even your much loved 'Snuggle' will have most of my family crawling out of their skins! I would love a front-loading washer, but space says no. However, I do have a nice Maytag top loader with an extra large capacity and the much appreciated extra rinse cycle! (With my old washer, also a Maytag, I had to run downstairs and put the clothes through an extra rinse.) Our clothes and towels do not wear out quickly because I do not overload the machine. Second question was the 'dandelion milk' from Kirsten: Try rubbing it with an old laundry soap bar if they are still available where you are. Sometimes, soaking it in a solution of detergent and borax will work. "Shout" sometimes works if the stain hasn't set. Bananas and dandelions make black stains, apples make brown ones. Both types sometimes work with chlorine bleach, but not always. Good luck! Cynthia

snip > Second question was the 'dandelion milk' from Kirsten: Try rubbing it with > an old laundry soap bar if they are still available where you are. > Sometimes, soaking it in a solution of detergent and borax will work. > "Shout" sometimes works if the stain hasn't set. Bananas and dandelions > make black stains, apples make brown ones. Both types sometimes work with > chlorine bleach, but not always. Good luck! > Cynthia >

snip

Thanks Cynthia. I have tried the laundry bar soap. I have a bar of lemon soap I got with my cloth diapers. It takes out everything! But doesn't touch dandelion stains, nor does bleach. Maybe Tom is right that it is a burn and not a stain. Some website must have the answer to this question.

Kirsten Sollie

On 2004-10-08 snipped-for-privacy@citytel.net said: >Newsgroups: alt.sewing,rec.crafts.textiles.sewing [snipping] >I do, however think that you missed one important part and that is >water quality. That is, the water in your particular area plays an >important part in how you do your laundry.

All my water is roof-harvested rainwater, the very definition of "soft". (No, the birds stay off, preferring the juniper bush tops for perching.) I thought I'd have the laundry business knocked, but it hasn't worked out quite as expected.

Because I put my discharge water out on the garden (greywater), I want a detergent that won't poison the soil with sodium salts. I have been using one called "Oasis" which is claimed to break down into plant nutrients. Their term, "biocompatable", not biodegradable.

I started using it in February, and it looked real good. Then in summer my skin-oil production kicked in, and the necks and bodies of my tee shirts have gone to faint biege on to pale brown. The product's designer recommended that I add a small amount of potassium phosphate to my wash, an OK thing to do, since the nearest (intermittent) waterway is 1/4 mile away. The only source of that chemical in Albuquerque sells only reagent grade, says I don't even want to know the price!

An earlier trial of a product called "Our" (made in Ohio), worked OK till the same summertime problem set in. Additionally, high storage temperature destroyed the enzymes and it quit cleaning. Manufacturer said to be really effective, the enzymes require some calcium (hardness) in the water. When I increased the amount (using a new batch the mfr. sent me) enough to get clean clothes, residue (even with 3 rinses!) made me itch.

Ya know, it's just laundry! Ya dump in the clothes, add soap, turn on the machine, come back later. My ignorance before becoming so danged environmentally conscious was easier.

Reminds me of the Kodak technical man's advice for dealing with spent photographic chemicals: "Save them up in a barrel, take them to town and pour them down someone's drain." NIMBY, huh?

Do you suppose there is an effective product with no sodium ion (poisons plants, and I don't get enough rain to wash it down through the soil), rinses readily, doesn't irritate sensitive skin (Oasis does all these admirably), and gets clothes clean when there is oil in them?

Whew!!!

Thanks, I feel much better now...

Tom Willmon Mountainair, (mid) New Mexico, USA

Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered

Yeah, I haven't decided what I want to say about that yet. I know an awful lot of people will just say "how am I supposed to know if I have hard or soft water?" and get frustrated. I want to give people some method of evaluating it before I make them worry about it, and I haven't sat down to think about that yet short of "you could take a sample to the pharmacy and have your water tested". Any chemists want to suggest an easy at-home test?

I would think that fabric softener would be important to make sure the detergent rinses out properly regardless of your water conditions. I have fairly soft water as it goes and it still matters to me, although I use quite a bit less than the bottle recommends.

I do understand the difference though. I grew up in a place where the water was so hard that if you took a bath the minerals would form a crust on top of the water which would break up and poke you with shards as you moved around. (Really. I'm not kidding.) Our laundry never came out nice.

I don't actually think Snuggle is superior. What I haven't explained on the pages, and probably should, is that I believe it's generally a good idea to match your softener to your detergent by manufacturer... so, if you're using Tide or Cheer, use Downy as your softener, and if you're using Wisk or Surf or All, use Snuggle, if you're using Fab, use Suavitel. I personally use detergents made by Lever, which means my matching softener is Snuggle. The reason for this matching is that the softener may be designed to work particularly with the detergent from the same manufacturer, and so you may get superior results by matching the manufacturer.

Most of them are the same size as a top-loader. Some are smaller. I used to have one that sat on the counter next to the sink. (I miss that one, I wonder if I can find a new one...) Miele and Bosch make models designed to be installed under the counter in a kitchen like a dishwasher.

Oh, then you definitely have the space for a front-loader.

Yes, not overloading the machine is an important factor in how much wear a top-loader gives the clothes. My clothes mower, unfortunately, wants to always be under-loaded.

Interesting. I'll have to get a banana and find a dandelion and stain something...

Tom Farrell

Easier than that: call the water company and ask what the hardness is. Those of us on wells usually have a fair idea of hardness of our particular well.

Kay

Not really, Tom! You would have to see the idiot-designed laundry room in my house....My dryer door doesn't even fully open which is a right royal pain. I need the larger sizes of washer and dryer because I have a family of five - and with the allergies and asthma we do a lot of washing (remove dead skin cells from clothing therefor remove the 'feed' for dust mites). I do two to three full loads of laundry every day - more when it's 'sheet change' day. Now, if I were to win the lottery, I would get some contractors in to redesign my laundry area - right after they do my kitchen! Cynthia

On 2004-10-09 snipped-for-privacy@tomfarrell.org(TomFarrell) said: >Newsgroups: alt.sewing,rec.crafts.textiles.sewing >"Cynthia Spilsted" snipped-for-privacy@citytel.net wrote: >> Good web page, Tom. >> I do, however think that you missed one important part and that >>is water quality. >Yeah, I haven't decided what I want to say about that yet. I know an >awful lot of people will just say "how am I supposed to know if I >have hard or soft water?" and get frustrated. I want to give people >some method of evaluating it before I make them worry about it, and >I haven't sat down to think about that yet short of "you could take >a sample to the pharmacy and have your water tested". Any chemists >want to suggest an easy at-home test? Tom, I think the hardness test is adding a standard soap solution to the water sample and noting how much it takes to make a froth. Anyone in the water softener business will do it (and want to sell you something - I once had a softener peddler offer to soften my harvested rainwwater!).

Tom Willmon Mountainair, (mid) New Mexico, USA

"Great Scott, Holmes, it's a canal!" "Alimentary, my dear Watson."

Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered

If you are washing with rain water, real soap should do the job. Needs hot water to dissolve in any reasonable length of time, but you can agitate it with a small amount of water for a while, then fill up with cold water and add the clothes.

You might want to boil badly-stained all-cotton clothing. Boiling real soap is the ultimate cleaner -- expect colors to fade. Many synthetics can't take the heat. I've boiled wool without harm, but I never touched it while the water was hot -- put it in cold, brought it to the boil, and let it cool undisturbed.

An overnight soak gives weak cleaners time to work. I've read of fabric conservators who would soak a delicate antique for *weeks*, changing the plain distilled water every day, but with a little surfactant, overnight will do the trick.

Joy Beeson

Never having seen a european top loader, I couldn't say: I didn't even know that Europe had been subjected to top-loaders.

American *front* loaders vary widely in size, ranging from the same size as any top-loader and upward. However, it's quite possible to buy Miele or Bosch front-loaders in the US, and they're slightly smaller. And of course, front-loaders are usually stackable, so while most American laundrys have the units side-by-side, you can put in a stacked front-loader set and reclaim the floor space taken up by the second appliance.

Tom Farrell