black light phosphate test

[mamapinky]

Today I made a trip to Pittsburgh so while in the city I stopped at a Mexican market and grabbed another bag of ariel which I like so much better than the arielUSA...it didn't say anything about *no phosphates* nor did I find them in the ingredients however I couldn't read the language. .when I got home I decided to try the black light trick...it glowed really glowed..than I tried tide..gain.. surf..and dreft..nothing not even a hint of a glow. I than tried foca from walmart the one in the huge bag that says*no phosphates* again that bright glow...and viva from the Mexican grocer another glow. Now I can understand finding the detergent with phosphates at a Mexican grocer. ..but what about the foca from walmart? ? I think whoever has any of the walmart foca should check theirs. Now several weeks ago I found cascade with phosphates in a small country store so I tested it also..nothing no glow..its dated 2008 so I'm assuming the phosphates died? I can take a picture but not sure how it will photo. What do you all think of this?? Cheryl

 

[mamapinky]

tested more...

Tide original...tide w bleach..tide w downy..tide free..fab..oxydol..era..nellies..sears..to name a few..nothing..than I tested a small bag of tide from china glowed..and pinol from walmart glowed and when I say these detergents glowed..I mean they really glowed could there be another explaination?? These ones from walmart were purchased several months ago..not years and they say 'no phosphates'. Folks I am stumped here and thinking I hope walmart doesn't find this out before you all test your own and buy the stores out...lol. Cheryl

 

[esty]

Can you please explain what this glow test is for us that don't know yet? How is it done and what does it mean?

 

[washingpowder]

I think rather than phosphates it might be the OBAs used, since their work is solely based on reflecting UV.

 

[mamapinky]

Washingpowder..doesn't all versions of tide contain oba's yet none of my tides glowed. Beth..supposedly if you shine a black light on a detergent with phosphates in it it will glow

 

[washingpowder]

I think you might be confusing phosphorus with phosphorescents.
Tide probably does, but maybe they work under different spectrum of light. Considering the glowing detergents you mentioned are rather on the cheap side, they might be using the simplest forms of OBAs rather than what Tide contains.
Correct me should that be wrong though.

 

[washingpowder]

All that stir, I meant phosphates obviously.

 

[mamapinky]

I can only

Tell you what I've read on here in several posts that a black light will make laundry detergent with phosphates glow...I can't remember reading anything about oba's doing the same..I'm sure not doubting you I'm trying to understand lol

 

[launderess]

Phosphates Are Derived From Phosphorus IIRC

Thus as such yes, products containing STPP, TSP an the rest will "glow" under black lights. Same as urine and some other bodily fluids.

http://jillcataldo.com/sun_dishwasher_detergent_dollar_tree/

 

[retrogirl]

There are lots of things that could cause the detergent to glow under a black light. I was curious so I did a quick test. From Left to Right:
1. Tide Pod, 2. Costco brand Pod, 3, small pile of dollar store oxy clean, 4, which doesn't show up well because it's not glowing is a small pile of TSP.

The only thing not glowing is the one that has phosphates.

I didn't take a picture of them, but I also checked 2 brands of phosphate free dishwasher detergent and they both glow.

 

[stan]

Interesting test there

You say that the one detergent that has phosphate is not glowing? And TSP is not glowing?
Makes you wonder what's in the others this is ? Is it the OBs?

 

[mamapinky]

I have

Going o. 50 different laundry detergents along with additives. .DW detergent. .tonight I will use a large poster board and do a test on all I have. I will post pics I'm sure I must have something without OBA'S lol

 

[stan]

Something with no OBs

May be hard to find, Seventh Generation liquid and Counrty Save Powder most likly don't.
This is a question for Laudress, shel know what detergent dose not contain any!

 

[frigilux]

This is all very interesting! I'd never heard of using a blacklight to determine if a detergent contained phosphates or optical brighteners.

And who would have guessed my Jefferson Airplane poster contained phosphates?!

 

[lordkenmore]

AFAIK Seventh Generation is free from optical brighteners. For that matter, most "green" detergents are probably likewise OB free.

 

[launderess]

Finding OBA/Bluing/Whitening Agent Free Detergent

In the USA can be a challenge.

IIRC few to nil of the top, middle and even lower shelf offerings from the main suspects (P&G, Unilever, Dial/Henkel, etc...) are OBA free. Cheer powder *used* to offer a bluing free version but now not to sure about that.

Many of the "garage" or off the wall private label laundry products are OBA free. So are various "green" products like those offered by Seventh Generation, Ecover and so forth.

Good news about OBAs is they require frequent application in order to last, otherwise routine laundering would remove. This is one reason why detergents contain the stuff; otherwise the OBAs applied to textiles during manufacturing would gradually diminish after repeated launderings. So even if you have used OBA detergents in the past, switching to a product that is free of the substance means sooner or later levels will be low to nil if not reapplied.

Also if you want to avoid OBAs you want to watch what fabric softeners you choose. Many FS contain OBAs/whitening agents (remember those adverts for Final Touch with "bluing for extra whiteness?". It is often those bluing agents in whole are part that are responsible for the staining that happens when undiluted FS comes into contact with laundry.

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123065881

 

[launderess]

Testing for Phosphates With Black Light

Am wondering if age and or length of contents open to exposure could have weakened the phosphate content of the products that didn't "glow".

IIRC to some extent all phosphates deteriorate over time especially if exposed to moisture. This is why we are warned off not storing phosphate containing automatic dishwasher detergent under sinks and or moist environments. That along with not purchasing huge containers that cannot be used within a given period. For those of us who collect vintage detergents we have seen first hand the often clumped hot mess boxes of phosphate containing products have become from sitting in a moist area.

If you ever want to get totally put off bring a black light when travelling. A quick shine over a hotel's or motel's bathroom, bed and other areas will reveal just how clean (or not) the place is deep down.

 

[frigilux]

Would not have wanted to shine a blacklight over the AmericInn hotel room I was in over the weekend while in Minneapolis.  Yeesh!

 

[launderess]

What you don't know can't hurt you!

*LOL*

 

[mich]

*Raises Hand*

I tend to carry around a Black Light... while traveling. Oh... the tells I could talk about. 

 

I won't go off topic. But I'll say this. Higher End Chains are *NO* cleaner than your run-of-the-mill Hilton or Holiday Inn.

 

[retrogirl]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. There are 4 samples in my picture. I don't have any detergents with phosphates, just the TSP. I have edited the photo to add labels. The 4th one is the TSP, I circled it because you can't really see it. The few glowing specks inside the circle are stray granules of the oxy cleaner, not TSP.

So optical brighteners causing a glow makes sense to me. But what about the dishwasher detergent (not pictured)? They don't contain brightners, do they? The 2 dishwasher detergents I tested are Cascade Platinum pacs, and Oxy Clean powder.

Anyway, I think I can safely say that the notion of a blacklight being a reliable test for phosphates is busted.

 

[tolivac]

BL poster inks--the printing inks in your poster are UV ones-they will flouresce under UV light.This is common.Also on product labels--this makes them "stand out' under flourescent and HID store lights-these put out UV light along with visible light.Yes,I have shined my portable UV lamp in the hotel room-what I saw made me put a plastic sheet over the beds one!Drather sleep on THAT than the hotels "sheet"You don't know WHAT slept on that before!!!And now we have to worry about BEDBUGS--at this stage the GROUND may be a cleaner place to sleep on then the motels bed!

 

[mrboilwash]

Woolite and Mas detergents don`t contain OBAs, would be interesting to see if they glowed as well.

 

[retrogirl]

More OT fun with black lights

No I don't bring my black light to hotels, I don't want to know. I mean, I already know, but I don't want to think about it or I wouldn't be able to sleep. Hasn't killed me yet.

Last night when I had the black light out I noticed a tube of sun block was deep purple. So I put a little on my hand, yep a stripe of dark purple showed up. This makes sense, after all it's designed to block UV rays. So I decided to check my face primer which has SPF, yep slight purple. I guess it's a good thing I don't hang out in bars anymore because I don't think I own any makeup that doesn't have some level of SPF these days. Do bars even still use black lights?

One more random black light tip. If you're a gardener and trying to find hornworms on your tomato plants, if you go out after dark with a black light the horn worms glow and you can easily find them & pick them off.

Virginia

 

[mamapinky]

I haven't

Done my larger test yet as my son was admitted to hospital ..I will get to it soon.
I do have liquid ecover and nellies washing soda which are both ob free I think..I will also test stpp.
After reading some on the net I am thinking ob's will glow. Wonder if there's another way to test for phosphates. ..I think pet stores sell a test to check phosphates in fish tanks..wonder if that would work.

Thank you everyone for your responses...and thanks Retrogirl for sharing your results..Cheryl

 

[tolivac]

Scorpions glow under UV light.Prospectors use their UV lights not only for mineral prospecting-but for watching out for scorpions,too-the proespectors operate at night when the UV light is most effective.Good to know about the hornworms-another insect that flouresces under UV light.The things are gross enough-around here its tobacco worms which are pretty much the same as tomato hornworms.those things just gross me out!Esp if you step on one!!!

 

[gansky1]

Black light fun!

I pulled mine out the other night after reading this thread just to see how things sparkle and glow.
What fun.

Pic 1 is the wall of vintage boxes

Pic 2 is looking down into my box of Rosalie's. There are no phosphates in this, Jon thought it could the zeolites (in most dets to protect machine parts)

Pic 3 is my "dosing station" with all of the daily-use stuff scattered about. Kirkland pods are in the jar.

Pic 4 is the jar of pods

Pic 5 is looking into the container of STPP

Pic 6 is the Kenmore panel glow

 

[frigilux]

Gansky-- Is Rosalie's detergent on the market or are you one of the lucky insiders?

Here's a video from YouTube showing Rosalie's at work in a Philco washer. I keep expecting the agitator to start oscillating, LOL.

Rosalie's is the one remaining detergent I'm excited to try!

 

[tolivac]

Will have to get out my UVP SW/LW UV lights and go for a stroll thru my place at night!Haven't done that in awhile.The UV light I have emits both Long Wave and Short Wave UV light.Short wave is used mostly for mineral prospecting.Long Wave is the more common "Black Light" for paints,inks(Detergent and other product boxes)urine,semen testing.My lamp uses a quartz argon/mercury tublar bulb-a flourescent bulb on one end that emits the LW light thru a filter-then the other half of the tube that is clear quartz that generates the SW light.The lamp I have is essentually an older mineral prospectors light.Like for looking for Uranium,Tungsten, and Calcite.Of course Uranium prospectors also had their Geiger testers.Uranium ores generally made greenish light under the SW lamp,and tungsten made a light blue color.Calcite-bright red or pink.If you have a SW UV lamp use it carefully-the radiation can damage your eyes and sunburn skin.Keeping your skin covered will prevent the burns,and wear glasses over your eyes-regular glass and most plastic glasses block the SW UV.Yet you can still see the effects.

 

[jetcone]

Rosalie's glows

under UV due to the soap powder I am using and the proprietary anti-foam. Its not the zeolites like I thought. I never would have suspected plain soap, soap only glows slightly but the antifoam is bright.

 

the antifoam is similar to Gas Ex its not medical nor food grade by any standard.