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Cold water setting on my European washing machines (Miele, AEG) is 30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Far as one can see all versions of Tide cold water detergents are meant for wash temps of 90 degrees F. This is only ten or so degrees under "warm" which is 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Consumer Reports noted at the time that other versions of Tide including "Free and Gentle" worked perfectly well in warm water.

With above in mind greatest energy savings likely comes from reducing wash temps from 140F to boil temps. European detergents offer products rated for 20 degrees Celsius which is a very chilly 68 degrees F.

Personally would rather go with a detergent rated to perform across a range of temps rather than just "cold water" only. This if only because tap cold water temps in our neck of the woods varies. It is heavily influenced by outdoor weather and or say if boilers are firing for heat.

For things like making coffee or tea there are times one has to let taps run for what seems like ages to bleed out "warm" water for something relatively cold.

Both of our AEG washers are "tap cold fill" only and register complaints when say set to "cold" or "warm" and incoming water is sensed to be at or above set parameters. Good thing is that heater isn't engaged for long or at all. Downside is machines wipe out good portion of wash cycle time in response to not having to heat water.

My older Miele isn't bothered. Miele washers of old had "cycle guarantee" programmed in. If water temp either as incoming or heated reaches selected temp quickly all machine does is turn off heater. It will remain in heating mode however until timer tells it's time to move on.
 
"Dan you get a "like" for making me lough out loud when I read your post."

The comment wasn't made to offend or be funny, it was a genuine statement. Anyway, carry on...
 
When my sister was born, mom and dad decided to use a diaper service. We rinsed soiled diapers in the toilet before putting them in the plastic bag that lined the container. I can't believe that that is not a stipulation of the contract any more. People are such lazy shits these days.

I had no idea how strong the suction of the flushing action was until one day it pulled the diaper out of my fingers and it went into the sewer. I was scared it would cause a clog, but mom reassured me all would be OK.
 
When my sister was born in 1955 Mom washed all of her diapers in our Bendix Economat in the basement and hung them up to dry on clotheslines stung under the ceiling of the basement. Then shortly after Mary was born Dad bought Mom our first dryer, a Norge Timeline dryer.

The dirty diapers were soaked in a diaper pail in a solution of Hexol and water while they were being held awaiting the laundry day. They were washed separately from the rest of the laundry using Ivory Snow and Snowy Bleach.

Eddie
 
Hexol is still out there, but things have changed.

Then:

https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/001776-00001-19680323.pdf

https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/001776-00001-19111111.pdf

Now:

https://www.amazon.com/Hexol-Concen...CSUO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

Difference is today Hexol is not marketed as a disinfectant. Product is not registered by EPA as a "pesticide" or disinfectant hence no EPA registry number on label.

Many products of old that once were routinely sold and taken for granted as disinfectants no longer are so today.

Back in day nearly all chlorine bleaches were disinfectants, Clorox actively promoted this in marketing for their product. You have to check labels carefully as many versions of Clorox or other LCB sold are not EPA registered disinfectants.

Ditto with Lysol (phenol/carbolic compounds removed or decreased), Pine Sol and many other pine cleaners....

With pine cleaners large issue is declining sources of pure pine oil which in turn have driven up prices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine-Sol
 
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I did something I wasn't thinking of doing... I ordered a box of this off Amazon yesterday just for the sake of trying it. Unfortunately the delivery states between May 14 and June 22. Sold by Amazon, ships from Amazon. Must not have any stock or something.
 
My box arrived yesterday. Will do a stained kitchen towel test this weekend. The scent is really nice. It’s not really floral or fruity. A sensible scent for a detergent.

On a similar note of scarcity, Walmart online is already sold out of the “original scent” of the Tide Evo detergent tiles. [this post was last edited: 4/24/2024-19:02]
 
Jon, from small town central texas, my options are Amazon at $37.49, Staples at $44.99, and Walmart at $52.00. Amazon & Walmart can deliver to my front door. Not sure about Staples. There's also a regional office supplies chain that supposedly has it on offer, but I have to log in for price. Target doesn't stock it. Nor does my local HEB grocery store. It's best for me to have it delivered to my house. I will be investigating the Downey Professional Volvoman showed us. I"ve only found it online at Walmart and it's $115.00. Staples is $23.39. Quipply is $104.00[this post was last edited: 4/25/2024-12:30]
 
Reply 68

Jon -

We purchased the Downy Professional from Staples, and it was delivered right to our door (I should know - Mrs. Volvoman grabbed it off the porch).

I'm torn between trying the liquid Tide Professional and the Powder version. I'd love to know what the liquid one smells like, as it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the powder version.
 
Jon; I just looked and yes . Says 4 days for delivery but I think I'll just wait rather than open an account with them as I already have my amazon account and would have to give my cc out to another company. BTW it's $49.99 cdn $37 USD. they also have the liquid version 120? loads for $39 Cdn. Free delivery over $35.
 
Bob, thats great you have two options for Tide to your door! Steve let us know your impressions of the Downy.

 

The only fabric softener I would ever rave about was a forgotten one that Jeffadelpi got in  a jug from some giant factory in the mid west. Would love to find that again !! Again it was for professional laundry only !

 

Petek Set that dial to C  O L D 
smiley-kiss.gif
 
@ Reply 72 - Jetcone

Hi Jon -

I actually have a review on here! (https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?95754_4)

The more we use it, the more impressed we are with it. It's nothing like the Downy that is sold to us mere mortals. The consistency is substantially thinner (so much so, that I don't need to dilute it in my fabric softener dispenser), and it smells damn good! It's nothing like the typical sickly, overly sweet scents that P&G is foisting onto their retail consumers. We washed our bathmat with it last night, and let it dry on the laundry table. The final (dried) scent reminded us of the Miele liquid softener. And it softens great.
 
I ordered my Tide Professional Powder from Staples for delivery. I had a $20 points award so the cost was defrayed somewhat. Also ordered some printer ink so my order total qualified for free shipping. Right now, working through box of Tide Oxi Powder so will have to finish that up first.

Regarding fabric softener, I will only use it on synthetic fleece garments and for that Liquid NuSoft is my choice. Coconut based (no animal fat) and a very light residual scent that all but disappears on dried clothes. Only available on line through the manufacturer (Malco Products) and it comes in cartons of six 64 ounce bottles. Consistency is quite liquid and not that viscous. Also helps rid my sister's fleeces of the dreaded cat hair in the dryer. Since it all collects in the lint screen, I no longer need to vacuum out the drum - better yet, she should do her own laundry at her girlfriend's house. Another matter for another day.
 
“Petek set that dial to C O L D 😀”

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Since I’ve been washing in hot and warm since I’ve had my Whirlpool and my Maytag A806, my clothes have been a lot less itchy and feel more thoroughly washed and rinsed.
 
Jon... I caved and canceled my Amazon order and re-ordered through Staples. It should arrive hopefully Tuesday. While I was perusing the Staples site they had a BOGO for K cups so I'm taking advantage of that too. I never really thought of Staples for things like that but it appears they have a huge variety of things.

I'll give the tap cold setting a whirl.

Maybe someone can answer this on my LG WM3700. The variable temperature setting buttons there's the usual button for selecting hot, warm, cold and a tap cold settings wash .However over on the top right corner of the panel there's a "cold wash" button. I've never used it and I've forgotten why.
 
Reply # 35
That being the case might as well just keep on using Tide w/Bleach I get at Wal-Mart.
Reply # 58
Agreed! I laughed out loud as well. Some people are so f%#king fragile these days.

I can remember, back in the 1950's and 1960's when it was very common to observe people in coin-laundries with their diaper pails full of soggy and stinking dirty diapers. I observed many people just dumping the diapers into a machine with the diaper-juice slopping all over and dripping down the front of the machine.

Most used the standard detergents or soaps of the day and hot water. The water was rarely really hot----tepid most of the time if the laundry was busy and you would observe angry people trying to get their soap flakes to dissolve. It was as common to see people using some good old Bo-Peep ammonia as it was powdered or liquid bleach. Although the ammonia did not likely kill too much bacteria it almost killed the people waiting for their laundry to get done.

The experience certainly left me with the impression that coin-laundries were unsanitary places to do my wash. I still believe that.
 
Cold Wash Button

Petek, on my WM4200 that defaults to cold and not tap cold. Soo possibly in extreme cold water winters it might aded some hot to bring up to maybe 60F. My manual says it's supposed to add extra wash and rinse time, but I don't observe that it did anything beyond me adding an extra rinse or 2 anyway. Given I don't wash in cold water anyway. But with this Tide I will opt for that button. I did just go play with the controls adding that option. On delicates it added 5 minutes to the cycle and speed wash it added 10 minutes. On Heavy Duty, it changed the soil level from the highest to normal soil level. Option isn't available for cycles that default to hot-0-Whites, Allergiene, Sanitary.
 
Thanks Bob.. I couldn't scan that owners manual qr code to read up on it because my old phone isn't working and Larry's out west for a couple of weeks. I'll have a look when he returns.
 
My box of powder arrived yesterday afternoon so of course I had to try it. First off I'm reading the box instructions and it seems geared towards toploaders stating to fill the machine with water first, add detergent, then clothes which you can't do in my front loader. The only reference for HE machines shows to use the max marking for large, the 5 mark loads in an HE machine which I thought was strange being as they don't use much water? So I filled the cup to the 3 mark for full loads. It was a mixed load, a set of queen size bed sheets, a pair of jeans, some tee's, sock, and a large bath towel.

Set the machine on heavy duty and cold water and the cycle took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. It did a good job I must say.

BUT, the fragrance. I'm not a fan of it. I personally find it too overpowering and the closest I can come to describe it is maybe lavender? It permeated the family room as I sat watching tv. After drying I took the sheets upstairs and put them on the bed and it was already starting to stink up the bedroom. When I went to bed a few hours later and walked in the bedroom the smell was still there and that's all I could smell when I got into bed. I'm not saying it's a horrid smell and in fact many people may love it. Next time I'll cut it back to half the amount being as I'm using a front loader..

I wonder why they don't mention front loaders on the box instructions
 
IF memory serves me correctly, you have an LG front loader. You have the ability to add more than one extra rinse and I take advanatage of that for loads of towels. But you can also do that with other loads, I don't have issues with detergent scents because I rinse it out well. And good grief, it's probably no more than 3 gallons at most for each rinse fill. I have no qualms rinsing. ABBA recorded that song Rinsing Queen. I"m looking forard to trying this new deterent but I still have a good supply of the boxes of Tide w/Bleach and Tide Original. I only do about 3-5 loads a month at best. I only use between 1200 & `1600 gallons of water a month during months I don't havee to water the yard.
 
I see from reply #30 that this stuff is similar to Tide Plus Bleach. I haven't used Tide Bleach in a very long time but I'm sure the box I had was before they changed the formulas because the one I had was non HE, it was a good scent I thought. Is the fragrance of the new Professional powder similar to if not the same as Tide Ultra OXI? That's what my local Costco sells and I don't like the scent myself. I'd much rather use Original or Mountain Spring instead.
 
Hi Bob. Yes LG wm3700 and I added an extra rinse as always. I'll reduce the dose next time. I was out a good portion of this afternoon and when I walked through the front door I could still smell a hint of it. It certainly isn't as bad like the experiences I've had in the past with iirc Gain and Bounce sheets which some people, like my neighbor friend loves. But as far as it washing in cold water it seemed to work very well. I may try the varied stain test on an old white piece of whatever I can find here... and put it in the next load.
 
Jon, that old ad. Only the old boomers remember that one. lol.

A friend popped by this morning and we were sitting out front having coffee and he said something so funny I spit my coffee all down the front of my shirt and shorts soI did a 1/4 size load this morning on cold and put in about to the level 1 on the provided scoop and it was much much better. Obviously I overdid it the first time. They likely do it on purpose because if you're not careful and looking at what you scoop out at eye level it's easy to over dose and of course have to buy more sooner. I'll get some dollar store measuring cups/spoons to use
 
Hot or Cold

Someone up thread mentioned P.H which got me thinking..
Tide professional
Tide with Bleach (oxygen)
The newer Tide Oxi
Two things they all have in common is Washing Soda and Sodium Percarbonate (activated)
I know most here are not fans of Washing soda for all kinds of reasons but my guess is that the above powdered detergents all contain a hefty percentage of the stuff? You can kinda tell by the weight of the box.
I realize surfactant chemistry has come a long way, but is it the alkalinity from the sodium carbonate that really makes the difference in cold/cool water washing. Maybe I’m over simplifying?
 

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