detergent in a wringer washer with hard water

[smokeythecat]

I have at least 2 months worth of ecos liquid detergent left that i was planning to finish off before switching to a different brand, but then i had to go and get a washing machine where i have to stick my arms in the wash water and it doesn't feel super great after all the laundry is done (i did 5 loads today and i'm wearing gloves to use the computer because i put shea butter on my hands and arms). Dry skin is worse this time since i decided to add some baking soda to hopefully keep my clothes from coming out stiff. So what's the best way to go with detergent and with hard water extras? Or should i buy some really long rubber gloves?

 

[ea56]

It’s been many years since I last used a wringer washer, but I would think that any detergent that you’ve had success with in your local hard water should do just fine in your wringer washer too, just add a little more for each successive load in which you re use the wash water, and of course add additional water to bring up to the proper level if necessary. Also, when you’ve used up your current supply of detergent, maybe give a powdered detergent a try.

When I took the first load out of the wash water, always the whites, the water was still very hot, so sometimes I would use a large wooden spoon to fish out the clothes, to keep from being burnt. After the first load the water had usually cooled enough to just use my hands.

There also used to be products like Liquid Glove, which was a water repelling cream that you can apply to your hands before any water and/or chemicals are used in cleaning/laundry. Do a Google search for these products, it may help keep your hands from drying out, and is much easier to use than rubber gloves. When I was a Cosmetologist, many moons ago I used to use Liquid Glove sometimes when I had to do several perms in a day and it helped save my hands from chemical damage.

No matter what, I hope you’ll learn to enjoy the Zen process of doing laundry in your Maytag Wringer Washer, I know I always did.

Eddie

 

[smokeythecat]

i've never had unsoftened hard water before and haven't even lived here a month yet so i have no idea what i'm doing

i also just got a job at a food factory, meaning i have to stick my hands in an automatic hand washer thing 4x a day, and my specific job is peeling and sticking labels (approximately 3000 over the course of the day), so my hands are just gonna die

 

[ea56]

If Your Hands Are In Water

all day long at work, then by all means get yourself one of the products in the link below.

HTH,
Eddie
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gloves-in-a-Bottle-Hand-Body-Shielding-Lotion-8-Oz/36969962

 

[launderess]

Avon Silicone Glove

Trusted and recommended by generations of housewives for preventing and or softening rough dry wash day hands.

https://www.amazon.com/Avon-Care-Silicone-Glove-Cream/dp/B00538U9QO#customerReviews

What you are describing sounds like just that; wash day red hands/skin which comes from exposure to harsh (and often alkaline) chemicals. Women and others used to suffer something horrible until rubber then later latex gloves came along.

Standard other beauty hint is to slather one's hands with thick rich moisturizing hand cream, and or even just something like Vaseline, Eucerin, Nivea, etc... then put on a pair of cotton gloves before going to bed. In a pinch a clean pair of cotton tube socks will do as well. https://www.annmariegianni.com/10-solutions-rough-overworked-dry-hands-male-female/

Baking soda or any other salt (including washing soda) can leave laundry feeling rough. Common solution is to use a "sour rinse" by adding some sort of acidic substance to final or second to last rinse. The acids will neutralize and break down any remaining alkalinity (bicarbonates, etc...) leaving laundry with a lower to neutral pH.

I'd switch to a good liquid laundry detergent for softer laundry. You'll probably have to adjust dosage upwards for use with wringer, but soon practice will give experience.

You want to stop reaching down into washing machine or tubs; get yourself washing tongs or laundry stick/fork and use to fetch things out of water.

 

[ozzie908]

Parnall wringer washer.

Now resides in my washroom its been a while since I used it as I have run out of room to get the thing to the sink but I have lots of Tongs to use also if you don't have a pair use an old stick anything to avoid prolonged contact with wash solution.

Have fun and as others have said enjoy the process its meant be be relaxing at least I find to so .

Austin

 

[smokeythecat]

It’s fun to watch the wringer work until you feed it the open end of a high thread count pillowcase and get sprayed when the bag of water finally makes it out through the seams

 

[launderess]

" you feed it the open end of a high thread count pillow

You want to stop that as well.

Pillow slips/cases/shams and anything else with one open end are fed into mangles/wringers/ironers closed end first.

Besides being sprayed with water or whatever from build up of air being shoved through closed end, doing so repeatedly will weaken material.

 

[smokeythecat]

oh yeah, never doing that again

 

[ea56]

When I was a teenager we had a Maytag Wringer in the kitchen. Once I was helping my Mom put her double bed size down comforter thru the wringer, because it was so heavy when wet. You should have seen how the water shoot all over both of us and the kitchen when the comforter was about 2/3’s thru the wringer. But by God it was clean and we managed to get it thru a second time after the rinse, but we stood to the side the second time, and stopped the wringer every foot or so, and used our hands to squeeze the excess water out before it got to the wringer rolls, and it wasn’t was much of a mess.

Good Times!

Eddie

 

[smokeythecat]

i have a twin bed but a quilt the size of the top of a king (didn't check my measurements before i started sewing) and it might fit in the tub of the washer but i'm not confident it would go through the wringer after folding it enough times to make it so narrow. and with the state of the grease inside the wringer drive pole the motor would definitely get stopped anyway

 

[ea56]

There are some things that it just isn’t practical to try to fold before putting thru the wringer and quilts, blankets, comforters, bedspreads, jackets are just a few of them. I always just started the large items at about the center edge of the item and feed it thru the wringer, shifting and adjusting them as needed to get the item wrung out. This always worked for me. You’ll learn what works for you best by just using the machine and trial and error. These machines are powerhouses and can take a lot more than you may think.

When wringer washing machines were being used, before 1938 when the first Bendix Automatics came out, they were the only game in town if you had a washing machine. So users found ways to be able to wash large items, like your quilt. They sure couldn’t have wrung a quilt out by hand, so the wringer was the best tool available to get as much water out as possible.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 9/8/2019-18:12]

 

[stan]

Hard water

Have a search/look here about adding powdered STPP along with your detergent.
Not to be confused with TSP.
STPP is best for softening hard water right there in your wash tub. (About 2 to 3 TBLS)
This won't help your hands, but will stop hard water scaling. And will improve your detergents ability to clean and (importantly rinse) from the fabrics.
For you hands, I would take the recommendations above.
You may also try rinsing off your hands off as soon as possible after having them in with the laundry.
Cornhuskers Lotion is a good quick fix for dry chapped hands. Rinse and reapply after having your hands in the wash.
As far as putting heavy or bulky things through the wringer.. Eddie is right, it can take more than you think, however you've spent some time and effort on your machine getting it up and running.
If something breaks, it's not like you can just run down to the appliance store and pick up a part or have a serviceman come by to repair it.
So with items that are heavy, maybe too large or bulky...you'l have to ask yourself if you want to risk it, or be on the safe side..and just run it down to the laundry mat.