Ecover Laundry Liquid/Surcare

[letim]

I'm considering changing over to Ecover Laundry Liquid. The regular liquids/powders just seem to have varying levels of overpowering fragrances. I thought that Ecover would be better as far as this is concerned.

What do you think of Ecover Laundry Liquid? Is its fragrance not too overpowering and does it do a good job? I am considering it for coloureds and whites, using the Ecover bleach for the whites.

There's another product I've found called Surcare which has no fragrance at all. What do you think of this product?

I've been looking at the liquid versions of these products but they're also available in a powder form. Which is better, liquid or powder? Or is that the million dollar question!!??

Thanks for your help.

Tim

 

[zipdang]

The only Ecover liquid formulation I'm familiar with is the Delicate Wash, which I quite like. Not sure whether our North American version is the same as the UK version, but it does a nice job on wool items and has a mild pleasant scent. I have not tried their regular laundry liquid. In the past I've found their powdered detergent to be an underperformer, although I have a new unopened box of an "improved formula" yet to try.

Aside from the previous version of powered detergent, I have been mostly impressed with Ecover products. I regularly use their dishwashing liquid, dishwasher powder and tabs, fabric softener, and various spray cleaners. They can be very expensive compared to other brands, so I watch for sales and stock up when possible. That way Ecover products don't cost me any more than most conventional brands.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Be cautious

I have tried Ecover products in the past and they don't have anywhere near the same cleaning power as the big name products. In fact, Ecover dishwasher tablets caused a terrible smell to build up in my mother's dishwasher.

Surcare is manufactured by McBride, as are (were?) some of the supermarket own brands. It is non-biological, and fragrance free. I have never tried it, but McBride's detergents for the supermarkets seem to perform okay.

Non-biological products do not perform as well as biological ones, and the last time Which? tested powders, liquids and tablets, Ariel wiped the decks with all the competitors.

I recently bought a box of Henkel's 'Dixan' laundry powder. It is biological and has a fragrance of roses. The smell is not as overpowering as 'Ariel', 'Bold' or 'Daz' and it does not seem to foam up in the washer, like Ariel, Bold and Daz do. 'Dixan' seems to rinse away quite cleanly too, and if soaking anything overnight, it doesn't leave a whitish powder on the bottom of buckets/sinks/basins.

Dixan is sold via the Co-Op, £8 odd for a large box.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Have to speak up for Ecover here, it's one of the mainstays in my collection and I've never had any trouble cleaning with Ecover liquid or powder, the softener is great too as is their other products - washing up liquid is much better than Fairy IMO.

Jon

 

[mielabor]

Hear, hear

I agree with Jon. Ecover softener is OK. Ecover washing up liquid is my favourite. I have even introduced it at work!

 

[carlstock]

I, too, have to agree on the Ecover front, especially in terms of the fabric conditioners. The conditioners seem to perform well and do not contain overpowering perfumes. There is now more than one fragrance available now, too.

Perhaps in some cases, Ecover products do not, at the moment at least, work quite as well as some of the major competitors, but there are other advantages to Ecover and other such ‘eco’ products, not least because they are either unperfumed or contain natural perfumes. They also contain potentially less irritating ingredients, though that may not always be the case for everyone. Personally, I’ve found Ecover products to work well.

With regards to Surcare, I am not comfortable using those products because although it they are unperfumed, some of the products contain formaldehyde. Admittedly, this may be in small concentrations, but it’s not a particularly nice, or indeed necessary, preservative to have in any product like this and in a way defeats the object.

Another range of products you could try are the Simply range from Aquados, which are available from their website (link below) or some supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s. Tesco Naturally products are interesting, and the non-biological tablets are perfume-free, as are the dishwasher tablets, though with the latter, some members have found them to overfoam. Whether this has changed recently, I am not sure.

I hope this helps.

Simply Washing | Home

Simply Washing

www.simplywashing.com

 

[superelectronic]

Washday with Ecover

I’ve literally just used the last of a bottle of Ecover liquid (the normal sort, not delicate) and spent a good part of the last 18 months using their washing products. My verdict...

Smells nice – a “lavender type” perfume; I don’t think it’s naturally derived any more though. Very low sudsing: good if you have trouble with suds, not so much fun to watch the clothes sloshing around in. Cleaning is alright BUT it’s pretty rubbish on anything greasy – keep the washing-up liquid to hand and use it to pre-treat (mind you, I found Ariel powder wasn’t much better, so maybe there’s not that much in it really). Less problem with rinsing out than mainstream detergents. Basically pretty good for colours but you’ll need something bleachy for whites.

The delicate liquid was quite sudsy and had an unusual scent – not unpleasant – and seemed to do well enough on general washes. I added a couple of spoons of washing soda for pep...the only thing was that I don’t know if it was good for the machine. The heating element made much more noise than usual – perhaps scale may have become an issue.

Also tried the tablets – performance was acceptable and they washed out of the drawer well enough. I was inclined to use 3 not two on whites for a bit more kick. At least they’re biological.

The non-bio powder I tried ages ago and it smelt divine in the box but of very little after the washing dried. Only used it on a hot wash for whites – again, cleaning was okay but I was inclined to dose it up a bit. Very expensive on a cost-per-wash basis!

Their conditioner, on the other hand, is about all I will ever use (and have ever bought since 2004). I’ve now got the yellow cap “under the sun” version...took a bit of getting used to the perfume but I’m learning to love it. Not a million miles from yellow Lenor but less headache-inducing! Anyone else tried this new variety?

These days I’m using Ariel power colour liquid for washes because I wanted to re-visit the perfume of Ariel liquid from 1998-2006ish...but it seems to have been made more potent! Though it’s the brassy slut of detergents, I’m enjoying sudsy washes again, plus don’t feel the need to make the machine heat to 40C (the 40C programme on my machine tops out at about 33C so one has to re-set from the beginning to get proper heat...think it’s all timer controlled, not thermostatic...I long for a proper machine again but the little b*tch refuses to give up...).

I could go on at more length but I suspect interest will wane if I do!! Shame I don’t have any pretty pictures really...

Alex

 

[letim]

Thanks for all your replies, very helpful indeed. I think I might give the Ecover products a try. It will be a welcome relief (I hope) from the strong, overwhelming and long-lasting perfumes that seem to be popular at the moment.

One thing I did notice when reading up about the Ecover liquid is that it suggests that the liquid should go straight into the drawer and not in a dosing ball. My machine has no means of keeping the liquid in the drawer until the machine's started. Apologies for my ignorance, but does this matter? Does it just sit in the pipe ready for the machine to be started? It's a Bosch WFO2867GB that I bought in 2005.

Thanks once again for your help!

Tim

 

[mielabor]

I have used the Ecover softener with "Under the Sun" scent (that's the one with the yellow cap). I find that the laundry smells a bit like hay when dry. When wet the scent has some mint note in it. Not unpleasant at all.

And yes, the Ecover powder struggles a bit with oily spots like shirt collars. A solution for this is to rub some liquid detergent onto these areas. Nowadays I use Neutral color powder for washing at 50 °C and higher, Neutral color liquid for washing under 50 °C and Ecover Delicate for woolens. For whites I add some Ecover oxygen bleach to the Neutral color powder. As far as I know Neutral detergents are only available in the Netherlands so this doesn't help you much I'm afraid.

 

[mielabor]

Oh, and about adding liquid detergent without ball. Just dilute it a bit with water then pour straight into the drum and add the laundry. I've had never any problem with this. I don't like the sound of those dosing balls bonking around during the washing.