HE Powder & HE Liquid HELP

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roscoe62

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
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327
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Hello Everyone,
I'm new to this forum but I have to say there is plenty out there about HE products and I need some help.I have very soft water, when I decrease the dose for liquid HE to a tablespoon it doesn't rinse well, so I have been giving liquid the"dismissal" unless someone has some suggestion? I tried all of them Tide was the worst.
The problem is if I use a powder HE I find white laundry gets dull over time.I can't get the sears product I had used last time and it worked great, no suds,like a dishwasher detergent,and it had a clean rinse, so I use tide powder HE, the only one I can get locally. Is there something I can do to keep the white laundry from going dull and at the same time not having the door blow off from a suds lock?
Maybe increase the water temp on the hot water heater? I'd appreciate any help here.My machine is a whirlpool duet 4.0.
Thanks
 
You can try Amway's SA8 (powdered version). It used to out-perform even Tide w/ Bleach Alternative, but a reformulation a year or two ago decreased its stain-removing power. It rinses much better than any P&G detergents. I order SA8 online---no hassles; quick delivery.

If you really feel extravagant, go to Britsuperstore.com online and order powdered Persil Bio detergent and have it shipped to you from Britain. It is an excellent detergent. Cleans like a champ and rinses out well, even in soft water. Be prepared for sticker shock: I order three 50-use boxes at a time, and they cost about $47 apiece. However....since you have soft water, you can use about half the recommended dosage (even less for lightly-soiled loads) and get over double the uses from a box.

I have mechanically-softened water, too, so I share your rinsing woes! And you're right: Tide just doesn't want to rinse out.
 
I use Tide HE or Gain HE powder (both are P&G products) which work very well for colors, and rinse fairly cleanly for an American product. I have hard water and no water softener. I rarely have whites to wash, except the occasional white dress shirt. I wear office casual to work, and a white shirt is hauled out of the closet only for a wedding, funeral, or like occasion. I bring back Persil (Henkel-Germany) or the Unilever equivalent (Persil in UK, Via in Sweden, etc.) on trips to Europe sufficient for doing the rare white load.

Tide HE is easy to find at Target and markets. Gain HE is not as common, which is unfortunate because it was rated a Best Buy by CR the last time Gain HE powder was tested (several years ago). This is because it's cleaning power was close to Tide (behind SA8) and it is rather inexpensive. A product that scores third or fourth highest but is half the price will often be tagged a "Best Buy". Recently I had good luck buying Gain HE from Amazon.com, three large boxes for about $24 delivered.

Two tablespoons (30 ml) is more than enough even in my hard water and I reserve three tablespoons (45 ml) only for very large, heavily soiled loads.
 
Amway

Just be aware to what kind of people you are giving your money. If you cared enough to boycot Target, you will want to think twice about Amway. Fortunately, with my relatively soft water, Tide HE and STPP work very well together to give very clean washes and very good rinsing.

It might not be that you are having rinsing problems, but rather that in your soft water the citrate water softeners in liquid detergents just keep foaming even through the detergent is rinsing out properly. Hard to understand when you see suds, but that's what the detergent companies say.
 
I have very good luck with Norwex, and it is from Canada. It is found online, or from a home party.

Only a tsp is used for Front loader.
 
Has anyone ever tried calling the consumer product information line listed on the back label? That would probably be a good first step.
 
Between not knowing what they are talking about, not understanding technical questions and adhering to the corporate line, it is usually frustrating unless you want a coupon for more of a product you are having trouble with. The people I have talked to on those lines have seemed like the dumb cluck that posted the video of how she makes her own washing powder. Sorry for being sexist and, I don't know the right term, "brainist" maybe.
 
Try Cheer brighCLEAN HE

Cheer has 2 different liquids that should do the trick. The GREAT thing about Cheer (as opposed to Tide) is that it does NOT contain optical brightners, it can be used with either soft or hard water, or be used with any water temperature. I retired from the Army this year and Cheer was the best detergeant to use on the new digital uniforms. We were not permitted to use most of the common detergeants because they contained optical brightners and would severly fade our uniforms. The only POWDERS we could use were Cheer, All, Bold, and Surf. The only LIQUIDS we could use were Cheer and Woolite. Because Cheer was on both lists, and could be used with all water types (whether soft or hard; cold or hot) it is the military's detergeant of choice with our fussy uniforms.

Being in the military and growing up on a farm, have used many a detergeant (to include Amway).. the Cheer product line is by far the BEST!!

Now a word from our sponsor:

Cheer brightCLEAN™ High Efficiency formula helps get whites and colors sparkling bright. Available in Fresh Clean Scent and Free & Gentle.

As far as the SA8 comments.. there are SA8 HE's out there now. However, I don't know if Amway uses optical brightners (which should be avoided in using) or not.. I do know they use less fillers than Tide. The comment about comparing Target to Amway is so true! You start supporting Amway, and you unknowingly indirectly support the Republican party. The interesting thing about Target was, it used to be owned by Mark Dayton's family (who were Democrats).. what a slap in the face Target did.. oh well, Mark Dayton finally won the election a couple of days ago and will be Minnesota's new governor Jan 3rd despite Target's wasted and unethical contribution to the Emmer campaign.

The link below will take you to the Cheer HE product line.. for those who don't have HE Machines. Still highly recommend Cheers other products for the reasons I stated above.

http://www.cheer.com/laundry-detergents/high-efficiency.shtml
 
Also by working for a Quartermaster Laundry and Bath unit for awhile.. one common misconception out there. You have to see suds to know your detergeant is doing a good job... FALSE!!! With how concentrated detergeants are now days and with HE Machines, you should hardly see any suds at all! Btw, Tide was being used by Haliburton/KBR by the civilians doing laundry for service members.. the military got involved and made them change to Cheer because Tide was fading and getting our new uniforms dingy and was breaking down the fabric.
 
Just So You Know

Not all versions of Cheer detergent are OBA free.

Unlike in the Cheer with "Colourguard" of old, P&G has revised newer offerings from the brand, and yes some do contain fabric whitening agents.

As for Tide causing laundry to "fade", well the stuff is loaded with bluing/brightening agents, and that is what they do to coloured clothing. Tide detergent is known for producing "whiter than white", wash and heavy doses of bleaching agents along with OBA's is what helps does this.

On the other hand using coloured detergents (those without bleaches and OBA's)on whites and lights can lead to them turning "dingy" after awhile. This is because the brightening agents applied to the textile fabrics have been removed and now the item appears different. Most white and light coloured fabrics sold in the United States, and or items made from such material are loaded with brightening agents.
 
Whole House Softened Water

IIRC there are several detergents on the market designed for use in homes with mechanical softened water. *Think* Culligan among a few others that make/sell such devices have these detergents.

Soft to very soft water such as produced by water softeners can be a huge pain when it comes to laundry. There is such a thing as having "too soft" water when it comes to washing day, and it can lead to poor cleaning and rinsing results.

Some persons give up and have arrange to have water supplied to the washing machine and perhaps a few other areas not softened, that is somehow pass by the softener, just to avoid these problems.
 
Cheer HE

Hi Jimbompls,

I have used this as well and after some time I get the same results, SUDS.And I wash whites in hot water, so I don't get it, only frustration.
I have no problem with the HE powder, well two,only Tide is available locally and after some time the white clothes gets dull.From what I've read on Optical Brighteners over time the clothes not only gets dull but fabric worn before you have had a chance to wear out the garment yourself. I see there is one called Persils you can order on line, have you or anyone else tried this?It's made in Germany like my duet.
Thanks
 
roscoe62

I've been pleased with it. I had a white shirt that I had ketchup dripped on.. I did not pre-treat it or anything, and it sat in the laundry basket for 4 days before I washed them, and the stain was gone.

My whites looks good too.
 
German Persil (made by Henckels) is an excellent detergent, and it rinses cleaner than Tide products...but it doesn't rinse as cleanly as its UK counterpart (which is made by Unilever). As with UK Persil, you do not need to use the full dose recommended by the German version in soft water.

You can get Henckels Persil at a reasonable cost, too. Try a box; you may find it fits the bill for you. I like the "Universal Powder" version, which cleans stains well.
 
I use the Henckels Persil Universal Megaperls and am very happy with it. I use 3 tbsp Persil with 1 tbsp STPP. This is much less than the recommended dose--4 tbsp is the max I will use for very dirty loads. It rinses well and does a great job on whites.
 
Mayguy-Frigilux-Labboy

I've ordered the Persils, it will take 4-8 business days to arrive and the dosing amount I can understand, most manufacturers want you to use more to buy more, but why use more in a HE machine that uses LESS water, the idea behind all of this is efficiency .
Thanks for all your help. :)
 
Let us know how the Persil works out for you. Start by using half the recommended dose; you'll probably find you decrease the amount even more for most loads. I use about 1/3 the recommended amount of Unilever (UK) Persil Bio powder with excellent results, even on stained loads.
 
Americans like suds! :) Americans like suds! :) Americans

A little of my super FL biased history here as an American front load user for 50 years:

****My family always had a front loader.****

My dad got the FL Westinghouse Laundromat in 1947. We *ALWAYS* used *ALL* in powder, because it was *THE* recommended soap; and it was the only soap that was LOW in sudsing for a front loader. Other soap { pre HE soap era }was useable; one just had to use a tiny amount, since it made so much suds with our super soft water.

IF one used another soap, one had to use *way* way less or one had soap suds all over the place.

It is like about all soaps from the 1940's to early 1990's were purposely made to make a mess of suds, except *ALL*.

Basically *ALL* was a HE soap for 4 + decades, before HE was coined.

If a relative visted our house and used our FL washer 20 years ago ,they would often use 5 to 10 times the amount of soap, and one would have a big mess in the laundry room. A GIANT mess.

The modern HE soaps are low sudsing, the HE label came out for education, to direct modern FL users to a low sudsing soap. The 1976 Westinghouse guide here for washers recommended ALL for their FL washers since it was low sudsing.

Folks who were raised with top loaders in America often still use gobs and gobs of soap even today with a TL or FL washer. A college roommate in the 1970's Disco era use to wash his white pants and white shirts and disco clothes with 2 to 3 cups of Tide at the laundromat, so his clothes all JUMPED out with the UV blacklights at the disco!

I was at Sams club last weekend and a family I know with 1 kid was buying FOUR giant pails of soap. Each is 32 Lbs {14.5 Kg } per pail. Thus I ponder why a family would need 128 Lbs { 58Kg } of soap. It was not even on sale either.

There are folks who use a cup or two of soap with each load in a TL washer, and they believe there HAS to be massive suds.
 
Persils & Americans like Suds

@ Frigilux: I will let you know how it works.

@ 3beltwesty : If I could get All here I'd certainly try it since it is a powder, and powder works better in my machine, but I can't get it locally and I can't order from Amazon.com because amazon says it can't deliver to my destination, go figure.So I'm going to try Persils (when it arrives).
Cheers :)
 
Not sure what happened to powdered ALL ??

*All* here was available in powder form at Walmart, Kroger and Jitney Jungle 7years ago, then it about 5 years ago got hard to find,and today it is in liquid form.

I think the *ALL* brand name got sold a few years back too. I have seen *ALL* in powder form on Ebay and Amazon, but do not see it on *ALL*'s site. Thus I ponder if it is old stock or poor marketing or both.

Here are some quotes from my link:

"In 1957, Lever Brothers acquired the Monsanto Chemical Company's line of "all" detergents, which included Concentrated "all," Liquid "all" and Dishwasher "all." This transaction resulted in an anti-trust suit by the U.S. Department of Justice which charged Lever Brothers with restricting competition by acquiring that piece of Monsanto which manufactured low-suds synthetic detergent, a product similar to one that Lever already made."

In another like Unilever sold off in 2008 its laundry business:

Unilever (NYSE: UN, UL), the Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant, said Monday it was selling its laundry business in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico to private equity firm Vestar Capital for $1.45 billion. Included in the deal are the All, Wisk, Sunlight, Surf and Snuggle brands.

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/28/unilever-washes-away-dirty-laundry/
 
3beltwesty

I saw powder All several months ago at GFS, in a 17lb. square bucket. That was the only time I've seen it there, and remember the container said Johnson-Diversey on it. Don't know if it was low-suds or not, but it did claim it could be used for floors, etc. in addition to laundry.

You mentioned Jitney Jungle. My aunt in Jackson knew the owners of the company; the lady was one of her customers at the ritzy clothing store she worked in. Too bad Jitney went out of business a few years ago. Are you originally from MS? I have cousins on the coast, one in Ocean Springs and some in Biloxi. Was in Jackson and Hattiesburg in Oct., but didn't get to the coast. Planning on doing so in the Spring.
 

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