How to wash... (advice needed)

[mrboilwash]

You need a total number of 11 rinses to get a microdose of 2 tbsp Tide and a tiny squirt of Dawn out ?

Always thought I was the one with OCD. *lol*

 

[jkbff]

I don't like the way the GE rinses... After all of those rinses, the water was still sudsy. I also wanted two warm rinses as well..

As far as taking the aprons anywhere, the closest place is 95 miles away.

 

[jkbff]

Do you guys wash your bath linens with your kitchen linens?

Its just me living here so I don't get enough of either to do a full load.

 

[joeypete]

I wash my bath towels and kitchen towels together. I live alone too and don't have THAT much laundry. Though I do a lot of loads because I separate everything. lol. I used to wash my kitchen towels with my whites, but I try to keep everything on that cycle to pure white garments.

My towels seem to hold more soap, which makes sense. That's why I switched from a regular HE cycle on my Kenmore, to a Deep Wash cycle that is more like a traditional washer. It has produced less residue.

 

[jkbff]

OK I think this would go hand in hand with the aprons, but mom sent me home with a pair of dad's FR pants that have crude oil on them. She doesn't want them in her washer, I'm not scared of the smell of oil... We're in the Bakken for cornsakes...

Any thoughts of getting crude oil out of denim?

I tried a citrus-based organic manual dish liquid on a warm soak, I've tried regular dawn as well as regular tide each in their own warm soaks.

I air dried them to see if the stain lifted, it wasn't black any more but it still visible. The citrus manual liquid worked the best, it removed the bulk of the dark spots. I'm thinking longer soak in that, but there has to be something else?

The laundromat I worked at used soda ash and some powdered mix they had custom labeled as hot-shot. They also used the purple degreaser from sams club as well.

Thoughts?

 

[retro-man]

I have had great success with a mixture of 50/50 Simple Green and water. I have removed motor oil, hydraulic fluid and motor grease with this. You could mix up a small batch like a couple of cups and pretreat the stains for a few hours then wash on a hot wash. Hopefully this will remove the stains for you.

Jon

 

[circlew]

I've always liked Lestoil for greasy/oily stains. It does however have a strong pine scent. You also might try Dawn Heavy Duty Degreaser, it's a purple liquid, and I've seen it used to clean the islands at gas stations. The BBQ place i go to uses it to scrub the kitchen floors.

 

[jkbff]

K so, I happened to acquire a jug of orange commercial degreaser.. in a 5 gallon pail, I filled it half full with warm water, mixed 3/4 a scoop of regular tide and about a cup of the degreaser. I soaked the denim pants in the mix for about 3 hours then dumped the contents of the bucket in the machine. Ran a regular warm cycle, extra heavy soil with extra rinse. The pants came out with no stains. Dad had some markings on the back left pocket and those were gone as well.

So, that dilemma sorta solved itself. The only reason I used that chemical was because I had an extra jug of it at work that wouldn't be missed. Free always needs to be tried before paid, right?

Anyways, in the last few weeks I've had a 15 month old and his.. mother... staying with me ... ... and I need to learn how to get solid diaper soils out of ... linens and clothes...

For the most part, hot water, pre-treating spots and running heavier soil cycles seem to work, but I've got two onsies he soiled that say not to wash in hot water, they were hand made, and I don't feel cold water will cut it... On one of them, he ate beets that day... .... :/ Other than that.. I've learned how to wash milk out of EVERYTHING!.....

Thoughts?

 

[appnut]

Biz?  Seems to get rid of protein, organic, and other foodstuffs for me just fin with long washes.  And gradually heating from cool to super hot. 

 

[circlew]

I've been using Biz the last couple times I've done laundry, as my hiking socks get pretty muddy sometimes. I've noticed things are a little cleaner, but was hoping for more. The washers at the washateria have rather short cycles, so I think I'll try pre-soaking.

 

[jkbff]

Honestly i used to use biz all the time, but for some reason, the walmart here never has it. Mom swore by biz, then i stopped living with her and she didn't have to wash socks n shirts that stood up on their own anymore so she doesn't need it much anymore.

Those darn teenage boys.... I tell ya...

 

[jkbff]

So.. on machines that have a pre-wash option... does one use the same amount of detergent for both cycles, split the normal amount in half or do one amount for the pre-wash and one amount for the main wash?

I am using about a half of a scoop of biz, plus the smart dispense option on the 'less' option on the regular detergent setting... The profile puts soap in during pre-wash and main wash, it seems to be the same amount each time, it also seems to dispense for the same amount of time regardless of pre-wash being selected vs no pre-wash.

I don't want to over soap the stuff I am washing, I already hate how this machine rinses when little soap is used...

I guess it makes no difference what I am adding to the wash (biz, tide oxy, whatever other boosters), but I'm wanting to add some biz to the pre-wash on some things, but also want the biz in the normal wash. The pre-washes are always cold, some things I run the 'wash care with soak' cycle, the pre-wash skips every other tumble so the items soak for about 15 minutes or so in cold water. After the pre-wash is done, it fills with whatever temp I've selected, so I want the biz to be in the warm/hot water as well.

I have started using a small amount of purex blue fabric softener.. I have too much cat hair left on my clothes. :/