Kirkland laundry detergent

[combo52]

Inexpensive bulk powdered detergent for laundry

We have yet to find any of these that are any good. We do buy buckets of them to wash rags at the shop with just because they’re cheap but like mention by others unless you have very soft water they’re not very satisfactory.

We have seen many commercial type places by these detergent because they’re cheap and it just destroys the washers

Hi Matt, how soft is the water where you live? I would certainly recommend as Glenn suggested taking the agitator out and maybe taking that machine apart and seeing if it needs cleaning replaced the main center seal while you’re at it if you want to keep that old Maytag running For a long.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

Combo 52, just curious what would you think is considered a “cheap” detergent as I know the one that my Work used to use before they switched to the L cheapo brands that you can get 4 kg for five bucks, they used to use a commercial detergent that was $75 for a 25 kg bag, once I use up all the large amounts of cheap detergent that I have, it’ll be my next purchase

 

[me]

Thing is about these inexpensive powdered laundry detergents is they often are heavy on washing soda, zeolites, sodium sulfate and other bits that don't always dissolve fully. This more so if local water has various levels of higher end of hardness scale, and or many loads done in cool or cold water.

In top loading machines things *may* be ok for a while, but with H-axis washers all that insoluble gunk will build up.

I've seen an "industry expert" state pretty much the reverse of that video, in a 1990's edition of "That's Life", a BBC consumer /light entertainment show of the period. They were reporting on a dramatic rise in complaints about smelly washing machines (front loaders) and mould, after getting bags of mail on the subject, and he blamed the trend to lower temperature washes and the use of liquid laundry detergents instead of powder. His explanation, as best I recall was that some of the ingredients in liquid detergents are hygroscopic, and they stick to the insides of the machine and absorb moisture and bacteria grows in them. As I've mention before, we had a very smelly machine when using Radion Liquid mostly in 50°C washes a few years before that.

 

[me]

Combo 52, just curious what would you think is considered a “cheap” detergent as I know the one that my Work used to use before they switched to the L cheapo brands that you can get 4 kg for five bucks, they used to use a commercial detergent that was $75 for a 25 kg bag, once I use up all the large amounts of cheap detergent that I have, it’ll be my next purchase

The stuff I mostly buy here is Surf powder, Unilever's budget brand. The larger 6.5kg and 4kg boxes from places like Farmfoods worked out about £2 per kg, however the box sizes have just just been hit with shrinkflation, so it is slightly more expensive now.

 

[me]

Have you disassembled your machine to directly observe the condition of the "under the hood" areas of the outer tub, spin basket, and agitator that aren't normally visible, where mineral deposits and soil/greasy residue accumulate and don't get rubbed off by the sloshing clothes?

Those are pretty gross, here's my washing machine after 10 years, almost exclusively used powder. The dirty marks around the bearing seal are where I wiped the grease off my hands, other than that it is as it was opened up. Mostly used Surf (unilever), sometimes bought Daz (Proctor and Gamble), mid price brands, so not cheap garbage.

 

[ea56]

I’ve been using Ariel 2X Power Powdered detergent exclusively since November 2024 after having used Tide Ultra Heavy Duty liquid for the past couple of years before.

Hands down the Ariel 2X Power cleans better! It rinses out well and leaves all the laundry soft and clean. I don’t use any fabric softener at all, just 6 dryer balls in the dryer with each load.

For mixed white/light color loads I use 1/2 cup of Clorox Safe bleach. All white loads get 1/2 cup of LCB.

Eddie

 

[ea56]

Re:#26

BTW, The Tide Ultra Heavy Duty liquid is about $14.99 for the large jug and I was going thru one of these jugs about every 6 weeks, using capful filled to the large load line for each load (I only wash full loads).

The Ariel 2X Power Powdered detergent it $13.99 for a the large 120 load bag and I’m getting over 4 months of washes outta one bag using 3/4 cup for each full load, for 1/2 loads I use 1/2 cup! That’s a substantial savings.

Plus, the Tide liquid never got out oil and grease spots in the first wash, while the Ariel powder gets these types of stains out the first time around with no pre treatment.

Eddie