Need help finding new detergent/mold issues

[mattedialdoc]

Greetings. I’ve just discovered this forum and it has been eye opening. We have been struggling with a moldy/musty/stinky front load washer, and I had NO IDEA that it was our use of liquid detergent that may be contributing.

We always keep the door cracked or wide open when not in use, but my wife uses cold water for everything but towels/sheets and we use a liquid detergent I linked below.

Can someone help educate me on what detergent I should be using and how much? Should I really be using a powder versus a liquid?

Thanks
M

https://www.target.com/p/seventh-generation-153-lavender-scented-natural-liquid-laundry-detergent-100-fl-oz/-/A-13221027

 

[yogitunes]

you may have to give it a kick start, but most mold/mildew issues will go away with proper washing techniques....

first of all....95% of all loads should be hot or warm water.....this is also based on what your water heater is set at.....as warm may be luke warm or cool by most of todays machines...in that case, you want to focus more on the hot setting for most things...

bleach should be used with white loads, at least once a week the machine should see a bleach wash...

I don't have a factor based on liquids or powders, as I use both....but stick with top brands, Tide, Gain, Persil......if your going to use a powder, I recommend Tide with Bleach, its color safe!....

dosage has many factors, size of load, and amount of soil.....something like Tide Pods are fool proof to an extent....granted one pod is for a medium load, 2 for a full load...I would go with 3 for a heavily soiled load....

adding a 1/4 cup of ammonia or borax will boost cleaning....

note...I don't keep my doors open, or dispensers open....I don't run a clean washer cycle, in fact, my machines don't have one....and have never needed it....any machine I got in, loaded with mold/mildew, first would be a good scrubbing with a bathroom cleaner with bleach, and the rest will disappear on its own....

you can run a clean washer cycle using a heavy dose of powder chlorine used for pools, or dishwasher detergent.....select the hottest water, and longest cycle, even pausing the cycle to let it soak for a bit....

most times, try to keep softener to a minimum, I usually take a full bottle, and split it into 2, adding water for a 50/50 mix, then fill the dispenser.....

some even use vinegar for a rinse aid, to knock down suds, and soften without all the perfumes....no, you wont smell it after the load is done...

 

[DADoES]

 
What's your wife's draw toward the "natural" detergent product?  Aiming for being environmentally conscious?  Or skin allergies in the family?  I don't trust those products to do a good cleaning job or to maintain the washer in good condition (particularly with hard water), although I've never tried any of them for comparison to "non-natural" products.

I recently tried Cheer powder (haven't used it in 40 years).  Has a nice scent.  The powder version (currently far as I know) has no OBAs (optical brightening agents) which the liquid version does have.  Checking the lines on the measurement cup against tablespoons ... dosage for a "large" load (whatever exactly that means) is 7 tablespoons.  So that's what I used for a "large" (not maximum size possible in the machine) load of casual shorts, underwear, and a large bath towel in one of my HE machines.  NO suds with my moderately-hard well water.  BTW, water temperature for that load was 115°F.  Cold water *rarely* happens here, except for rinsing.

 

[mrboilwash]

Not sure if it`s only the type of detergent to blame.

One major problem seems to be that a lot of people tend to underestimate the actual soil load in their clothes. Thinking I`ve only worn this once, I don`t have a dirty job and so on.
Additionally many seem to overestimate the detergent savings when switching to a front loader for the first time.

As a matter of fact the average adult secretes up to 40 grams of sebum and dead skin cells. This would be the equivalent of almost 3 tbsp of butter per person per day! (Just visualize the amounts of soil in a larger wash load)
Now think again if your clothes worn next to the skin are only lightly soiled.

A certain amount of detergent can only hold a certain amount of soil in suspension. While traditional TL had to deal with higher dilution they usually held less dirty clothes which in turn means less soil.
So while the detergent is more concentrated in less water in a FL the extra capacity (more soil) can even lead to more detergent needed compared to a TL.

Just respect dosing recommendations, use a good detergent, never wash anything worn next to skin in water below body temperature, wash at least one load per week with bleach or use the sanitize option and you`ll never have a mold problem again.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Use a decent quality powder. They are technologically superior to liquids and pods. Powders contain oxygen bleach, sanitising both the laundry and the machine as it operates. Liquids and pods do not.

Eco detergents are too lily-livered. They are not suitably active enough - despite what the marketing guff says.

Use at least temperatures of 40°C. Ever tried to have a bath in cold water? Doesn't work - you don't properly clean yourself - and exactly the same principle applies to washing clothes in cold water with crappy detergents.

The only fabrics suitable for cool washes with a gentle liquid detergent are woollens and silk.

 

[mrsalvo]

Whole heartedly agree with comments posted above. As Glen mentioned, Cheer powder is very good, esp. in hot water. I have a standard non-HE washer and had a suds issue with Cheer, but I may have used more than recommened. Another excellent powder is Wind Fresh, sold at Sam's Club. It will last a long time, scent is pleasant but not overbearing, and moderate sudsing. I bought a box of Tide With Bleach a few weeks ago and though it cleaned well, i thought the clothes felt sticky after the cycle was done, haven't bought a box since then. Plus, have read that there are some questionable ingredients used in Tide. Persil is excellent also.

 

[lordkenmore]

Based on my experience, I'm not sure that green detergents are necessarily a problem with mold/mildew. Maybe I've been lucky. Maybe it's just luck of the draw (washer I've used/local water/whatever). The only problem I had with the better green detergents was they weren't as powerful as conventional--but my laundry is mostly freshening/light cleaning. I don't have nightmare stains as a rule.

 

Oddly, the only time I did seem to have trouble with mold/mildew was with with Tide Coldwater. (And I never tried using truly cold water, either!)

 

I am currently using Tide purclean. It's a "more green" detergent than regular Tide, but isn't at the level of Seventh Generation. It doesn't have optical brighteners, and my version is unscented. It seems to work acceptably for my needs, although I only just got the bottle. A bottle I had a year or so back was, as far as I can recall, satisfactory.

 

[askolover]

We use Tide pods for the simple fact that my other half tends to overdose the washer if we use liquid detergents (you know, more is better mentality).  Ariel or Bold powder 2/3 cup (for our European machines) for whites with Clorox.  I've always left the door open but I never have left the drawer open...in 20+ years!  No mold yet...

 

[iej]

In my experience the main factor is temperature and frequency of use.

You need to wash at 40°C and do the odd very hot wash with white towels.

In my adult life and all through my childhood we never had a single issue with mouldy machines. The front loader always smelled very pleasant and was mould free.
But, I have and my folks before me have always washed at sensibly warm temperatures and we always did the odd towel wash at 75 or 90°C

My grandmother on the other hand washed everything on cold or 20°C
Her washing machine was always mouldy and having terrible issues with odours. In fact she would end up replacing machines purely because of that. She also used tiny amounts of detergent.
Your clothes would nearly come out dirtier after a wash in her machine than they went in.

It wasn't to do with finances, she just tended to think it was an environmental saving, but she was going through washing machine after washing machine, which is probably worse than using a bit of extra electricity; which in my case is 100% green energy anyway.

There was quite literally green moss inside the door of her machine at one stage!!
Laundry was being washed with a very hippy dippy detergent, short cycles and cold water.

 

[washingpowder]

I don't think "natural" detergent is to blame per se, but what type you use might matter.
I'm heavily against animal testing, and a bit against optical brighteners, so that leaves me with virtually the treehugger versions only.
American companies seem to push out numbers of natural, and sometimes even organic(?) options, but most don't work. Liquids are the worst, and there's only two that work for me. I actually had 7th Gen refund the money twice, because their liquids were performing so poor I couldn't help complaining.
I use Vaska (and black Domol, when I visit Europe and can bring some back) for non-colorfasts and they seem to work excellent. I do include Biokleen enzyme additive, just to get a bit more stain action going on, especially in cool water. Everything else gets powder; Biokleen Premium seems to work excellent. Whites of any sort get a hefty dose of oxygen bleach (OxoBrite or Biokleen). Some tough stains would be sprayed with Jet.com's own brand of treatment.
Everyone admires my whites, no stains are ever detectable. Never any smells or molds, and the door of the washer is always closed 2-3 hours after the cycle. That said, I don't use cold water per se. My machine heats all cycles, even 'cold' boosted to 65F. Whites get hot (heated to 120F if necessary), linens, towels and such get sanitary (180F).
I think the heat, peroxide, soda ash, and enzymes make all the difference. Don't fear the natural stuff, but keep in mind many will not work well. Stay away from 7th Gen and Method liquids, Ecos without enzymes, Caldrea and Planet, based on my experience.
I also like to add a drop of softener and a bit of vinegar to the middle rinse (out of 3). Leaves your clothes fluffy and well rinsed-out, but won't deposit residue.

 

[iowabear]

I've had a notorious Maytag Neptune for 12 years now and my door boot still looks like new.  Most don't fare so well, almost every picture of a used Neptune I see has an ugly case of "ring around the door boot."

 

I've always used powdered Tide (full dose) and warm/hot water and chlorine bleach at least once-a-week.  I normally use a 70-minute cycle with a 25 minute wash period.  The first rinse is the same temperature as the wash temperature with this cycle. Never any fabric softener.  I leave the door open when I'm done.  That's it.

 

Of the various "sins" (cold water washing, green detergent, too little detergent, no bleach, short cycles, leaving door closed) I think most people could probably get away with one.  Commit more than one on a regular basis and you're asking for trouble.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Eco detergents

We once had a Zanussi dishwasher and used a variety of standard detergents over the years (Finish, Sun, Fairy, Co-op, Tesco, McBride's 'Clean n Fresh', etc). These were biological tablets with oxygen bleach.

Reading the Ecover marketing eco-blurb at the time, I decided to try their eco tablets. It did not end well. A rancid stench issued forth from the machine - it smelt of rotten meat - (the filters were always kept clean). Daily use with Ecover did not improve it. Neither did the 70°C S.I.D. (Super Intensity Dispenser) cycle.

Switching back to Finish cleared the stench within a few washes. Thus I came to the conclusion that all the 'bad ingredients' as used by mainstream manufacturers, were actually there for a very good reason.