New Ariel Excel Gel

Gather App
Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

I don't know if they have added something to this new product to eliminate the mouldy smell problem that I began to experience for the first time ever with the previous 'turn to 30' Ariel, but I have not noticed it this time with the gel, which I have to RAVE about. I washed muddy/cow dung covered jeans after walking my brothers 3 dogs the other day on a short cold cycle and they are spotless. Very impressed and hopefully will save on the leccy bils!
 
OMG!

When will my Ariel Excel Gel get here?!! It's been two days since I ordered it from britsuperstore.com!! How the heck long can it take to ship from the UK? LOL!! I can't even sleep I'm so excited, and you boys are not helping by going on and on how WONDERFUl it is. ;)

Waiting, waiting, waiting.....

In the mean time, I wrote to P&G to beg them to sell Ariel here in the US.
 
Oh Jamie!

You lucky dog. :)

I'm really curious as to what the green one smells like? I'm hoping it's not the same heavy smelling one I encounted in Paris last year and that my last batch of the baja aspuma from mexico was....I'm holding my breath till mine gets here. Your's was fast...so maybe by Fri or Sat for mine.

Happy washing!!
Laurent
 
Hoarding at Asda...

Hi David,
Yes I'm afraid I did! I've a cupboard full of the stuff and erm, another cupboard full too! It was too good an offer not to take full advantage of it... ;)

Laurent, the Gel doesn't have a strong scent like other Ariel products you may have tried. It's quite light but very pleasant too. :)

Simon
 
Mine Arrived!!

Hi Guys my Ariel arrived and I have been happily washing with it I ordered the 3 varieties from britsuperstore with some Lenor to match Summer Breeze, In the pink and with Febreeze. It cleans really well and smells great. I love the dosing device! It's no better than Omo Small and Mighty that we have over here probably better in colder water but I don't go lower than 40.
Jim
 
Well, I tried Ariel Excel gel on two loads (18°C/65°F) and the results were so-so.

Pro

Rinsing: it rinses well and doesn't leave any scent behind. The bottle has a nice styling (as far as this matters).

Cons

Dispensing: the gel remains in the dispenser for quite some time. I checked 12 minutes into the main wash (Cottons cycle) and there was still some gel in the dosing device. I tried some regular Persil liquid and it got completely dispensed in one or two minutes.

Cleaning: there were no stains on my clothing so I can't judge its stain-removing power but I can definitely say it did not remove the smell from my clothes. HOWEVER: I re-washed almost the same load the following weekend with Persil (Henkel) gel, which also claims to clean in cold water, and it didn't remove the odor either. Had to re-wash everything in hot water (60°C/140°F) with Ariel Professional.

Ingredients: I checked online for the exact list of ingredients and to my surprise, all three types of Excel gel contain basically the same chemicals! Only the perfuming is different - with regular Excel Bio having the most perfumes. A big no-no in my book: the Colour version contains: "Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate a Fluorescent Whitening Agent". I don't want OBAs on my colored laundry, thank you. I also can't find any color transfer inhibitors on the list of ingredients.

BTW: I'm wondering about just how concentrated Ariel Excel gel actually is because when I look at the dosing instructions of either German Ariel or Persil liquid it says to use 40 ml for light soil - that's just 2 ml more compared to Excel. We have soft water (7°dH / 9°e / 7 gpg).

I'll be doing more washing on the weekend - with the heater on - and hope to see better results.

Alex
 
I was surprised about the OBs in the Colour version, but after using it for a month and washing new jeans with other new coloured clothes, there was absolutely no colour transfer, no fading and no obvious signs of OBs altering the shade of anything either.

I use colour detergent more than any other type and can tell fairly quickly if it does what you'd expect a colour detergent to do and this one does...
I think that maybe the OBs must be necessary to prevent dulling of bright colours in cold temperatures?

As for the perfumes, like you said, there is no real scent left behind so it's not really a problem!

As for the dosing - standard UK Ariel liquids recommend 75ml (not 40ml) for medium soiling & medium water hardness. So 37ml for this gel (again it is based on medium soil/water hardness) is right as it's 2x concentrated. Comparison with German liquids obviously isn't equal.

I have noticed on liquid detergents from other Euro countries that the same size bottle gives more 'standard' washes than the UK one even though they are the same size, due to the varying types of water hardness from country to country.
 
I've always been wondering about the dosage when I bought a new box of Ariel in the UK because the recommendations seemed so high.

I just went to Ariel.co.uk and checked their online dosing calculator. I set it to: no stains/just need freshen up, powder, regular-sized washer, soft water and it came up with a recommendation of 115 ml powder. That's almost three times as much as I have to use! Is UK water really THAT hard or are UK detergents just not as concentrated?
 
We don't have the European concentrated powders here...yet. Both P&G and Unilever are going to launch them in the UK early next year though. Some supermarket own brands have already launched their own concentrated versions.

We had them briefly before but they were phased out and replaced with tablets.
 
I'm sure that we had concentrated powders for several years in the Nineties, as my mother used the first version of the concentrated Ariel powder whatever that was called, followed by Ariel 'Future'.
 
YEs, I remember my mum using Fairy and Ariel Ultra (Ariel was renamed to Future, but Fairy and Bold concentrates were still called Ultra). Still have some of the scoops at home, one scoop was enough for a heavy soiled load IIRC and the scoop went up to something like 100ml if that.

Would be great if compact powders returned, especially as a) they're widely available in Europe, and b) as powder is my preferred form overall, despite liking liquids.

FWIW, I can't use any Ariel products in the washers here, they don't seem to rinse as well (despite not leaving residual smell), and I've had a bad patch of eczema so I've taken mum's advice and using Sanex or Simple toiletries and Fairy washing powder.

Jon
 
"one scoop was enough for a heavy soiled load IIRC and the scoop went up to something like 100ml if that"

Yep, the scoop goes up to 88 ml (or 110, if you fill it ALL the way). The instructions say:

(light -> normal -> heavy -> extra heavy soil)
(soft -> medium -> hard water)

44ml 66ml 110ml 154ml
44ml 88ml 132ml 176ml
44ml 110ml 154ml 198ml

Add an extra 44ml for large-capacity machines

As for commercial washers: I added Calgon to the main wash, thus could lower the detergent amount. Yeah, and I also got myself a big bottle of Lenor and used it to added 3 extra liters of water to the rinse cycle in our SpeedQueen FL - when no one was watching...
 
Cleaning Performance Update

Hi Folks,
I just unloaded the Dyson a few minutes ago; it was a load of my white Cotton T-Shirts and my white bath robe. Well a few of the T-Shirts had stains on them as follows; one had Tomato Ketchup down the front, one had Heinz Tomato Soup and one had gravy from a Steak & Kidney pie. I washed the load using Ariel Excel Gel with Febreeze Effect on Cottons normal soil at 20°C with one extra rinse; the entire load is spotless clean with not a trace of the stains remaining.

Yes I know I'm a messy eater :-)

LOL Simon,
We are a bad as each other. My Mum asked me "David are you expecting detergent rationing?" LOL.
I love the product and could not resist stocking up at £2.00 per pack.

David
 
Steak & Kidney Pie

Hi Laurent,
Don't knock it till you've tried it!
A Steak & Kidney Pie is a most delicious British dish; I use Lambs Kidneys and chop them finely as I don't like the texture of the Kidneys but the flavour they impart to the Pie is simply delicious. I also make a variation called Steak & Kidney Pudding it has the same filling but uses Suet Pastry and is steamed in a Pudding Bowl.
Although I must confess the one I slopped down my T-Shirt was bought in Asda; I have been quite ill recently and have not made Steak & Kidney Pie for a while.

David

Warning: Not suitable for Vegetarians LOL.
 
S&K P

David, I think bubbles and squeak are more my speed!! I've never had it, but it sounds good. :) You know, I'm Scottish, English and Irish and other than corned beef and cabbage and english muffins, I can't think of any SE&I food that I have ever had. :( Do you have a recipe for bubble??
 
Welllllllllllllllllll....

In terms of dirt removing ability, it matched Persil, I can't say it exceeded Persil... BUT, I CAN say that it blew me away in terms of removing blood and grass stains!!! WOW!!! Not to mention the absolutely AMAZING scent it leaves in the washer and on the clothes, not too strong but strong enough that I can't leave any of my whites alone! I just gotta take another sniff!!!! lol

Here is the before picture:

10-25-2008-19-05-45--Pulsator.jpg
 
ANNNNNND....

Here is the after picture! I promise you it did remove the blood stains which weren't shown.... **AHEM** I don't think my sister would like my posting pictures of her... blood stains..... lol

10-25-2008-19-09-34--Pulsator.jpg
 
Jamie, looks like you need hotter water, longer wash time or bleach, or maybe all three.
 
I got it!

Yeah!!! My Ariel Excel arrived today!!!! (actually, it came yesterday, but the stupid mail person made me go to the post office today and pick it up).
I used the Bio on my white sheets/regular whites in 'warm' water. LOVE the scent, and they smelled even better, if that's possible, when I took the stuff off the clothesline. YUMMY! Can't wait to take a shower tonight, and then get in bed. :)

I didn't use bleach or fabric softener, cuz I wanted to whole effect. Cleaned very well, although I have to say, there wasn't much to clean. My whites are pretty white to begin with, so I can't say they went from gray to brilliant white, but the dish towels had some tea stains on them and they were all washed out (with no bleach) so I have to say it worked great. I just love the smell and it rinsed very well. So I give it an A+++ in my book.

I wanted to wash all my laundry in the stuff, but unfortunately P&G are a bunch of poops and won't release Ariel here, so it will have to be saved for special occasions. I will do one load using the Excel for colors...just to be able to have my work shirts smell like that all day...
The only issue I could say was that I had to use my finger to get the gel to dispense all the way out of my washer's dispenser. I didn't use the cup because one of the post's above, said the gel didn't wash out of the little cap very well. Well, seems it doesn't dispense out of a dispenser either. :)

Well, that's it. Thank you Spoodles for the link to the brit superstore. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to get it. Hugs
 
Jeff, I used a 60C wash and the longest wash time possible (Extended option) on the Extra White cycle which was about 45 minutes of wash time and then another 30 for rinses and spins. I don't ever allow bleach anywhere near my laundryroom, hate the smell, hate the results, hate the harshness of it on both my clothes and machines. My Miele washer and Bosch washer both state specifically to NEVER use chlorine bleach in them as it will cause them damage.
 
"maybe all three"

..and sometimes not even that! LOL
I have an ASKO, and I've washed whites on every cycle from an express 30 min wash to the 3 hr sani-wash-that's 2 hrs of washing @ 205 degrees with an additional 1 hr for 7 rinses.
But still, I have come to the conclusion that sometimes, you just need a hit of bleach! Manufactures directions be-damned. ;)

Laurent
 
Jamie, I meant oxygen bleach/Oxyclean/etc, not chlorine bleach. Even some STPP might help.
 
Also Jamie, I didn't know you were using a FL. That accounts for most of the dirt.

The heavy cycle on our Speed Queen TL takes 30 minutes start to finish, and it's never left a trace of dirt on our whites (160F water, Tide Free with 1/3 c. STPP).
 
Ariel Excel Gel

Hi Laurent,
Please use the dosing device, I can assure you it will not damage your laundry. I've done a few loads of my Mums and Grans Nylon Stockings using the dosing device and no damage resulted whatsoever.

Hi Jamie,
Please try the Ariel Excel Gel with cooler water, it is specifically designed to clean as well at 15°C as at 60°C.
It has successfully removed Chinese Curry, Tomato Soup, Tomato Ketchup and Gravy from my white Cotton T-Shirts at 20°C. I suspect the Enzyme complex is designed to work best in cool or cold water.

David
 
That "thing"

Hi David,

I know you all us that little cup thing in your laundry over there, but it just seems so weird to throw a plastic cup into your washer! LOL. I can just imagine the klunking and smashing about it must make and I'm not sure about having that thing rubbing about all over my clothes, picking and snagging.. I know, how 'American' of me. (And I'm not really all that 'american'! lol)

I guess I could try it tomorrow when I use the Ariel for Colors. I could wash some jeans or something else sturdy and heavy. I did also get a little bottle of Dreft for Darks from the brit store, it came with a little bubble cup to pour soap into.

Thanks to you too, David for the zip code info so I could get into Tesco (I think that was the one I used the zip for).

I'll give a shout tomorrow if I have any clothes left after I throw that shredder thing in with the wash. ;)
 

Latest posts

Sponsored
UnlistMe
Back
Top