On The Quest For A New Powdered Laundry Detergent

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qsd-dan

qsd-dan

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So I was just officially informed that Kirkland Institutional powdered detergent has been discontinued after being AWOL from the shelves the past few months in my area. This has been my go to detergent since the 90's. While I quit using it for cold washes around 2008 and recently for warm washes in the past year (Kirkland free and clear liquid for those cycles), I exclusively use it for pre wash and hot wash cycles. Since it's a nonbiological detergent, I can dump it in 160F hot wash/soak cycle with oxy bleach without feeling guilty about unnecessary enzyme death.

I noticed Costco carries Nellies Laundry Soda. Surprisingly, the reviews seem to be quite impressive for a natural product. Just wanted some opinions on that detergent for those who have experimented with it.

I know Tide is king in the realm of powders but the aroma is too overbearing and long term use causes rash breakouts. Gain has identical results. Foca was kind of "meh" in performance region and that was back when it still had phosphates although I was using it under hard water conditions and I have a softener now. Cheer seems like a waste for my purpose as it's catered towards preserving dark colors. Haven't tried ALL in nearly 30 years. Any opinions are welcomed.

It sounds weird, but losing this detergent is actually kind of an emotional experience that really caught me off guard, like I lost a family member. I'm not a detergent whore like others here so I just use what works well and stick with it as long the performance remains the same and I don't break out.
 
free and gentle powder?

Good option, I didn't even know that existed in powdered form.
 
Most powdered detergents sold at janitorial or commercial/laundry supply places are heavy on alkaline substances (washing soda, sodium metasilicate, etc...) and usually light on enzymes, activated oxygen bleaching systems and other things you find in TOL consumer detergents like Tide or Persil.

Yes, there are better options available for industrial or professional use, but they tend to cost more than standard run of mill bottom shelf product. There is a reason why 10, 20 50 or whatever huge amount in pounds of these products cost comparatively little.

https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/5179-KirklandSignatureInstitutionalLaundryDetergent/

Anytime you see a laundry detergent that is also marketed to clean floors, walls, and other surfaces, that says something.

https://dazzly.mybigcommerce.com/kirkland-signature-institutional-laundry-detergent-200-wash-loads/

Commercial or institutional laundries aren't bothered by higher pH levels because that is how soils, grease, and even certain marks such as blood are shifted without using enzymes. Also within confines of short wash cycles of about eight to twelve minutes chemicals work better. This of course is coupled with fact commercial/institutional laundries consider "warm" water 120 degrees F, and "hot" between 140 and 170 degrees F.
 
Last time one checked many years ago Kirkland detergents were made by Huish. That company was bought by Sun Products (now Henkel North American Consumer Goods).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Products

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henkel_North_American_Consumer_Goods#Henkel_Corporation_(2018-present)

Like everyone else nowadays Kirkland has various pods and liquid detergent offerings. Maybe it was like many other brands, Kirkland decided to stop powders and focus on liquid format laundry products.
 
losing this detergent is actually kind of an emotional exper

Lots of products that've been around decades or longer have disappeared.

Johnson Baby Powder with Talc for example: All you can get now is that smelly corn starch crap that has the consistency of chalk.

Latest casualty is my favorite Gillette Foamy sensitive skin shave cream. It disappeared off the shelves for a month or two then reappeared with an ugly redesigned logo, well the idiots at P&G decided to redesign the scent also!!

It always had a pleasant light soapy scent, now it smells like some awful cheap cologne that stays in your nostrils long after washing it off- Totally unusable.

WTF? Why would they mess around with a best selling product like that?

To me the scent was the main selling point in addition to being a good shave cream.
 
I honestly don’t really know what detergent I could recommend, but since I’ve used Maytags over the years, a low sudsing detergent that doesn’t kick up many suds would be my choice. Low sudsing detergent is also recommended for anyone who has a Whirlpool belt drive washer since they are known for suds locking very easily and I’ve done it a few times already.
 
Are you talking about the square buckets of Kirkland powder from Costco, or is there a different product? I got some to try, because being Kirkland it must be good and ended up throwing it out. So many suds and everything was stiff and scratchy. I didn’t find it to be good at all
 
When using powdered detergents like Kirkland and similar products, you really would want to use some sort of "sour" in final rinse. Bit of household white vinegar should suffice.

Again there is a reason why these "institutional" or whatever detergents are so cheap for huge containers, they are rather heavy on washing soda and silicates.
 
Yep, it's the square buckets. It's el chepo but works supremeo for my use. Consumer reports persistently gave it an "Excellent" rating. All of Costcos in my area are permanently out. I would have grabbed like 20 buckets had I known this was discontinued. I just assumed it was a supply issue given the current circumstances.

The 806 doesn't create suds nor does it sudslcok, even with mechanically softened water. Rinsing isn't a problem either with a warm spray rinse and deep rinse of 120F. The extra incoming water from mixing hot and cold water for 85F via the temper valve plus hot water straight from the supply (about a 7 gallon spray rinse) makes for excellent results. Then a 19 gallon 120F deep rinse for the win. No second rinses or sours required. Probably not recommended for front loader use or poor rinsing top loaders without a second rinse option.
 
Darn

That's a shame, I liked using this stuff. Guess I'll also be on the hunt for a replacement when I get a place of my own if I get a top loader because I prefer using powder for top loaders and liquid for front loaders. So far I've enjoyed trying out Tide, Arm & Hammer, and OxiClean.

panasonicvac-2022042322223407627_1.jpg
 
The best thing I found about Kirkland Detergent

was the BUCKET I use it to store a decent washing powder in from Aldi or Lidl as with another member found the Kirkland stuff useless at cleaning anything did not remove dirt out the dog bed which is always a good test. So yes threw it in a black sack and in the trash it went, Like an idiot I also tried using their own DW pods ..... another mistake I won't make again.

Austin
 
I found out the dishwasher pods work really well,

They actually seem to work better than Aldi’s on a hot long wash, I’ll try throwing a greasy pan in there Because that’s one way to definitely test it plus running the hot water until it’s actually hot helps
 
DW pods used in

F&P Dishdrawer on normal cycle which uses only cold water as no hot connection and heats to about 60c and these darn pods would not shift anything baked on or dried or really greasy unlike Aldi pods throw it in press start and the jobs always a good one !
 
And that Costco detergent actually does work really well

Specifically the laundry detergent, mum tends to use it for doing towels, she doesn’t use it for doing dark stuff as she’s had issues with it not dissolving properly, (she uses the quick wash with cold water, which honestly, I’m not surprised), I’ve used it on warm and hot washes before and it worked well, although considering it’s probably one of the more cheaper detergent on the market as it doesn’t have any sort of “heating agent” to help dissolve it in cold and cool water, If you ever work on a transmission on a washing machine or something really greasy, try washing your hands with laundry detergent you’ll feel it heat up in your hands when you run your hands under water While scrubbing them with the detergent
 

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