Presoaking

[autowasherfreak]

What do you use for presoaking? I have been presoaking my whites with a 2/3 cup of bleach. I have also been presoaking colored towels with the same detergent I wash with. I have been thinking about getting a bottle of Clorox 2 to presoak colors with or should I get a box of Biz. Is Axion still being made?

 

[sudsmaster]

Wouldn't the residual chlorine bleach kill any enzymatic activity in the wash detergent?

I think the usual presoak regimen is to use 1/3 of the normal wash dose in the presoak, and the rest of it in the main wash. Add the bleach at the end of the wash cycle or in the first rinse.

Bleach also does its job better on fabric that has been washed clean of its organic burden.

 

[autowasherfreak]

When I presoak whites I use just straight bleach.

 

[launderess]

Haven't presoaked anything in years.

Today's modern TOL detergents such as Persil and Tide have removed much of the need. Especially when using the Miele and a "profile" wash that starts from tepid or warm and heats to hot or boiling. Normally wash most things at 100F to 120F anyway.

Pre-soaking with chlorine bleach is not a great idea on several fronts.

The purpose of presoaking is to begin removing stubborn soils and stains, especially in the case of very heavy sorts. This is especially true when using American domestic washing machines and or other methods where the ultimate wash temp will start out with hot water. Hot water not only sets stains,especially those of a protien nature, but will set soils and oils as well.

Chlorine bleach is a powerful oxidant, requiring a very short reaction time to remove stains, (<5 minutes, faster in hot water). Prolonged contact time does not increase results and can lead to textile damage. Indeed any stain not removed within about five minutes of chlorine bleaching is not going to be removed by this method.

Commercial laundries, and others use a quick pre-wash called a "flush" using body temperature water, before starting the main wash. Again, because today's modern detergents most always contain a complex cocktail of enzymes, pre-soaking is really not needed in all but the most really badly stained/soiled laundry.

If it is white laundry you are after, it is just as easy to launder items in warm water with a good enzyme detergent, and add LCB to the last five minutes of the wash cycle, or the first of several rinses. Either way the results would be the same.

L.

 

[launderess]

Axion Long Ceased Being Produced

Biz is not the same product of yore, but still around in a new formula.

Both products suffered from lackluster sales once enzymes and oxygen bleach began to be included in many detergents, such as "Tide With Bleach". This removed the need for purchasing two products, and housewives (and others), got the message.

With a good detergent today, it is possible to soak laundry, even badly soiled laundry clean. Have put items such as badly stained linens or shirts into a soaking bath with say Tide or Persil, and using warm water. Came back an hour or so later and the items were clean! Those little hungry enzymes ate up the stains the the activated oxgyen bleaches took care of whatever was left.

Miele and other washing machine makers stopped using pre-wash as part of the default wash program on "Normal" and "Permanent Press" cycles because research found modern laundry detergents did the job in one cycle only. My circa 1990's Miele w1070 has a pre-wash as part of the default "Normal" cycle, but by the time Miele introduced the 1918 series, the prewash cycle was an option, not part of any default cycle.

Being as all this may, if you still wish to pre-soak there are a few common guidelines:

Use about 1/3 of the amount of laundry product you intend for the wash cycle. That is take whatever dose of detergent you plan on using, and minus 1/3 for the pre-soak, and use the rest for the wash cycle.

Prewashing or soaking generally only lasts about ten to fifteen minutes. Again the purpose is to begin the washing process by lossening soils and stains. Leaving things too long not only just may leave them clean, it can also do the opposite.

As textile fibers soak in warm water they begin to swell, releasing dirt and soils. If left too long, as the water cools the textile fibers begin to contract, trapping those same soils back into the textile.

 

[autowasherfreak]

My problem with whites towels is that when used after washing them they have a strange odor. So I have been putting them through a presoak with bleach, then washed in the longest cycle with hot water and an extra rinse seemed to get rid of the oder. I have the same problem with odors on colored towels as well. So I put them through a soak cycle with half a cap of detergent then washed in the longest cycle with either warm or hot water.

 

[vintagesearch]

i dont use bleach anymore! i do soak the whites overnight and run an extra rinse hot wash and warm rinses works like a charm and if there really bad they get baking soda mixed in!!! color towles i soak for 10min in cold water and extend the rinse cycle ( i have a TLer) i no have no smell issues after that. i hang dry everything (no dryer).

hope this helps, also after you use a towel make sure it dries out well if its not dry by the time you go use it to dry yourself or a dish etc. it will probably get smelly.

V

 

[launderess]

Strange Odor?

How?

Mould? Mildew? Have a whiff about them?

Would try adding some borax to your wash, along with detergent instead of chlorine bleach.

If your towels smell "fresh" after laundering, and continue to do so when stored, and only start having the odor when wet (from drying off after bathing), then there is something not being rinsed out of your towels, that is reacting to water.

Try dunking a clean towel in water, wring it out, and taking a good deep breath. If it still smells clean, then the other option could be a reaction between your skin chemisty, and or whatever you use for bathing, and the towels (or rather what is on/in them).

Clean textiles that are residue free, and dry shouldn't give off any sort of odor, strange or otherwise. Are only your towels having this problem?

 

[ronhic]

I never have the problem....

Try washing in hot water on the longest cycle with a normal dose of good detergent

....DON'T use any fabric conditioner in them....and if you can put up with scratchy towels for once, line dry them....or tumble dry (no dryer sheet either!) and then hang outside in the sun for a couple of hours....

 

[autowasherfreak]

It seems just to be towels that have an odor. Jeans, shirts, sheets and blankets are fine but I have never checked then they don't usually get damp like bath towels do.

 

[brettsomers]

towels...

I'm hard on my towels and no odor problems...

no softener...

dont overload...

always warm or hot wash...

 

[polkanut]

Borax is a great odor remover, a cup of ammonia would also help.

 

[bajaespuma]

Prewashing

I make a distinction between presoaking and prewashing. I always prewash my chefs clothes to remove a lot of the protein soils in cold or lukewarm water before washing them in hot water. I've begun to do this with my gym clothes as well because I suspect a lot of odors come from some of the body soils that get "set" into the fibers without giving them a chance to dissolve in a cold prewash with some lessive.

I don't presoak as much but what I've read about "autolysis" even with plain detergent, a lot can be loosened and removed without tumbling or agitation.

 

[jetaction]

Presoaking

I do this with white, using Amway Tryzyme. Great with little SA8 added.

 

[autowasherfreak]

I washed a load of colored towels yesterday and used one this morning, without presoaking them and no strange odor this time. I did run them through a rinse and spin because they were on the basement floor sitting in water from all the rain we had over the past couple of days.

I also washed some white towels that I did run through a soak cycle with a half cap of detergent. Then through a heavy cycle with hot water, a half cap of detergent and bleach. They were sitting in water also.

If this rain keeps up, I might have to start building an ark.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Whiter Whites:

This is interesting that I'm seeing this Thread Posting, after talking with a Friend Monday Evening and finding out what his Mother has done. He told me that his Mother puts the Whites in a Wash Tub filled with Water, getting everthing Soaking Wet. She then takes the items out, Rolling them up, placing them in a Plastic Bag and placing them in her Freezer Overnight.

Now, where she used to live, she would just put the Whites out in the Snow, to cover the items, then Rolling them up and placing them in the Wash Tub Overnight, without any other Water. In the Morning, she takes the now Thawed items out of the Wash Tub, places them into her Washer and Washes them in Hot Water and Warm Rinses.

My Friends Mother worked as a Nurse and all of the other Nurses always asked her how she got her White Outfits and other White Clothes so Bright, when theirs were dingy looking. She told them what she did, as mentioned above and actually got everyone started into doing the same thing, so they never ever needed to use Bleach ever again.

My Friend told me that when she would also use her Wringer Washer, when her Automatic Washer would be broken-down and before her Husband would Repair it, she would have it once in a while not operate it, so she would pull the Lever to put the Washer into a Neutral position, give the Wringer Washer a "Good Swift Kick" then put the Lever into the Wash position and it would start operating again. He told me that a lot of people would ask him or his Mother, if they were watching some TV Sit-Com and they would tell the person, that they were honestly telling the truth about what she would have to do, to get her Wringer Washer operating again. "BTW" the brand of Wringer Washer {which she still has and still uses often} is a Westinghouse.

Good Luck with getting your Whites Whiter, without using any Bleach.

Peace, Good Times Washing in a Westinghouse Wringer Washer, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...