Sears Ultra Plus Stain-Fighting Formula Detergent

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Stubborn Stains

My elderly mother is in a nursing home at present for rehab. I opted to do her laundry. A sweater came home with a beet juice stain that was about two days old. I applied Shout and threw it in the wash with Sears Ultra. Sweater came out with no trace of the stain. I was impressed.
 
the one little scoop per load is neat, mentally coming to terms that one little scoop is enough for a load, that part is a little hard, and this same scoop is for a 20 gallon TLer as well as a 3 gallon FLer.....aside from that, this stuff works really well....I prefer this green box with the double enzymes....

I mis the 5 gallon bucket....you could find it on sale for around 19.99....and somewhere around the useage of 320 loads.....I know it was close to the idea, you could do one load a day for almost a year on one bucket, for 20.00!....you could not beat it....

we have been over the mold issues back and forth, you either have it, and you WILL know that you do, or you don't.....and it has come down to your individual laundry practices....I don't go by the idea of leaving the door and drawers open, I never have, and never had an issue....

contributors to mold in machines comes from COLD washing, liquid detergents and softners, and non use of bleach in any given load...

oddly enough, you can tell some people wash only in cold, you can smell it on their clothes and linens, sometimes the home will smell from this as well....and they don't know it....

I get a little confused on ones thinking, wash clothes with body oils and residue in cold water.....yet they will wash greasy dishes in a dishwasher with hot water....IMHO...cold is OK for some things, others require warm/hot to remove certain stains and odors......otherwise, why have a water heater?...

detergents are supposed to have gotten better over the years...but I think COLD POWER and CHEER of the 70's worked best in cold water..
 
We really should keep quiet about Sears Ultra . . .

. . . because as soon as anything becomes popular, the formula gets changed to "new and improved" which generally trnaslates to "worse than the original."
 
I used to buy Sears Ultra Plus in the bucket at Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) back when Sears owned them. Now Sears/Kmart has sold them off, OSH is now private again. It appears to be an improvement. But anyway, those buckets appear to be history. I still use the ones I have to mix in about 1/3 by weight STPP.

I do vary the dosage based on load size and amount of soiling. Really dirty work clothes require significantly more detergent. Two to three scoops for a really filthy large load. 1/2 scoop just for a small load of mostly clean things. I monitor this via the sudsing - looking for just a hint of suds.

I think the Blue box version is Oxyclean also dissolves better in cold water, but I couldn't swear on it.

What's the difference between the green box and the orange box? I *think* the orange box doesn't say "HE" on it, but it appears to be the same product as the HE labeled version.
 
Ive been using Sears Ultra Plus detergent for about 12 years. I like the powder versions. I use the Perfume/Dye free and recently bought the green box when a local Sears hardware was closing its doors. There isnt a stain I havent been able to remove. It dissolves well and rinses very clean. It also does not fade colors. I am not impressed with the liquid version though. For the times where I need a liquid, Ive been using All Free Clear with good results.

One complaint about the Sears Ultra Plus is that I am having issues with it removing body odor from DH's work clothes. I use the All on his clothes.
 
Lisa,

I have a suggestion: Set a longer wash time on the laundry and select an extra rinse. Also, although one scoop should do of the Sears detergent, try using a little more detergent than you normally do. See if that remedies the problem.
 
Andy

I have a SQ AFN50R, so I cant really change the cycle time unless I let it go for about 10 minutes or catch before it drains, stop the machine and restart the cycle. I can try adding more detergent. I may have tried that with my old Kenmore, I dont remember. I tried spraying the shirts with vinegar, rubbing in fels-naptha, added 20 Mule Team Borax, and soaking them. It was only after I used the All that I got the odor out. I always choose extra rinse for his work clothes since he's got sensitive skin.

I'll try it again. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Todd is right!

I forgot about the ammonia trick for deodorizing. I have a cotton thermal blanket I got from a relative. It had a stored smell. A musty smell. Regular washing did not take of it. Hanging on the line helped tremendously, but there was still a faint smell. A cup of clear ammonia in place of laundry detergent took care of it. I got that advice from a fellow employee. They had used that method to deodorize a wool blanket. I have never washed a wool blanket in the washing machine. My wool blankets (when I used them) either went to the cleaners or I hung them out to sun. I have some beautiful old wool blankets. I replaced the satin bindings with some vintage blanket trim I found on Ebay, but y'all don't care about that. Anyway, our climate has changed here in the south and I rarely use a wool blanket. There is one on the guest room bed now just because, but I an seriously thinking about gathering all of them up and dropping them off at Habitat. I need to do some spring cleaning anyway....
 
Best Detergent For The Money

Thanks to my fellow AW viewers, I tried Sears Ultra Plus (orange box). Best detergent for the money I ever used. My toughest test was white clothes (especially undies and socks). A couple of scoops in our Whirlpool DD top loader (along with some LA's Awesome Oxygen Booster), and everything comes out sparkling--without LCB! I'm getting some more next time Sears has a sale. My current box should last through at least the summer.
 
Todd: Ugh ammonia. My Mom used to use that to clean the bathroom and I couldnt breathe. I dont know if I could take the smell in the wash. I will keep it in mind however.

Mike: LA's Awesome Oxygen Cleaner FTW! Ive been buying it at Dollar Tree. Glad youre pleased with the Sears detergent!
 
Liquid ammonia

Is basically a gas in water suspension. This explains why persons gasp (and rightly so) because the fumes are ammonia gas going into the air.

That being said the stuff is fantastic for cleaning through grease and oils. Basic chemistry 101: alkaline substance + fats/oils ='s soap.

Use an ammonia, water and washing up mixture in a spray bottle to clean the inside of convection oven. One just sprays down the interior and (quickly) closes the door. After awhile the grease just wipes away.

Ammonia along with other alkaline substances will remove blood stains. Indeed before enzymes took over that chore commercial laundries and others treated blood stains with ammonia before laundering, or added the stuff to the wash wheel. Such alkaline substances including lye were part of the "break" used as the first cycle in doing white laundry loads in commercial settings.

Break literally does what it the word says, "breaks" the soils/oils from textiles to make the subsequent washing cycles easier.
 
Ammonia solution is actually classed as a weak base. It is really ammonium hydroxide. It's weak because only an extremely small fraction of the chemical dissociates into ammonium and hydroxide ions. It is nowhere near as caustic as sodium hydroxide (lye), but it is corrosive. Don't ask me how it does that, but the corrosive part of its nature probably accounts for its ability to attack protein based stains. And even though it is a weak base, it will also work to saponify fats and oils, presumably because as the dissociated ions do the saponification, more ions are produced by dissociation from the surplus of non-dissociated ammonium hydroxide.

Personally don't care for the aroma of ammonia solution, so I don't use it for cleaning, but I have a use for it, because it repels raccoons. A few half gallon bottles located in strategic places seems to do a pretty good job of keeping them moving.
 
We've used ammonia for years because it is the only thing that will get rid of the perfume residues in my wifes clothing.  Some of the perfumes that she uses can linger quite awhile in laundered garments w/o it.  We buy the cheap stuff at our local farm supply store, and it's just as good as any expensive brand. 

[this post was last edited: 5/10/2013-10:24]
 
Ammonia is not so bad with the scents added....pine or lemon....

I prefer Parsons Lemon Ammonia....if has a great scent when cleaning, not the typical harsh ammonia smell

and I guess I am used to it, from home use to working in a laundry, the powerful aromas don't seem to affect me all that much any more...while others would gag at the mere scent...

another thing with chemical cleaning over years, I never wore gloves all that much, and not the fact that it can strip oils from your skin, I just happen to have the cleanest nails....but worst of all, my fingerprints have smoothed over, their there, just hard to scan them....who knew
 
My mom called in a cleaning lady every couple of months to help with "overhaul" cleaning (which happened regularly at my house) and she used ammonia. A very young Frigilux would bolt out of the room from the smell. Mom, on the other hand, used bleach to clean so I was used to that scent. I use bleach to clean the bathroom and kitchen to this day; and for laundry, of course.

Martin: No fingerprints? Now's the time to rob that bank, LOL!
 

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