Stain Removal Detergent Test Results

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frigilux

frigilux

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Well, kids, it's all over but the cryin' as they say. Here's the hard-working Frigidaire FL'er that did the honors.

The test load was the same for each detergent---the tub was about 3/4 full. It was made up of dish towels, bar mops, a couple of chef's aprons and four medium-sized bath towels. Oh, and the stained test towel, too.

I used hot water and the WHITES cycle with an 18 minute wash. The temp inside the washer a few minutes into the cycle was around 120 degrees. I also used the extra rinse option to ensure the residual detergent from one load wasn't providing assistance to the next load.
 
Here are the stars of the show. (Sorry, I threw the Persil box away.)

I used the amount of detergent recommended for a medium load. This was generally almost half of a scoop. The SA8 comes with a much smaller scoop, and the directions called for a full scoop in soft water. I used about 2/3 of a capful of the liquid Tide HE.
 
Here is the original test towel. I added a coffee stain at someone's request which isn't shown here.

The stains are Worcestershire sauce, Ketchup, Chocolate syrup, Spaghetti Sauce, Coffee, Barbecue sauce and Mustard.
 
The unquestionable winner is SA8 with Bioquest®. Barely a trace left of any of the stains. Would it have done as well in a top-loader using only 1 scoop? I doubt it, as it would be much more diluted, but the directions say to use 1 scoop in any type of washer. Regardless of that speculation, it won hands down.
 
Second Place: Persil

This surprised me a bit. When I did a load of highly-stained kitchen whites in hot water with Persil and chlorine bleach, I didn't think it removed stains as well as Tide CW and bleach. But on its own, Persil did very well, indeed! I have a new-found respect for it. Only a hint of spaghetti sauce and mustard were left behind.
 
Fourth Place: Tide HE (powdered version)

Chocolate syrup, coffee, spaghetti sauce and mustard were not completely removed. Still, nothing to complain about, really.

(You'll notice I'd planned to test the Oxi-Clean detergent ball on this towel. However, after testing liquid Tide HE, I wanted to see how the powdered version would compare. I figured I'm probably the only person who used the Oxi-Clean ball---and only for bath towels, at that---so it would be more productive to test both versions of Tide HE.)
 
Sixth Place: Tide HE (liquid version)

Like Ariel, it left behind a trace of every stain. It left a lot of the mustard stain behind.

At first, I was just going to test the liquid version; after seeing the disappointing results, I decided to test the powdered version, too. The powdered version did a better job.
 
Limping in dead last in seventh place: Tide Coldwater (powdered version)

OK, as you can imagine, I was totally surprised by my beloved Tide CW's poor showing. Before Tide CW came along, I used liquid Tide HE along with chlorine bleach on white loads and the Tide CW did a better job of removing stains. On its own, not so good!

Oh, and I tested this with temp-controlled cold water, not hot water.

All right, the "I told you so" line forms to the left, kids, LOL.

Final analysis: I think any of these detergents would have done better coupled with chlorine bleach. I also believe any one of these detergents will clean a normal load very well. Needless to say, I'm using SA8 With Bioquest® on my highly-stained white loads from now on.

Next round of tests: I'm taking requests! You ask for it, I'll test it. I'm planning to test Ace (Acti-Blu version), Viva, and the Oxi-Clean Detergent ball, all of which I have on hand.
 
Very interesting to see the results !
Have you used regular Persil Powder or was it the Megaperls ?
I`m asking, because the Megaperls are compareable with the Ultra-Tide powders in strength. Whereas Persil powder is not concentrated and requires a double amount of powder.
 
Detergent suggestion....

how about Purex liquid? Unscented/non allergy style? and All? wonderful test, Eugene!
 
Thanks Eugene

What a great idea. Thanks for spending your valuable time conducting this test for everyone. I too am surprised by the Ariel's performance, and the liquid Tide HE, too.

Patrick
 
I must have sent in my earler post as you were sending the results in.
This is very interesting, and I am sure that this will become a "monster thread" of popularity. I really liked the way you conducted the test. I wonder how many boxes of SA 8 Amway will sell due to your testing (smiles)?
 
Have Done Told You

It is not good to add chlorine bleach to detergents with oxygen bleach, especially Persil which has a complicated activated oxygen bleaching system.

Persil, despite being sold in North America, really shines in traditional "European" type laundering methods. It would never occur to Madame to use chlorine bleach on badly stained whites/colourfast laundry. Rather one would simply crank up the washing machine's water temp to 160F - 200F. At those temps stain removal is excellent, and starting from cool, cold or even warm water would have allowed time for the enzymes in the detergent to work as well.

Remember chlorine bleach deactivates enzymes as well, which basically removes much of the cleaning power in today's TOL detergents.

Persil has changed it's formula to deal with changes in European washing habits,(shorter cycles, cooler water temps), but is still designed for a differnet market than say Tide with Bleach, or even Tide "HE".

On another note, excellent work! Job well done! Thanks for doing all that testing, and am as gobsmacked as others with the results of SA8. Sadly simply have no more room in my stash for yet another large box of detergent, so cannot add another just yet.

L.
 
Suprised my self...Wouldn't have tought Bioquest would have done so well.. Would have thought Tide would have done better, with the exception of the Cold Water... Wouldn't have thought it worked well any way
What about testing Arm and Hammer (my fav), All small and Mighty and Wisk

Love the laundry room, which machiene sees more use the Top Loader or Front Loader and why don't ya have another dryer??
Just cruious

Viva sells laundry soap?
 
Thank you for posting this great test. The laundry room floor tile and wall treatment are great.

I have an ordinary Maytag top-loader (A606). I always add my chlorine bleach after the detergent (regular Tide liquid) has worked for 6 minutes in hot water, timer showing 4 minutes left. This way the enzimes are finished and won't fight the chlorine bleach. Can this be done with Tide With Bleach Alternative (oxygen bleach)? If the oxygen bleach finished after 6 minutes in hot water?

Ken
 
Thanks for checking in on this, everyone! It was a fun experiment, although I'm glad my laundry room no longer smells like Worcestershire, ketchup and mustard.

Stefan-- I have the standard Persil (Henckels) powder. Love that scent of rosemary.

Brett-- Your detergent suggestions for Stain Test Part Two are duly noted!

Launderess-- The chlorine bleach doesn't enter the machine until the first rinse, which gives the detergent time to work on its own. If I use LCB in the top-loader, I don't add the bleach until the last 3 or 4 minutes of the wash cycle. I've never believed in putting bleach in an untimed dispenser right at the beginning of the cycle. While you're here, kindly back up one frame and check out Kenwashesmonday's question about Tide With Bleach Alternative. I have no idea what the answer is. Maybe you can help him. Thanks!

Chad-- Viva is a Mexican detergent (as are Ace and Ariel). I have Venus (aka Retromom) to thank for getting me hooked on those, LOL. There is no 2nd dryer because I don't have a 2nd 220-volt outlet. The front-loader still gets the bulk of the laundry. I probably do 2 out of 6 loads per week in the top-loader. It cleans better, it extracts substantially more water from the clothes and it uses less water.

Ken-- The floor in the laundry room is actually painted concrete. The couple who lived here before me went crazy with that sort of thing all over the house. (Notice the pussy willows painted on the cupboard above the washers.) I can't imagine how many hours they must have put into that floor. Too bad it has been damaged by moving appliances around on it.
 
Ahh..I would use the front load more as well...Shame you can't add another plug, although it may not match your control panels...

That floor is painted????? They did a dam good job! The concreate floor i painted sucked in all the paint and it peeled with in a week..Wound up hireing in a pro and it cost me $3000 and never was as nice looking as that.. I only see one little scratch and really thought it was tile.. It was like my house that was ruined in the 2004 flood..The lady before me Wall paperd the entire house (every room, including the celeings in several rooms)and that was awful..It was blue striped wall paper every place... I spent over a month removing it... Never again.

The mexican detergents are popular here... Do they work better??

Again thanks!
 
Wow, very thorough.

I'd have a couple of possible requests, if it is easily done...

All inspired by the recent CU test results...

Allegedly, now the Tide with Bleach Alternative liquid rates toppermost....I'd be curious to see how it performs against plain Tide liquid, which I'd imagine would be comparable to Tide HE in an FL...

I am intrigued by this Great Value (Wal-Mart) detergent's high showing, and am curious if it would truly work acceptably on your formidable test swatches....and I understand it is inexpensive (although, of course, you may not have a WalMart nearby, or may choose not to patronize them)....

Lastly....the CU tests allege virtual equivalent performance of the Arm and Hammer powder with bleach, and Tide with Bleach traditional powder. This fascinates me, because the Arm and Hammer with Bleach product sudses up much less than Tide with Bleach in my soft water and rinses cleaner, and is substantially less expensive. I have similar laundry challenges as you do with whites as I have by necessity have had to get used to cooking again (GRRRR!!!) and am generating a lot more deeply stained counter cloths, bar towels, etc. To top it all off, I've been directed to use only pure white washcloths in the shower.

I've sort of come to a compromise regarding what seem to be wise admonitions not to mix chlorine bleach with detergents containing oxygen bleach, by letting the wash run until about four or so minutes before initial extract and subsequent rinse, and THEN adding the chlorine bleach.

I've accepted my addiction and co-dependence upon chlorine bleach and hot water in the washer, and fully acknowledge that I have a disinfection phobia that is rooted in some deep-seated neurosis....but, to me, the whites just aren't clean as can be , unless I smell chlorine bleach during the wash. I've tested and retested with virtually every detergent and temperature combination imaginable, in my TL and the ex's new fancy-schmantzy front-loader, and I DO see a difference, especially on white socks and the aforementioned kitchen towels (Szechuan brown sauce is a bi*ch from hell).....

So I have to work around my own individualized needs.

Sorry for the long spiel....thanks again for all this concise, easy-to-understand testing, methodology, and results!
 
Exploder, the Viva detergent is a Mexican brand which is made by one of our big detergent conglomerates (my apologies, I cannot remember which!)

There's no relationship to our Viva paper towel brand...

Might I suggest a "Brawny" detergent brand, with the new ethnically correct logger stud on the front of the box?

lol
 
Bravo Eugene! What a terrific experiment. Not to be a copycat, but I'm inspired to run a similar test using some of the detergents I've got on hand at the moment, pitting conventional against ecological: Fresh Start, Cheer HE liquid, Ecover powder, Whole Foods 365 Laundry Powder, and Bi-O-Kleen liquid. The conventional products will almost certainly outperform the ecological ones, but I'm curious how wide the gap will be. Now I just need to find the time to run the test!

Thank you for sharing your findings and for the inspiration!
 
I am very tempted now to buy a box of the SA8. That stuff seems to work well from what it looks like here. On the Persil..I use it and dont use Chlorine bleach with...dont need to since it already has an oxygen bleach. If you do another test with the Persil try to use it by itself and in hot water. Thats what I do and the results are outstanding. Persil Color does a great job as well and has the pretty pink megapearls. Locks the color in and in my opinion keeps black clothes black.
My 2 cents.
 
No i was thinking of the below item...I get this and Viva confused alot..

I want some persil, but am a tad poor at the moment...

May also break down and buy some Sa8, but have to get over amway
 

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