Stain Tests: Tide Evo Tiles; Tide Ultimate Stain Release; EC30 Tiles

[frigilux]

The box of Tide Evo Laundry Tiles arrived, so I stained a dish towel with the same stains used in the EC30 Tiles and liquid Tide Ultimate Stain Release tests, then let the stains dry overnight (about 10 hours).

Used the same cycle as the other tests:
> Speed Queen 7009 front-loader; very soft water; load filled about 2/3 of the tub
> Normal Cycle; warm water; max soil level (50 minute wash tumble)
> 1 Tide Evo Laundry Tile

Photo 1: Tide Evo Laundry Tiles results.
Photo 2: EC30 Laundry Tiles (also made by P&G) results.
Photo 3: Liquid Tide Ultimate Stain Release results.
Photo 4: Front of packaging
Photo 5: Back of packaging
Photo 6: Dosing instructions and QR Code that takes you to Tide.com
Photo 7: The six layers of a tile
Photo 8: You can download the Smart Label app and scan the UPC code. This is supposed to provide more info about the detergent. Unfortunately, Tide Evo has not been added to the database yet.
Photo 9: Inside the box. Opens like a fast food burger box.
Photo 10: The ingredients

 

[frigilux]

Overall, the two laundry tile products cleaned these ridiculously tough stains almost as well as top-rated liquid Tide Ultimate Stain Release. I’ve used both the EC30 tiles ($1 apiece) and the Tide Evo tiles ($.45 apiece for a box of 44) on regular loads with great results.

The detergent tiles are completely dry, so no worries about puncturing a powder + liquid pac/pod. Suds were fairly well controlled. Final rinse (of 2) still had some bubbles in it, but none of the more robust lathery suds of the wash tumble.

It will be interesting to see if Tide Evo gets a foothold in the market. Even at 45-cents a tile, compared to the EC30’s $1 per tile, they cost more than most liquids, powders, and pods. I wonder if they’ll steal more sales from liquids or pods/pacs. They’ll certainly be easy on shipping due to their light weight compared to other detergent formats. Time will tell. If they don’t catch on, they’ll eventually be coveted by detergent collectors.

 

[mrboilwash]

I bet if the Speedqueen could do a cold or warm start to 95 °C wash there wouldn`t be a trace of anything left.
But of course it`s best to make the conditions as hard as possible for a detergent test and I think all three performed very well in those conditions.

 

[thewoolitewoman]

Excellent work! Thank you so much for doing this.

 

[frigilux]

Just dawned on me that I didn’t take a photo of what the “before laundering” towel looked like. This is one from a previous test, but I stained them all identically, so it will at least give you a good idea of what the tested detergents were up against.

Coffee Stain: I dampened that corner of the towel and scrubbed the inside of the drip tray of my coffeemaker, so that’s an extremely tough coffee stain. I’m impressed at how well the two “tiles” products handled that.

Rao’s Marinara and especially the Frank’s Original Hot Sauce appear to be the Achilles heel for the tested detergents. Normally I’d pretreat (if stain was on a shirt) or use liquid chlorine bleach on a load of kitchen whites. Never really realized how tough those stains were for detergents alone,

 

[luxflairguy]

Now it makes sense! Thanks

 

[supersuds]

Haven’t done a word by word comparison of the ingredients, but I notice that the EC30 tiles list zeolites, commonly found in powders, and the Tiles do not. They seem to just rely on sodium citrate for water softening, like a liquid detergent.

Thanks for all the tests!

 

[angus]

Interesting results. Not surprising that the Rao's, mustard and Frank's stains were not removed by the detergent alone. Regardless of the detergent I have used, those stains almost always require chlorine bleach for complete removal. Unless of course you want to do a whole pretreating with some kind of oxi powder and water and let it sit. Lestoil can help also. But between the tomato in the Rao's and the turmeric in the mustard, I'm surprised that the tiles did as well as they did on their own.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I wonder if a 180F or 200F wash in a machine with an onboard heater would make a difference.

 

[mrboilwash]

Tom, do you think it wouldn`t make a difference because there are no bleaching agents in Tide Evo Tiles?

I`ve mostly been using liquid detergents for years and can tell from personal experience that a cold start boil wash will make a huge difference, even on a lot of bleachable stains.

What I`d find way more interesting would be the outcome of a 140 °F hot start.
Some here seem to fear it might interfere with the enzymes but I think this isn`t the case at all. Enzymes are way more heat stable than commonly believed.
While most enzymes seem to be most active in warm water hot water certainly doesn`t kill off all activity immediately.
Some washing machine manufacturers like Miele or Zoppas in the 1970`s offered a Bio prewash cycle at 60 °C while others favoured 50° or even lower. I`m sure they knew what they did even back then.
If enzymes really were that heat sensitive then it wouldn`t make any sense to have enzyme based dishwasher products on the US market where hot fills are the rule.

The only unknown factor to me would be if a hot start would set the stains to a point where the outcome would be even worse than in a warm water wash.
I don`t think so, again think about automatic dish washing, but couldn`t tell for sure either.

 

[combo52]

Testing the new tide, Tile detergents

Thank you, Eugene for going to all the trouble to do this and demonstrate how this new product is working.

I find it very interesting, I’ve never really had stains in clothing a problem, but it certainly demonstrates the cleaning potential of different products which is important. I think it’s interesting that this is the way so many detergents are marketed and I guess for some consumers when a stain doesn’t come out it’s a catastrophe.

I’m sure they’ll be some other competitors that come out with similar products. It will be interesting to see what companies like Costco Aldi, etc. come out with to compete with this tide product.

John

 

[tomturbomatic]

Stephan, I don't know. When I suggested a boil wash, I was thinking of it starting from the profile in my Mieles where the hot fill is tempered to maybe 120F in the cold machine and then the whole load is heated as it washes in a product like Persil Universal powder with added STPP. Also, since I am not testing detergents for their stain removal efficacy, if I have a stain, I pretreat it with Shout or another appropriate pre-treater. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.
Have a great day.

 

[frigilux]

Stefan- It will be easy to do the stain test with 140F degree water. I’ll use the Sanitize With Oxi cycle. The light soil setting provides a 50 minute wash tumble, as does the max soil setting on the Normal cycle.

Tom- While I can’t get up to those near-boiling temps, adding the Stain Boost option to a cycle provides a 20 minute tumble in cold water, which could lead into the Sanitize With Oxi cycle, which uses hot water—140-145 degrees in my case—and provides a wash tumble anywhere from 50 to 80 minutes depending on the soil selection. Or it could be used in conjunction with the Whites cycle, which provides up to a 30 minute wash tumble.

 

[mrboilwash]

Eugene, that would be awesome if your`re still in the mood to do another stain test

 

[frigilux]

One last test of the Tide Evo tiles.

> SQ front-loader; load filled about 2/3 capacity of the 3.5 cu. ft. drum
> Sanitize With Oxi cycle; hot (140F degree wash); light soil setting (50 minute wash tumble)
> 1 Tide Evo Laundry Tile
> All tests utilized a 50 minute wash tumble.

Photo 1: The “before” towel. Again, this is a photo of the towel used a couple of tests ago, but I’ve stained them all equally. Gives you an idea of what the detergent was up against.
Photo2: The “after laundering” towel; damp straight from the washer. 140F degree wash. Tide Evo Tile
Photo 3:The “after laundering” towel; Normal Cycle, warm water selection, Tide Evo Tile
Photo 4: The “after laundering” towel; Normal Cycle, warm water selection, EC30 tile
Photo 5: The “after laundering” towel; Normal Cycle, warm water selection, liquid Tide Ultimate Stain Release

 

[frigilux]

I’d say the towel washed in 140F degree water did a slightly better job on most stains, but a bit worse on the Frank’s Hot Sauce.

It’s been fun to see the subtle differences in performance of these detergents.

To conclude the testing, I’d like to put UK (Unilever) Persil Bio through its paces.

Conclusion so far: Tide Evo is a very good detergent, and easy to use.

Note: The post below was deleted because it was an accidental double post of this one.[this post was last edited: 4/15/2024-14:00]

 

[frigilux]

I’d say the towel washed in 140F degree water did a slightly better job on most stains, but a bit worse on the Frank’s Hot Sauce.

It’s been fun to see the subtle differences in performance of these detergents.

To conclude the testing, I’d like to put UK (Unilever) Persil Bio through its paces.

Conclusion so far: The Tide Evo is a very good detergent, and easy to use.

 

[mrboilwash]

Thanks Eugene!

I`m not sure about the other stains but AFAIK cocoa as in Hershey`s syrup is a protein based stain just like grass or blood and therefore should respond well the enzyme protease.
What a relief (LOL) to see it came out at 140°F because it kind of confirms my preaching that hot water doesn`t affect enzyme activity that much.
Nonetheless I have to admit that I was expecting better results on both of the grease based sauce stains, even on a hot start.

This shows again how biased our believes and expectations can be depending on what we are used to in our daily lifes, doesn`t it?

 

[DADoES]

 
AquaSmart has separate cycles for Grass, Blood, and Chocolate stains.

Grass & Blood function the same as I recall.  Cold Eco Active treatment, warm (50°C ATC) HE-level fill with cold top-off for a deep/conventional wash period which includes a (30-min?) soak.

Chocolate has warm+ (56°C) for Eco Active, 50°C HE-level with a cold deep/conventional top-off also with a soak period.

And separate choices (that function the same) for Wine and Fruit stains.  56°C Eco Active, 50°C HE wash (no deep/conventional-level top-off, no soak).