Those Laundry Detergent "Pods" ...

[combo52]

Children possibly eating detergent pods.

This is a real problem that has happened many times as they are very attractive and tempting to adults as well as children.

A few months ago I bought a container of Kirkland pods at Costco and they are not only very pretty but also kind of fun to play with. When I went back to Costco the other week I bought another container and noticed that they had changed the container to an opaque red container so the pods do not look so tempting to children.

NYCWriter, next time you have a party why don't you try setting a bowl of these out near the food and see if anyone picks one up and tastes it, you might be surprised how many of your friends do not pass your Darwinian survival test, LOL.

 

[launderess]

Used "Bulles" or Pods of the French Detergent In My

At local Laundromat awhile ago. Since those machines automatically have a pre-wash and one cannot open the door at the start of the wash cycle to chuck the thing into the drum; did the next best thing. Stood over the dispenser compartment as machine was filling for the wash and held the pod under the flow of water. It broke apart/dissolved quickly enough and that was that.

Generally however do not like pods because one does not like being compelled to a one size fits all dosage. Tide pods claim to be good for either HE front loaders or top loading washers along with normal machines. Well obviously each machine uses different amounts of water even for a normal "cottons" cycle. So how can one pod do for all? Yes, directions do say two or whatever may be required for larger loads, but still.

Yes, these pods are convenient but there is no escaping the common problem with all unit dose detergents; they lock one into using a set amount of product. At least with some older tablets you could break them apart, but even that has changed. In both pods and tablets there are now various "layers" or sections containing various parts of the product. This means it is very difficult if not impossible to only use a portion and get the proper balance of cleaning power.

Pods make sense to an extent for liquid detergents with the push to use less water in manufacturing. At some point you are going to reach gel stage and that presents all sorts of problems. In Europe as we know there are various dosing caps/balls such as for Ariel Excel gel. Not sure how the American market would take to such things. While some report they have no problems placing gel detergents in their machine's dispenser, others don't see it way.

 

[tolivac]

The Tide pod container I have is an opaque orange color-you don't see the pods in the opaque jar.But the lid is still easy to open-surprized it wasn't more difficult so as to discourage a child from trying to open it.And I bet the container would open if it fell or was dropped.Next step as we are saying-make the pods non colorful.and bring back Mr. Yuk-This was a good thing--wasn't he around in the 70's and 80's yes,parents would have to explain Mr. Yuk to very young kids-but older kids and adults got the idea that the product container the Yuk logo is on was dangerous.The label on the Tide container says to handle the pods only with completly dry hands-no water on sweat-this is what dissolves the "pod" outer jacket.I use them without problems.Much less messy than either powders or liquids.Use the "booster" pods,too,for dirtier loads-again great results-and with any machine I have in my small collection.

 

[MrX]

The Ariel pods are in an opaque green tub with a fairly simple hinged lid.

It's a bit like a giant version of a spreadable butter pack with a hinged lid instead of a lift off one.

 

[launderess]

IMHO Pods Are Yet Another Way To Get Shot of Powder

Detergents.

Yes, some do contain various amounts of powdered substances but only because the chemical used cannot be made to play nice in liquid/gel form.

With my AEG one has to be *very* careful with dosage of detergent or are series of resets for extra rinses is sure. Therefore would never have just a pod type detergent on hand. I mean what does one do for loads that are <100%?

 

[NYCWriter]

Now you're just being silly ...

"NYCWriter, next time you have a party why don't you try setting a bowl of these out near the food and see if anyone picks one up and tastes it, you might be surprised how many of your friends do not pass your Darwinian survival test, LOL."

Putting cleaning products out NEXT TO FOOD *implying* that it's food is not what we are talking about here.

For that matter, why don't I just put a carafe of Windex out with the drinks, as well?

 

[MrX]

The manufacturers seem to have a death wish for powder for some reason.

I assume that liquids are easier to manufacture. They're certainly not pushing them for their love of consumers ...

 

[launderess]

In Many NYC Supermarkets You Cannot Find Powder

Laundry detergent for love nor money.

One local has just *one* small box of Tide powder on shelves, and it is at the bottom in corner. Everything else is liquids, pods, etc.....

Last time one was at K-Sears on Astor Place in the Village it was mostly all liquids, pods, etc... there as well with a small selection of powders.

Problem is time and time again consumer testing groups have shown that these liquids, gels, etc... are often not very good at removing marks as a universal powder. So now we are told to purchase "booster" pods in addition to liquids which do contain bleaching agents to make up the difference.

The Ariel Excel gel in my stash will remove marks mostly if one pre-treats first. Otherwise it is very hit or miss. OTOH powders such as Tide or Persil do the job first time around on their own.

 

[tolivac]

The detergent shelves at Food lion-most is liquid.Next,Pods,then a small section for powders-and getting smaller.If you want powders-go next door to the new WalMart-their detergnet powder section is larger.They have "Roma" in huge plastic bags-beleive like 10-20 pounds worth.

 

[MrX]

There are still quite a lot of powder products on sale here and quite a bit of consumer demand for them despite the drive to switch everyone over to liquids.

You almost only ever see advertising for liquids these days.

However, consumers here seem fairly wedded to powder.

In many other European markets it's much more liquid dominated. So it's hard to generalise about European trends on this.

Hopefully, we continue to resist the marketing push to get rid of powder.

There is still a tendency to think of liquid as a bit 'wishy washy'

Merry Xmas !![this post was last edited: 12/25/2013-09:12]

 

[frontloaderfan]

I recall an old "Sixty minutes" segment with Andy Rooney about liquid vs. powder detergent. He was ranting about liquids being mostly water and how manufacturers are really just selling you their product in diluted form, which has some truth to it, IMO. I do notice that since I have been using powder detergent, there is somewhat more of a mess around the machine, despite being careful. Powder is lighter and tends to "fly around" more than liquid. Not a big deal, as the detergent compartment of my FL can be easily removed and cleaned. I haven't had to do this since I've had this machine, though. It's still pretty clean, even though it's been over a year now.

I find 120 ml of Persil is more than adequate to wash a large load of my baker's whites in hot water and have them come out spotlessly white, time after time. I don't think I'll be switching back to liquid pods any time soon.

 

[jetcone]

The early Persil Pods I bought

5 years ago when I visited ChesterMike came with a waring on the package- do not use in Combination washer/dryers and be sure when transferring from the washer to the dryer that you remove the remains of the pod. It will melt and stick in the dryer.

Well I tried that twice and once it pasted itself onto the drum and I had to use a scraper to remove it ,the second time it pasted to corduroy jeans - what a mess. 

Does Persil still make pods?? I think they gave that up ?

 

I tried Tide pods - I felt it is an horrific product, stunk and way too sudsy. A friend tells me he likes them because you can do the laundry and not have to come back to the machine till next day and the clothes won't stink. 

 

 

[aquarius1984]

Jetcone Jon

Your confusing the regular liquid Persil with the plastic dosing ball which was reusable. They should not be used in washer driers or tumble dryers as they will melt and stick.

Persil capsules/pods are perfectly fine to use in all machines and dissolve completely into the wash water.

 

[aquacycle]

quite a bit of consumer demand for them

I think the remaining popularity of powders in the UK and Europe is down to a few things really.

1. Which? always rate powders higher than liquids
2. Powder detergents over here already contain oxygen based bleaching agents, which liquids don't. In the US, more people are used to having to buy oxi-bleach seperately whereas over here, it's far less common.
3. Powders clean better and have worked for years. Powders came first. It wasn't until the early 90's really that liquids took off here and people tend to stick with what they know works.

When Persil took their Non-Bio off the shelves in favour of new Persil Automatic, there was a huge public outcry for the stuff to return, hence Persil have continued to sell a biological and non biological detergent. It would be the same if powders were gone - LOTS of complaints.

 

[paulc]

Aquarius1984

Persil capsules do state on the packaging not to use in washer dryers, I phoned Unilever to ask why not and was told there is a possibility that the coating on the capsules may not fully dissolve and get melted onto clothing or the drum during the drying process. I have to admit, I have never had a pod or capsule not fully dissolve although I have had to stop the machine and remove them from the door gasket.

 

[launderess]

What bothers me about these "pods" is that in low water usage front loaders there maybe problems with them dissolving totally. In the AEG often it takes awhile before all the Ariel Excel gel is flushed out of the dispenser cap. One can see it tumbling round and round with bits of detergent still in the bottom of the cup.

My other greatest fear is that the pods with bleaches may not dissolve well and cause contact damage to coloured textiles.

 

[frontloaderfan]

I don't care for the Tide pods because it takes several rinses to get all the soap out; a problem I don't have with the powder..

 

[logixx]

I tried Tide PODS but it wasn't anything spectacular at all. Cleans okay.
 

 

[launderess]

Here Is The Thing

Have found *all* P&G detergents such as Tide, Ariel, Cheer, the lot especially liquids require careful dosage or you will be rising until kingdom come. This includes pods and why one is against such things. If you are using them with a very full load of badly soiled wash then things may be ok, but since you cannot adjust dosage for say half load or lightly soiled, what then?

 

[frontloaderfan]

Spot on, Launderess! I noticed this problem quite clearly while washing my bathroom rugs with the Tide pods. After about 6 or 7 minutes of agitation in hot water, there was nothing but suds in the machine. I had to rinse the rugs AT LEAST six or seven times before there were no more residual suds in the rinse water. This was with just one pod. I also helped the miserly water usage out by adding an additional two gallons of water per rinse via the detergent dispenser.

OTOH, I noticed three rinses were enough to rinse the rugs completely using Persil powder. Pods? I think not...