Tide Clean Boost Fabric Rinse

[kb0nes]

So how long has this been a thing? I just saw it last night at Menards on an end cap display, never seen it before.

I assume this is simply a low Ph rinse sour akin to using vinegar? There were a couple other additives also as well as a reasonable fragrance additive.

I left it on the shelf for $13 a bottle... Never considered using Citric Acid in the rinse before. I may give that a go for my next load of towels

 

[DADoES]

 
Consumer money grab ...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Well, acids are not recommended for machines with porcelain tubs. I believe the great flood of "fresheners" is due to fabrics not being cleaned well in cold water and still stinking after laundering in machines that smell like sewage processing plants. I am sorry that so many people are so financially strapped that they have to wash laundry in cold water and I am sorry that so many people are so poorly prepared to function on their own that they do not know how to do laundry.

 

[launderess]

P&G is covering all bases it seems.

That Tide "rinse" is no different than Downy similar product that has been out for some time now.

https://downy.com/en-us/rinse-and-refresh

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/downy-rinse-refresh-laundry-review-37219917

In turn these products are nothing more than an old take on "laundry sour" rinses that commercial/industrial laundries have used for ages. P&G obviously woke up to fact legions of people are adding white vinegar to rinse water instead of fabric softener to "remove" residue and freshen laundry.

Commercial laundries used sours in final rinse to bring down pH after using pretty aggressive alkaline pH for laundering. High pH substances tend to leave things feeling harsh and scratchy. Also the by product of sodium carbonate (washing soda) is sodium bicarbonate. Besides aforementioned hard/scratchy feeling to textiles SBC can turn textiles yellow when exposed to heat such as ironing or tumble drying.

Domestic laundry detergents long have ceased to be highly alkaline, so there is little need for souring rinse. Indeed commercial/industrial laundries have moved to liquid or powder detergents with lower pH levels so they can skip sour rinse step which saves time, water and money.

In short acid rinse is used to counter alkaline conditions.

As duly noted often in this thread acetic acid (white vinegar) is not safest thing to use in washing machines. Many washer makers caution using it or any other acid routinely as can damage things like rubber seals and other bits. Even very acidic products meant to descale washers are buffered and it is recommended machine complete several rinses after main descaling cycle.

Commercial laundries have access to sours that use a wide variety of acids instead of acetic (which isn't best anyway for this purpose) things like formic acid, fluoride, and so on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laundry_sour

Citric acid is what P&G has gone for with their Tide and Downy "rinses"

Downy rinse ingredients:
Cleansing Agent (Citric Acid), Water Softener (Sodium Citrate), Solvent (Propylene Glycol), Processing Aid (C12-16 Pareth), Stabilizer (Sodium Cumenesulfonate), Fragrances, Water

So you're paying about $13 or more for a bottle of water, citric acid, sodium salts, a solvent to bind/keep things together, stabilizer and fragrance.

Guess since P&G was moaning about fabric softener sales declining they got to work in aid of finding something new for to add at rinse.

 

[launderess]

Main "softening" affect from sour laundry rinses comes from combating alkaline residue. If one used a liquid detergent or anything else with moderate to neutral pH there isn't (or shouldn't) be any residue from detergent that an acid would handle.

If there is surfactant residue from too much detergent or poor rinsing a sour rinse isn't going to do much about it. Neither will acid rinses remove soil and muck residue not washed away by detergent.

 

[kb0nes]

The concern of use of acids in a laundry machine seems a bit dramatic to me. The Ph really isn't going all that low and the dwell time is short. Both Acetic and Citric acids aren't exactly highly active either. Especially towards the concern for the porcelain, glass is pretty impervious to acids. But I realize it is a thing after I dripped a little hydrofluoric acid on the top of our old Whirlpool range. The harvest gold porcelain wore that scar for evermore.

They did have the Downy product right next to this Tide one. It was the first time I saw either of them...

Thanks Launderess, I knew you'd be in with a prompt response!

 

[gelaundry4ever]

SMH.

SMH. This is just marketing to the masses who are too stupid to know how to do laundry properly. No thank you. I will pass.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The thing about this product is that it would go into a final rinse if put into the fabric softener dispenser of a domestic machine. Sour did not go into the final rinse in commercial laundries because softener came afterwards, at least in the formula used in the hospital laundry where I was detailed a few times. That rinse flushed the acid out of the stainless steel washers. In older washers with porcelain tubs,both inner and outer, the thinnest coating of porcelain is inside the drain holes. People who used long bleach soaks or other extreme laundering practices reported having little orange circles on white clothes, especially when they sat in the tub after the cycle was through.

 

[launderess]

On commercial/industrial laundry side of market there are all sorts of sours on offer.

Sours that cope with rust/high iron content water

Sours that will soften (as in having fabric softener as part of chemical make-up)

Sours that will bleach, disinfect as well neutralize pH...

Last one are products usually built around peracetic acid. Which is very potent stuff. On it's own and or combined with hydrogen peroxide you have a something that will neutralize pH (acid), whiten, destain, soften and so forth.

https://chemtechservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1826-Soft-Sour-Tech-Data.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...equilibrium,cellulose acetate and even cotton.

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.almnet.or...ns/newsitems/USHealthcareWashProcessHygie.pdf

"The concern of use of acids in a laundry machine seems a bit dramatic to me."

Perhaps, but then again consider washing machines both domestic and industrial/commercial are built to different standards. Both are designed and built to cope with chemicals and pH commonly used. For most part domestic washers use softer metals and parts can withstand pH within range found with domestic laundry detergents.

OTOH commercial/industrial laundries still use some pretty potent chemicals they long since have; sodium hydroxide (lye), oxalic acid, sodium metasilicate... You find these things in domestic products but at lower concentrations.

Main issue with using any sort of acid in domestic washing machines comes first in matter of various rubber parts. Next would be various parts made from metals subject to constant or repeated use of acids. Better grades of stainless steel aren't harmed by acids, but brass, aluminum and copper are another matter.

https://www.consumerreports.org/hom...-vinegar-distilled-white-vinegar-a3336471803/

https://inthewash.co.uk/washing-machines/can-citric-acid-damage-washing-machines/

https://www.bosch-home.com/us/owner...his isn't a,limescale and hard water deposits.

 

[launderess]

" Never considered using Citric Acid in the rinse before..

Used some Ecolab laundry sour from my stash other night. Glancing at ingredients first one listed is citric acid... So there you are....

 

[me]

As I recall, from checking the MSDS of various descaling and washing machine cleaning products, that Bosch descaler actually is citric acid based. However one of its other ingredients is maleic acid, which I believe is a corrosion inhibiter, presumably there to protect the aluminium spider.

I gather rubber seals are actually more resistant to citric acid than they are to acetic acid, which is pretty mild anyway, and I seriously doubt it could harm stainless steel especially with the level of dilution it will be at.

We have very hard water, around 340 mg/l (roughly 20 grains per US gallon) and I use citric acid to descale my washing machine since it is cheap, however I only do it once a year so it probably doesn't do much harm to the spider.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

I disagree

In our old house we had severely hard water. This product saved our laundry. I do currently use it on fleece blankets, sheets, and other loads of laundry which I use powder on. The difference is actually greater than you would think. Items are softer and fluffier. But take my experience and opinion with what you will. 

 

[launderess]

The difference is actually greater than you would think

One has no doubts if hard water conditions are present use of any sort of laundry "sour" would prove useful. More so if water has quite high mineral or dissolved solids content.

 

[johnb300m]

LOL!
Attempt no.2 by P&G?
All the Downy Fabric rinse around me was stuck on shelves until my local grocery stores and Target moved it all to clearance. That’s when I tried it last year for $7 a bottle.
It was useless to me. In fact it added MORE suds to me final rinse. Especially with towels.
Trash.