Tide Pod Stains A Load Of Whites

[frigilux]

As mentioned in other threads, I decided to force a Tide pod to malfunction, creating stains and, hopefully, an undissolved casing.

To accomplish this, I double-wrapped a pod in towels, then placed the bundle in the center of a maximum capacity load of white bath linens. The load was washed in cold water on the Quick cycle with the soil selector set at Extra Light.

Step 1: The pod is placed in the center of a flour-sack dish towel.

 

[frigilux]

Step 2: The dish towel is folded multiple times, encasing the pod.

 

[frigilux]

Step 3: The pod towel is placed on a small bath towel.

 

[frigilux]

Step 4: The small bath towel is folded around the pod towel. The bundle is placed in the center of a full load of bath linens.

Note: I filled the tub to capacity with more towels, but the photo of the full load was very blurry, so I didn't include it.[this post was last edited: 4/18/2014-11:04]

 

[frigilux]

Step 5: The load is washed in temp-controlled cold water on the Quick cycle, with the soil selector set at Extra Light. The load drained the wash water a mere 4 minutes after I pressed Start.

 

[frigilux]

Results: Success! The doubly-encased pod stained the dish towel it was wrapped in. Surprisingly, it did not stain the small bath towel that enclosed the pod towel.

 

[frigilux]

Two other items in the load emerged with stains: A hand towel, and an old medium-sized bath towel.

 

[frigilux]

Here's a better photo of the slimy, very sticky undissolved pod.

Next up:

Step 1: I'm going to re-wash one of the towels while it's still damp, using warm water and another Tide pod. Had this happened to a load of dress shirts (God forbid!), I wouldn't be able to wash in hot water or use chlorine bleach.

Step 2: I'll wash the stained hand towel (which is one of my good ones) in a small load of kitchen and personal whites, using hot water, liquid chlorine bleach, and the Sanitize cycle.

Step 3: The dish towel will be dried in the dryer, mimicking what would happen if a the stain had been missed coming out of the washer, then dried. Then I'll wash that with a load of kitchen whites Sunday or Monday.

I'd like to reattach the pod casing to the dish towel, then dry it. I've read that, when heated, the pod casing turns to hard plastic which is extremely difficult to remove without tearing the fabric. However...I do not want to risk the casing attaching itself to the interior of the dryer and forming a bond with the drum or one of the paddles. Sorry, kids!

We'll see which, if any, of these pod stains are removed.

 

[mitch]

How timely!

Found this on Consumerist today--interesting indeed!

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/18/detergent-pods-shouldnt-be-this-hard-to-figure-out/

 

[logixx]

Nice test!

Good thing my washer doesn't even have a cold setting.

I suppoese, you could also just rinse a bit of the towel under warm water and see if that removes the dye. Instead of the dryer, why not use your hair dryer (if you have one).

Alex

 

[roto204]

Fascinating, Eugene!

This underscores a lot of what I had been suspecting--that the people afflicted with this staining phenomenon are stuffing the washer, running it on cold/fast washes (damp laundry equals finished), and/or any combination of the above. Your approach is clever and is a nifty way of simulating those conditions.

Rather than manufacturers needing to revamp their products, I suspect we have a lot of folks in this country who need a first or even second pass at Home Ec.

 

[frigilux]

Good news: Stains were removed from the still-damp hand towel which was rewashed on the Normal cycle in warm water with another Tide pod.

 

[frigilux]

Mr. Impatient: I threw the heavily-stained dish towel and the stained bath towel into the dryer. Since the blue stains on the damp hand towel were removed in warm water, I decided to rewash the dried items in the same manner. All stains removed! No hot water or liquid chlorine bleach required.

Here's a photo of the dish towel.

Pondering: Why did the small chamber of blue liquid stain numerous so heavily, while stains from the same-sized chamber of orange liquid are very light and only on the dish towel pictured up-thread? [this post was last edited: 4/18/2014-17:50]

 

[kenmoreguy89]

From my personal point of view....
4 minutes wash in a modern front loader and cold setting is something that would barely have sense if you had to refresh 1 t- shirt worn for about an hour without sweating...
Let alone an half or full load , they ain't even have time to get wet...

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Considering efforts to make it happen on purpose...

I gotta say I'd have expected it to be worse than this!

 

[washman]

frig frig frig frig

(bangs head on table) (does a load of wash using Sears powder)

 

[stan]

What

is the blue coloring for?
With that much blue color.. If you wash a yellow shirt, dose it turn the shirt green?
Why dose the "blue" have to be there in the first place?
What is the plastic material that's holding the pod thing together? And where dose the plastic, or whatever it's is, go after it dissolves?

I don't get it

 

[mich]

Those stains...

Specifically the Purple one, comes out with lots & lots of rinsing, under cool *not cold nor warm* but cool water. Tide also recommends, the use of a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to remove any remnants that remain after thorough rinsing, along with another wash, with a liquid or powder (non pod) detergent, preferablly long if the clothing fibers can stand it. 

 

On another note.. I must say those are some fine linens you have They look quite nice. 

 

[frigilux]

Whoops! Your eagle eyes probably noticed that I posted the wrong photo in Post #750977. Instead of a repeat of the hand towel, it should have been a photo of the now clean, formerly heavily-stained dish towel. Fortunately, the correct snap was still in iPhoto.