TomTurbomatic: What was the recipe for...?

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peterh770

peterh770

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A long while ago, you posted a reply over at THS to someone whose towels had soured with a recipe for sweetening them. It had something to do with original strength Lysol. Can you repost it here? I have a batch of lost-and-found towels from the laundromat that are perfect except for the sour smell in them. 170 degrees with Persil Original in the Miele didn't help! Thanks!

-ph
 
It is amazing that a lot of people do not use Clorox. How do you get the whites to stay white? it seems people are afraid to use bleach. When used properly, it whitens and disenfects.
 
The small box of Lysol has a brown 8oz bottle of the concentrated disinfectant. Directions used to say for disinfecting laundry use a half ounce to a gallon of water. Fill the machine, add the proper amount of Lysol and let soak for 10 or 15 minutes (?) then add detergent and wash as usual. It does best in just water so that's why it is added before the detergent. I guess with the Miele, you would add maybe 4 or 5 ounces when it starts to fill. After a minute or so, pause it or shut it off. When it is time to add detergent, I pull the dispenser drawer out and use a small measuring scoop or a standard coffee measure to add the one or two tablespoons of Tide he or Persil right down the chute at the front of the dispenser chamber that goes down to the inner tub. Chase that with a cup or two of hot water making sure to rinse down any of the detergent granules that have stuck to the wet plastic, or replace the drawer and pour a couple of cups of water through it and restart. The residual action of the phenol disinfectant will keep the towels from supporting bacterial growth for a few washings. Chatham Blankets used to treat their "Purey" (sp?) line of wool blankets with this type of disinfectant so that the blankets would not support microbial growth in use since wool blankets are not washed as often as bed linens.
 
Tom: Thanks so much!

Ray: This has nothing to do with using Clorox. Once towels get like this, it takes something other than chlorine to get them back to april fresh. If you do laundry correctly, you should not need chorine bleach. I never use the stuff in laundry, but it works great in the toilet bowl! Besides, these are dark towels from lost and found that are too nice to ruin with bleach.

I have noticed sour towels most at friends' homes with DD WP washers. Does bad rinsing cause this?
 
Peter, the lack of bleach might be nice for those who have machines that can do near boil washes. But for most of us who have ordinary run of the mill machines, a little bleach keeps whites white.

Please tell us what the correct way to do laundry is...not using bleach. BTW...i'm not trying to be a smart a$$ :-)
 
Frontloader or toploader, there are a few things you always have to keep in mind.

* Separate whites and colors

* Use a detergent with oxygen bleach, or add a separate oxygen bleach.

*Use the hottest water possible on whites.

IMHO chlorine bleach doesn't make whites really white but just a bit yellowish. Optical brighteners and oxygen bleach do a better job. Another possibility is using STPP or phosphates. In some parts of the US they are banned and they certainly are in Europe (in a nutshell: because they make standing waters cloudy), but STPP really does something for your whites.

Louis
 
OK why is everyone using lye in their enema bags?
Doesn't it burn just a bit too much? LOL LOL LOL
Children play nice.

Let's leave our Ray alone.... :-)
He means well and it works for him. He understands that a disinfectant is necessary.

Personally If I had a choice, the bleach sounds a lot less caustic and dangerous than the brown bottled Lysol liquid.

After all, in this group we ALL think we know what we are doing (me too) But it is nice to hear another way.

Personally, when it comes to chemicals related to the wash Laundress is my choice for the expertise award. and I mean that seriously and sincerely.
 
Agi: I only got a "boil" machine 2 years ago. Before that, it was standard hot water from the water heater and detergent. Every now and then, all-fabric bleach. Before finding this great group of guys about 6 years ago, I was all about warm washing. I never had gray or yellow whites. That's all. Maybe because here in Atlanta, we have fairly soft water, but then I never had dingy clothes living in Memphis or Rochester NY either, which have harder water. Just using enough detergent has always worked excellently with me.

Honestly, I don't know what the big deal is about boil washers because in my case, I noticed absolutely no difference in the whiteness or cleanliness of my clothes after I got it. In fact, I was a little disappointed that stains didn't come out of my dish towels and handkerchiefs. Now, after time has gone by and they have been thru the machine several times over the last 2 years, yes, they are whiter, but they are not perfect. I never got the dazzling results everyone was raving about the first time thru. That says to me that what was working for me was...working!

I put more stock in detergents. I love the way the Mexican detergents work. I love the way UK Persil works. I will say that I have always used front loaders except for about a year that I had the 1-18 hooked up, and the few months of the Lady Kenmore.

Everyone has their own way...

Toggle: Chlorine bleach is an oxidizing agent. I don't know how it works exactly, but what you describe is an optical brighter, mostly used in all-fabric bleaches like Clorox 2, Biz, and Snowy (did you guys know that Snowy is still out there?). Chlorine actually oxidized the fibers to make them whiter.

CHLORINE BLEACH DOES NOT CURE SOUR TOWELS!!! This is something in the towels that chlorine, in my experience, almost makes worse. I don't know if it is bacteria, protozoa, mold, mildew, algae or fungus, but adding chlorine bleach to a load of sour towels DOES NOT WORK! Believe me, I have friends with closets full of sour towels, sour WHITE towels, and I have seen them washed in hot water with Clorox, and they are still sour. Extraordinary means are needed to save them, hence the need for the Lysol recipe, especially when these are dark hunter green towels...
 
Game over. I win.

NYAH NYAH

"We see chlorine's ability to bleach out color firsthand in our washing machines, where we use it to remove stains and dirt in our laundry, and brighten whites."

a quote taken from the link in the prior post.
 
Perfect Ph Pete said:

"I have friends with closets full of sour towels, sour WHITE towels, and I have seen them washed in hot water with Clorox, and they are still sour."

Work with me here for a sec. I have seen in T/L-ers greasy areas from fabric softeners that get moldy. The germies apparently eat the stuff or it somehow makes a nice host for their colony.

So rather than the type of washer perhaps your buds are over- dousing the towels with greasy waxy softener.

The next time the towels get wet they emulate the condition of the washing machine- loaded with softener and moist. Perhaps this is when the mold starts to grow and sour them.

Jsut a thought.
 

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