Posted on 03/30/2016 2:20:08 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Edited on 03/30/2016 5:49:24 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
There's a reason those little lines on laundry detergent caps are vague and hard to read. It's so you pour more than you need to. And it apparently accounts for a huge part of the industry's profits.
Without perfect lighting conditions and sharp vision, the faint markings that blend in with the plastic cups have left many consumers squinting. And the related instructions are often vague. As a result, consumers are left to over-pour, and that's just what the flawed creators are counting on, say industry watchers.
(Excerpt) Read more at torontosun.com ...
Thanks for the info. I have just started remodeling the ancestral home as a retirement weekend getaway, Footprint in the home is too small for a traditional washer and dryer., so I’ll take the plunge.
Detergents are mostly just surfactants that reduce the surface tension of water and allow it to more thoroughly penetrate the clothing fibers. I used to work at a hide tannery that used industrial surfactants to wash hides. A 15,000-pound load used three gallons. One barrel of that stuff would be all the detergent the average family could use in a lifetime. As I recall, the cost of a 55-gallon drum was less than $50.
So who’s getting ripped off when you buy Tide?
By the way, your dishwasher detergent, hand soap, and hair shampoo are made of the same basic ingredients.
The pod thing is also wildly convenient and vey neat.
Agree. I buy generic no-scent sheets and only use them when I have stupidly forgotten to clear a pocket of tissue. They do help the dryer remove lint, etc.
One box lasts a couple of years.
I also use about 1TBS of liquid detergent for a full load.
2T for outdoor or machine chore dirt. My laundry is clean. If I have stains, I pre-treat instead of adding more detergent. Bottle advertising 150 loads last 5 months and due to our businesses (massage and hand felting), I do a LOT of washer loads. I use even less when rinsing dyed wool or processing felt. Anything over 1 tsp. will remain in the fiber/felt, even after a clear rinse. The stain treatment lasts a loooooooong time.
By choice, I have an old-fashioned top loader, due to the felting work and its requirements. I add in a 2nd extraction cycle on everything, which lessens dryer time. Wool, of course, air dries.
Dryer tip: layer the sheets,clothing,wet towels with dry towels (I save old ones with stains or holes for this). 3 large dry towels for a full load (6-10 sets of sheets, pillowcases, client gowns—yes, I have a large washer and dryer). Think lasagna for the layering. I keep my dryer on the low heat setting and most loads dry in 40 minutes. Dry towels redistribute the moisture and speed drying time.
I do 1-3 full loads of laundry/day;sometimes more. Some days I rinse 7 full loads of dyed wool. I do at least one full dryer load 3-4 days/week.
For goodness sake, take a freaking sharpie and make a line where you want to fill it. Are we so inept that we can’t use a our brains to solve such a simple issue?
Makes me wonder how these folks have enough brain cells to use a washer in the first place. :)
You have just prevented the creation of 372 bureaucratic jobs and 100,000 union jobs with a Sharpie. Soon Obama will be blaming you publicly for holding the economy down thus preventing him from achieving the historical greatness he deserves.
A felt tip pin on the outside of the cap.
First of all I don’t get too dirty. Then I buy cheap detergent and laundry-strength vinegar. I don’t have anxiety about dosages and don’t look for cap lines, just try to do what the picture instruction shows. IOW, play it by ear.
Dry them in an enclosed porch on the south side.
Also, I wear tight clothes so there’s no ironing needed. :)
Coincidentally, I just had my front-loading washer & dryer maintenance last Saturday for the 1st time since purchasing them in 2008. We are building a new laundry room and had them out, so I thought it was a good time to do so. Neither had any mechanical issues. The dryer had sucked a softener sheet inside itself & it was lodged against the blower motor. The serviceman said this frequently happens & causes more lint to build up around the sheet & can burn up the blower, so now I wad the sheets up before I use them.
At any rate, I thought it was pretty amazing that the w&d had no issues after 8 years of use :)
And regarding the stinky smell - I never have that issue, but we often leave the door open for a bit after removing the last load so it can dry out and I run a 20 minute quick load with nothing added but a bit of bleach after washing my husbands uniforms. He is a veterinarian and his clothes have blood and poop and who knows what else.
To be honest if you are looking to purchase a small and perhaps stackable washer/dryer combo for a place that is at least for now, is only going to be used as a weekend getaway, I’m not sure that the cost of a high end, high capacity front load washer is worth it. It really all depends on how much you are planning to use them and if this will ever eventually become your fulltime home.
But the front loaders do come in stackable models and can be a real space saver.
Sort of like my niece’s 4 toddler’s clothes. LOL! I was witness to “spaghetti night dinners” and the girls often ended up wearing more than they ate. My niece would strip them down pretty much naked at the dinner table, right after dinner and put some “spray and wash” on their clothes and bibs and put them in the washer. I was amazed that all the stains came out.
Not to mention that 3 out of the 4 girls went through a very brief faze (and thankfully very brief) while they were being potty trained of “poop is cool”, “let’s dig it out of our diapers and finger paint our bed clothes and the walls next to our cribs with it”.
Not to mention her husband’s work uniforms. He is a commercial HVAC service manager and his uniforms are often very dirty with grease and soot and in some cases, after crawling through some tight spaces, all sorts of rat, squirrel and bird poop.
I can’t believe how stingy the machines are with water. In Europe they used to fill up with water, almost like a fish bowl, and the detergents were very mild there. Here, the clothes inside are sloppy wet as they slosh around. And American laundry means tons of dangerous chemicals and cool water. Of course I probably couldn’t afford all that water (it’s pricy in ca) but it is amazing how well really hot water cleans. Boiling water works on stains even without soap.
The reason I like using the pods is that I currently live in an apartment that is without an in-apartment washer or dryer, so I either have to slug not only my laundry but also my laundry supplies that I keep in a canvas bag, down and back up two flights of stairs each and every time I do a load if I use the laundry room in the basement of my apartment or I have to carry them to my car to go to a commercial laundromat but that still involves a lot of carrying a lot of extra weight down and back up the stairs and with my bad back, it’s not fun.
With the pods, rather than lugging a big bottle of liquid laundry detergent or a big box of powered detergent, I can put just enough of the pods that I need to use into a zip lock bag. I buy the pods in bulk, especially when my grocery store has a BOGO sale, but don’t have to carry the whole bag with me every time I do laundry.
Now the government is going to regulate the caps on the detergent.
I’m still upset about this whole “Lather. Rinse. Repeat” thing.
Yes - I keep the front end door (and soap holder!) open a little bit to let the air in. I’ve never had a problem with the smell. And other than too much soap at first blowing the sensor, no problems. However, I’m pretty sure the new thing won’t last 26 years like the previous one did! (With several repairs by myself to various gears and belts and switches). The new stuff with all the electronic controls is mostly beyond me. Unless it means swapping out the entire board which is probably not cost-effective.
Buy your parts on line as I do
http://appliantology.org/forum/5-the-laundry-appliance-repair-forum/
I use the above website for all my learning on appliance repair and parts. But I’m not about to start testing various diodes and do-hickeys on the various boards to try to replace an $.89 part. I did replace the keypad on my dishwasher a few years ago.
I usually diagnose to major components. Clock etc. my last washer dryer had mostly analog controls. My dishwasher has lots of boards though. But I have still replaced motors and water supply valves.
My truck is totally computerized. Scarry. Though I have no problem diagnosing and repairing my 71 Cutlass Supreme.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.