Wash help

jane8188

The area I live in has horribly hard water. The house I was in before I had to bleach once a month, but it was working. I moved literally across the field from where I was before, and the water smells bad even. Just very mineraly. There is a softener here though. All of a sudden I can't get my diapers clean, like at all. They smell so bad and I mainly use flats, I don't even get it.
I can't use tide as I am severely allergic and so is my son. We tried a lot of other more natural ones and none of them worked. I read that some people have luck with tide f&g so that's what I am currently trying as of last week with no luck. I soak my over nights. I've even been rinsing out in the sink everything before. I've bleached, I've done rlr, nothing seems to help for more than 1 wash. I do a quick wash and spin on either hot or warm, a hot heavy duty, and another quick wash. If there are still suds I'll do another rinse. I thought the soft water was supposed to help my problems, not make new ones. Also the smell is almost like a skunky ammonia? Sorry for the novel, but thanks in advance!

freezorburn

Which other detergents have you tried? F&C detergent may not be helping matters.

Bleach also does not address hard water problems. But it might help get rid of odors if your diapers are not getting clean enough.

ETA: did you also try adjusting the amount of detergent in your main cycle?

jane8188

Country save, nellies, eco sprout. Before we moved to the house with the water softener I always used Calgon. I can't use anything like regular tide as it makes be break out in a rash that cracks and bleeds. Yeah I've just used the bleach once the stink was there to remove it.

jane8188

Yeah I'm pretty sure the washer it self doesn't help, it's an hefl that puts the water level by what cycle you pick, not by the weight. I've tried tricking it by adding in more water but it broke the water level sensor and made the door stay locked shut. It uses a stupid small around of water. We are on a well so I know it super hard. You can taste it and smell it. It's not a sulfur smell, the smell reminds me of going to my grandparents cottage. Like old and mineraly and musty like. It's really high in iron. We had to replace all the sinks and toilets because everything was stained orange.

freezorburn

What model washer is it? Can you post a photo of the control panel? Maybe someone else here has the same washer and can provide tips?

jane8188

It's an Electrolux, not every option works for every cycle.

Kelly11235

Have you tried hand washing a load? That would let you figure out if it was the water or the washer that is the culprit.

jane8188

Chickypoo2468 said:

Have you had your water tested? Our health dept tests for harmful bacteria, then I guess there is an iron bacteria that isn't harmful but turns things orange and is more irritating than anything. The health dept here doesn't test for it but I know there is a way bc I know someone who is going through it. She said you can get rid of it by bleaching your well somehow. I don't know much tho bc she was just learning about it.

Very interesting, we bought the house from my mil and she had the water tested and all she said was nothing dangerous. She is very vague so I don't know if I can get a good answer or if she knows. We talked about bleaching the well but didn't end up doing it. Maybe we should. The well is about 40 years old and I'd be surprised if they ever did it before.

freezorburn

Chickypoo2468 said:

Have you had your water tested? 

I second this. It sounds like you need to know more about your water quality. pH, the hardness/softness (just how well is your softener working?), what minerals you are dealing with, etc.

freezorburn

jane8188 said:

Have you had your water tested? Our health dept tests for harmful bacteria, then I guess there is an iron bacteria that isn't harmful but turns things orange and is more irritating than anything. The health dept here doesn't test for it but I know there is a way bc I know someone who is going through it. She said you can get rid of it by bleaching your well somehow. I don't know much tho bc she was just learning about it.

Very interesting, we bought the house from my mil and she had the water tested and all she said was nothing dangerous. She is very vague so I don't know if I can get a good answer or if she knows. We talked about bleaching the well but didn't end up doing it. Maybe we should. The well is about 40 years old and I'd be surprised if they ever did it before.

Nothing dangerous is not the same as whether or not your water is optimized for doing laundry. Does she have a hard copy of the report?

jane8188

I'm going to guess she doesn't have it, every time we've asked she's been vague. I just found out where to go to get a very detailed test so I'm going to do that.