For those dying to know, an UPDATE on my ammonia issue

haileyq

Soooo after soaking my diapers in a tub of RLR for a few hours I find the reeking of old stinky poo! I interpret this to mean they aren't getting clean enough? I did a bleach strip after the RLR and te first load is in the dryer now. How do I fix this without adding the issue I had previously of them not rinsing enough? Any miracles ladies? Oh, and if I can make it work, here's a pic of my prefolds. They don't get the pink spots that my inserts do, but you can see most of them have a hint of pink to them, as opposed to the one that's been in my diaper bag for at least a month, maybe two. Wtf!

CLLDLL

Wow, that color is wild! I wonder if it's a high iron content in your water or something!

To correct the not clean enough issue, I would add a little more detergent to your wash routine and maybe more Calgon but leave the extra water/extra rinses. Start small and keep a close eye on it. If they start getting barnyardy add more det. If they start getting ammonia-y use less or add another rinse at the end.

GL!

haileyq

Thank you miss! Isn't that coloring bizarre? It irks me to no end because I know it's going to impact the resale value of my diapers

zaraceligon

I think is easier if you just boil them. Prefolds are more easy to boils, then do a normal wash.

haileyq

Mapleme said:

Could your washer be turning things pink? Someone who knows more about laundry could probably answer better than I, but perhaps your washing machine needs to be cleaned?

Maybe it does? I'll talk to DH. I hope not though, darn thing is less than a year old!

haileyq

I don't use Oxi Clean... unless there is something similar in Tide? That's really nice that you were googling my pink diapers for me!

jcwinsto

One way to rule out iron is to use something like White Brite in a load (and rinse, rinse, rinse) and see if they are whiter again. It is kind of like CLR and removes iron staining in materials.  It actually says on the bottle that it helps remove iron fortified baby formula stains.  If it is iron, that may be leading to the not clean/barnyard buildup.  You may just have to strip with White Brite every once in awhile.

haileyq

Mapleme said:

And if it is iron, I just found this! https://www.clorox.com/dr-laundry/water-color-change-bleach/ ETA: Which also mentions washer corrosion as a possible explanation, although that would stink with a 1 yo washer

Hey this is amazing! I definitely get those brown spots when I wash my whites (which I always bleach... scrubs!). And I'm currently renting and there is no water softener. I guess my solution is to buy a big beautiful country house with a water softener! No problem right?

haileyq

jcwinsto said:

One way to rule out iron is to use something like White Brite in a load (and rinse, rinse, rinse) and see if they are whiter again. It is kind of like CLR and removes iron staining in materials.  It actually says on the bottle that it helps remove iron fortified baby formula stains.  If it is iron, that may be leading to the not clean/barnyard buildup.  You may just have to strip with White Brite every once in awhile.

I use Iron Out with my whites in addition to bleach, which is similar to White Brite. Do you know if those items are CD safe?

haileyq

That RLR strip appears to have gotten all that pink from my prefolds!! What does the CD jury think about this? Maybe I need to just up the Calgon?

abby8279

None of our diapers or covers are pink but we have a white pail liner and ever since shortly after we got it the pul (inside) is slightly pink.  Weird.

jcwinsto

https://www.summitbrands.com/summit/our_brands/rust_removal/white_brite/ I think White Brite would be fine on diapers. At least, I don't think it would be worse than bleach or RLR. I would just make sure to rinse really well because the fumes can be noxious. My guess is that RLR worked to some degree on the rust stains but maybe not as well as something made specifically for iron would. P.S. Sorry if the formatting sucks. TB is eating my posts today.