Oh the ammonia! Help!

duendef

Hi ladies! I'm in dire need of help. The ammonia stench on my cd stash is unbearable. Like knock-you-on-your-ass-suffocate-you-till-you're-put-out-of-your-misery, unbearable. My husband is just about ready to toss them all, and I can't blame him. I feel like I've tried everything: hot water strip, Dawn, RLR, and even bleach. I've changed the detergent (we have really hard water which I think is part of the culprit, so I switched to RG Hard Rock), and I have rinsed until I could rinse no more. What else can I do? Every time I try a cd after washing/stripping (and rinsing of course), she gets a rash or an ammonia burn. Any ideas/suggestions would be very appreciated. Our stash is mostly BG 4.0s and Freetimes. We have been using them for just about a year. Thank you!!!

sarenu1

How often do you wash? And it might be the detergent. A lot of people have problems with Rocking Green.

PipSqueak0313

Also, are you using the mf inserts that came with the 4.0s?

duendef

We wash about every other day. I typically do a hot rinse first, wash with the detergent on hot, and then an extra rinse. When I stripped, rinsing till I could rinse no more meant almost 2 days of rinsing (especially after the bleach strip). I wasn't completely sure how to use the RLR, so I soaked them in it for several hours and then did a regular wash with many rinses. We have a top-loader washer which doesn't do hot rinses, so I manually set it up to do them. The diapers still had a slight stench after the first few strips, but as soon as she peed in them the ammonia was back. After the bleach, they no longer smelled when clean, but again, after the first use they stunk. I am willing to use any detergent that works. Really, I am willing to do ANYTHING that works. And yes, I am using the my inserts...should I look into others?

PipSqueak0313

Mf is harder to clean than something like cotton is. It may be worth trying to change what you use to stuff the pockets with, though that won't help with the freetimes. Personally when I was using mf, I had to use something like Tide on them to get them clean. What were you using before switching to RNG?

ABColeslaw

I never ever had an issue with my son, so color me surprised when I just a few weeks ago started having issues with my daughter.  Ugh.  The ammonia smells only happen when she is done peeing on the diaper, we're finding that natural fibers aren't holding onto the smell at all.  She was getting rashes from it as well.  What we did:  Seriously, three washes in a row with the same routine.  I put her in Grovia Bio Soakers the whole time.  Cold super wash with soak(No detergent) followed by Hot super wash with 1 cup of vinegar, half scoop of Charlie's soap and half cup of baking soda.  I let the wash start to agitate and then stop it.  I let soak for the whole night.  In the morning, I let it finish, followed by two extra cold rinses.  Everything was hung dry.  Then when it was time again to wash my grovia shells, I threw ALL My dipes back in and repeated.  Again one more time a couple days later.  Problem solved for now. 

**Also I forgot to mention, fist wash through I got the feeling that my washer wasn't getting hot enough, so I boiled a pot of water on the stove and threw it in there before the long soak. 

Unknown

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freezorburn

Yeah, as one person with hard water (upwards of 300ppm) to another, MF can be really hard to get clean. I've replaced most of mine with natural fibers. Flats are especially forgiving. Or you can stuff your 4.0s with flour sack towels, which are probably the most economical solution out there.

Were you using any kind of water softener, like Calgon, with your detergent before you switched to the RnG/HR? A lot of people tend to get mixed results with RnG, not sure why that is.

duendef

Thank you ladies! I haven't been using the RnG long, just started in the middle of this whole ordeal, so I can't really speak to it's performance. I am going to try Calgon and see if that helps a bit. I'll try out ABColeslaw's method and then take it from there. I'm not afraid to check out, other, natural options. Or other detergent. Anything that works! Thanks for the help!

freezorburn

So, if you have very hard water, you're going to have limited success on any of these strategies, even a hot water strip, unless you also use a water softener. Here's a good article about different types of water softeners and when/how to use them https://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/20/19738.htm

We've also been learning from various discussions here and elsewhere, that there's hard, very hard, and crazy hard. It might help if you knew which category your water is in. You can check if your local water authority provides this information, but it's possible for water to pick up or lose solutes on its way to your taps, so the most precise way to know would be to get some hard water test strips or a test kit with a liquid dropper.

I'm not sure how helpful it is to add both vinegar and baking soda to your wash water at the same time. Depending on the proportion in which you add them, they'll mostly likely just neutralize each other. I don't think it will cause any harm though. Extra agitation or overnight soak is always a great strategy though.

Also, have you checked your washer for residue? Do you clean it regularly?

Rrrrrachel

I would suggest instead of doing just a rinse to begin do a short wash, and I would do warm not hot. That way you et some extra agitation and a few changes of water to get things rinsed better. And all the other advice too. I kind of hate microfiber.

freezorburn

I have a couple of tangential questions for the peanut gallery:

Does MF get clean more easily if you use a detergent that contains enzymes? (We avoid enzymes in our routine because of skin sensitivities, but I wonder if this might be helpful for others)

Does anyone else find that some brands of MF are more difficult to clean than others?

PipSqueak0313

@freezorburn‌ , I don't know if it helps answer your question, but, I tried Charlie's and Eco Sprout last year when I was using the stay dry BB inserts (followed the directions for switching to them and used on all laundry) and before the package was gone I was getting hints of ammonia so I switched back to Tide.

freezorburn

Oh, I'm only expecting anecdotal evidence at best. I stopped using my BG and Oh Katy inserts a long time ago, but mostly because they just weren't very absorbent. I'm still using my original Thirsties inserts and the Milovia inserts are working well, too. But the MF inserts that came with my Kawaii developed ammonia stink after only 2-3 uses, so I've put them on the shelf as well.

duendef

This was all very helpful, thank you! I'm finding I'm not crazy about MF either, so I'll be looking into some other options... Any suggestions? Specific inserts that have been successful with BG 4.0s? Im going to try a water softener and probably the Tide, as well as messing with my washing routine. And ha! Is my washer a mess? Yes, a deep cleaning is long overdue.

PipSqueak0313

eeklmiller said:

This was all very helpful, thank you! I'm finding I'm not crazy about MF either, so I'll be looking into some other options... Any suggestions? Specific inserts that have been successful with BG 4.0s? Im going to try a water softener and probably the Tide, as well as messing with my washing routine. And ha! Is my washer a mess? Yes, a deep cleaning is long overdue.

I stuff mine with flats....so much easier to wash and so easy to modify the fold to suit your needs.

freezorburn

I stuff my pockets with GMD flats or pair a MF insert with a GMD hemp doubler.

Try doing a few plain hot water washes on your stash after you have cleaned your machine. You may not need to change your routine very much at all.

ETA: It might be a good idea to get a hard water test strip to check on how hard your water is. If someone else here is in the same range they may be able to give you a sense of how much detergent has worked for them and whether or not a water softener would make a difference for you.