Ammonia smell after one use??

MrsDink

I posted earlier about not being able to get a weird smell out of a poopy diaper.  I put it in the wash right after he pooed, have since washed it twice (after soaking for 2 hours) and it still has a stink.

Now I have another that has only been worn once and it smells like ammonia after washing.  It wasn't even used overnight.    I wash at least every other day too. So it wasn't sitting in the pail for more than 24 hours.

Both diapers are FB that were ordered straight from Cotton Babies.  And both have only been worn once.  The poo stink diaper came with fleece that was already really pilly and the elastic isn't as tight.

These were supposed to be brand new.  Does CB sell "like new" diapers to people thinking they are new? I have a feeling taking these issues up with CB won't be much help... 

bethandjoe09

What detergent do you use?  What's your wash cycle, and do you by any chance know if you have hard water?

MrsDink

bethandjoe09:

What detergent do you use?  What's your wash cycle, and do you by any chance know if you have hard water?

I use RnG. 

2 hour cold soak (about 10 diapers) using the max amount of water (top loader).  Then a hot wash using 2tbsp of RnG, with a cold rinse, then a 2nd cold rinse.

When I took the dipes out I noticed the two were still stinky.  So I threw them back in the wash, didn't do a soak but did the same was cycle with 1.5tbsp of RnG.  Took them out and line dried them.  The poo stain is gone, but the stink is still there.  The other still smells like ammonia too.  (not that I thought the sun would get rid of that) All the other diapers are fine. 

DH just told me we do have hard water.  

bethandjoe09

Hm.  I'm trying to remember what my FB OS inner looked like when it arrived (we only have one FB). It looked noticeably pillier than the other one upon arrival?  That's really obnoxious.

I was thinking at first that ammonia smell often means that detergent isn't getting rinsed out all the way.  It sounds to me like you're doing enough washes, though, and if you don't have soft water then you shouldn't have trouble rinsing the detergent out.  One thing you can try is to stop the washer during a the second rinse cycle and let it sit for a few seconds (to let the agitation bubbles settle).  Then check if there are bubbles remaining; those would be due to detergent.  Keep running rinse cycles until the detergent bubbles are gone.

I think that RNG also tends to not work as well with hard water, though I haven't really used it myself so take that with a grain of salt.  They do have a hard water formula, but I haven't really used that either.  Have you tried contacting RNG?  I think they're pretty good at troubleshooting laundry issues.  I do hope this is a laundry issue, too, because I agree that if this is due to Cottonbabies pulling a fast one the odds of your getting satisfaction are pretty low.

MommaA117

I too still had smell issues after my very first wash of all my dipes using RNG!

I'm guessing my water is a little hard and preventing the detergent from cleaning. I got some Calgon softener to use and it helped a little. I am still switching to Dropps soon though.

mamakback

MrsDink:

bethandjoe09:

What detergent do you use?  What's your wash cycle, and do you by any chance know if you have hard water?

I use RnG. 

2 hour cold soak (about 10 diapers) using the max amount of water (top loader).  Then a hot wash using 2tbsp of RnG, with a cold rinse, then a 2nd cold rinse.

When I took the dipes out I noticed the two were still stinky.  So I threw them back in the wash, didn't do a soak but did the same was cycle with 1.5tbsp of RnG.  Took them out and line dried them.  The poo stain is gone, but the stink is still there.  The other still smells like ammonia too.  (not that I thought the sun would get rid of that) All the other diapers are fine. 

DH just told me we do have hard water.  

 

I've heard nothing good from RnG. It seems nearly everyone who uses it either has stink problems, rashes or absorbency problems. I'd strip them and try a different detergent. I'd recommend bumGenius's detergent - we've used it from the start and have never had any problems. 

MrsDink

Thanks ladies I really think it's just these two diapers because so far, the rest have come out just fine.  I still have a whole thing of RnG left, so I'll finish off this bag and see how it goes.  If I'm still having issues, I'm definitely switching!