CDers - what's your wash routine? (for a FL)

SanHawaii08

hi ladies, I'm an occasional lurker here, but i desperately need help with our CDs!  i posted on the CD board as well, but I think Seattle is unique in that we have soft water, so I thought I'd try here too.  I've been battling severe stink issues for a few months now, and I'm getting really frustrated.  we used 1/4 scoop of Country Save for the longest time.  I've tried 1/2 scoop, I've tried liquid Tide free and gentle, nothing helps, and I'm tired of bleaching all the time!  even bleaching repeatedly doesn't get my diapers completely unstinky!

so - for those of you who CD with a FL, what's your tried and true wash routine?  (please include specific brand, type, and amount of detergent as well.)  also, any recommendations for best ways to strip, w/o using bleach?  we don't have a sanitize option.  thanks! 

ICanHazCheezBurgr

I stripped ours in the FL with Dawn. You have to run the wash 2-3 times with an extra rinse to get all the suds out. It worked well with BumGenius diaps.

doublem

I don't have a FL, and in the 8 months we've been CDing, I've only felt the need to strip my diapers twice.  Still, I'll give you the rundown in case it helps.

1) We usually wash in Planet detergent, using 1/2 the capful in a large load.  We also don't have a sanitize cycle.  We do a regular rinse, hot wash, and an extra rinse at the end (cold water, that's the only option).  

2) To strip, once I did a squirt of blue Dawn dish liquid in a hot wash, and then did about 3 more hot wash cycles with no detergent at all.  The other time I boiled diapers on the stove (nothing with PUL!*) in water with blue Dawn.  I did about 6 inserts at a time in my 10-12 quart pot and started a new batch of water each round.  Then I ran it all through a rinse-hot wash-rinse in my washing machine with no detergent.  Both options worked well.  The second probably used a lot less water, but took a large chunk of an evening while I watched movies.

 3) About once a month or so, I put a slosh of Biokleen Bac-Out in with the wash cycle, just to keep funk at bay (this was rec'ed to me by a local CD-ing friend the first time I needed to strip my diapers).  I haven't had to strip since starting this.  I keep my AI2 covers and pockets out of these cycles, because some of the labels say to avoid enzyme cleaners - so this is primarily an insert-only load.

*We primarily use pockets and AI2s, with a few fitteds and AIOs. 

 

zazzu

We've used dawn a couple if times too over the past year. I wasn't thrones with country save. We used tide original which was ok, but now I'm using rockin green. For out fl cycle, we set to pre wash (I put a little soap in the receptrical), do a heavy soil setting, and water plus option. Line drying in the sun helps too, but that's obviously season specific.

zazzu

Please excuse the wine influencing the typos and auto correct.

moohaha

We do have a FL and also use Country Save (used to use RnG)

 

- Run a quick wash on cold -- no detergent

- Then add a WHOLE scoop of Country Save.  Sanitize setting with an extra rinse.

- Sometimes, I'll throw in an extra rinse after this.

And I usually try to add more water to the detergent dispenser as it goes so that there is more water....or I'll throw in a wet heavy towel to trick the washer into thinking there is a heavier load.

I've also recently limited the number of diapers I wash.  While I can go for several days, I've learned that washing 20+ diapers makes it harder to get each diaper clean...so now I'm trying to wash a little more frequently.

I also line dry as much as I can -- at the least, I line dry my covers and will dry my inserts.

I haven't had an issue with stinkies coming out of the wash....only when they've been sitting in the pail for a few days (as expected)

All that said, I've heard sooo much about Tide that I recently bought a box to try it out.  I haven't tried it yet.

As for stripping, the only time I've done anything is "rock the soak" (you can google it) overnight.

Schnooks88

I have been CDing for about a month now and here's my routine!

One cycle on cold with a little bit of soap (Tide Original Powder)

Cycle on Hot with one tablespoon tide powder

cycle on hot no soap

extra rinse

I haven't had stink issues so far! 

EDIT: Oh I didn't read the post very well. We don't have a FL...sorry! 

omangie

Possibilities?:  Needs more water in cycles?  More detergent or different kind (when Tide is recommended, they mean full flavor powder, not F&C - and be forewarned, it gave DS a reaction)?  Make sure your first soak is with cold water - hot can help seal in the stink

That said, my routine is:  Cold rinse, hot wash with 1/2 scoop Planet powder, rinse.  I don't have any experience with stripping, but have had to try 4 different detergents before I found one I liked. 

Good luck!

pinktulips

We do have a sanitary cycle, but sometimes I forget to use it and just wash normal in hot water.

I use Planet detergent, in liquid form. If you look inside the cap, there is a line way down low, I think they have it marked as zero. I fill the cap half way to that line - so very little detergent.

I wash Normal cycle on cold, with detergent. I also choose the extra water setting, and heavy soil setting.

Then I wash Sanitize or Normal (Hot), with detergent. Again, I choose the extra water setting.

Then I either pick the extra rinse setting on the previous wash or run it through a quick wash, no detergent, hot water. My washer doesn't have a just rinse and spin option so this does the trick. Well, maybe it does and I just never use it.

I have noticed that when I travel, the hotter the dryer, the more the diapers seem to smell. And normally, I don't have a smell issue at all. And we have been using our BG's for 3 years now.

Occassionally I will but a bit of vinegar in the rinse cycle.

Also, occassionally, I will add 50 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract to the hot wash cycle. I just put it in the bleach dispenser. We never use bleach. GSE kills bacteria and yeast.

courtney11405

We have been cloth diapering only 3 weeks but so far so good.  We have been following  slightly modified version of the wash routine for our HE machine from this link:  https://rockingreensoap.3dcartstores.com/FAQ_ep_42-1.html#f2

 Quick wash cycle without detergent, high spin speed, cold water

"Whites" wash cycle with 1/2 the usual load detergent (All Free and Clear-no build up so far but have heard that some people have had trouble), warm water, high spin speed, extra rinse.  

 We haven't had any suds in the water after the cycle finishes so I assume we are getting all of the detergent out and the diapers are smelling clean.  I have been doing a hot wash every few cycles but am afraid that if I do hot water too much it will be rough on the diapers/covers.  Maybe I am just paranoid