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hard water and a washer with no hot water option...

cooksrcooksr
in Eco-Friendly Family

we have major stink issues - seriously. I've done the bacout, baking soda, vinegar, stripping etc and we finally realized that the water is just not hot enough (we do a warm/cold wash) and the warm is probably just not hot enough for stripping - so, despite the fact that I've started using calgon in the washer, we still have bubbles, no matter how many times i rinse or how much hot water I add from the stove.

besides breaking down and buying a washer with a hot option (since other than that ours works great) what the heck can i do?

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Re: hard water and a washer with no hot water option...

  • EmmieBEmmieB member

    1st - I never wash in hot. It's a waste of energy.

    2nd - you need to do a pre-wash soak. Dump in your laundry, start water, put in detergent and a good amount of lemon juice - like 1/3-1 cup. Soak for fifteen to twenty. Wash as normal. Dry immediately (If you let damp stuff sit even a minute and it's prone to stinkiness, it'll only get worse) You can also soak with vinegar or bleach, but the acid in the lemon will get the job done. 

    This also works if you have towels prone to weird mildew smells. 

     

    your other option is to filter the water coming into the washer.

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  • EmmieBEmmieB member
    also - line-drying in the sun will help. Natural bleach and air-freshener :-)
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  • cooksrcooksr
    thanks! i'll try the lemon juice tomorrow. and now that the snow is over dh put up my clothesline... just waiting for a day without rain :)
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  • jennterrelljennterrell

    also,if your water in the washer isn't hot enough, you could always add a big pot of hot/boiling water to the wash cycle. I did this to kill yeast in our diapers and it worked great. Just make sure if you have an older washer, that you don't add so much water that it overflows (set it to med for a lg load maybe).

    good luck!

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  • MrsAHoffmanMrsAHoffman

    I was under the impression that hot water was important for killing bacteria... but I guess if you use an anti-bacterial agent in with the detergent such as borax then it wouldn't matter. ?I'm not much help because I would probably get a washer with a hot water option...?

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