Best Detergent for hard water

GR8TDANEMOM · April 2012

Hey everyone this is my first post over here, but Ive been lurking. I am going to use cloth diapers with my baby come September. We have hard water and I know that's not great for washing diapers. Does anyone have experience with hard water that could recommend a good detergent or wash routine? Thanks!

caralck · April 2012

I'm curious about this too since we'll be using cloth when we visit my parents and they have hard water and an HE front loader. I've got soft water and a top loader so I know Charlie's doesn't work so well with hard water (chemical burns is what I've read on various threads).

funkymonkeyohyeahhh · April 2012

We have really hard water in my town and several local moms recommended Crunchy Clean detergent's hard water formula. LO is still in the belly so I can't speak on how I like it, but they all said it's great. I like supporting a work at home moms anyway, but the story about her daughter's health condition sold me.

punkrockabye · April 2012

My plan is to try Charlie's at first with some Calgon added to each wash to sort of counteract the hard water, since that's what Calgon does.. I'm going to have a small portable washer, so things could get interesting.

chuicafina · April 2012

We have hard water. I tried Rockin' Green Hard Rock, Charlies, Tide Ultra. Tide was the only one of those that was remotely close to a good fit for us. We've finally settled on Dropps (1 Dropp) with a half capful of liquid Calgon. I tried the powdered Calgon too and that didn't help at all. I order the liquid one in 2 packs on Amazon Subscribe and Save (I also get Dropps through Amazon S&S).

As far as a wash routine, here is what I do:

-Cold rinse, no detergent

-Warm rinse w/ no spin, still no detergent (this is to trick my FL'er into adding extra water...if you have a TL'er you can skip this and just set it to add the maximum amount of water)

- Hot wash/cold rinse with 1/2 capful of Calgon and 1 Dropp

- Cold rinse w/ no spin (again, to get extra water in there)

- Cold rinse

Good luck! As you can see, it took us several detergents before we found a good one for us and fell into an easy wash routine. Hopefully you'll only need to try one!

luckybride1128 · April 2012

I second Dropps + Calgon. I dissolve one dropp packet in 1 cup of hot water. I have an old school, basic top loader and my wash routine is 1) cold rinse, no detergent 2) hot wash/cold rinse, 1/2 cup of my dropps solution 3) warm wash/cold rinse, 1/2 capful of Calgon 4) final cold rinse just to be sure all the suds are out. This has been our routine for a few months and it's been working great. I do throw 1/4 cup of bleach in the hot wash about once a month. HTH

BrendaLou1969 · April 2012

I use Tiny Bubbles (available at Costco.com in bulk) and have no problems.

hispenguin · April 2012

I use either RnG Classic Rock with a tbsp of Calgon in the hot wash, or just RnG Hard Rock. Either one works.

kms34 · April 2012

We have hard water and an HE top loader. We use Ecos (from Costco) for everything including diapers. I've used RnG, Charlie's and Eco Sprout. Eco Sprout worked really well too but Ecos is my favorite b/c I can use it for ALL of my laundry without breaking the bank.

steffie1982 · April 2012

I just started prepping my diapers in hard water and use ECOS Free and Clear. I bought it at Walmart ($128 loads for $9). I think it's cheaper than at Costco?

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